Genos 2 Review - Hidden Features!!!

[chony]

(Originally posted to a Jewish performer keyboard group, but relevant to all performers)

GENOS 2 - HIDDEN FEATURES REVIEW

By Chony Milecki

Like many of you, I watched the Yamaha Genos 2 release on November 15 with hopeful expectations. I wrote a review that same day that was read by many of you and even translated into Hebrew. You can read that here.

But now I've had the Genos 2 for a few weeks and I've discovered a few pleasant surprises I was not expecting. This is a review on hidden features and gems I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere.

TURN ON TIME
The pleasant surprises start with the On button. My fully loaded G1 took 32 seconds to turn on. The G2, exactly 20 seconds. That's a bigger improvement than it may seem for those of use who are impatient, or just running late.

TIME SIGNATURES

On previous Yamahas, when creating a style you had to use a X/4 signature. This created a weird situation where Yamaha's 12/8 and 6/8 styles were programmed in 4/4. On the G2 you can create a style in any time signature you wish, including unusual ones such as 7/8, 9/8 or for that matter 17/16. But it get's better: Every variation, intro or fill, can be a different time signature. So you can create a style in 4/4 with a 2/4 fill, or create variations A and B in 4/4 and C and D in 3/4. Nafshi, anyone?

NEW LIVE CONTROLS ON STYLE
It's clear that one of the changes Yamaha wanted to make with the G2 is to take full advantage of the Live Control section of the keyboard. There really wasn't much reason to have 6 knobs and 8 sliders on the G1, I personally rarely used more than two of each, but G2 changes that. In addition to the dynamic control and ambience control which I assume you already know about (and which isn't any use for those of us creating and using custom content), you can now apply EQ, Cutoff, Resonance and Reverb to an entire style at once. This is a practical feature that will come into use to make a more interesting and dynamic performance.

JOYSTICK PROGRAMMING
This next one may be my favorite change. It's one of those things you didn't realize you needed until you see it. The G2 Joystick is fully programmable. In the past up-down was modulation, left-right was pitch bend. How boring! Now, you can program anything you want to the joystick. Up - modulation, down - cutoff, left - reverb, right - pitch bend. Then you have some cool joystick features for Arps: Up - down can be velocity, left - right can be the gate on note length. And best of all, you can create three banks of immediately accessible joystick preferences that you can easily cycle through using one of the three new assignable buttons right above it.

LIVE ORIENTAL TUNING
Here's another change I didn't realize I needed, but now I won't be able to live without. G2 has a new feature that allows you to create new scales on the fly. Hold down an assignable button and then select any notes on the keyboard, and it will immediately detune those notes by a predetermined ammount. So for example if you're playing in A minor and you want to detune the B and F# note by 50 cents to can play your sefardic song, you can do that on the fly without going into any menus. What if your next song is in G minor? No problem, hit the assignable button again, and press A and E and play away. Done? Just hit it again. This feature is a major breakthrough that makes it a lot more convenient and attractive to play in alternate scales.

USB INTERFACE ADVANTAGES
The USB interface on G2 is something I was initially annoyed about because I thought I preferred SPDF on the G1. SPDF sends a digital (and clean) audio signal through a cable to an audio interface. It is perfect for studio recording because there is no noise or interference. The downside is not everyone has SPDF on their interface. The upside is if you do, it's really easy. In order to use the G2 USB interface on the other hand, you first need to do some technical work to combine it with the audio interface you're already using - if you don't, you won't be able to use both at the same time in a DAW. But now that I've used it, there's a major upside. First, unlike SPDF, USB audio is two-way, and second, you can now use the same cable for both MIDI and Audio. This is a big plus in terms of simplicity for those of us who are constantly moving the keyboard between home, gigs and studio.

STEINBERG REVERB
The Steinberg Reverb is everything I hoped it would be. I am disappointed that this is the only plug in they imported from Cubase. Why couldn't they bring in Steinberg compressors, Steinberg EQ or some mastering plug ins like (I'm crying) Steinberg's Multiband compressor. I've always been a little envious of Korg users that they get WAVE plug ins and the TC Helicon voice engine. This would have been the perfect time for Yamaha to throw us that bone. But complaints aside, the new Reverb is good, clean, very programmable and very usable. For me the most exciting thing will be adding good Reverb to my snares!

CHORD LOOPER
Should the Chord Looper be part of list of new features on the G2? After all, you could already assign it to assignable buttons on the G1! But it absolutely has to be part of this list for two reasons. Firstly, the position of the Chord Looper buttons on the panel makes them easy to get to and easy to use. But more importantly, now that there are actually tons of things you can do with the Live Controls and Joystick, you will need to automate your chords to free up your hand!

LIGHT UP ASSIGNABLE BUTTONS
It's no news to anyone that there are now nine assignable buttons on G2, as opposed to the six on G1, but it's actually more than that. Because on the G1 most of us used at least two of those for the Chord Looper which now has its own dedicated buttons. But more crucially, all nine buttons light up in two colors. So for example if you're using an assignable button to turn off the percussion in your style, it will light up to show you that this action is triggered. If you use an assignable button to change a scale, it will light up to show you the new scale is activated. If you use the button to trigger "Bass on Lowest Note" for your style, or to lock tempo control, it will light up and you don't have to guess where you left it.

FM ENGINE
Here's something really interesting, though not surprising if you know how it works, about FM voices. Usually when loading new packs into the keyboard, you can expect the sounds to take up a lot of room. Guess how much room FM voices take up? Nothing. Because the FM engine is already on the keyboard. So when you load up new FM voices, it doesn't load actual sounds, it just sends programming to the FM engine on board which creates those sounds in real time.

ENSEMBLE VOICE SPEED
Even though Yamaha has had Ensemble voices since the Tyros 5, they haven't been easy to use for fast music such as Jewish Rock. There was a very slight sloppiness, that made them sound, well, sloppy. On G2 the processing is faster and you can rip through a brass solo, and get a sharp, cut sound.

DJ RETRIGGER
When Genos 1 version 2.0 was released, many of us were initially excited about the Retrigger DJ feature, which allows a musician to retrigger a style in 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, all the way to 1/32. This is a feature that exists on almost every DJ control board, and many of us thought we could translate that feature into our live performances. Except it didn't work, because at the end of the "rise" when you wanted a "break" before the "drop", the timing got messed up. Well, no more, Retrigger works now, and you can create your own Retrigger build ups. All that said, you're better off using a programmed build up such as what you can find on Intro C of many of PSM's EDM Pack 3 styles.

EDM ARPS
The following is a minor improvement — Yamaha didn't take it the whole way. Many of you may have noticed that when playing EDM solos, it just doesn't sound EDM. You're right, and there's a reason for that. Many EDM solos go through some sort of filter. It may be a pumping filter that imitates a side-chain kick, it may be a stutter or pulsing effect, or it may be the creative use of Portamento. I was hoping that on G2 we could create our own Arps, but at the very least that Yamaha would give us some great EDM arp/filters. The good news is Yamaha did add some EDM arp/filters, the bad news, is they're not great.

DISAPPOINTMENTS
It should be pointed out that although all of the above are new features on the Genos 2, the majority of them could be implemented on any Genos 1 or SX900 keyboard if Yamaha releases an OS update. So are we going to see a Genos 1 v3.0? Perhaps, but I doubt it. If the milk is free, why buy the cow?

Now there are unfortunately some major disappointments too which must be mentioned. Yamaha arranger stations are a walled garden. You can taste the fruit, but you cannot plant your own tree. The Yamaha SA and SA2 sounds are incredible, but there is no way to create your own. Mega guitars are amazingly realistic, but when users like me and you program them on a DAW (don't even try it on board), you cannot tell how they will sound because they have to be played unconventionally as frets because of how Yamaha arranger stations interpret guitar parts.

And of course it's difficult to use DSP effects when creating styles on a DAW, and the multistep process of getting a style from Cubase to fully programmed on the Genos is painstaking and long. And don't get me started on SY***.

The new MIDI to Style app is a welcome addition to the Yamaha ecosystem and useful to those who understand how to manipulate it. But it is purpose built to convert MIDI songs, not to build styles from scratch. With a small change in approach, this app could have been the perfect Yamaha style creation app. In fact, based on what I've seen on YouTube, Yamaha created it out of their private style creation app. The very fact that Yamaha chose to build a MIDI SONG to STYLE conversion app instead of a dedicated STYLE creation app, tells you a lot about their focus and priorities.

Yamaha, give us access to the software you use to create your sounds and styles. Trust us! There's nothing to lose, and everything to gain!

Another thing I simply cannot get over is the horribly EQed drums. Why is it that Yamaha is so amazing at creating strings, brass, guitars and pianos, but just can never get a punchy, full, clean sound on drums? And now that Ambient Control for drums has been implemented, why not give us custom voice creators the option to be creative with that too?

A couple of other features I wish we would see on a Genos. A programmable EDM synth - like the FM synth, just from 2020, not 1980. At least 3 band sweepable EQ on every style channel. Maybe even a compressor for each channel! A separate drum mixer that can be accessed independently of a style and where the instruments aren't already at volume 127 (meaning they can only be made softer).

In short, what I would like to see from Yamaha is a focus on (a) creators, (b) modern EDM music. In return, I guarantee, overnight, Yamaha will gain two major demographics, the creator community, and the youth of the world! Young people will flock to a keyboard where they can play and create the music they love. There's crazy talent out there!

CONCLUSION
With the Genos 2, Yamaha has created a keyboard that is focus built for live performers in a way we've never seen before. The Genos 2 makes some big leaps ahead in its approach and if you perform for a living, there are a lot of good reasons to make this upgrade.

Unfortunately nothing has changed it terms of Yamaha's embrace of the creator community so it is still highly frustrating and painstaking to create high level sounds and styles.

So what do you think? Are these new features exciting for you? Will they change the way you perform? Are they enough to make you upgrade?

[Ronbo]

Nice review. Well done.Thanks a lot

Some things are irrelevant to me as a home player, but you have managed to satisfy every player out there in one way or another

regards

Ron

[pjd]

Hi Chony —

Thank you! That is the most intelligent, in-depth G2 review that I've read. More helpful than the usual rah-rah cheerleading. Thanks, again!

By the way, Yamaha did add two multiband compressor effect types (algorithms) — MULTI BAND COMP1, MULTI BAND COMP2. COMP1 is a three band compressor. Not quite up to the Steinberg in bands and controllability, but it's there.

It will be a while until I can try Genos2. However, I noticed that Yamaha is using MULTI BAND COMP in place of UNI COMP in many of the R&B styles.

Hope this info helps — pj

[BogdanH]

...
TIME SIGNATURES

On previous Yamahas, when creating a style you had to use a X/4 signature. This created a weird situation where Yamaha's 12/8 and 6/8 styles were programmed in 4/4...

-this is not true (unless I misunderstood something).
On PSR-SX you can create a style in any time signature (12/8, 6/8 and also in unusual ones: 7/8, etc.).

Bogdan

[Sruli@psr]

-this is not true (unless I misunderstood something).
On PSR-SX you can create a style in any time signature (12/8, 6/8 and also in unusual ones: 7/8, etc.).

Bogdan

the sx900 came out after the G1, and chony coming from the G1 did not have that feature.

[BogdanH]

the sx900 came out after the G1, and chony coming from the G1 did not have that feature.

Interesting... Because latest Genos1 firmware was released in late 2022 and so I expected that this possibility was implemented. Actually I'm surprised that Genos1 at the time of release didn't have such basic option!

Bogdan

[Sruli@psr]

Actually,

Interesting... Because latest Genos1 firmware was released in late 2022 and so I expected that this possibility was implemented. Actually I'm surprised that Genos1 at the time of release didn't have such basic option!

Bogdan

actually, I just check my sx900, it does not allow me to have different signatures for each variation like chony mentioned.

[BogdanH]

Actually,  actually, I just check my sx900, it does not allow me to have different signatures for each variation like chony mentioned.

I didn't talk about having different time signature in each variation.

Bogdan

[Sruli@psr]

I didn't talk about having different time signature in each variation.

Bogdan

correct, however, chony mentioned it in the review to which you replied to.

[BogdanH]

I quoted the part that I was replying to.

Bogdan

[konaboy32]

very nice post, thx.

do we know for sure that Yamaha have their own internal software program for style creation?

I have often wondered what they use.


yes, it would be great if they could release it to general public, but then they would have to do a lot of work on QA; making it multi OS compatible, creating documentation, providing support and OS upgrades etc.  more work than you might imagine.

[chony]

do we know for sure that Yamaha have their own internal software program for style creation?

I have often wondered what they use.

Yes, I came across it on YouTube a little while ago, but just searched and can't seem to find it, because it wasn't an official video and named properly. But basically they use Cubase with some sort of custom plug in.

EDIT: FOUND IT  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qpkrd3kqsI&list=LL&index=15&t=337sv

EDIT 2: I don't know why PSRTutorial keeps messing up the link. Search YouTube for "Yamaha Style Production Cubase 10"

[pjd]

EDIT 2: I don't know why PSRTutorial keeps messing up the link. Search YouTube for "Yamaha Style Production Cubase 10"

Hi Chony --

Roger found and fixed the issue. Thanks, Roger!

-- pj

[pjd]

But basically they use Cubase with some sort of custom plug in.

A few years ago, I had a conversation with Heratch Touresian from Yamaha. He described the Yamaha tool as spreadsheet-like and it lets the style developer configure the CASM data (NTR, NTT, and so forth). The Cubase plug-in is consistent with Heratch's description.

Bottom line, there is no magic, Yamaha internal tool that creates styles. Heratch stressed that a style developer needed two sets of skills -- technical and musical -- and understood the relationship between the two domains.

There is no magic in style development -- just knowledge, skills and hard work. Style development is (likely) a big part of the upgrade cost when a new model comes out.

Hey, hey, great review -- pj

[chony]

Heratch stressed that a style developer needed two sets of skills -- technical and musical -- and understood the relationship between the two domains.

There is no magic in style development -- just knowledge, skills and hard work. Style development is (likely) a big part of the upgrade cost when a new model comes out.

A lot of us have both those skills. In fact we are so good at this that we've managed to figure out genius workarounds. But we need the tools to do it properly and efficiently.

[konaboy32]

Yes, I came across it on YouTube a little while ago, but just searched and can't seem to find it, because it wasn't an official video and named properly. But basically they use Cubase with some sort of custom plug in.

EDIT: FOUND IT  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qpkrd3kqsI&list=LL&index=15&t=337sv

EDIT 2: I don't know why PSRTutorial keeps messing up the link. Search YouTube for "Yamaha Style Production Cubase 10"

thanks for digging up the video, fascinating to see actually.
and astonishing to see winamp again...