First major show

[Lee Batchelor]

Hi team,

I just played a major show with my new Genos. The show was in a theatre. There were just the three of us – me on the Genos and vocals, a male singer on acoustic guitar and vocals, and a female singer. The show songs were all movie themes, so there were some very sophisticated registrations and styles used. We played 32 songs.

I built everything at home, stored it all on the User drive, and then made a backup copy on USB, just in case. The show went flawlessly, aside from a few playing errors on my part . The sliders were very useful! It was so nice to just reach up and move a slider to increase the Right hand voice, Style, or Multipad. And for the record, I had 10 people out of a crowd of 120 come after the show wanting to see the "machine that was supplying the backgrounds." Some thought it was pre-recorded CDs. So for those who declare that the keyboard model makes no difference – I beg to differ. I never had that kind of action with my Tyros 5!

Play on folks!

[EileenL]

Congratulations I am pleased your first show with Genos went off OK.

[Lee Batchelor]

Thanks, Eileen! I was a little nervous because of some of the feedback about Registration issues, however, I think those issues are not in the software but from the files the Registrations point to.

The Genos is a real performer's machine, as well as, a really nice home entertainment keyboard. A retired doctor/musician friend of mine was at the show, and he mentioned how music can slow down the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. I've read about that. It's because music encourages the formation of new neural pathways in the brain. We must always remain active ! Genos, Tyros, PSR, singing, playing the spoons...are all good ways to do that.

[Fred Smith]

Thanks, Eileen! I was a little nervous because of some of the feedback about Registration issues, however, I think those issues are not in the software but from the files the Registrations point to.

The registration issues you've been reading about on this forum have all been operator error.

Fred

[stephenm52]

Hi team,

The sliders were very useful! It was so nice to just reach up and move a slider to increase the Right hand voice, Style, or Multipad.
Play on folks!

My experience for a live performance at a gig has been the same.  Glad to hear the positive news Lee.

[Lee Batchelor]

Thanks Fred and Steve. Yes, the Genos is VERY dynamic. I received a kind note from the female singer in our show. It read,

"Two ladies in the afternoon show passed on their kudos to you and your new keyboard. They were just blown away! - me too!"

Onward and upward, guys! Thanks...

[markstyles]

Congratulations Lee.. Glad it went well.  Frankly I marvel at some here which can keep it together to be changing so many parameters as they play.. It does require talent, and work to learn..  There are some musical here in  NYC, performing in restaurants, performing live one man band. And it does give the great feeling of live entertainment, without a a lot of equipment, or even a bunch of musicians. Your group sounds great, cause the extra voices, give it a more human quality.  And the Genos, does give a very realistic 'band' experience.

[8t8KEEZ]

Did ANY of the 32 songs you "created at home", incorporate mixed time signatures? For example 8 bars of 4/4, 1 bar of 3/4, back to 4/4 for 16 bars, 1 bar of 2/4, to a 3/4 bar, and back to 4/4??? OR any mix of different time signatures? That's ONE thing that kills me with this machine ... this is something that can't be done all that easily....

Most of these styles are 4 bar styles.... Take the 6/8 styles, for example ... You can NOT do a "fill" at the end of bar 2 ... BUT, you can, at the end of bar 4, of a 6/8 time signature style ... Essentially, it's NOT a 6/8 style at all...

Because of this ... It's really hard for me to call this an arranger workstation .... seriously...

My MOTIF XS allows you to preset a track .... and in that track, you can insert whatever time signature you want, anywhere... any time.... but ... NOT on this Genos... NOR any of the Tyros models.

Iàm sure it can be done ... but ... for some reason, I have a feeling it's a lot of work...

So ... I'm curious how you dealt with multiple time signatures within a single song.... ?

[Lee Batchelor]

8t8keez (great moniker ), Mixed time signatures are not possible on the Genos, unless like you say, you can do them through the registrations. There are several great tunes where the artist is in 4/4 and puts a 2/4 bar in for interest. I have yet to know how to do that live, except if I prescore it in Cubase. Even then, I'm not sure it will work if not converted to an audio style.

[8t8KEEZ]

I'm going to give the registration-method a shot....

For example, Reg1 4/4 at tempo 80, and Reg2 2/4 at tempo 80, and then, back to Reg1 ...

Now that I think of that ... I think that would work.... I was so "stuck" on using the variations as chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, etc.... and using the registration buttons as different songs....

THEN, the playlist came about ... and I thought, "Okay .. that's cool ...." but, the fact you can't advance without touching the screen from one song to another AND having to press "load" .... I am not dismissing that option ... I'm just going through it in my brain ... I now use the registration banks for a single song ... and name the registration bank to that song ... I LOVE doing it this way because I can program all the songs we sing, and call them up, at any time.... and using this method allows me to create a folder for this coming Sunday's service, and grabbing all of the songs (registration banks for each song) and copying them into that folder and renaming them so they show up in the correct order .... THEN, I can advance using the plus / minus registration keys to advance from one registration to another ....

However - I am NOW very curious to try the registrations and incorporating the different time signatures .... can't wait till 4:00 so I can get off work and go try this ...

You guys are AMAZING!!! Eileen, Fred, and all of you!!! Masters at the craft!

THANK you ....

[Marcus]

Hi team,

"... I had 10 people out of a crowd of 120 come after the show wanting to see the "machine that was supplying the backgrounds." Some thought it was pre-recorded CDs. So for those who declare that the keyboard model makes no difference – I beg to differ. I never had that kind of action with my Tyros 5!..."

I had the same response from general audience members as well. My cousin from B.C.(Vancouver Island), was visiting a few months ago and was attending one of the functions where I was performing. She visited me after and thought the whole time I was singing to CD tracks. I said, "no, I was performing live". Always have the curious public visit my setup as I start packing my gear away with usually a couple people mentioning the quality of the sound and clarity of the vocals.

The Tyros 5 was certainly awesome as well, and was my choice over any other brand arranger at that time. The Genos sound quality and signal to noise ratio is super clean and pristine. I was thinking of picking up a portable Tascam Recorder with a higher recording bit rate (44.1 kHz/24 bit) to record off the Genos digital output, but not really necessary now because I was very pleased with the clarity and CD quality recorded directly to the Genos Hard Disk recorder.

It also helps having a nice choice of the higher quality portable powered speakers and subs that helps support your arranging playing. I always use stereo, which gives even more clarity to the DSP effects and spatial imaging throughout the sweet spot. Many will disagree (mono vs stereo), but I would think that audio stereo imaging would become more evident and important as the audio quality source becomes better or higher quality. I would hate to hear my regular CD collection in mono. Obviously stereo would become mute and impractical in a very large venue, but for small or average gigging, stereo is my choice.

Regards, Marcus

[Mike2]

I don't do live gigs anymore, but I do play liturgical music with the Genos, 4 times a week.  People can't believe the sounds. I use to have  the T-5, and they all enjoyed that, but with the Genos, there are so many options. People think I'm a professional, and I tell them that the Genos is such an improvement from what I had. But most people who don't play any instruments, don't have a clue, anyways...so it's nice to hear how well I play.

[Lee Batchelor]

It happened again. Bob and I played a senior's gig a few days ago and when finished, I had about seven people come up and take a look at this amazing machine.

I agree that the keyboard you use seldom makes a huge difference and what's more important is that you know how to play well. For example, Peter Baartmans can still make a PSR 2000 talk wonders, as can many of us. On the other hand, while excellent playing skills are essential for live performance, when you bring a state of the art machine to the stage, a lot of people notice. I'm starting to get comments like, "Are your backgrounds made up CD backing tracks?" When I tell them no and that everything is played live, and then show them how it's done, their jaws drop about three feet  .

Genos is certainly the leader. I also find it easier to do live performance adjustments than on the Tyros series.

[Kaarlo von Freymann]

..... I also find it easier to do live performance adjustments than on the Tyros series.

I believe we are all agreed on that. The sliders and the assignable buttons are a great advantage just as the main screen in a live situation.

Cheers

Kaarlo

[manuel]

I also have those Great Reactions and comments from the Audiences I play for.....!!!


Manuel

[8t8KEEZ]

So, I've been using a Tyros 5 for quite a while in church. Essentially, I would only use:

- LEFT = BASS
- RIGHT1 = Piano
- RIGHT2 = Strings (sometimes)

and use a rhythm...

Since I've gotten the Genos, I've been using the full "Style" with ACMP on, and using the registrations for variations on the chorus, verse, bridge, outros, intros, etc... and the playlist.

Last week, I had a young church member come up to me and asked, "Do you use CD backing tracks or do you arrange all of the music...?"

I honestly wasn't sure how to respond, except, "Oh, it's the keyboard. It allows for all that to happen without the need of doing it myself... I LOVE it!"

And her response was, "Well, it sounds really cool! It sounds like a CD backing track!"

FIRST time anybody has mentioned the quality of the sound since about 6 years....

Interesting ...

[Lee Batchelor]

Good for you, 8T8...

I'm starting to hear that more than ever. It rarely happened with the T5. Although the T5 is still a very good keyboard, Genos is all over it. I did another seniors' gig today with my music buddy Bob, and had three ladies come up at the end and ask me to play some tunes just instrumentally. I obliged. They were amazed at the sounds!