Some "not too good" things about Genos

[tyros2009]

I got my Genos yesterday after two months hunting to buy one (in US).
I notice a few things that are not too good (minor)
1) USB stick tends to point up instead of staying flat in its area. If you accidentally put pressure on the stick, it could damage the connector on Genos.  I have to buy the smallest USB stick I can find.
2) no Fade In / Fade out button like previous keyboards. Not a big issue as I can buy the Yamaha FC7 volume pedal that I have always wanted.
3) no FILE ACCESS button. I use this button to quickly access the folder(s) that contain the styles I frequently used. One single push of a button will open the desired folder immediately, from there I select the style(s) to play.

If I am mistaken on any of the above, please do not hesitate to correct me.

[Fred Smith]

You can assign Fade out to a button. I have it assigned to the Rotary Sp button.

Cheers,
Fred

[Lee Batchelor]

You can also assign the Fade Out to one of the six Assignable buttons on the right side button cluster below the six rectangular buttons.

Fred, you're full of great ideas! (I bet you thought I was going to say something else there .) I never noticed the word Assignable under the Rotary button. My fade out is currently assigned to button F, which is not too convenient when you need to keep the melody line going on a fade out. I have to cross my right hand over to push F. Thanks for the hint .

[Toril S]

If you fear damaging the USB sticks, you can use the hidden USB port on the underside of Genos. File access works as before , you only have to tough the folder in the style selection display amd it opens. I also mssed the dedicated buttons at first, but you will get used to the touch screen pretty fast!

[Rick D.]

Tyros 2009

If you use USB's all the time, you should get a short cable and leave it in place instead of plugging and unplugging them  all the time. Some of the Tyros had problems with USB socket because of this. Read your manual or ask questions. Your Genos will do a lot of things a lot of different ways.

Give it some time you will be flying around all the settings soon enough.

Rick D.

[EileenL]

Why use USB sticks when you have 58Gb of user section to save everything into. If you get a 64Gb USB you can keep in the underside compartment and use as a back up which you can remove from time to time as you add new content and Back up to computer.

[Rick D.]

EileenL,

I only use USB to get things from PC to keyboard. I store everything onboard.

Rick D.

[Lee Batchelor]

EileenL,
I only use USB to get things from PC to keyboard. I store everything onboard.
Rick D.

Eileen, can't he put the Genos into the mode where it appears as a device on his PC or Mac? Wouldn't that save using a USB stick? I forget the name of the mode. It's where you push Playlist > Power On.

[EileenL]

Yes you can link your keyboard to computer to move files around and add to them.
  How ever if your computer is not close enough then a USB stick is fine to use. I do use a 4 inch extension lead on my Genos to plug in USB sticks It saves wear and tear on the USB connection in Genos and works really well.

[soryt]

Use a thumbnail drive and leave it in the port on upper side , and try all options with the manual at youre side.

S 

[Lee Batchelor]

Yes you can link your keyboard to computer to move files around and add to them.
  How ever if your computer is not close enough then a USB stick is fine to use. I do use a 4 inch extension lead on my Genos to plug in USB sticks It saves wear and tear on the USB connection in Genos and works really well.

Thanks.

[JohnS (Ugawoga)]

I got my Genos yesterday after two months hunting to buy one (in US).
I notice a few things that are not too good (minor)
1) USB stick tends to point up instead of staying flat in its area. If you accidentally put pressure on the stick, it could damage the connector on Genos.  I have to buy the smallest USB stick I can find.
2) no Fade In / Fade out button like previous keyboards. Not a big issue as I can buy the Yamaha FC7 volume pedal that I have always wanted.
3) no FILE ACCESS button. I use this button to quickly access the folder(s) that contain the styles I frequently used. One single push of a button will open the desired folder immediately, from there I select the style(s) to play.

If I am mistaken on any of the above, please do not hesitate to correct me.

Hi
I purchased a usb extension lead from Amazon and plugged that into the Genos Usb socket and at the other end female socket on table  insert a usb stick .
This also saves wear and tear on the Usb socket on the Genos

[Toril S]

I also have the extention cable. Works great.

[kbrkr]

"3) no FILE ACCESS button. I use this button to quickly access the folder(s) that contain the styles I frequently used. One single push of a button will open the desired folder immediately, from there I select the style(s) to play."


Why can't you use the DIRECT + Style Category buttons to quickly open up a folder containing your custom styles?

[Fred Smith]

Why can't you use the DIRECT + Style Category buttons to quickly open up a folder containing your custom styles?

What "Style Category buttons"? And even if the Genos had style category buttons. How would this access custom styles?

Cheers,
Fred

[tyros2009]

Genos day#4:
Thanks to ALL for sharing your experiences. The three "not so good thing"  can be solved by various methods. I will follow these methods. Regarding the "tempo reset", I just learned that V2.0 use the TAP TEMPO key while playing styles will achieve the same result. I will verify that my Tyros 3 can do the same thing.
About the USB stick, I bought the smallest one I can get and it no longer stick above the top of the keyboard. And why I need extra storage: I like to store personal MIDI recordings, WAV recordings on external USBs. I keep internal storage (USER) for my frequently used styles, songs, registrations, pads, etc....

[Fred Smith]

Genos day#4:
Thanks to ALL for sharing your experiences. The three "not so good thing"  can be solved by various methods. I will follow these methods. Regarding the "tempo reset", I just learned that V2.0 use the TAP TEMPO key while playing styles will achieve the same result. I will verify that my Tyros 3 can do the same thing.
About the USB stick, I bought the smallest one I can get and it no longer stick above the top of the keyboard. And why I need extra storage: I like to store personal MIDI recordings, WAV recordings on external USBs. I keep internal storage (USER) for my frequently used styles, songs, registrations, pads, etc....

You're thinking like a Tyros. You need to change to Genos. It has so much User memory, you don't need USB sticks. And, there is no "tempo reset" feature on a Tyros.

Cheers,
Fred

[tyros2009]

My Genos has V2.0, so the tempo reset works. I love it.
About storing stuff on USB (like on TYROS): I use to go out play gigs, some place already have either S910, S950, S970 or even Tyros, I simply plug in my USB and I feed at home with other's keyboards.
By keeping on USB drive a copy of my USER's setup, styles, MIDI songs, registrations, etc..., ,  I could play at places that has a Genos that I am allowed to play.
Not only the USB acts as a safe back up, it is useful for the purpose mentioned above.

[Lee Batchelor]

Wow, a venue that owns a Genos or Tyros 5! That's unheard of in all the places I've played in the past 30 years. I've seen the odd Clavinova or Yamaha piano.

That's a great idea to bring your own USB device with all your settings and registrations, but what about system settings like touch and split point? I suppose a lot of these can be stored with the registration. I remember the days of the PSR630 where you could only store a few settings within the registration. Thankfully, Yamaha has increased that capacity over the years. There's not much left that isn't memorized .

[tyros2009]

Other few settings such as touch, split point have never been an issue as most of Yamaha keyboards I play in my area are left at factory defaults.
Reason: most owners are not advanced enough to have the need to change these, and that's why they ask me to come playing for their parties. Some of them even ask me to leave my settings on their keyboards afterward.
In my area, a lot of folks buy Yamaha keyboards to learn playing the simple method (single fingered chords), and only play chords to sing along with at home. When it comes to a party, these guys hired a real player to play for them.
That was the main reason I want to also keep a copy of my stuffs on USB, plug my USB drive in someone else keyboard and I am like at home.

[tyros2009]

After a week playing around with my Genos, I found that the touch screen is NOT as sensitive as the screen of a tablet or smartPhone, especially during typing letters. Kind of disappointing for an expensive device. It does the job, but I had to touch the screen hard to get it to respond !!!

Do others feel the same way about the screen sensitivity ?

Another "not so good" is about the soft keyboard. If you put it in upper case mode, every letter you type are in upper case !!! Pretty annoying, That makes typing on Genos a bit harder.
Not like a smartphone/tablet soft keyboard, after an upper case letter, the following letters will be in lower case, unless one forces it to be upper case by touching the "shift" key twice.
I hope this can be corrected in the next Firmware version.

BTW: I assign the button E to be fade in/out. Good to have. Still cannot find a way to use one of these buttons to open a specific folder. For now, using USER / Favorites tabs do the same job better.

[EileenL]

You have to remember that Genos is not a smart phone or Tablet. The touch screen works perfectly well for me and I don't have to press hard. Having a Caps button is no different to my computer keyboard, so used to it. Have you celebrated your screen
you only need to do this once.

[Lee Batchelor]

I think Eileen means "calibrated" your screen. There is a touch sensitivity setting for this. I forget where it is or what it's called. My Genos is packed at the moment.

I wish Yamaha would include the apostrophe in the main screen and not make us invoke the symbol screen for this often used symbol in English. Their software people must have English as a second language and should consider using an English as a first language person to edit there OS.

[EileenL]

You find Calibrate in Function and then select Display/Touch screen It is at the bottom on the right of the screen.

[acparker]

@tyros2009

I had a Kobo e-reader that was like that.  The solution was to clean out the very edge of the screen (where it meets the bezel), as that where the touch sensors were.  I don't know if the Genos uses the same technology, but what would it hurt to make sure that area is clear of dirt?  It might help, it might not.

Adam Parker

[Lee Batchelor]

@tyros2009

I had a Kobo e-reader that was like that.  The solution was to clean out the very edge of the screen (where it meets the bezel), as that where the touch sensors were.  I don't know if the Genos uses the same technology, but what would it hurt to make sure that area is clear of dirt?  It might help, it might not.

Adam Parker

I think the Genos screen uses induction? It's not the same as the other mobile devices but you're right about the dirt. It's good to keep that screen clean! I clean mine after almost every use. I use a microfiber cloth and warm water only.

[JohnS (Ugawoga)]

You have to remember that Genos is not a smart phone or Tablet. The touch screen works perfectly well for me and I don't have to press hard. Having a Caps button is no different to my computer keyboard, so used to it. Have you celebrated your screen
you only need to do this once.

Hi Eileen
I used to have a Roland hardware sequencer, more basic than today's stuff.
I sold it on EBay but i already sent for spare carbon fibre tipped pens and Roland had sent me three.
The screen is very sensitive to the pen and very quick. so now they are very handy.

All the best
John
Ps , i am starting to get the mixing right now and getting very close to reference tracks.
I spent the whole year getting frustrated, but kept on going.
So now mastering is the next thing and Ozone 9 is looking good .

[maartenb]

I found that the touch screen is NOT as sensitive as the screen of a tablet or smartPhone

Correct.

Tablets use "capacitive" touch (which means your finger just has to be there on the glass), while the Genos uses "resistive" touch (it registers pressure with whatever object: finger, pencil, etc.).

Also the touch response of the screen is a bit slow (slower than a tablet/phone), adding to the feeling of "not registering touches".

To enjoy your keyboard, type a bit slower and the Genos will register your touch. You can also use your finger nail, or the gummi back of a pencil.


Maarten