Inquiring minds want to know...?
looking forward to your first impressions.

Thanks

would also like to hear comparisons between the Pa4x vs genos since you had both.

First things first...

Whenever i sit behind the Genos it gives me the feeling that i am sitting behind a majestic instrument, the screen is bigger then the pa4x, there are a lot less buttons.. but the interface of how to get somewhere fast is much much better on the Genos. . The programmable buttons and lower bar side of the screen make up for much of the missing buttons. Also the buildquallity of the Genos is high end. Even tough its plastic,

What makes a world of difference is the performance memmories on the Genos, still a pitty this is missing on pa4x, its so easy to set things up for songs, the new setlists in genos are equall to the songbook in ease of use, but because you can ... on the other hand, i loved how keyboard sets worked on the pa4x.. having sepperate save items for these makes ahuge difference, its easy to find your favorite sounds..Also i noticed that where the ots settings on pa4x are allways meant to be layered, quite a lot of settings on yamaha genos work better as single sounds.

And while i said good bye to the tyros5 more then 2 years ago, the most important feeling i got was the feeling of comming home. Genos so far feels like a warm bath.

Where it comes to sounds quallity, i personally prefer for most sounds on the Genos.. exceptions are the grand piano’s, the b3 and the synth sounds..Genos only has the typical Yamaha piano samples, these are great for cutting trough a mix, but for solo playing a darker mellower Western sample like bösendorfer or Steinway would have been very welcome..

Where it comes to styles, both instruments have top class styles.. however, the Genos styles are much more aimed at specific titles, where i found Korgs styles much kore generic and broader usefull then Yamahas.. where Yamaha scores big time is the availabillity of user created styles, and the ease of use to play these directly from a USB stick..

also the Yamaha community on psr tutorial is much more active then the korgforums.. its just like synthzone a very pleasant community to be part of, now the korg community seems much more professional in nature.. on psr tutorisl people share.. on korg forums people sell

While the keybed is top on the Genos, i prefered the pa4x even more. Its a good thing the Genos now has a stick, i prefer this above wheels..


Where it comes to playing ion the Genos, the diversity of sa sounds makes you realise that each of them requires a differnt approach when playing... on the pa4x, i was able to play most presets as i did on a piano.. yamaha presets are broader with more different articulations and require a different finesse then on the pa4x..


And then there offcourse are many many more things, like the ensemble sounds, they don’t work for every song, but they are so much fun to play with.... and then the livecontrolls, they work very intuitive... where pa4x has kaoss, many of these things are accesible on Genos trough the live controlls, and knobs work so much better then the screen access on pa4x..

Another very huge feature to me on Genos is that there is 32 parts multitimbrallity... if you don’t play a song, you can use those 16 sounds for other things trough midi..


Where it comes to edditing, yamaha keeps it to the bare minimum where it comes to onboardedditing.. but everything is still there to addapt your sounds.. edditing is okay... sound creation is trough yem and even that is not as good as what pa4x offers you in onboard tools for edditing and creating your sounds..

The arpeggiator on the Genos is basic, just a few presets.. no loadable patterns.. but still ahead of the arpeggiator pa4x offers trough kaoss. Since i am spoiled by the modx and karma on the kronos, i haven’t played with it much..


So does the Genos offer all and everything? No, but i am configuring my ipad to overcome my long list of shortcommings...

Will i pair it with the kronos? Or another 88 key? I seriously don’t know yet, currently having so much fun with it as a standalone... but i probably will some day in the future.. there is enough room in my studio to have several setups..

Bachus thanx for the in depth first review....looking forward to more in the future when you dig into the OS deeper.many of your points are valid and Imo more personal to the player themselves and what you need as an individual vs a general players approach. Personally I am glad I have heard, listened, read enough about genos since inception to not make me go ahead as I have always done and dropped that kind of money on a new model this time around. I wish you good luck with genos,
I hope it for fills your needs in your music. It's a shame we as players of arrangers don't have that much anymore to choose from for TOTL units. It seems the more modern futuristic technology they add on takes us further away from being a player vs an DJ style operator as they try to serve both masters with these newer models.

Good thing is you got it at a lesser price not to hurt your pocket book which is a good thing down the road if you decide to make another change.

There will never be a one keyboard fits all ever so pick and choose wisely for your particular needs.
Enjoy the genos honeymoon for now.



Take care..

Thank you, Bachus, for this review, it’s always interesting to hear the first impression, especially when it’s so careful.

So do I understand it right that you’d rather prefer Korg’s piano than Genos’s? And you’d rather prefer MODX’s piano than Korg’s?

As for me I always have to add some layer to my PSR’s piano. I use Slow Strings (legacy) and turn their brightness level to zero, unless I want them to be obvious. When I played an actual acoustic piano I always wondered why I never wanted to add something there.

Well its not so much yamaha piano vs korg..
Its yamaha grand vs Steinway and fazioli..
I prefer the darker deeper sound of these above the brighter Yamaha Sound...

I still think Yamaha should also have added the bösendorfer sound, or atleast an expansion pack with this sound...

Wow, Bachus:

I would call that a comprehensive review. Thanks for all that effort and for what I consider to be "unbiased opinions" backed up with statements that let us know, "You've actually been there... and done that!"

Bravo! ----Dave

I have the Genos and I had the pax4 ' its a matter of taste but to me, Genos is a dream come true , its make me play and sound better than ever ,and I disagree with Bachus about the grand piano ' it is perfect the one that is the first when you turn on the key, its mezzo bright and even a little dark and the dynamics is very good 'I use it to play solo whenevere I need to play piano in jazz music and it shines in the mix with the style.
the only sound that I am dissapointed is the B3 and the Rotor simulation but i have the Nord electro 4 for this sound

It will be interesting to know the outcome if you ever try to choose MODX sounds from the Genos.

Bachus,

All of what you wrote I agree with especially the comparison to the Pa4x vs. the Genos pianos and B3 sounds. Right on with the keybed as well I prefer the Korg keybed. I drop off the map when you start talking about multitimbral and using the iPad to fill those needs.

Good very thorough review.