I wonder if you George can find out a little bit more on Genesys for drum kits and sounds for techo/dance type of music. Maybe GEM will surprise people like me this time. George, whenever you get a chance.

[This message has been edited by New Yorker (edited 08-23-2002).]

Ok,guys and girls,,,,
I just spent 3 hours with the sounds and I am happy to say, this keyboard has hundreds of brand new sounds that are great.
At first, going through single sounds, I was finding pages of exactly the same sounds found in the WK series. However, as I soon found out, the 300 or so new sounds are found in higher pages, like page 7 or 8 or 9. The reason for this was to keep all compatability for WK users who are coming up to Genesys without loosing anything or getting wierd sound choices in song and styles from the WK products. Brilliant, a company thinking about past customers and not reinventing the wheel!.
I found a great mellow piano not used in the piano preset family, and have now saved in in the piano user family. By the way, the memory system of this keyboard is really easy to use. You have 128 banks of 8 registration memories which memorize everything(thats 1024 registration memories on board), you have 16 locations for each sound family catagory to put you favorite edited sounds by family, and you have 8 style preset for each style you choose(one touch settings). And the best part is when you push the store button, you choose which one of these three areas you want to store something, so it is quite easy to do.
The choir voices are great with newly sampled gospel type voices and great male and female. PLEASE REMEMBER when trying out this keyboard in a store that the voice presets are outstanding but that there are so many other single voices which are new that you will want to try out as well and don't forget that they are in the higher page numbers...
All the great latino samples which have been used in the WK6latino keyboard are here and I am amazed at the ability to use real vibrato on many of the REAL VOICES doesn't change speeds when played in different octaves. This was acheived in more advanced sampling conditions which Chris Anthony has explained to me. This has always been a problem in most sounds that use a lot of vibrato in Solo Voices, but Generalmusic has done a marvelous job of fixing this problem with newer sampling techniques.
I am now going to play with the styles this afternoon and will report back later. I can tell you that the Unplugged 1 style is something I've not heard from anyone yet. There are two unplugged styles. 1 is guitar strumming and 2 is fingerpicking. 1 is perfect for a Beatles Song like "Hey, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away". It works perfectly for many tunes needing just a strummed guitar.
More to follow.....Thanks for your Patience!
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

I almost forgot to tell you about the drum samples.........
they are great. Especially the new kits called live 1, live 2 and ambient. When you hit the snare light on say live 2 you almost don't hear any stick at all (it's almost like you are using brushes to strike the head) and as you increase velocity not only does the stick become noticable, but also the samples crossfade and the effects change. Beautifully done! and the open high hat stays open for a really long time and decays exactly like a real cymbals.
Something else I forgot to tell you about in the previous post is that by going through all the family of sounds presets, you pretty much are hearing a best of all the new sounds and I've been told that there will be a generalmidi mapping available which will use all the best of the new sounds in a generalmidi mapping.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Thanks George for your on going review of this keyboard.
I'm ordering one in the UK this coming week and your comments have confirmed quite a few things I wanted to know. It obviously has loads of great sounds and styles in it, but for me the main reason for buying one was for the onboard cdrw and mp3 playback. I'm pleased to see you say it's easy to navigate (unlike some I could mention), that will come in handy when I'm out playing (I do sing a long nights in local clubs, semi professionally for the time being and also do backing tracks for other artistes). Well, can't wait to get my own to go along with my SD1 and G1000, thanks. I'll try to post some MP3's when I'vd made them somewhere.

Ok,
The styles are sensational! Dance and Techno are all great. None of the styles in this Genesys are just remaps of old WK styles. Fresh and Unique. The Dance and Techno use lots of really synthy sounds. Also, every style now has different intro's when playing minor chords which are completely different then when you play major chords. The guitar tracks are great within the country and rock catagories and remember, with 32 styles in each catagory they covered their basses really well in every catagory.
All the styles are excellent with great differences in the 4 variations.
Here's my initial impression of the Genesys...
To look at the interface you think WK 6 or WK8 on the screen. But to listen to the sounds and listen to the styles, you know this is a new keyboard with great sounds, styles and of course, new features such as MP3, Wav and CD player recorder.
I just realized a great feature. For those needing a great backup band and you use different modules and keyboards for different sounds you love, you could record a midifile using all your modules in your studio, then save them as an MP3 and you would be able to play these in the Genesys. And your lyrics would still be shown on the screen or on a video monitor.
George kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

This keyboard gets better by the minute.
I'd thought of the midifile you mentioned below although i don't use them much. The backing I produce is done in Cubase/Reason or Pro Tools. I can save the audio as MP3, stick it on a CD, shove it into the Genesys and play live over the top (or transfer MP3 to hard drive)great! I could even record styles from my other keyboards and leave them at home and I can also record my guitar playing into it, yippeeeeeee.
Are the sounds and styles at least on par with the SD1?

I just put a few of my older and newer midi files into the Genesys and I loved the results. The newer files are all choosing GMlevel2 sounds which like XG offer better sound quality and my older midi files are choosing the better panel voices which generalmusic mapped from GM to choose these sounds. This is much more like the Ketron products which use their better voices instead of gm voices.
It's now time to go home and I'm loving this Genesys the more I'm playing it. I have discovered that some of the styles are from the WK8 such as Gipsy but with the new sounds the drums and guitars are so much improved.
Oh, by the way, another new keyboard arrived today from Yamaha. It is the DGX300. 76 piano style keys with light weight, disk drive, and new piano sample called "live!grand", beautiful styling and a selling price of $449.00. With all my excitement over Genesys, I've almost not looked at this Yamaha. I am very impressed with this and anyone looking for an entry level keyboard with a more piano feel with all the arranger functions of the PSR350 will surly like this one.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

George,

Have you found any decent ballad styles on genesys?

How would you compare PSR9KPRO with genesys, in sounds and styles?

Sorry for the many questions but we are reading with extreme interest.

Thanks.

George, since you are the only GEM dealer active on the forum, I think everybody would appreciate it if you would post a general idea of price. Maybe MSRP and/or MAP.
Thanks,
Don

Retail price in UK is £2700, you can get one between £2100-£2300 cash, after shopping about. No idea of USA prices or Euros.