Gear Review: Yamaha Genos Keyboard
Photo Source: YAMAHA
The Yamaha Genos is a beast of a musical instrument! It is designed for serious musicians and songwriters. The 76 keys are weighted for that authentic piano feel. It comes with 1700 high-quality sounds, 500 backing tracks, and realistic drum loops. Being able to add sounds with the 1.8 GB flash card means the music possibilities with the Yamaha Genos are endless.
Yamaha Genos see price
The Keys
I think the choice to have 76 keys not 88 was to save space and make the keyboard compact for touring musicians. Although the keys are weighted the keyboard itself is only 13kgs. It is no disadvantage having 12 fewer keys than a piano as you can always transpose up or down the octave. It is a great size keyboard for any studio.
Drum sounds
I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the Genos drum sounds. The sound engineers were paying attention when they came up with the Revo drum voices technology. Most keyboards have 'plastic' sounding drums. This is not the case with the Genos. The drums sound so realistic they could easily be mistaken for a live drummer.
The sounds
Having Yamahas cfx grand piano sampled as the piano sound on the Genos was a brilliant idea. The AEM (articulation element modeling) only makes your playing more realistic. Essentially it models how an acoustic instrument reacts. An example would be how long a chord will sustain when you hold down the sustain pedal. All the organs, electric pianos, and harpsichords are also super realistic sounding.
EFX
It is important to talk about the VCM technology in the Genos keyboard. This tech comes from Yamaha's professional mixing consoles. The reverb, delay, and other effects are the most realistic effects 've heard on a keyboard. This alone makes it worth the price tag.
The Menu
The large 9-inch screen makes navigating the menu incredibly easy. Although there are lots of functions in this professional keyboard it is still surprisingly easy to go from the backing tracks to the piano sounds to the loops.
Notable features
The realistic sounds and functionality of the Genos make this the perfect keyboard for live gigs or the studio. As a professional musician, I often get asked to send files as both WAV and MIDI. The Genos lets you do both with ease.
| PROS | CONS |
| Compatible with any Digital audio workstation like Pro Tools/Ableton. | No speakers |
| Able to save files as MIDI or WAV files | |
| Can add a microphone and add effects like a vocoder, which is great for live gigs. |
Rating
Build quality: 10/10
Price: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
User experience: 9/10
Yamaha Genos see price
About Magesh Magesh
Magesh is a musician and producer who has worked with Rihanna, Lionel Richie, Ricky Martin, Chris Brown, The Pussy Cat Dolls, Nelly Furtado, and Vernon Reid of Living Colour.
He released an instructional drumming DVD called "Unique Beats" where he mixed the drum kit with electronics and Indian hand percussion. He recently moved from Australia to the UK to explore new musical opportunities.
Website: mageshdrumteacher.co.uk
Contact Magesh Magesh at magesh.magesh7@gmail.com
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