Wow, someone who's as compulsively obsessed as *I* am!I'm not sure a lot of people realize this, but Yamaha didn't add a single new Electric Guitar to the Genos2. Yamaha renamed two i.e. Solo King & Rhythm King to Solo Ace and Rhythm Ace, but it's the same samples as far as I know. The Organs are practically the same, except the Genos2 has 6 new DX7 Organs, and the ones I've heard sound kind of cheesy. Even though Yamaha added an extra layer or two and longer samples to some of the Ac. Pianos, they're inferior to the Montage M ac. Pianos, needless to say. I've actually read posts from folks online that think the 'improved' ac. Pianos on the Genos2 don't cut the mustard. There are several new Brass voices and they sound excellent. Many new Bass voices, which is good to know. No new Accordions, but there is one new DX7 Harmonica, although it's just okay in my opinion. There doesn't seem to be any improvement in the Strings category. Most of the new DX7 Electric Piano voices are excellent, or at least the ones I've heard, anyway. I saw a Genos2 on eBay not long ago that was a return listed by Sweetwater for $4,800, but they mentioned it was only in 'good' condition with a 2-year factory warranty. Since it was only in 'good' condition (Guitar Center ranks used gear as Mint, Excellent, Great, Good, etc.) I offered Sweetwater $4,200, but they didn't respond. The person who returned it could have dropped the silly thing on the ground from waist high, so I made a low-ball offer just in case it had any internal or external damage. As far as the humped-back design at the rear on the top panel, I noticed if you use the music rest it seems to smooth out the appearance, making it look somewhat better. But who wants to use the music rest on a 24/7/365 basis? No VCM rotary organ engine to take advantage of the new lighted sliders and knobs. Significantly reduced User Memory. What was Yamaha thinking? Flash memory is relatively inexpensive, so it's a real head scratcher. No more Digital Output and the new audio interface (two channel Stereo, only) is not an adequate substitution for a lot of professional oriented keyboardists/musicians. The new HDMI output on the Genos2 is nice but since the Genos2 Main LCD is only 800x600 dots it can't take full advantage of the HDMI's 1280x720 output and there is only video output, no audio output, which seems odd since HDMI supports both audio and video transfer. I noticed a lot of people online were upset that the HDMI output didn't support audio transfer. So I guess I'll wait until the Genos3, hoping it will be what the Genos2 should have been. Fun fact of the day: I owned the Tyros1 (bought brand new) and then the Tyros2 came out about three years later. But many people noticed the Tyros2 wasn't such a big deal when compared to the Tyros1. Many Tyros1 owners said no thanks, including me. Then about 3 years later the Tyros3 was released (Made in Japan) and it was an instant hit. Better organs, better sounds overall, more advanced features, etc. I bought a mint condition used one but sold it once I got my Genos. I thought about getting a Tyros5 at one point, but I'm glad I waited until the Genos was released. It seems a lot of people traded in their Genos for a Genos2, and to each his own of course. The Genos2 is well worth it in my opinion if you don't already have big brother Genos.
But perhaps there's a glimmer of hope Yamaha will do something extra special with the Genos3 that will give new meaning to the Japanese phrase Kaizen 改善 i.e. "continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers." Theoretically, the Geno3 could be released in 2026 (October, November, in three years), since the global pandemic is long gone and Yamaha is undoubtedly back on track and back on schedule regarding next generation product releases. Plus, it would be during the 250th anniversary/birthday of America, which would be extra special for us Yanks here in the USA because of the close relationship Japan and America have as allies and friends. It shouldn't take another 6 years, in other words. MIDI 2.0 support, VCM Rotary Organ Engine and more Organ voices, either a Digital Output or an audio interface comparable to the Montage M. An Analog engine such as the AN-X engine on the Montage M. VH3, a more professional looking design. Even better Ac. Pianos and better Strings. Additional Electric Guitars, more Accordions/Harmonicas, MORE USER MEMORY, MORE SAMPLE MEMORY, a BIGGER sub-display with OLED, please. An 88-key version? To compete with the Korg Pa5X 88-key? I think an 88-key version would be a big seller. A 61-key version for old folks who don't want to break their back carrying a 76-key or 88-key Genos3 around? Time will tell. Enjoy whatever keys you play, that's the main thing, I reckon.
I just went through all the guitar voices; yup, electrics are basically the same (66 on G2 in the main section vs 60 on G1. Acoustic guitars are 50 on G2 vs 30 on G1. Bear in mind that a lot of the G1 sounds on G2 have been moved to LeEgacy, as well, meaning there's more new there than just the difference in main voices). The Classic Nylon voices for a start, are all new in G2 acoustic guitars. But with at least 20 new, it's easier to find. In the electric guitar section? I couldn't find any G1 equivalent of the G2 VintagePalm, but VintageDistFull on G1 *is* the same voice as 50sVintageFull on G2. Likewise VintageDriveWah on G1 is the same as 50sDriveWahWAh. Both G1/G2 are missing the HalfWahLead voice from the s970/975/sx900!) and both G1/G2 are missing the string arpeggiators from s970/975/sx900!
Yup, the G2 is well worth it if you don't have G1; so we were surprised by the sheer number of G1 customers who traded in their G1 for a G2.
But then I spent a couple of months really digging in, and the reverbs, 4 x the number of orchestral kits (G1 has the same orchestral kit as T1, and I *think* it was the same as CVP209/PSR9000... so that symphony kit is really, really long in the tooth.) makes a *huge* difference in person... but only for songs/styles that use the new drums, reverb, dx7 synths, and basses (and new pianos, of course)... all of which are featured in my 3 youtube demos above.
There are new string sounds, but most of the solo strings are simply re-tweaks of the Genos versions with new behaviour (pjd actually went through an analyzed the voice data I sent him for those sounds); there are 5 new ensemble string soudns (not much, no) and they're *not* even S.Art! You're right, the other huge areas of improvement are the new trumpets (solo and ensemble); the new solo woodwinds inlcuding S.Art 2 Shakuhachi,
But dont' forget, other than the Revo drums, and new pianos, the G1 only really added Kino Strings (a *lot* of them) and acoustic guitars, and some woodwins over the T5. The choir voices were 100% identical (have been since T4); the acoustic guitars, they added a few going from T5 to G1, but most uniquely the resonator guitars. And of course, much better piano than the Tyroses.
Not to mention a *ton* of new basses, including acoustic slap, new hard "seinfeld-esque" slap basses (which ironically was a Roland synth back in the day), Hoffner (MCCartney) basses, including for the first time ever, S.Art2 Basses!!
On the other hand, while I can A/B the new ambient (and the 1 lone new Revo drum) with the G1 revo drums and you'll definitely hear a difference, it becomes *much* harder to spot the difference once that's buried in a mix, with the exception of Production kit, which has a kick drum that's felt more than it's heard, and is a very unique new kit on the G2.
The problem is, normally, several months after launch Yamaha sends Peter Baartmans over here to really showcase the differences. And as you know, that's not an option anymore
So I've had to dig through myself to see what's actually new, modified, and improved (I found 2 things that got worse: the OLED subscreen from G1 is now LCD, and *way* too bright even on the dimmest setting), and the Default BigBandBrass (shake) on the G2 has a monaural eq applied to it (so it sounds just like the one from PSRs950!), meaning you have to turn off the EQ to make it stereo again. *OR* just load the vce setting from G1 (or T5, T4,T4 etc)Mark
Statistics: Posted by amwilburn — Sat Sep 07, 2024 10:07 pm