Yamaha Genos workstation full review

Yamaha Genos is Yamaha Music group’s new “next-generation” keyboard arranger and workstation. It features impeccable audio quality and intuitive ease-of use, together in a sleek, portable design.

Yamaha truly have exceeded most expectations with their new Genos workstation, it features a huge variety of exciting features for singers, songwriters, producers and performers – I’m pretty certain it will make its way into most studios, concert halls and tour busses.

Yamaha Genos’ predecessors the Tyros series were great, and hugely popular, however there were a few things that Yamaha needed to iron out, and they certainly knocked it out of the park.

Audio Quality

5/5
The Yamaha Genos comes packed with incredibly high-fidelity multi-sample libraries, cinematic strings to orchestral brass. Realistic articulations can be applied through varying play styles.

Features

5/5
Two displays - TFT LCD and OLED for unmatched visual feedback. Yamaha Genos is capable of 256 voices of polyphony, it comes packed with over 1700 sounds and a huge variety of DSP effects.

Intuitiveness

5/5
Each style come preloaded with a series of “One-touch settings” of thoughtfully curated sounds and parameters specific to those styles.

Value for Money

4/5
The Yamaha Genos is not cheap; however, it’s aimed at professional players. Considering the high-quality audio and huge number of features, the value is good.

Breath-taking sound

The Yamaha Genos features the best sound quality ever heard on any Yamaha workstations, everything from the CFX piano and warm Kino Strings to the punchy new Revo!Drums have been meticulously designed with utmost quality in mind. Genos features Yamaha’s AEM (Articulation Element Modeling) which attempts to recreate sound as realistically as possible, using a series of multi-sample and DSP techniques.

Yamaha Genos employs Wave Cycling technology, similar to “round robin” style sampling, which guarantees that no two sample hits will voice-off exactly the same. For the first time ever, we are seeing Yamaha’s highly renowned C7 Grand Piano making an appearance, painstakingly multi-sampled to accurately represent all the nuances of the real deal. The C7 Grand Piano is the perfect solo or accompaniment piano tone for Pop, Rock, Jazz and much more, and has become somewhat of an industry standard in recording studios the world-over.

For the Singers & Songwriters

The Yamaha Genos features an incredibly wide array of accompaniment style, simply dial in the style you’re looking for and start writing. Each style has a set of thoughtfully curated one-touch settings, pre-loaded with a variety of sounds specific to that genre. This gives you the ability to create unique variations on the fly, without having to dive through long menus. Yamaha have incorporated 48v Phantom Power into the microphone input, this makes Genos a great studio companion. Furthermore, you’re able to apply a variety of Vocal Harmony, Pitch and Vocoder effects directly to the microphone signal, for that rich, produced vocal sound.

For the performers

Yamaha Genos features a thoughtfully rearrange layout, they’ve moved the registration memories and some other more frequent parameters so they’re accessible with both hands. This is an integral part of transitioning between voices and styles seamlessly. Genos has over 200 built-in arpeggio styles, everything from guitar strums to harmonies – a great way to trigger a variety of accompaniments while you solo over the top.

For the producers

The integrated mixing console and DSP effects are reminiscent of something out of Yamaha’s high-end digital mixing consoles, in fact Yamaha Genos incorporates Yamaha’s VCM technology to achieve that high-end console sound. From Hans Zimmer style cinematic strings, to powerful hard-hitting drums, Genos features all the staples any producer would need, alongside a host of unique expressive sounds. Easily save your arrangements as Audio or MIDI files to edit in your DAW or send them to someone else for collaboration. Genos has the ability to either record you in real-time or sequence and edit your performance until it’s perfect.

Expand your music

The Yamaha Genos memory bank is expandable using YEM (Yamaha’s Expansion Manager) download or create your own unique styles and songs and transfer them to the Genos easily using a flash drive. You’re even able to load full tracks as Wav. files to be played back using the multi-pads, if you have everything mixed and mastered, and just want to solo over the top.

Final thoughts

PROS

Much more portable than previous Yamaha workstation models
Intuitive touch-screen control alongside hardware controllers for maximized workflow
3D Joystick style pitch and modulation controllers allow for more expressive playing and realistic articulations
New reworked “Playlist” section makes browsing effortless
Yamaha Genos comes pre-programmed with songs from all popular genres
Very responsive keys with adjustable velocity sensitivity
Phantom Power compatible for studio condenser microphones

CONS

The Yamaha Genos comes in at a rather hefty price tag
No weighted or hammer-action versions available for more discerning players

The Yamaha Genos is undoubtedly the pinnacle of Yamaha workstations to date, incorporating all the bells-and-whistles the more discerning keyboard players are looking for. It’s a powerhouse of sounds, akin to a full DAW in a portable package.

To find out more info on the tech specs of the Yamaha Genos.

Yamaha Genos workstation full review