Yamaha Genos 2 Workstation Keyboard

General

A master of a workstation keyboard, the Yamaha Genos 2 comes brimming with every function you could ever wish for. From stunning sounds and styles to a fitted microphone input, this performance-grade keyboard has been fully set up for the stage. Yamaha have been considered the industry standard in workstations since the nineties and have been honing and perfecting their advanced models ever since. In the form of the Genos 2, Yamaha take massive creative strides forward by including future-thinking details such as the enormous, full-colour touchscreen display, the responsive bank of faders and encoders, and the smooth feel and action of the keyboard itself.

The Yamaha Genos 2

In return for the high investment, this model brings the highest level. With cheaper keyboards, both quantity and quality are compromised, but with the Genos 2, you're getting quantity and quality in truck-loads. This model blends Yamaha's AWM sample engine with an AWM expansion engine and an FM engine. All three engines boast a polyphony of 128 voices, so if you use the expansion, that brings the total up to 384 - or 256 without the expansion. This is already more than enough to back up the most ambitious of performers, and that's next to the FM synthesis - a feature that hasn't really left the Yamaha formula since its introduction with the DX7 synthesizer back in the eighties - a model that single-handedly sent many of the other analogue synthesizers of that time into early retirement. Basically, the addition of an FM engine puts this edition of the Genos way ahead of the models that don't feature it. Why? We've already mentioned the polyphony and, with FM synthesis at your fingertips, you gain the power to shape and mould your own unique, custom sounds. Meanwhile, the AWM sample engine does all of the things that the FM engine can't, including more-than convincingly emulating the full grandeur of Yamaha's legendary CFX concert piano.

Extra Perks

The quality of the styles also match the quality of sounds and make absolutely no concessions, while the design has been 100% streamlined for the travelling performer: a microphone input complete with phantom power; a built-in harmoniser and vocoder effect that can be added to your vocals; and a display screen can even be hooked up via HDMI, so score or visuals can be displayed in 1280x720 resolution. A music rest comes included and the rear panel has been fitted with a port for USB sticks, two sets of DIN MIDI inputs and outputs as well as a USB-MIDI port. Wireless LAN and Bluetooth is also supported and the Genos 2 can also double as a USB audio interface as needed. The list of options goes on, completing a formidable sledgehammer of a model built to last the years.