Yamaha Montage 8 vs Genos
If you are wondering whether you should go for Yamaha Montage 8 vs Genos, you have come to the right place. Below, you can read the detailed comparison between these two keyboards. Their vast features make them particularly suitable for live musicians and music makers. However, Yamaha Montage 8 is more affordable and offers a better value than Yamaha Genos.
What we will discuss in this article include:
– The design and build quality of each keyboard
– The features of Yamaha Montage 8 and Yamaha Genos
– Which keyboard that is generally easier and more practical to use
– The sound quality of Yamaha Montage 8 vs Genos
– Which keyboard that is generally better and more recommended
Yamaha Montage 8: Design and User Interface
We will start with Yamaha Montage 8. In a previous article, we have discussed the comparison between Yamaha MOXF8 vs Montage. As a keyboard and a synthesizer, Yamaha Montag 8 may look intimidating, especially for beginners. However, you don’t need to fret, because it is actually quite straightforward once you get used to it. The buttons have been placed in efficient and intuitive groups, and the center console display is effectively functional.
People say that style is a subjective matter, but the majority will agree that Yamaha Montage 8 is a good-looking and elegant keyboard. The flat top surface feels amazing, and the overall build does not feel cheap at all.
Such an excellent build quality matches well with the superior sound of the synthesis engine. There are other workstations that are even more affordable, but once you have tried playing Yamaha Montage 8, you will quickly understand the quality that it offers.
One of the most notable features of Yamaha Montage 8 is the Super Knob control. It is the glowing circular knob beside the display. You will use the Super Knob a lot because it essentially acts as a quick-access hub that will enable you to control multiple parameters at the same time. You can also access the pattern sequencer, dual-insert sound effects for all of the 16 parts, and the arpeggiator which can hold up to eight parts via the same knob. It is very useful and practical, as it can put many additional elements into your music.
Yamaha Montage 8: Features
Yamaha Montage 8 vs Genos are packed with loads of features. However, being the more affordable model, Yamaha Montage 8 unsurprisingly lacks a few things that Yamaha Genos has. Still, it already has very useful stuff.
First of all, there are numerous exciting effects with excellent quality, including reverbs to VCMs. There are also effects for contemporary EDM sounds like Beat Repeat, Bit Crusher, and Vinyl Break, and you can choose to use vintage effects like the Analog Delay and amp simulators to go retro or apply a compressor with a sidechain. You can also adjust the damper resonance to achieve the reverb quality and piano sound that you want for a particular performance perfectly.
Of course, Yamaha Montage 8 has a USB interface to connect to your favorite DAW. It supports 3-in/16-out channels of MIDI digital sounds, and can work with computers and iOS devices. Since it is class-compliant, you won’t need to use any additional hardware support.
One of the most interesting features of Yamaha Montage 8 is the Motion Sequences. With this keyboard, you can create unique sounds by utilizing tempo-synchronized sequences that can be assigned to any synthesizer and custom controls. Need to adjust your sound in real-time? No problem! On the front panel, there are dedicated controls which will enable you to manipulate sounds in real-time, hence encouraging interactivity.
The Envelope Follower is another fun-to-use control. What does it do? Well, you can use it to convert audio into a control source, which then can be used by different synthesizer parameters. For instance, a drum loop can be set to drive the parameters for a vocal recording. This is incredibly useful in making music that uses multiple sounds and effects
Yamaha Montage 8: Sound Quality
In terms of sound quality, Yamaha Montage 8 vs Genos are almost comparable. Even though Yamaha Montage 8 is indeed a lower, more affordable model, the sounds that this keyboard possesses are truly wonderful. Of all the good sounds, the particularly amazing ones are the pianos, electric pianos, and orchestral sounds. These will almost certainly make it to your set list if you are a gigging musician.
Yamaha Montage 8 is armed with the CFX Concert Piano sound, which is the company’s latest multi-layer offering, renewed with new samples. While still retaining the intense, contemporary sound with four processing parts like the one on the previous AWM2 sound engine, it also offers 32 unique tonal elements, including velocity layers and alternate samples. It is able to combine multiple parts into one cohesive performance with beautiful dynamics, accurate overtone inflections, and a powerful sustain comparable to that of a concert grand piano.
The electric pianos are available in the Gallery Performance section, and can be called up via the Scene buttons. The orchestral sounds have superb quality, with plenty of options, and the SuperKnob becomes incredibly practical for sweetening effects and bringing depth to your live performances.
Yamaha Montage 8 is able to use two sound engines, AWM2 and FM-X, and you can use either of them separately or combine them in multitimbral setups and composite sounds. The FM-X sound engine covers all synth sounds, from retro to progressive to experimental. There are biting leads, fuzzy synth sounds, gooey pads, and booming basses. All can integrate well into expansive performances that suit your music moods.
Yamaha Genos: Design and User Interface
Now, we’ll take a look at Yamaha Genos. It will immediately catch you as being sleek with the 9-inch color touchscreen. The arrays of buttons, sliders, and knobs are laid in a neat and organized way so that the keyboard doesn’t appear too crowded.
Once turned on, Yamaha Genos is ready to play sounds (a.k.a. voices in the company’s terminology), deliver accompaniment, play two songs of either MIDI or audio-based, trigger oneshots and phrases via the four on-board pads, and enhance your vocal with auto-harmony and effects. All of your activities will be displayed on the touchscreen, where you can access various settings quickly.
There are six knobs and nine long-throw sliders that have obvious center detents. You can assign three sets of parameters to each knob, and two to each slider. Additionally, the Home Screen have six customizable tabs which you can assign to any page that you want. This is extremely useful for minimizing menu diving.
There are also six Gateway buttons which give you access to what you can say as Yamaha Genos’s modes. Below them, there are six assignable buttons for calling menu pages or functions, or for controlling mixing or accompaniment settings. All in all, Yamaha Genos is a highly customizable keyboard which you can adapt to suit your specific workflow.
The 76 keys have aftertouch, and they feel really great. They are crisp and they have the perfect levels of resistance and push-back. In addition to modulation and pitch bend, you also get enhanced expressive control via the three articulation switches, dedicated transpose and octave controls, and assignable pedal inputs.
Yamaha Genos: Features
Connectivity is not an issue with Yamaha Montage 8 vs Genos. On Yamaha Genos, you can find assignable pedal inputs, a mic combo jack with a switchable 48V phantom power, two audio inputs, main stereo outputs, four analog outputs. There are also two USB ports, two sets of MIDI I/O ports, and a coaxial S/PDIF digital output.
In the effects processing sector, Yamaha Genos is amazing. Besides coming with global master reverb and chorus which are shared by all parts, it also has an 8-band EQ, compressor, and 28 insert-effects blocks. In other words, you can put one insertion effect for each and every part that the keyboard can play, or you can combine multiple effects on any part that you want.
Yamaha Genos can play four voices simultaneously. One on the lower end is for the Left Hand part, whereas the other three are for the Right Hand parts. You can easily create split or layered setups via the front panel buttons.
If you are a live performer, you will appreciate Yamaha Genos’s four pads that can be used to play any oneshot or MIDI/audio phrase. You can also configure whether the phrases are played once or in a loop. Then, you can store the sets of phrases in the One Touch settings so that you will be able to call them quickly later.
The arpeggiator is great, too! It comes with built-in patterns that are nice and useful, ranging from up/down groupings of synth patterns to filter and gate effects. You can access the timing resolution and note-gate through the Live Control knobs. Furthermore, Yamaha Genos has a 16-track MIDI sequencer that is able to record and edit parts, either one part at a time or all in a single pass.
Yamaha Genos: Sound Quality
Coming with more than 1,650 sounds/voices and 58 drum/SFX kits, Yamaha Genos is definitely a very powerful and versatile unit. All of them sound good, and some of them are downright amazing. It has a 128-note polyphony, so even the most complex songs can be played with richness and detail. Unfortunately, the sounds have limited editable parameters.
Well, basic amp-envelope offsets and filter cutoff/resonance controls are present, and there are also modulation and aftertouch settings. However, Yamaha Genos does not give any further tweaking options. The computer software also only provides limited sound editing capabilities.
Anyhow, the sound quality is still impressive. Electric pianos are great, and there are now noises that can add depth and realism. Yamaha Genos has also added some new guitar, brass, and woodwind sounds. They use the articulation controls properly to deliver the most natural performances. The synth section has also received some additions, too, including the Revo Drums which utilize roundrobin sample assignments.
Yamaha Montage 8 vs Genos
Conclusion
In general, Yamaha Montage 8 will give you the best value for the money. Despite coming with a more affordable price, it already has excellent features and sounds. All the sounds are good, but the pianos, electric pianos, and orchestral sounds are particularly great.
