Absolutely stunning keyboard! By far, the best keyboard that I have ever had. Thanks Matt Alexander!! Great advice, sir!

I use the Genos2 for writing and orchestrating worship music. It produces complete songs, every instrument imaginable, a rich library of effects, mixing, staff display, dual-track voice recording (w/effects), expandable libraries, the whole enchilada. It does everything! There was a survey done on the Best Keyboards years ago and the Genos was voted best "DAW replacement." That is a BOLD statement, and it is LITERALLY that capable.

The Genos2 is a substantial upgrade from the Genos. Rich sounds, double the polyphony, FM sounds, same simple user interface. The Ambient Drums are off-the-rails good. The FM sounds too.

Yamaha really got something right though. The Genos2 songs are stored in MIDI format (non-proprietary *.mid files). Why is this so powerful? There are SO MANY DAWs out there. Record/arrange your song in Genos2 and you can pretty much import it into any DAW!! **This creates a substantial amount of portability, plus it is faster and simpler to arrange**. Just import it into the DAW and map to the amazing sound library in the Genos2 (or map to virtual instruments if you prefer). A little config is involved (minutes), but it is a wicked powerful feature. The Genos2 sound library and expansions are so robust, that you likely will not need any virtual instruments.

Regarding DAWs, I definitely recommend CUBASE Pro. I use Cubase Pro and Genos2 and they are perfect together. Cubase is the best DAW for songwriters anyways, but because CUBASE is a Yamaha product, it integrates well with the Genos2.

I got Genos2 from Sweetwater more than a year ago. The sound engine is amazing. It has a lot of capabilities to do whatever you want using the sound editing , arp , layering and song and style recording. It has knobs and faders for liver performance and tweaking and a lot more.

This keyboard is full of features and sounds great. It has a serious flaw in that the the Yamaha USA website does not really provide the necessary support for a $ instrument. The European support site provides great expansion packs to add styles and voices, but the USA site does not. You only have access to the site you register with (home country). Basically the Genos 2 in the US has little expansion support. I like this keyboard, but I am disappointed in Yamaha's lack of support.

Genos 2 is a really nice keyboard with many great features,the sounds are really great especially the pianos, and guitars. Over all if you are looking for a easy to use arranger keyboard the Genos 2 will meet those needs. The price has gone up on the Genos 2 which is sad to see, some may say it is over priced like everything else. My only disappointment with Yamaha USA is it does not support the Genos 2 with the 35 Genos expansion packs like Yamaha UK converted 35 Genos expansion packs. The Yamaha UK customers have had these converted Genos expansion packs for over a year. I hope Yamaha USA will deal with this issue and support their Genos 2 Yamaha USA customers with these converted Genos expansion packs.

I have owned the Tyros and Genos and now the Genos2 and this is by far the best arranger keyboard out there.. quality of sounds and instruments is awesome.. I use it for recording and always provides the sounds to make.. Special thanks to Jonathan Pass who helped me make the purchase and is always there when I have questions. Very, very easy to work with.

The Yamaha Genos 2 is the best workstation, arranger on the market once you get the EQ setting dialed in. Master EQ's are set to flat from factory the manual doesn't tell you this. The vocal dynamics are pro, sounds just like a PA system and the effects are very good lots of extras build in. I'm very impressed with the recording capabilities studio quality no distortion levels are perfect and crystal clear. It's the all in one band in a keyboard. I love this keyboard!!! If you're looking to upgrade don't hesitate this is it!!!

The Genos 2 is my first Yamaha arranger keyboard. The quality of the presets and sounds are just incredible. The work flow and just the simplicity of this keyboard makes you want to spend hours jamming out. I love my Genos 2. As always the Sweetwater staff never dissapoints.

After much "research", comparison on line and in-person with other arrangers, budget analysis and conversations with my great rep. Alex Burgland, I choose the Genos2 and have not regretted it. The Sounds (through the GNS MSO1) is fantastic. Despite some complaints re the manual, having used an Alesis Q8 with a teeny-tiny screen and deep menu dives, this is a dream for the novice arranger user. The manual gets you to the location to explore further Voices and styles and to create alternative sounds. The ability to sculpt voices is great and pairs well with my Moog synths. I selected the Genos2 to compose first and perform second. To compose with the ability to have drums in the background and styles accompaniment, lets me get my ideas down in rough form for further work before the idea gets lost. (I am not a drummer and before I used to sync my DFAM with the Keyboad - this is easier and more effective). I have already saved ideas down, despite just touching upon the vast capabilities of the instrument. For those who want professional sounds and composing capabilities to run with, Genos2 is the partner.

Yamaha has designed the Genos2 to be the ultimate fun machine for all ages. It comes packed with enough bells and whistles to provide endless entertainment for amateurs and professionals alike.

The Genos2 improves on the highly acclaimed Genos with 250 brand new styles, 338 new voices, expanded 384 note polyphony, a new REVelation Reverb from Steinberg plus a built-in DX7 FM sound engine.

Yamaha engineers have painstakingly revoiced every style and crafted 4 One Touch Settings for each which makes this instrument playable right out of the box.

You can clearly hear the improvement in sound quality when played through a pair of Adam A7V speakers. However, hooking the Genos2 to a pair of Focal Twin6 Be/Sub 6 combo takes this performance to a whole new level. It is a marriage made in heaven.

You will appreciate how the new effects have been tailored for each part as you listen to the smooth reverb tail.

Yamaha is the undisputed king when it comes to designing readily recognizable song styles. You can have months of entertainment just exploring the 800 styles and One Touch Settings.

The Genos2 has the edge when it comes to emulating acoustic instruments thanks to their Super Articulation Technology. Yamaha has gone to great lengths in making their Operating System as user friendly and rock solid as possible. The use of 10 Registration buttons offers the simplest and quickest way to store your own settings for each song.

If someone wants a great sounding arranger that can be played right out of the box and make them sound like a pro with minimal effort, this is the ticket. Your audience would feel they are listening to a mastered CD.

You cannot go wrong by choosing either the Korg Pa5X or the Ketron Event over the Genos2. They are all highly capable top of the line arrangers.

One could build a dual manual setup with the Genos2 positioned on top of the Korg Pa5X 88-key model and add the Ketron Event X sound module for the ultimate arranger experience.

Here are some enhancements I would like to see implemented in the successor to the Genos2:

[1] Increase the Expansion Memory from 3GB to 8GB.

[2] Increase the Internal Storage from 15GB to 128GB.

[3] Add Smooth Sound Transition (SST) technology like the Korg Pa5X.

[4] Add the 16 assignable pads like the Korg Pa5X. I like how you can instantly mute or solo any of the 16 channels.

[5] Add more song specific styles to increase the number of factory styles from 800 to 1000.

[6] Include a MIDI file of the song that best matches each style. Even better, provide 3 versions - easy, intermediate and advanced.

Yes, I am asking for 3000 complete MIDI files to go with the 1000 styles! This would help inspire musicians of all ages and skill levels and double as an educational tool for someone exploring the arranger world.

Imagine if you could preview an entire song when you select a style just like you can audition a voice?

Yamaha knows its target audience. I say go all the way, capitalize on your strengths and deliver the next generation fun machine. Call it the ENTERTAINER.

Thanks to Sweetwater Engineer Kevin McMillan for his excellent customer service and lightning fast delivery via 2-Day FedEx.

Sweetwater has always been a class act.

I had been working my way up through arranger keyboards the past few years. To my surprise, I'm now performing for people, something I never thought I'd do. I figured it was time to up my game get a more pro keyboard so I opted for the Genos 2. What I found out was that once you sit down, fasten your seatbelt, this baby rocks. I can't believe what you can do with this thing. This really ups my game. It is such a rush to play. Thanks, Ray Gonzalez.

Great improvement over original Genos, sounds and styles are impressive and super natural and work flow is much better than before.

Just received mine from Sweetwater yesterday, it is a very capable Arranger with amazing sound quality, however I don't call it a major upgrade over my previous Genos, but definitely they have improved a lots of specs, compared to the original Genos and price has been reduced too.
I should admit that I was expecting more of improvement and upgrade on Genos2 over previous one, almost after 7 years of production!!!