Generalmusic WX2-Plus

Software is not upgradable, however you can load extra features with a diskette. Not much available thou, a Lyrics editor, to add lyrics to midi songs (which can be displayed on a monitor or on the LCD screen). A sound convertor, in case you had a S2/S3/SX or WX keyboard before, and last but not least, a midi-file optimizer. This one is sometimes really handy, it optimizes midi files made with other equipment for the WX2. Sometimes it's better to use the standard built-in midi-loader, but usually the optimiuzer does a good job. The standard piano really sounds good (my opinion), the rest is a bit standard. The dry sounds are nice. For editing paches, rather use some other equipment, it's not the WX's best feature. The manual is good for beginners, it doesn't go into much detail.

The polyphony is too little with only 16 (in single oscillator mode 32). One thing to do first is turn the internal effects off. You'll be able to recognize "the WX2 sound" if the internal effects are turned on. Sometimes they are nice to use, but after a while you get sick of that typical WX2 sound. More sample memory is nice, but it takes ages to load a sample! Also, the sample disks are expensive, and it's only compatable with GEM sample-disks. The keys are pressure sensitive with aftertouch! that's really great, works fine when you get the hang of it. All midi settings can be eddited in a verry good built in sequencer. Actually the sequencer makes this whole keyboard worth while. For playing LIVE you'd better buy a midi mixer like the Roland MPR-8 or something because changing settings Live is a pain since they are not all accessable with one press of the button. The sequencer features micro-editing and manny gadgets like quantize etc...

I love the WX Piano, it has a wooden "knock" sound with it just like a real wooden piano :-) It has some good synth sounds (which i don't use), and a nice nylon guitar. The rest is not really special. The aftertouch works fine and is really "controllable", allthou the casing creaks a little when you press hard. A good standard helps.

The keyboard often chrashes :-( so you'll have to save your work frequently when using the sequencer. This is the sad part of the WX2+ keyboard.

Never tried to get it repaired or so, but i did recieve a GeneralMusic Club Card for discounts when i registerd myself as a GEM WX2 user. Got some discounts on sample disks with it, but still they were expensive!

I love the piano, hate the effects, but am glad with the sequencer! Especially the micro editor is nice for playing with the PAN and other controllers. Also the sensitiveness and the acuraccy of the aftertuch effects are nice. For it's price, this keyboard is a great deal of fun!

This keyboard dosn't have an upgradeable OS, but the Plus version has some minor restylings on the patches and features.
The Interface is not too bad, with a decent LCD dysplay, buttons features microswitches (some times they miss the action). A lot of the work require the use of the dial. Patches are very week, except for the acoustic guitars, pianos, strings and synthex-like pads. The edit is very limited, you can only do variations on the existing sounds. The manual is awful... it seems written for kids!!! No details on the midi features on the sysex etc.

The polyphony is 16 or 32 notes (patches can have dual oscillator), it could seems good.. but this is not true at all, this is a performance keyboard... and is very frustrating when you ear note cuts (expecially on crashes, brushes and pads) but you can force some channels to get the max polyphony. The keyboard is soft and not well build (you can ear litte "cracks"..). It features an optional video card (for karaoke:-<), additional (expensive) memory to load samples (buy a PC.. is better!). MIDI is Good, you can control everything. It features a built-in seq. a very good one.

The best sounds are the acoustic guitars, pianos and some analog sounds.
Basically it features a PCM ROM. Simple waveforms are mixed like in a kaway K4 to reproduce analog style sounds through filters and resonance. The analog sound are very week except for the synthex-like pads.. and they lacks a direct control on the cut-off and resonance. Onboard effects are good but there is not a distortion effect. The keyboard is not very expressive, sounds laks haromincs, the pitch range is limited to 2 semitones. It works well for not too aggressive styles... newage and so on.

You can easily store songs on the floppy. The reliability is not so good... some times the OS crashes, and the dial goes crazy... (this is probably a mechanical problem..) I can fix it! The reseller cannot fix it! Some time the dial goes crazy and become inusable...

That gear is "off" 98% of the year!!!