Yamaha DGX-202

I've owned and used a DGX-202 onstage since March 30,2003. As a visually-challenged professional musician, I find the overall layout of the controls is very simple. Its number pad is set up like a standard touch-tone telephone (+ and - replace * and #). Direct-entry method is the fastest way to call up a voice or style. Blue lighting of the SONG, STYLE and VOICE buttons and a two-tone lighting of the M.D.B (MUSIC DATABASE BUTTON) make them easy to locate. The biggest drawback for setting effects on the DGX-202 is that the FUNCTION has too many sub-menus to enter to make quick changes during performance situations. Set and/or change the effects before going onstage. I am a stickler for keepeing owner's manuals; this one is very nicely written. I have not used the MIDI feature yet. Most of the preset voices and syles are decent.

The DGX0202 has MIDI in/out capability. Its A (chord track) plus 5 melody track onboard sequencer are simple to use. However, if you are into seriours recording (and you have a bigger budget), but one of the MOTIF or TYROS Yamaha models. Some of the preset voices have default effects settings that fit that particular voice.

The DGX-202 has the best sound lineup in its class/price range. VOICE #1 (PORTABLE GRAND), #141 (ELECTRIC PIANO that produces a very good Fender Rhodes sound), #166 (MARIMBA, good for Carribean music, exact voicing for "Margaritaville") and #182 (ORGAN voice that works very well for '60s rock, especially the Dave Clark
five's music) are among the better sounds on the DGX-202. Its onboard speakers will work for closed-room practice when a headset is not needed, but use an amp that is voiced especially for keyboards (such as the Behringer k3000FX) or a similar 15-inch woofer and tweeter combination in order to experience the real sounds of the DGX-202. The touch on this keyboard is organ-like and may create issues for players whose experience is primarily with acoustic pianos. As with any keyboard that has multiple voices, styles and effects, you'll need to "play with" it as well as play it in oreder to see how it suits your musical taste. Except for heavy metal, it should be able to fit into any music genre

This keyboard has never been in the shop or failed during a gig. Despite its rather cheap price range, I would be willing to use it without a backup, although I usually use it with its bigger cousin, the DGX-505

I've never had any dealings directly with Yamaha, so I won't be able to offer an opion on this subject.

It's the best keyboard in its size/price range. I love the blue-lit buttons for STYLE, VOICE and SONG. I DO NOT like the oversensitive START/STOP button. I wish it had an assignable footswitch jack for the Auto Accompaniment. None of the CASIO keyboards in this price range even come close to what the DGX-202 can do. I also wish there was some faster way to access the effects within the FUNCTION menu. If John Q Public didn't see it, they would swear it was a much pricier instrument

Pianos, strings and some of the other presets are good. I use mine strictly as a piano for live performing along with my multi-voiced synthesizer.

32 note polyphony. Unless you're doing a duet of "Heart and Soul" with another player, you'll not run out of sound output. Built in speakers reduce this unit to the category of the cheap PSR series. Yamaha would have done well to skip the $10 cost to install them and put the money and technology somewhere else.

Great board for the money. Cannot do better.

Good so far.

No customer support needed yet.

This is probably the best $200 portable piano on the market. If you want fx, hip hop crap, Hammond organs, full orchestral horn parts and a Les Paul simulation, go spend another $1000-$2000 on something else. This unit is for pianists who are pureists to the extent that they want a realistic simulation of a real acoustic piano at 20lbs.

I am a producer from New Jersey who has been producing for 4 years now and I have been working more and more over the past year with my Yamaha DGX-202 instead of my Roland electric piano. I have it hooked into my computer via a UX-16 MIDI/USB Interface that is plugged into a program I have, called Sony ACID Pro. I use a pair of Sony studio quality headphones (can't remember the product number, a friend has borrowed them for a few days) that are enough to let me hear something, which is all I'm looking for. I use ACID Pro to sequence my melodies into Hip Hop and R&B tracks which is my style of production. It has worked pretty well with the exception of the DGX's lack of synthesizer packages.

This keyboard was not totally worth the price (since I found it way cheaper online). But it also came with VERY few synth voices which I like to use as much as possible on other people's equipment. There was no Westcoast Whistle, or any other good quality synth voices for that matter. I did like the sound quality however and the hardware as a whole was very very user friendly. My favorite sounds were the piano, string and drum sounds, but other than that not much else (except for the FX sounds, they were great). The library had a variety of sounds but too small of a percentage were useful in R&B production. Let that be a warning to all aspiring R&B producers looking for a keyboard! Make sure you know what you are looking for before purchasing the DGX-202, 203, or 305.

Use Windows 2000 along with an XG player to play SMF/XG through the keyboard. Sounds incredible by the way! Presets sounds are excellent and I like the dual voices that are preset for each voice. Manual barely used but very helpful when needed

Polypony is 32, and for this keyboard, this is fine. Keyboard is slightly organ-like but nothing wrong with it. Just don't try playing Mozart and expect it to sound right. Hate the reverb effects but love the DSP effects. A very neat touch is you can vary the level of the effects, ie how much or how little reverb you want. Has Flash memory so you can load MIDI files but thats it. MIDI is easy if you follow the manual. On board sequencer is a pain for recording multi-track songs, but great if you get a flash of inspiration in the middle of the night!

Before I start on about all the wonderful sounds, let me mention the keyboard's amps. They're RUBBISH! With 12W of power, they hamper the otherwise excellent sounds. That was sorted when I hooked it up to my sisters 120W hi-fi! Piano is fabulous especially when layered with slow strings. Don't use the others much, only for messing around with when I'm bored. Some effects good, others not so good (reverb). Touch sensitivity is excellent, only the notes drop off pretty quickly. Therefore, Moonlight Sonata doesn't play well on this. No idea what aftertouch is but has good velocity which can be varied

It's a Yamaha, what more can I say? Wouldn't want to dropit though as it's made of plastic. Would use without a backup, because if I look after it well, nothing should go wrong.

Never dealt with the company and hope I'll never need to. Heard they've got excellent customer support.

How do you lose a keyboard?! If it were stolen, I'd definetly replace it. That's after I break the fingers of the person who stole it! Been playing it for about a year. Don't own much else cos I can't afford much else. Love the piano. Hate the inbuilt amps. Maybe I should have got the DGX 300 with a floppy? This certainly does help me make music, haven't found anything in it that stops me!

Decent presets - especially the pianos. I bought this mainly for it's portability and built-in rythym functions. Its use of a wheel for changing patches is quicker and easier than other interfaces I've used.

I think it's 32-note polyphony, plenty for me. Keyboard action is light and quick. Midi in/out, with pressure sensitive keys. It has an onboard song writing function that I haven't really explored yet, and probably never will. It does have a pitch bender, something that many keyboards of this type lack.

It sounds excellent. It could be used for virtually ANY type of music. The Music Data Base function works well to get something started, and the styles are vast and varied.

It's a Yamaha. It'll last a long time. It's plastic, so don't drop it.

For $300.00, I don't worry about it.

It's an absolutely perfect edition to my collection. I needed something cheap, that I could tote around easily, sounded good, and could fill various parts when neccesary. I would definetly recommend this product. Compared to my Roland EM-15, it is superior in every way. It helps me make music, many different styles of music. I have multiple keyboards, and when I need to grab one for a quick gig or jam session, this is the one that I take.

I bought this keyboard for its great sounds, portability, and ease of use. If you're into programming, tweaking, or other techno stuff this is definitely not the ideal instrument. I find the presets sound very good, but like another reviewer noted, I wind up using about 50-60 of the more than 600 available voices. I haven't done much patch editing on this keyboard, but that's not why I bought this instrument to begin with.

32 note polyphony, which seems to be entirely adequate. The keyboard action is unweighted, but very precise. Touch sensitivity is excellent, and the instrument plays amazingly well for under $300. The on-board recording functions are somewhat limited, but are very easy to use and excellent for developing musical ideas.

The Music Data Base, which provides style/voice/effects combinations professionally developed for a big variety of musical styles, is excellent. Pick an MDB setting and start playing, its that simple, and most sound very good. The "one-touch" grand piano is also a great idea and a big plus, in my view.

In my view, the sounds are the strongest point of this keyboard. For the money, I don't think there is anything that comes close. Most of the pianos are excellent, and the organs, strings, and brass are extremely good. I've used it for many styles of music from "lounge" tunes to rock, jazz, country, and Zydeco, and have been very impressed with the versatility and sound quality.

I agree with a previous reviewer that the volume from the internal speakers is a bit weak, but I use a Roland KC100 amp when playing out, and it sounds great.

I use this keyboard mainly at home, but have used it on gigs as well. I've only owned it about 4 months, so offer no comment on long-term reliability. I have owned numerous Yamaha keyboards over the years, though, and have found them to be extremely reliable. I have no qualms about using it on gigs without backup.

I've never had need of customer support from Yamaha.

I would definitely buy this keyboard again, although I might consider the DGX500 88 key version, which sounds and plays identical to the DGX202 as near as I can determine.

I've been playing keyboards for 30+ years, and have owned a variety of electronic instruments.

I compared this keyboard to the Casio WK series, but in my view there was no comparison. I find the sounds, action, and features on the DGX series much better that the Casios, but everyone has their own opinion on such things. I chose this keyboard for its sounds, ease of use, and very attractive pricing.

I've based these ratings on my expectations for this purchase. For the money, I don't think it can be beat. I'm not sure what the previous reviewed considers a "serious musician", but I think I might qualify as one, and this instrument definitely exceeds my expectations for a $300 keyboard.

The user interface is insane.

1) The flash memory doesn't work properly. The few parameters that you can save don't always stay saved. Style volume and split point have a habit of jumping back to their default settings for some reason.

2) Every time you change the voice, all your effects settings are set to defaults. This is extremely frustrating if you want to try out the same effect with a few different voices. Even pitch bend range gets reset. Most voices have reverb on default, which gets annoying as well.

3) The "one touch settings" are worthless. They don't save all the settings they should, and they're closely tied to Yamaha's annoying "styles".

Lots of good stuff here, but it's all very frustrating to use. The song recording feature is a nice touch, but there aren't enough slots.

Good sound for the price. The pianos and synths are generally quite good, a few of the organs are nice, and the strings are also surprisingly good. Some of the effects are pretty good. Touch response is nice.

Seems reliable enough, but I don't have that much experience. It's really unusable for gigging due to the hassles I've mentioned.

Never contacted them.

It's got a nice sound, but it's impossible to use. If I could do it again, I'd take a closer look at the Casio WK-1630. Otherwise, I'd save another $100 or so and get a good used synthesizer. The DGX-202 is unacceptable for any remotely serious musician.

Easy to use.

Very poor customer service, was told that my question was not so important, this is basically what they said "we give priority to people who buy recording("more expensive products") hardware".

I would buy another Yamaha keyboard, they are great, but they are far
off from having good customer service.

I've had my Yamaha DGX 202 for about one month. It is the easiest electric piano I have ever owned (Fender, Exsoniq, Korg). In just one hour I was sailing up and down the keyboard using a host of voices, rhythms, transposing, etc.

The keyboard action is organ-like. Very precise, excellent touch-sensitive feature. Real piano size keys and 76 of them makes this a delight to play and a keyboard upon which to compose. The very easy-to-use record/play-back function allows me to record new rifs and not forget them as I work through other movements in the new compositions I create.

The sounds created by the Yamaha DGX 202 (or 200) are among the most realistic I have ever heard. I've been playing piano for about 50 years (started when I was only 3 years 2 months old) and am very impressed with this keyboard.

Whether its the winds (flute, oboe, trumpet, etc.), strings (and so many varieties to choose from!), keyboards (I absolutely love 4 of the many others offered - and it's unusual to find 4 good-sounding pianos on any keyboard) - the sounds are wonderful, easy to access, all numbered so I can keep track of which sounds I am using on each of the pieces I am creating/playing.

Given the wide variety of rhythms available (more than anyone could ever use regularly), and the QUALITY of the rhythms, it's possible to create/play any kind of music (rock, blue-grass, waltz, jazz, raggae, more). And, if you use the INTROs with your rhythm, you will be floored!

The INTROs, each a unique, compelling, creative, and exciting mix of instruments (automatically chosen according to the rhythm you have chosen to use), even trigger new musical compositions/rifs in your mind. The company should probably call this keyboard the YAMAHA MUSE.

By the way, there's NO white noise behind any of the sounds or rhythms. Pristine.

I turn it on, it plays - and sounds wonderful throught its own speakers and DYNOMITE through my Tannoy actives and sub-woofer. What else could anyone ask for?

At about 15 pounds, it's easy and fun to drag around to my friends' homes, unlike the 55 pound monolith I have on the other side of my home studio (a KS-32 Ensoniq). It's gathering dust now.

I have not had to contact the company with any mechnical problem or about any process - the manual that came with the keyboard is straight-forward and easy to understand.

If it weren't a dumb thing to do, I'd buy a whole bunch of them. As it is, I told several of my friends about it and they've purchased DGX 202/s for themselves or for their children. Or for their children then kept it for themselves!

This info is the same for the DGX 200. I got this keyboard to be a second ?home? keyboard to go with my QS7. From what I?ve read, the system is somewhat intuitive if you?re used to Yamaha PSRs. If you?re not (like me), you?ll be consulting the manual from time to time. (The manual is fairly comprehensive.) Accessing anything through the function menu can be a hassle. Editing isn't easy nor all that desirable--this is definitely a "work with the enclosed sounds" sort of board. The one button Grand Piano is a nice touch?this machine isn?t really a board for electonics/synth whizzes, so I think Yamaha figured having one button to access the piano at any time would be a good call. Smart.

32-note polyphony, which is plenty. The keyboard action is unremarkable, but is very good for a keyboard at this price. IMO, the reverb and chorus effects don?t add or subtract much from the presets. You can?t expand the sounds on this board, but it has a very easy MIDI hookup and configuration for working on the computer. It's got a built in recorder, which is a nice touch.

The piano and organ sounds are absolutely fantastic. The Casio WK series sounds like junk compared to the Yamaha?absolutely no comparison at all. Although the keyboard action is pretty average (hey, what do you expect for a 76 key machine under $300?), the sensitivity is very, very good. On a lot of boards (like the Casio), you get three levels of sensitivity?soft, average and loud. This machine is capable of a lot more nuance. Great piano and organs, good brass and strings, okay woodwinds and drum kits. The only (very) minor drawback is that you don't get a whole lot of volume form the included speakers...if you run through any sort of amp, this is no problem at all. If you?re getting it for keyboard sounds, it?s a winner.

Well, it?s plastic and it?s big, but it seems rugged enough. No flimsy pieces that I can see. I had an SY22 and DX7 in the 80s and 90s, and I?ve never had any problems with Yamahas before. Although mine is for home use, I'd use it live without a backup.

Haven't dealt with them in years. In the past, Yamaha was always good with their customer support.

Likes: Piano, piano, piano. It?s just fantastic. The organs sounds are good. Expressiveness is fantastic for a keyboard in this price range. The 76 keys are a huge bonus. MIDI use is about as easy as it gets.

Dislikes: Doesn?t save function info?you can?t jump from a slipt sound to a regular sound and back again. Learning curve could be better. Editing isn?t much good. The last 100 sounds are amusing, but remind of the 80s, when things like ?Gunshot? and ?Slap? were counted as voices. This has about 120 usable voices.

For the money, this is a 10. I?d hunt down and kill whoever tried to take it from me. I?ve been playing for 20-plus years, and the level of sounds you get for the price you pay is just phenomenal. If you?re looking for a board where you can tweak the sounds and do a lot of electronica or DJ work, this isn?t for you. But for an inexpensive board to replicate strings and brass and (especially) other keyboards, this is absolutely a winner. I looked at the Casio WK 1630 and other than the volume you could get from the built in speakers, the DGX 200/202 was better in every important way?better sounds, better action and expressiveness.