Yamaha DJX

I've had my DJX for a few months now and have had plenty of time to play around with it... and I must say I'm very happy with it. There are many usable presets, especially in the "analog" bass/brass/string voices... just the thing for techno/dance music. I'd recommend giving the manual a thorough read... many of the DJX features aren't apparent from the casual walk-through you often get from store salespeople...

Coming from an "old-school" synth background (Roland Juno-106, etc.), it took me awhile to get used to the velocity-sensitive keyboard. And the built-in effects are OK for adding a bit of color to the basic sounds. The sequencer, however, can be frustrating to use. There's nothing in the way of editing capabilities, and if you realize you've made a mistake after completing a track, you've got to erase everything after the mistake to get to it. OUCH! Other than that, I suppose it's OK for a basic sketchpad. The ribbon controller is a nice touch for the occasional special effect... the arpeggiator was a welcome feature too; it brought back memories of my old Roland SH-101. I like the sampling feature because I'm always finding weird sounds to add to my music. Be forewarned, though: all sample memory disappears when you unplug the power adapter! You have to either keep the keyboard plugged in all the time (but not powered up), or keep a set of batteries in it to retain the samples (and other user-created settings as well). You'd think Yamaha would've incorporated a memory backup, but I guess cost was a factor here...

The sounds are excellent for invoking that "retro" groove that's so prevalent in techno/dance music, and rap artists will find lots to like about this keyboard too, as it has many scratch sounds, drum loops, vocal samples, etc. as well as many styles of rhythms. My favorite rhythm is "Tribal Tech"... a hard-driving techno beat that's just begging to be used in a song! I like the lead in/out feature for beginning and ending a rhythm.
As far as the effects go, they're OK considering that this unit even HAS effects (most don't in this price range) although I'll probably end up using my other effects processors when I record with it.

So far, it seems dependable... I'd definitely use it at a gig; hey, it's cheap and easily replaceable...why not? The ultimate acid-test would be to let my kids play around with it for a couple of days... if it's still functional after THEY get through with it, it can handle anything!
I've got one warning though... this thing eats up batteries, so I'd plan on using the power supply most of the time! I put a set in, thinking I could get at least a few weeks out of 'em, and they were dead within a few days of use!

Although I haven't had any problems with the DJX, I've dealt with Yamaha in the past regarding other products and they've always been very helpful.

Yes, I'd definitely buy another one if I had to. It's a great all-around keyboard for what I need to do, and the price is right! Sure, it may not have all the features that some people want, but let 'em go buy a Korg or a Nord or something... and pay a couple thousand more, too! I just need good keyboard sounds in an easy-to-use package, and the DJX delivers!

There are a few bone head features like defaulting the pedal to bpm tap,
but its pretty easy if you keep the manual handy.

Forget making your own sounds or otherwise breaking new ground, but
for the price it has allot of bang for the buck. Being able to edit
the parts would be nice.

A really nice sampling of tried and true dance sounds. A little
heavey of the cheesy house samples but some of the sounds are pretty
solid. It won't replace the 303, but plenty of growl for working out
new ideas without powering everything up.

I spilled soup on it washed it off, dried it up and it still
works. It's all plastic though, I'd say it wouldn't survive
serious travel.

NC

people keep asking where I found it for $189, so ...
http://www.spidergear.com/cgi-bin/vsc/hma/psrd1.html?L+store+ahat7434+856535150
They now have it for $179

It make a pretty good controller too.

Presets inpress little kid's but is not intended for professional use,
they are kinda lame, but fun to play with if your tripping balls. I dont
think there are any patch editors on this thing, lemme cheack, nope, no patch edit! There 5 user banks for patterens tho.
I didn't get to see the manual(I'm just barrowing it, i dunno why'!?) The this is so damn easy to use,

As far as I know its onlyy 32 voices, more than enough for the parts you will be messing with...
Amatures will buy this after pushing play button and tweeking here and there, they would probably be more excited than their memorire of their foorst look at a dirty magazine!
Nuff sed. If you want to add it to your rig and studeo, I'd recomemnd that you get Guitar pedal's, you can result in some nasty sounds are are gring to be played! Oh' the IN/outputs are kinda fucked up! There's only one 'Aux' in/out, I dunno if its sterio or mono, oh well, and they got a MIC/LINE inputs(mono), witch is a bugplus.
I dunno if the filters can control the input sourses in realtime....

Some sounds are lame, and some sound are kool, personal opinion I thing, nothing really special., No envolope generator or anything liek that. Oh well I cant really get detaled with this thing... Oh well.

I can depend on it... I would sample a small phase and only play it at a gig with a distortion and efx guitar pedals. Then you would be really sqelthing!

nah, I always fugurethings out, that's where most insparation comes from!

For under $300 with all these features! You cant go wrong. Good for amatures, or anyone!
I personally wouldnt buy it again(Im barroing this one...) I'v ben playing for about 3-4 months now, listen to my works at http://www.mp3.com/miek
Compared to my other gear, this keyboard is lame. I have a JX-305, PT-2000's, and puter softsynths. I have recently joined up with somebody and I also got a hold of a MC-505, JP-8000 and Technic SL1200's!!! Oh well what can I say, sometime's 1+1 does equil 3!

This keyboard is fairly easy to use. Consult the manual and it will make your life a little easier.

32 voice polyphony, 283 voices, MIDI in/out.

This keyboard is best for those into dance/techno music, but it would also work for any other type of music also. The sounds are terrific!

This keyboard, in my opinion, is the best thing you can buy within its price range.

I haven't had to deal with customer support.

I have played for 6 years now. I play a wide range of music...from dance to classical. If it were lost/stolen, I would definitely buy it again. The price is great and so are the sounds.

This is a great sounding board for the money, the thing to remember is that if you start comparing it to higher-priced units, it won't be a fair comparison. It's easy to use, and the real time knobs are a plus.

32 note polyphony, so it's not as good as an Alesis QSR or a Korg N1. Soundwise, it has some nice analog-style patches, and you find yourself twisting the knobs as you play. It's nice they also have an assignable knob, so you can tweak MIDI parameters, pitch, etc.
The FX are passable, and the MIDI implementation is OK for controlling a module. That's what I mainly bought this board for, was to control a 1-U rackmount synth. So, instead of getting a Fatar or whatever, I also got some extra sounds, albeit the action isn't the best I've ever played in a 5 octave keyboard, but it isn't bad, either. The pleasant surprise, however, was that I found myself using a lot of the patches with the more expensive pieces in my studio, and it was slammin'. The board can be thought of as an adjunct to the other food groups, sort of a musical Heinz 57 to a good steak.
Again, when you look at what it costs, and then factor in all the cool stuff like the ribbon controller, 6 second sampling, grooves, and a GM set, you're really getting a lot for the $$. If your intent is to do serious electronic music on it, forget it. But, if you want something that's just plain fun to play and to scare the cat with, which also has some nice features, this is it.

The board is obviously for the rave/techno/urban/DJ/dance user. It's not gonna have any polkas or cha-chas on it. One thing I noticed was that it's a great idea machine. One can sketch out a piece on it without having to boot up Acid or a CD loop. The drum patterns are fairly representative of what's been going on.

It's only 15 lbs., and feels not as sturdy as a QS-series synth or a roland XP series, but it's not a piece of junk like a Casio either.

I'm giving this a 7 because of all the things it can do for under $300. The way I have come to appreciate it is for the ease and immediacy of getting ideas and riffs. And, like a good steak sauce, use it for what it is, not what it can't be.

The ease of use on this machine is sort of iffy iffy. The assignalbe controls (knobs and ribbon slider) work great for controlling those things that you have them assigned to, but there are a lot of other features that you end up having to dig through menus to setup (Reverb settings for example).

I forget the polyphony of this machine, but I had no problems in that area (I will assume that it is at least 32 note). There are built in effects, but most of them sound pretty bland and I would recommend that if someone were using this machine that they use external effect boards rather than those on the DJX itself (for more detailed effects that is). It comes with an on board sampler, but lacks a lot of typical sampling ability. Things like Timestretching, or even being able to convert the sample into a WAV file are made impossiable with the DJX, furthermore, you lose the sample once you turn the machine off. It has o.k. (not GREAT but not terriable) MIDI implementation, and can work decently as a keyboard controller, but don't expect it to work as any sort of MIDI powerhouse. The sequencer is absolutely terriable if one thinks of it as a true sequencer, I think it is more so a means to organizing VERY basic ideas, in no way could it be used as a sequencer for other gear or even for itself.

The sounds also are lacking. There are a few nice pads on there, but really I think what this synth amounts to is something much along the lines of the MC-303, decent analogue sounds until you dare to touch the filters and then "OUCH!". This thing totally fails at any sort of analogue emulation and as you really can't develop patches your self on it, I think it fails all around as a sound generation machine. You end up with sounds that are nice for laying down basic ideas and then using things more capable to expand on those basic ideas. Don't expect to have the DJX throw sounds out in the dimension of a 106, 303, etc.

The unit I was working with actually belonged to a cousin of mine, but I have not heard him report any problems on it and I experienced no problems with it while fiddiling with the piece.

Yamaha has always offered great customer support on their synth products, so I'm sure this would not change in regard to the DJX

I personally would never buy this synth. But I would recommend it for people that for those people out there that want sort of a VERY basic intro into ASSEMBLING electronic music. I really gives no insight on programming synths/creating patches, how sequencing works, etc. Just something good for assembling very basic ideas. It also could do well as a controller for other synths. I think in the end it would make a lot of beginners go "WOW! THIS IS GREAT" but to that same end, I think that a lot of people that have dealt with synths and sequencers would become very frustrated with all it's limitations and lack of sound quality. For beginners I will say disregard my rating here, as this will be a good and affordable way to get into constructing DANCE music (it's abilities are extremely limited outside of dance) and perhaps Experimental music, the rating I am giving is for those people that are far beyond just entering the electronic music world (but then again, I'm not sure that many people would ever look at this synth).

Wonderful scetch pad. No its not a Supernova, virus or Q, but it
only cost me $189 instead of $1400-$2400. It has straight up patterns,
solid voices and does what I need to think out a new track without
having to power up the death star, uh, studio. ;)

No complaints on features, but nothing to rave about either.

No complaints on sounds either, in faxct I wish my kurzweil had
as good a sounding presets two.

I would use it at a gig as a midi controller.

No comment yet.

I would say if you're rich get a roland jx-305, but for 1/3 the price
this does the trick.

I use Acid 1.0, Vegas 1.0, Fruity Loops, Cubase VST, and Cakewalk.
This board is highly overrated. The presets are okay, some are really good. The only good patches seem to come from the presets, which I still can't find after owning it for a year. You have to tweak the sounds a lot to get it to sound good.

I forgot the Poly, but it sucks.
The effects suck on it. The expansion is only available for computers.

The voices overall are terrible, I never use them. I just use samples of the presets.

I would use it, but I would defenitly use it as a 2nd or 3rd board.

Overall, it's for beginners only.

The DJX handling is very primitive. The knobs and dials provide easy access to the many functions provided. The realtime effects made on the patterns and the sounds performs well. MIDI on the otherhand can be slightly complicated for the novice computer user and in some cases it didn't work on my PC, using CakeWalk Pro 8.

32 note polyphony, touch sensitive keys. The touch sensitivity on some instruments can make them sound different which can be a good thing, but, sometimes i like to not have any touch sensitivity at all. Cut-off, resonance, groove, assign, bass boost knobs. These knobs are so versatile to use in performance. Sampling capability (only for 6 seconds). This is used only for very short samples and all effects can be applied to your recorded sample. DSP effects are available providing a further set of effects. Arpeggiator is useful in generating sequences of notes by pressing several keys. One drawback of the arpeggiator is there is no 'HOLD' function to keep the arpeggiator function playing whilst the keys are released. MIDI capabilities are what is expected of a keyboard of this type. You have all the relevant effects data for the keyboard sent along with SysEx commands. The 100 styles of patterns can be recorded to MIDI and instruments altered if necessary (!). The on-board sequencer is very primitive but can be used, preferably, as a scratchpad.

The sounds/instruments used in this keyboard are very expressive for this type of keyboard. They have been selected especially for dance/techno music and perform as what you would expect. The GM (General MIDI) instruments are also of high quality with a few exceptions (but those GM instruments are often difficult to emulate electronically) The types of music catered for are Techno, Hip-Hop, Rap, Drum'n'bass, and many other abstract styles. The effects can be used to enhance or change the style of any instruments altogether - you can even make a cheesy dance tune sound like a modern industrial track by tweaking the instrument's effects. As said before there is touch sensitivity- the harder you strike a key the more expressive the sound.

You can depend on this type of keyboard for writing any modern music you wish. You don't need to rely on the modern electronica-style instruments if you don't want to - of course there is always the piano. You can use it with turntables as a backup to a scratch mix. But don't use it alone - oh no - they might think you're one of those blokes came from the high street busking.

No information on this Available.

Overall, this keyboard is a must for the very beginner or novice to music making. However, it is not considered a serious musician's board. This keyboard is, essentially, for making music the fun way. In other words you can consider this to be a toy, but only young ones play with toys - and i don't think a young one would be able to figure out all the functions on this keyboard. I would recommend this keyboard to anyone, but some features i would like added would be - arpeggiator HOLD function, larger capacity memory and a different approach to the sequencing. I seriously think this keyboard is fun to use, has decent features, an excellent bargain at #260 here, and has good lastivity.

I have always been into electronic music and finally decided to go looking for a keyboard. I was looking for the best value for the price. Something low end on the money scale but still good to use (no stupid Casio!) I found the DJX for $300 and am very pleased with it! I've not had too much experience with synths so I'll do the best I can at reviewing this guy. There are nearly 300 presets ranging from guitar licks to dance bass. If you are looking for a pretty cheap keyboard for some live DJ work or basic dance stuff the DJX might be what you are after. For the most part, the acoustic prestes suck (the range of piano and organs are ok though..particularly the organ for house grooves) Best sounds in my opinion ore the dedicated dance noises. The analog sounds can be pretty phat with the right tweaking! Manual is pretty easy to understand and you can have some real fun with the realtime recording. There is a basic step sequencer here which might surprise some people for the price you pay...I have not used it yet but it seems simple enough.

61 note keyboard with OK velocity. It doesn't really compare though to the feel of something like the board on a Nord. Sme cool sounding DSP effects including Chorus, delay, Gate, EQ...(some of them are only accessible using MIDI according to the manual) The way the keybaord is set up when you get it can be kind of irritating. You have to go through a series of functions to actually turn on DSP for example. Fortunately with this keyboard you can program user presets and just jump to them. It is a MIDI device too which is always nice. I haven't dabbled with this yet bit from what I hear it is good in this department. It also features a 3 second sampler. I'd imagine that the samples are fairly low res...haven't heard any complaints. The sample can be looped and edited in a basic way. One of the great things about this keyboard is that it features big resonance and cutoff knobs, just like on analog synths! These are a dream to play with in realtime! Another cool thing is the pitch wheel...pretty standard these days, but it is nice to see one on a cheaper synth. The Arpeggiator is a cool feature also...great for some acid lines! One big problem, but it probably goes with the cheaper territory, is that there is no battery backup so that when you pull the plug all the RAM goes with it, including samples and any songs you might have stored.

This is a dance keyboard. Forget brass and guitar...this thing kicks for some wicked analog sounds. I have found it excellent as a device for just playign around. You can really get into this thing... Allows you to turn on and off various phrases and percussive sounds giving you more live flexibility... And try out the Arpeggiator in real time for some fun!

I don't play live but it seems sturdy. There is one thing though...sometimes the realtime tweaking does not seem to affect what I'm playing. I'm assuming that this is just a limitation of the synth based on it's low end price.

I have dealt with them once and they were pretty friendly. I told them that my dealer had only given me until the next day to return it if any problems and Yamaha shunted me straight to a tech guy. He sounded real tired but he did help me in the end and eased my mind.

I consider this an excellent keyboard for the price. If you are a beginner you just can't go wrong here! It's easy to use and expressive... It looks sturdy and features some of the functions of more expensive synths without breaking your bank.