People who would bash this machine are hopeless bitter cynics. Pay them no mind. To them I say: Go get laid, or get a drink, and lighten the fuck up.

Fun times!!!

ASSCLOWNS!

The DJX has enough limitations that it forces you to think of work-arounds yet has enough good qualities to usually make it worth it. There are times when I prefer that to synths that are a "bottomless pit" of options and possibilities.

If looks can be deceptive, the DJX certainly sets the example. I guess to have built an identical system but without a built in amp and speaker system (electronically) into a lovely metal cabinet with blocks of wood on the end of it would have made it cost five times more than it's initial retail price. Its appearance would then match the sound it makes.

I was generally amazed by the quality of the sound. I have heard that the samples are done at 22kHz, but they sound OK to me. This is a synth-type machine after all so it just adds to the character of the sound. I have used the DJX connected up to an 88 note weighted piano keyboard and even the pianos aren't too bad. For dance music I prefer them to my Korg's piano sound. The control knobs on the front panel which cater for basic sound modifying of the factory presets are a definite plus point. Some of the preset string sounds had that "Yamaha home keyboard" style trait in them, but using the Q and Cutoff enabled me to filter that out so it sounded much more like a professionl synthesizer. One of my main gripes is not being able to alter the envelope. Some sounds have a constant envelope where it would be more appropriate to have a decaying envelope (the patch called "Atmosphere") comes to mind. A favourite sound ever since I first played the DJX is "Trance Pad" - this is just true synthesizer territory although some notes do have audible artefacts in the samples - but what the hell, this is what synths are all about.

Memory deficiency is my main gripe about the DJX. It has volatile RAM so everything disappears once you switch it off, but also there is another problem. Any changes you make to a patch must be stored in the performance memories else, on changing to a new patch, any edits you made (effects levels, A/D, Q, cutoff etc) will be lost. In my view there are just far too many parameters not to have a more sufficient memory - but then the cost would rise again...

The sampler? Well it's pretty limited and I harly use it. I sampled a talking calculator into it once and a few other things, but never used it for anything serious. The output level of the sampler is also quieter than the internal programs. The only cure for this is to reduce the level of all the internal sounds and leave the sample playing at maximum velocity. It's nice though how you can add effects and use the knobs to modify the sound. In effect then, the DJX can make an infinite number of sounds - it's just whether they are useable or not at the end of the day. This is a subjective decision as well - so is the sampler rubbish? Well, no, not really - just a bit limited.

I use the DJX in combination with my other synths. It has a presence which can cut through a mix. I have also used it as a standalone machine for my less serious compositions. I believe that the DJX is perfectly capable for professional use as an additional sound palette to any existing equipment in the studio.

The DJX is pretty good for the money. I can also quote an article from Sound On Sound in September 1998 which said that "It is hard to believe that you are not dealing with a £1500 workstation".

For the money my DJX was well worth it, and should be regarded as more than a toy which I've seen quite a bit in the reviews here. I imagine most of that to be manifest in the instrument's appearance rather than it's sound. I always imagine rebuilding the DJX into a nicer chassis which looks like a professional synth, but for the money, my DJX was more or less a giveaway.

Hee hee those reviewers 10 years from now will be refering to the DJX's 'cheesy beats' and 'godawful sounds' and 'just what the hell are those knobs?' while the synth of choice in the gear snob world will be a Korg Triton IV with 40 gig sound ROM and 2 gig sample memory...gone with those 'obsolete' MIDI ports!!

And then the Ribbon-controller!!! I use it to adjust sys-exclusive of all my other synths, works so easy, no need to buy an extra midi-fader box ( I also use the sliders on my S30, also yamaha..)

So, not expansive at all and good sounds for the money ( you even get dsp effects, for good distortion guitars!)

But than again, if u dont have any fantasy or talent, dont invest further in any expensive gear, and just buy records instead of trying to make music for a living. U will end as a frustrated composer and end up as the comoser Salieri in de movie "Amadeus". He became the king of the average people.

For the rest, make music for fun,

Areet Dudez

Greetz to the scenerz and death to the lamerz

LS

i'm happy with my djx-I. because i checked it first. otherwise i wouldn't have bought it.

i just needed a useful drumbox and some pad sound to accompany my guitarplaying in the first place, when by chance i came across the djx. it performed nicely, lacked all that boring "march, waltz and tango routine", and it was excitingly cheap.

i rated it already some messages ago (4). the djx has some severe drawbacks though (volatile ram settings and no lfo), but seriously, so what, huh?

when i use my djx for pure fun, i get a massive load of that, really. because i like it. i like the voices, (most of) the styles and arrangements. and i like the ease of use.

and i can also create arrangements i never thought of before, because anyone with a dedicated mind can enter or even cross the floating keyboard-synth border with this incredible low cost wonder. all you need is some solid midi sequencing knowhow.

somehow, the djx equals a bad-ass whore. at first glance it's all stylish looks, tempting knobs and buttons, irresistible. once in da house you get fun galore at a bargain, and inspired fiddling produces a convincing heapload of stunning results. all that makes you come and come again. only wimps would complain that viagra's not included here...

anyway, i just had to react to "S from finland". geezus... 1st law of creative fun: check da gear b4 ya buy! if not, then this eminently inadequate attitude surely inflicts the general opinion towards the poor machine afterwards. the djx is a heavenly little keyboard, not a dedicated synth! thank god "S" sold it again, hopefully to someone with a more fitting approach. may peace, love and music be with us 4ever!

kalle

:)

thanx

chris

Press main voice on the left side, turn off pattern and part control. You have access to the whole keyboard for the filter control. The cutoff on 43?? Fish303 rocks. At about 10pm. the speakers buzz and when you play another note just turn the nob a hair.

The ribbon contoller, assign & wheel on this thing rock.

I won't even mention the arpegiator on this thing with the what 30 variations.

I can make music on this with my tin ear.

I have put some Judas Priest "Breakin the Law" and Black Sabbathsamples into the sampler. What I created that night will only live on in infamy in my ear.

You can run a mic through it.

I think this machine has creepyness. It's unusable for good electronic like a donut. Its sounds are very bad, the rhythms drive me mad and if I use it, I think: "Oh man, I want to go to bed!"

So dont buy this machine if you aren't pissed on your legs.

DJX-Fight and Good Night!

Good features for little money. (although Jesse wrote that the ribboncontroller does not send midi, that's not true. I use the thing a lot, for example: creating cut-off loops in Logic)

I bet it would be pretty fun though

With a tank, you can easily kill someone. With a .22 you can kill someone, you just have to aim a little better. Think about it people.

Purchased At: E-Bay

Strengths: Analog filter effects! 35 DSP modeling effects which you can choose to make sounds like FM synthesis or even old warm Moog leads. 16(!) different types of Arpeggios. A ribbon controller! Assignable knob, and 4 other dedicated knobs! 284 voices, at least 100 of which are damn nice. Sampler! Actual useful beats! Menus are damn simple and easy to navigate. Extremely versatile synth for creating all styles of techno. The knobs send out MIDI data!

Weaknesses: Ribbon controller doesn't send out MIDI. :( The general MIDI sounds, such as Pianos and Organs and stuff like that sound like poo. But that's because this 'board is meant for synthesizer sounds. When you change a voice you have to reset all the DSP stuff you assigned, like if you used a bunch of effects piled on top of eachother, they go bye bye. The sequencer is almost useless. }< Display isn't backlit.

Review Summary: Yamaha decided to take all the cool things about synths and cram them into a affordable toy/mini-synthesizer. A lot of idiots dis this board, but that's because they are comparing it to synths which cost thousands of dollars. It completely demolishes any other synth in it's price range. And it gives the aformentioned thousand dollar monsters a run for their overpriced money. Because no one else has ever bothered to explain this, here's the capabilities of the DJX's sampling: You can have up to 12 different key assignable samples. Of which no sample can be longer than 3 seconds. And all samples must not cohesively go over six seconds of sampling time. Which means you can have two 3 second samples or like 12 half second samples, or whatever you can make of six seconds. The samples are at I what I believe to be like 22Khz. Thus the sampler is more of a novelty than horribly useful, but hey for the price this is still amazing. You have so much control over the beats it's almost rediculous. Using the Cut-Off and Resonance knobs you can totally change the way the voices sound. The DUAL button acts just like Roland's old X-Dual stuff. I bought this board originally just for it's MIDI functions, and I found I'd also bought a decent little synth/keyboard as well. For the price this bastard is just a mothership of musical delight. If your a kid buy this and rock out your local skating rink. If your a synth collector then don't think about it, just get one. I promise these things will come back in the future as a collector's item. Congrats Yamaha!

P.S. Do not buy a DJX II.

Auto drums beats - yes, straight away we are reminded of the 'cheesy home organ' days where everything sounded manufactured and mechanical, but the DJX just isn't like that. Being able to drop parts of the percussion set out and bring them back in again is a fantastic idea, and puts a more spontaneous feel in the performance. One little gripe I have about this though is that if you want to switch Part Control off in order to play that section of the keyboard, when you put it back on again, all the parts come back on instead of it remembering how you last set it. This is a bit annoying since I only tend to use the auto drums (not the note and chord based accompaniment), although a work around for this is to store different Part Control settings to one of the four Performance Memory controls. Another work around is to keep Part Control switched on all the time and play what you would normally play at the bottom end of the DJX (usually basslines for me) on another synth.

OK, so what about sound quality then? Well, for the money I was generally quite impressed with the factory patches, and to quote Sound On Sound Magazine, 'it's hard to believe you aren't dealing with a £1500 pro workstation'. Filter editing and ability to change A/R setting makes some customisation possible, although I feel that for many aplications it would be nice to have the Decay and Sustain editing parameters available as well. DJX sounds are basically split into two halves. The first half deals with special DJX sounds which are unique to the instrument, and the other half contains a basic General MIDI soundset which makes this keyboard able to playback GM files. Most of the DJX sounds are fantastic and have really helped to spice up some of my compositions, and in particular, one of my favourite programs is the pad chord sound 'Trance'. I tried switching off all the chorus and effects, and noticed that it sounded quite a lot like an evolving pad sound I heard once on a DX7, but apply phasers, chorus and all the bells and whistles and we soon enter real synth territory. On the GM side of the sounds, we return to a more 'home-keyboard-ey' sort of sound in some cases. Some of the string pads are worth trying out, decrease the attack and add some release and you can get some really nice sounding patches. I think my favourite sound in the GM set is probably number 243: Synth Bass + Lead. I use this one quite a lot for synth solos because it has a nice, bright edge and an fast attack which responds well to velocity. I find it a shame that the GM soundset is tuned an octave higher than the DJX sounds. You can lower the octave easily enough through the Funtion menu (Funtion 02), but then if you change to another MIDI patch, the octave will have gone back to the default again. This is a similar problem to the Part Control mentioned earlier, and the only solution is to store the settings via the Performance Memory control panel.

Sampling was a bit of a concern for me as well. Storage of only three seconds maximum sampling time is too limiting for all but the shortest sound effects, and I also found that the sample volume was lower than the factory patches. The work around for this though is to turn all the volumes down to match the sample and then alter the master volume from the mixer at the recording stage.

Clearly, Yamaha have made a good attempt to accommodate for everyone with the DJX. It combines ease of use and functionality even for non-musicians, although this is more of a production or live performance tool for me. For the price, DJX really is a must for anyone into keyboards or synthesizers. I have also recently heard that the DJX contains many more functions and has a larger MIDI + synth implementation than the user manual would have you believe.

So, the verdict: I score the DJX a high nine out of ten (so 4.5 out of 5 on the scale here). My main gripes are basic memory functions with the octave settings and Part Control settings, and possibly the physical appearance of the instrument. The sequencer is also difficult to use but many people who are really serious about keyboards will no doubt have either a hardware synth with a more powerful sequencer, or a computer that can deal with that instead.

One other good thing about this instrument is that I guess it won't ever suffer 'sticky key syndrome' which my Korg has a bad case of at the moment.

http://www.mp3.com/license

the songs "Crazy Guy" uses the DJX sampler for the lead and "Broken Nose" uses the DJX sampler for both the lead and the violin/bass sound. Enjoy! :)

When you need a cheap soundengine, easy to use and some cool patterns; buy the DJX!!!!

I use cubase and it works all fine. I have some other synths, but on every song I make, I use at least two sounds out of the DJX!!

I slid my hands over its supple flanks, and the DJX moaned with its cheesy tone.

I wish the DJX had breasts.....

When you first step up to this keyboard, you are probably going to think that this is just a kid's toy. However, if you continue to power it up and take hold of those chunky, white knobs on the front panel, you would suddenly find your former intuitions flat out wrong. While turning the cutoff and resonance knobs, you would discover that the deep filters of the DJX rival those of real, vintage analogs. You can really achieve a big, pulsing sound when you cut the mix down low with those knobs. On the flip side, you can also get those classic, screaming highs when you turn the cutoff to the other side. Other functions that the knobs can control, among others, are arpeggiator speed, envelope settings, modulation, and depth for the DSP effects. And best of all; all of those knobs transfer real-time over MIDI. One rant, though: the locking effect that the knobs have in the middle position can really hamper otherwise smooth filter sweeps until you have broken everything in.

However, another real-time controller on the DJX that works great from the start is the ribbon controller. It is a little touchy, and it is not pressure sensitive, but it does give you an enormous amount of expression. You can assign it parameters that could be otherwise controlled by the knobs, but some unique effects such as a turntable function can also be controlled.

Listing all of these features, it seems as though the DJX is more suited as a controller keyboard than anything else. Not so. The sound engine on the keyboard is great, as it is very similar to the one used in the CSX-series keyboards. Some really deep sounds are included on it, such as the infamous TR-808 and TR-909 drum kits, as well as some vintage analog sounds coming from the likes of the TB-303, Minimoog, DX7, and Arp 2600. True, the sounds are not very editable, as you can only adjust attack/release envelopes, cutoff/resonance levels, and some LFO's in the DSP settings. In the end, though, the sounds on this keyboard can certainly hold its own, even when compared to the likes of +$1,000 synthesizers.

Nevertheless, Yamaha has cut corners on the DJX. When you first use it, you might be wondering where the modulation wheel, MIDI through port, and dedicated external out jack are. Also, you may become very frustrated to learn that you cannot store user patches (instead, you must use the 4 user performance settings to save your work), the sampler holds only 3 seconds of data, the onboard sequencer functions merely as sketch pad, and sound editing is quite limited. In addition, the fact that speakers are included onboard and the DJX has a battery compartment is laughable.

But even with all of these flaws, the DJX is still a great piece of equipment. With all of the knobs and other controllers sending MIDI data real-time, this keyboard can successfully be used as a master keyboard. On the other hand, its great presets coming straight from the most famous analogs really distinguish it from other competitors in its class. So, overall, whether used as a controller or a synthesizer, the DJX certainly delivers greatly.

Its not wonderful but for as cheap as you can get em...they beat the heck out of anything else in its field...meaing screw radio shack and casio (unless its a cz) annd buy this thing!

Essentially this has many of the features you find in more expensive synths, for 1/10 the price. At this kind of price, you do expect some tradeoffs. Yes it looks like shit, yes 283 voices isnt really that many, yes its only got an 8 track sequencer, yes its only 3 second sampling. But its infintely expandable via synth modules, it has the analog knobs and sounds, good midi and makes a great start for any aspiring techno musician. When you grow out of the DJX's built in sounds and patterns...there are always synth modules. And as one user said, you'll still probably end up using the drum kits.

For a keyboard, it's good. For a synthesizer it sucks.

First off I should say that when I bought it for full price $300 US I had only a TR-606 (which I bought for $25) and not a whole lot of money as an unemployed 16-year-old so I wanted to get something that would be "all-in-one". With a built-in sampler, sequencer, and filters, it sounded like some pretty neat shit to me. I stayed home for a week playing with it, admittedly because I had never really layed hands on a decent synth before.

Later on, I began to realize the limitations...a bandmate of mine brought home an ESQ-1 from his uncle's studio. He had no idea how to program sounds on the synth and I knew just from research on the internet. So I played around with it and instantly fell in love. I came back home to see my DJX and began to realize just how much I had been ripped off.

The bottom line is control. You don't have a whole lot of it for the DJX. Yeah yeah you can get the cakewalk deal and I've tried it...meaning you can sequence 16 tracks of DJX with one effect type, one reverb, however many filters, and you can control attack/release (for SOME sounds). And still all you're playing is someone else's PCM sounds.

Oh but it has the sampler! No. That sampler sucks. You have 6 total seconds, max of 3 per sound. You hit ONE key to select where the keyboard will map the sound, then it averages it out according to where the other sounds are sampled. The only cool things I could do with this sampler is the old SK-1 trick where you sample a thump and then set the sample time really low until it becomes a waveform like a saw or something. Also FM sounds (from my SoundBlaster) came out OK...fun w/ arpeggiator.

The sequencer? Forget the sequencer. You can't record anything except for notes. No filters at all, have to stick w/ effects you choose before recording, I think only 8 tracks, and step recording is absolutely terrible. No editing...it's basically a cheap 8-track MIDI recorder.

The sounds themselves are excellent, but once again it's just PCM. Very little editing. Some of the pads and "synth" sounds are just incredible though. Also the drumkits are spectacular...this is the biggest plus. Also the cheapy digital LPF can be kinda nice sometimes w/ drums. Once again, though, don't expect a lot of shaping or control of drumsounds...pitch bend and filtering, and a few effects and that's about it. Also as this keyboard is PCM, some of the cymbal/decaying sounds have a "reverb" sound which is a really short repeating sample which decays over time and sounds FAKE AS SHIT. I gotta say though, the kicks, snares, hats, and some of the more different percussion sounds on here are just wonderful.

The ribbon controller really didn't impress me that much. I liked that it was assignable, as well as the extra knob. I don't know how you guys can defend the DJX with that anyway, it seems cool at first, but then started to seem gimmicky to me. Just there to make you think it's more of a bargain and it zippers just like the filters, so bleh!

The effects are pretty good. The distortions can be good on some sounds but are a little fakey to me. I really like the gated reverb sounds. The choruses and flanges are OK but it'd be nice if you could control the speed+feedback on them. I don't like most of the standard reverb...yamaha just isn't my type, I like lexicon or better Alesis (opinion).

I never really bothered a lot with the rhythm/styles that people rave about so much, I mean I went through all of them and did the on/off and filter control thing but I mean I just didn't like playing someone else's rhythms. I'm a DIY kinda guy.

The DJX sucks for controlling itself, but on the other hand the arpeggiator, the conveniently placed knobs, pitchbend and yes sometimes the ribbon controller, make for a nice controller keyboard. The MIDI control is good. One nice application.

So here are the pros: 1) good useable sounds - as TeknoSoul said. 2) good MIDI control so this works well as either a sound module to be controlled by another sequencer or a controller for another sound module. the two don't work well together, for some reason, though.

Cons: 1)limited sound control 2)limited effect control 3)crappy sampler 4)zippery filters (usually sound good though, and this is actually kindof a pro to me) 5)absolute shit sequencer(oh yeah you can't even MIDI sync with this sequencer)

that's about it. So reflecting, I think I wish I would have blown my $300 on a used ESQ-1. I think that's what I was looking for and still am looking for. So I think I'm gonna go buy one of those, and save my DJX to use as a drum module. maybe when I get a sampler and a proper sequencer I'll use as a controller.

I almost forgot...I read somewhere "thin sound". The DJX has also a line out that enable you to plug the DJX in a GOOD sound system, exactly the same way you will normaly do with a keyboard without internal speakers costing much much more...You will notice a kind of a big difference.

You also get good quality samples of many real instruments like guitars, chiff flutes (aside: if you want to do a cover of "the chauffeur", this is your man) and organs, which takes care of most of your real instrument needs. So if nothing else, don't spend a grand on a JV-1080 just because you need a decent harp sound.

Thinness: The DJX sounds can be somewhat thin. However, they're much nicer than some of the much pricier but still crap VAs out there (supernova, virus, etc.) Also, realize that thin can be good. Unless you're Utah Saints, you want the singer's voice to dominate, not the synth. The minimoog, for example, does not play well with others. But the DJX tends to blend nicely into a mix. When I first got my DJX, I thought the effects weren't any good. Not true. I made the mistake of trying to run the synth sounds through the DSP. There wasn't much of an effect. But most synth sounds are pretty basic--a sine, square or a sawtooth in some combination. Consequently there's not much "digital signal" to "process." However, the DSP works quite well on the sampled guitar sounds. For a nice "Up"-like REM guitar with distortion, put on "nylon guitar" with the DSP at full blast using the hard distortion option. Turn on the reverb. Then use the assign knob to lengthen the release a bit. Another nice one I just discovered is to do the same on the "clean guitar" voice, and then put the dual voice on "strings". Tasty!

Now, as for what this box is not. It is not a synthesizer. Sound creation is limited to combining sounds via the dual option, and processing sounds through the internal effects. If you want to spend a long time on sound creation, buy a pulse. On the other hand, if you want some pretty good presets, buy this box.

For price/performance, I give it a 5.

is there any way to get the ability to sample anything longer than around 3 seconds?!?!? is there some way i can upgrade my djx for that?? peace, [o]

Philip, I admit it - the DJX, with its uninteresting and cheesy preset sounds, badly designed interface, and lack of any serious engine, is a poor buy at any price. I will now sell it and buy myself alot of fish, to hopefully build up my feeble brain-power.

Also I will stop posting here from now on, so anything supposedly posted by me after this post is actually just someone else's joke.

Anyway, to keep in context I'll give the DJX a little review. I played one for about 30 minutes at a Best Buy store. Since I'm such a synth freak I just had to try it out. Was I impressed? No. Did it sound good? Not particularly but it was sort of interesting and I can see why they're selling like hot cakes. Kids love that stuff.

Remember folks, you don't have to have the most expensive kit to make good music. You just have to have talent and if Nathan can make good music on a $200 synth than more power to him.

I have a Korg Trinity, Akai MPC 2000XL, EMU XL-1 and I had more fun and made better(more original) tunes with my Moog MG-1, an Ibanez flanger and a four track cassette recorder. Hmm.. I think gear lust has gotten the best of me. Anyone want to buy a Trinity?

I'll give the DJX a 2 rather than a 1 for it's huge impact on this site and it's entertainment value.

Oh, and don't piss on gear you don't know how to utilize. I've never met a keyboard that didn't have good and bad points, and the good FAR outweighs the bad on this little beast. If the M1 were released today it would be universally hated, because it's not a K2500 or a Triton, UNLESS IT WERE PRICED MUCH LOWER. 'Nuff said.

I came up with a pair of great hammond organ patches - well, far better than the ones it comes with. The trick is layering two voices, and putting the mod on one to full and the other to almost nothing. Add rotary etc... One is a screaming funk lead organ noise, with the assignable knob doing a kind of leslie effect (or tries to be). Used for our version of Starksy+Hutch.

The other is far better, and is a pure percussive Jimmy-Smith jazz funk sound. It's really quite good, quite convincing and played properly sounds great.

Yeah, I have to play mine in our school r+b group thing... strings, organs, eps, the lot. It handles them admirably.

(and my cutoff-lowered Funky EP with footswitched auto-wah is fantastic...)

Yeah, you have to fiddle. A lot. Basically.

Skb.

The DJX mailing list and website has been established to provide whatever assistance is necessary to help everyone get the maximum benefit out of the product.

The DJX list is located at:

http://www.onelist.com/group/DJX

Take care and stay focused.

Peace,

Roney Smith http://www.onelist.com/group/DJX

So what follows is a list of what I've been experiencing with it.

Right-o first thing is the sounds. They're OK in the most but I surprisingly found myself to be using the GM sawtooth and bass+lead more frequently than the supposed 'fat' synth sounds that come earlier in the list. I found a lot of these sounded similar and a fair few of the bass leads are too crackly and bitty in the lower octaves, which sort of defeats the object. But the organ and pad sounds are good and I found a couple of the brass sounds to sound incredibly Orbital-esque having been tweaked a bit. And sound #1 (I forget the name) sounds like a nice distorted organ with hard distortion on full and the cutoff put low. I've not yet found a place to use any of the provided vocal samples, I have in the past found them cheesy and unsuited to the style of music that I've been writing. And the drum loops seem to have been stuck in the list for some sort of novelty value, being useless for inclusion in any sort of hopeful release, unless you are a fan of presets. In general though I have not yet found an occasion where, writing exclusively with the DJX, there has not been a sound to fit what I'm after. The extended drum kits, the analog kit #3 and DJX and B900 kits especially are brilliant for creating all sorts of mental rhythms.

Second main point is the filter section, which comprises of a cutoff dial and resonance dial. The cutoff is probably one of the keyboard's key features, as on some sounds it provides incredible sweep range. For the vast majority of my tracks the resonance dial has remained at maximum, and I reckon that Yamaha'd be better off including resonance as one of the options in the Assign knob, and then giving the resonance knob a more useful function as I hardly use it. Modulation'd be nice, or a DSP level. But the main point is that the Cutoff knob is incredibly powerful for a keyboard of this price, and I have found it invaluable. (By the way I was confused when in the manual Yamaha state that the Cutoff knob is not recordable and is just a performance feature... when it is assigned to MIDI controller #74. Perhaps they mean the built-in sequencer, although I have not bothered using it.) In fact most of the major tweakable things on board the DJX are controllable from an external sequencer, which is really useful. However it'd be even better if the bass boost knob was MIDI-controllable too, as then the DJX could have a LPF and also a crude HPF. Instead the bass booster seems a part of the final amplifier of the keyboard, not being channel-specific. At this price though I am not going to complain. In general the MIDI control is excellent.

Finally I'll just run over the effects. The DJX can layer reverb, chrous and DSP effects, which means you have three aftermarket effects to play with, which for the price is great considering my Korg i4s can only run two main separate effects (ok four if you use the dual-channel ones). Although quite why the reverb and chorus/flanger types appear again in the DSP list is beyond me... as of yet I have never needed a double reverb. In my opinion the DSP section should have other sorts of effect built in such as a really nasty crackly distortion and perhaps a slower wah effect built in instead of the reverbs.

But to round off, the DJX is a pretty good keyboard for the money. Although if all you're doing with it is rigging it to an external sequencer and using it for the sounds, like me, then you'll be mildly cheesed off with the odd limitations here and there, because it seems to me this is really intended as a play keyboard with all its preset styles and so forth. And unfortunately I found the sampler not much use due to only 3 secs max time for each note, and a limit of 6 secs overall. There's a built in loop function but you can only specify the end point of the loop and not the start, so careful sampling is essential. Which is not too easy because the input level is stupidly low so you really have to whack the volume up on whatever you're sampling off. But for little squelchy bass notes etc it is pretty cool. So a OK keyboard then, but bear in mind there's a lot of flashy accessory built into it, and it is really just a PSR keyboard. For beginners to learn with I would assume this keyboard is pretty essential, pros may find it too limiting. But it's worth checking out (second hand now, I don't think they're making them any more).

-The majority of the sounds suck because there is no fatness or warmth to them (good for the price though).

-The filters and FX are really suprisingly a good value to the board that is so cheap.

-The sampler is a bit cheezy, but it comes in valuable.

-Overall, it's great for it's price, but the sounds aren't top of the line stuff (which you should expect for the money). So, my main gripes are semi-crappy sounds and no sequencer. If there was a sequencer even for the drumming I would praise this board a lot more highly, but it's just too hard for someone to take the time and play everyone in every measure. Believe me, when I first got it, I played each drum note for over 170 measures, it sucked!

So, if you're just starting out, it's a good buy. If you're rich, it's a good midi controller...if you are just an average person who wants to buy another synth, pass it up.

Now you tell me where you're gonna find a synth with this stuff for the price anywhere else? Unless you want to hunt down a Moog or other anolog synth for five times what this thing cost, in the meantime, why don't we get over our PSR prejudices and take a closer look at thing? Oh yeah, about thin sounds- turn the Bass Boost knob up or plug in to something else (like a mixer or amp with EQ). The people who think it sucks are the people who have their Korg Triton workstations and about 20 modules. People like me who CAN'T AFFORD THOSE FUCKIN' THINGS are content to use our PSR keyboards, and our demos will be just as good.

If you want a cheap keyboard with a selection of some good and some poor sounds which sounds okay but won't blow your socks off then it's a good buy. If you want something a little more solid sounding then this will disapoint.

NO CONTEST!!!!!! Dont listen to the cheap gear haters. They dont even own any cool gear anyway. This DJX is cheap, but you will not find more features and fun for the money. Impossible. Any real player knows it. Knocking gear that is made for people on a budget is some aristocratic bull shit. Yamaha packed a huge punch into this baby and it is easy to get KILLER sounds out of it. Mark my word. this unit is a winner with a future. It will always be in demand. ITS VERY COOL!!!

With all respect and don't get me wrong but think twice before you saying something stupid.

First,you said and I quote "...80% of them say it is shit and don`t want other people to make mistakes and buy the pile of shit ..." on 19 page of reviews with average rating 3.9 !!! (was 4.1 before dickheads start to play with marks)

Like I told you before, read before you say somethin fullish.

Second, don't mix oranges and apples - IT's PSR SERIES OF KEYBOARD if you know the meaning of PSR; low price synth aimed at hobbyst or starters BUT WITH HUGE POTENTIAL as you can see amongother on 19 page of reviews with very good average ratings.

Third, sure there is much better gear on the market but name just one piece of gear for 250$ (new) which is better than DJX ?! It's about music you make, it's not about gear you use, right ?

Forth, I follow this DJX review site since very first review in late 98 and, based on what I read here I made my desicion and for last X mass bought myself DJX.

Last but not list, when you compare price/perfomance IT'S A FAAANTASTIC.

It never inspired me at all to make any tunes, it was my first bit of external kit and I couldn't seem to do anything with it. I thought it was me until I got hold of a Novation Super Bass Station, which is one hell of a bit of kit.

The DJX has very weak thin sound. I mean Dub bass sounds nothing like Dub bass and it's very thin, if you play the lower octaves the sound is too mushy, play any higher and it's not bassy enough which left me feeling very un-inspired. The FX are really poor, some of them don't even seem to make much difference. The Cut off and Res are not bad for a cheap keyboard but the won't satisfy any analogue acid head.

Now I have a Bass Station and a Drum Machine I wouldn't even consider trying to get back into using it. But it does make a quite good controller keyboard even though the pitch wheel is a bit badly made. For the price of one of these you could get a pretty good controller keyboard anyway. Good fun after the pub but thats about it .... Some people will have fun with this and be quite satisied by it but if you wanna make ripping Jungle or Dub then forget it, I tried and failed.

That aside, only one's creativity sets a limit on this tool. At this price performance, you can't possibly ask for more. Get out and DJX away!

The DJX is way under-rated. And the fact that they sell used for very close to the new price should tell you something. They dont depreciate like your high-end gear. Why? Because they are worth every penny. The DJX is an incredible value and any moron who denies that is out of their mind. You cant knock something that does what this does and sells for $250 new unless you are totally retarded. People pay 5 times as much for less capabilities every day. I am sick of these idiots who review gear that "they tried in the store"---asshole fudgepacking whussies!!! They probably dont buy anything, they just try it in the store and then run home to review it on-line. Like I said, MORONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I pay 200$ for new DJX and for that money is incredibile value.

When you compare price/performance/quality of results/possibilities this is awesome keyboard in its own class.

And to one of the reviews on the top. The guy who said Techno started in Detriot...He is right. Go back to Electronic Music History 101 if you think differently.

Reasons to buy a DJX if you're a beginner:

(1) The DJX almost a good a job as the jx-305, mc-505, or mc-303 for a fraction of the price. No it does not go as deep as these other instruments, but as a beginner this doesnt matter to you. You need to spend less time learning the technology and more on making music....

(2) Why? No piece of gear is going to make you a better musician by itself. Consider turntablists who create very complex rhythms with simple instruments.

(3) If you do find that you enjoy creating music you will still have a keyboard that can be used as a controller or a scratchpad.

(4) If you stick with the this music making stuff you will probably find that all-in-one boxes become limiting quickly as they usually have too many compromises. So it is better too buy a 200-300 djx that you will outgrow than a 1100 mc-505 that you will outgrow.

(5) Lastly, if you decide this isnt for you wont be out much money....i hope this helped, if you are still wondering go to the music store and try it out. ask for the intruction manual and really spend some time with it. if you are bored with it in half an hour you'll know.

4 out of 5 for not trying to be something its not and for being affordable

Don't be a snob, don't be an idiot and state the obvious. Of course it's not "proper" gear. But it also doesn't have the accompanying price tag of "proper" gear. So if you're a youth with limited funds or just plain poor, here's what you get for about $250 now: 61note Keyboard/realtime ribbon controller and realtime knobs that transmit controller commands for recording into sequencer, controlling software, etc/3 songbanks with 6 tracks each/8bit mono sampler with over 6 seconds sampling time for sampling drum hits,etc to 12 memor sections/basic fx/good stock sounds/stereo speakers/32 note polyphony-16 multitimbrality.

You could still use it as a controller and xtra sound module after you got tired of it.

Real musicians use sounds and incorporate them in the mix of Production.... LESSON NUMBER ONE !!!!

I'M OUT CLONES !!!!!!!!!!!!

HELLO - THE DJX COSTS 299$ NEW AND CAME WITH SOME [CRAP] HEADPHONES AND POWERSUPPLY AND SUSTAIN PEDAL.

299$. 299$. Am I making myself clear? No, it doesn't compare with the latest and greatest 3000$ analog synth, but it's also 2300$ less expensive.

I can't believe people like you. You are like the idiot that talks loudly about what a piece of crap the Camaro Z28 is compared to a Lamborghini Diablo. HELLO - PRICE _IS_ A CONSIDERATION.

try leaving batteries in your DJX, it`ll remember the samples and your configs, just remember to make sure the adapter is plugged properly in when using it, buy decent batteries so they won`t leak, should last ages when just keeping the memories. wish these things had sign on the display to let you know when running on batteries for this reason.

Still a great source of sounds on the cheap it really has no business being under £250 but everyone is glad that it is.. it (and the RM1x) seem to have helped drive the JX305 and EG101 from the market (I`ve read that Roland have discontinued them) (;-)..

This is about me just getting right pissed off with waiting for a Cubase Studio Driver for the DJX, Well I took it apon myself to sort it out so i could use my DJX and select the sounds on Cubase. Well the result is I can now select sounds on my DJX in Cubase as easy as selecting them on the DJX itself :) I can't attach a file to this message so if anyone wan't what I have created to do this then email me, ya should see the email at the top of this writing, all the instruction are in the zip I'll email to ya, it's only 94k but i will do a batch email too all peeps that reply by email to me. This is not a Wind Up!, and it isn't instruction on how to do somit on cubase nor is it a studio driver. I've called It DJX It!, it's a combernation of files that will allow use to change the sound to the sound you want on the channle you want it. :) cyall soon! Andy Mc...

Sounds: There's some excellent lead synth and bass stuff in there. Loads of drumkits from the refined jazz and rock stuff to tacky electronica, along with a bunch of samples and drum loops that'll be handy for dance music fans. On the downside, the GM sounds are the usual tacky Yamaha stuff and there's no XG midi. Still, you're not getting it to play MIDI files back on, are you?

Effects: It's got lots of them: Chorus, reverb, modulation, resonance, cutoff and a DSP with stuff like distortion, wah-wah and delay. A lot of them are a bit on the weedy side though, so you'll constantly find yourself trying to crank the knobs around past their maximum settings. Contrary to what it says in the manual the knobs *do* send MIDI info, so you can use them with a sequencer too.

Sampler: It's a toy basically. If you're new to sampling and want to play around it'll be fun, but if you want a serious sampler, you're going to have to go out and buy one as it's not upgradeable and worst of all you lose it all when the power goes off.

Sequencer: Again, it's a toy. Useful for composing on the fly, but if you're a serious musician, you'll want to invest in a proper sequencer. As a home keyboard plugged into your PC, this is no great disadvantage though.

Gripes: - No portamento/glissando! - Only one assignable knob, plus the ribbon controller can make setting up a sound rather time consuming. - Only one footswich and no analogue foot-controllers.

Summary: The tacky speakers, sequencer and sampler are all going to be dead weight to most serious users, and even as a home keyboard, their novelty value won't be long lasting. However, the sounds, grooves, good MIDI features, and above all the low price will make this a winner.

http://www.abstractreality.com/djx/

Yamaha cs1x is much much better but it costs 1/3 more.

I've already said quite a bit about the good of this sampler, I'll come back to a little more about this later, but right now I'll have to tell you the bad things I've found. My main gripe is the sequencer.

For one thing, I *HATE* this piece of crap "song" format all the new sequencers have, which basically means you have next to no real time control over song structure...so if you wanted to change the song around a bit when you're playing live and maybe add a certain riff that you thought was cool, it's out of the question. That is unless, on the DJX anyway, you sacrifice one of the [five] channels (including drums) and put your riff in there, then turn it on/off when the time is right. My dream sequencer is one that records a measure or two's worth of however many notes and that would be considered a pattern, then you could chain them together. I'm sure there's one out there, I just haven't seen it yet. 303/606/etc. style sequencing would be nice too, as my 606 has spoiled me. The other thing that pisses me off about the sequencer is that you can only play in 4/4...I guess since the DJX is the "ultimate dance machine" then you don't really need it, but half of my songs are 3/4...minor gripe but I could see that becoming a real pain in the ass real soon.

The sampler is really getting on my nerves too. I tried for a while to put cool grooves I found on vinyl onto different sections of the keyboard, then saw that they were usually cut short because the DJX's sampler only does 6 seconds...and - get this - only 3 *per sample*. They didn't say anything about that before. That's OK though, cause you can just sample it an octave up by CoolEditically doubling the speed (or whatever you use) then popping it into the DJX, then you just have to play it an octave lower, of course with a lower sampling rate, but there really isn't too much difference, just to show you how low the rate is to start with. Also the sampler has a weird way of assigning samples to keys, you have to be clever about where you sample at. No specific notes sampled to keys, just "general area". So basically, I just take samples of other synths, (and sometimes Soundblaster FM and STOMPER) and use those on the sampler. That has yielded some nice results.

My other gripe is the all-around user interface. The knobs are great, don't get me wrong, but then when you want to change effects, dual volume, arp type, etc. you have to hit function, then type in what # the function you want to do is, then type in the value...not really hard, but it is a pain in the ass live. Also those effects can't be used more than one at a time, but you can use the effect that you choose on any combination (or all) parts of the keyboard that are playing (except "style"). Also major stairstepping effects, especially on the pitchbend wheel when set to a whole octave, but I like to use the stairstepping to my advantage for weird supercheez effects :) Other gripes are the way the organized the voices using the bank method, no seperate outs (but hey...) , and no MIDI thru port.

Now for the good parts...this is really nice. You can get all your parts going, turn them on, and turn them off (I think 50 people have said that already), but they didn't comment on this...you use the knobs, slider, or assign knob on whatever "part" you have selected, and it will "remember" the settings when you switch to a different part. I haven't played with too many synths yet, really just the Ensoniq ESQ-1 and various drum machines, but I haven't seen anything that's been able to do that yet. Two thumbs up. The other really important good thing is the fact that this transmits all kinds of data, arpeg, knobbies, pitchbend, and it does it well. Also, I'm not real sure, but I think all those real time "parts" you can turn off are transmitted too...and that can come in handy.

So what can you do with this? Quite a bit...I use external sequencers on it and highly recommend it...though the knobs don't work on the incoming data (which pisses me off too!) or you can also get the arpeggiator going and play that along side one of the [actually pretty usable] preset styles. I guess you can use a combination of the two also, but that would get confusing...I should probably try that sometime. Anyway, this is a pretty good unit and really it does have miniature versions of, but *does not* replace, a lot of expensive gear. I'd definitely recommend it, particularly if you already have a good sampler and a sequencer and are looking for some good real time usable sounds.

Just for a Laugh I managed to almost totally recreate E-Type`s "Angels Crying" on the GOA style on the DJX, just a bit of Microwave XT and me an the Missus singing thru a Vocoder and it`d be a perfect cover (;-). The styles are actually very good and could easily be used in a Remix situation so long as you turn off the cheesier of the phrases..

unlike the CS?x the 16-part multitimbrality is a doddle despite having to enter the weirdest of MSB/LSB parameters to get to the dance sounds. The sampler is useful for grungeing up sounds to be resampled on a proper unit and is lighter and has more functions than an Emulator-1 (;-).

Has anyone tried editing the effects using XG-EDIT??, the DJX has the same FX processor as the CS?X / MU10 etc so it may work and you can then edit delay times etc and dump`em in as Sysex at the start, just a thought. People seem to knock this thing just for the hell of it, but it certainly beats the shit out of the Roland EG101 which really IS crap at well over twice the price. I`ve really enjoyed my time with the DJX and am loathed to give it back.

Sounds: To be totally honest, aside from the samples on this board (voices and drum loops) I was not impressed with the sounds on this keyboard. They were marginal for studio use. If I put most (well over half the voices) into a mix with my other gear - you would be able to tell that it was of a lesser quality. Even when you twist all the knobs and buttons and slide the ribbon controller it holds true.

It is important to note that it has some awesome Yamaha patched - its DX7 patch sounds like the real thing!

Controls: This is where this beast really shines. I use it mostly as a controller for some of my other gear. Everything is send via MIDI. One of the smartest things is that the DJX sends its preset patterns out over multiple MIDI channels. This lets me do record the kick from some Roland gear, the snare and percussion from Alesis Gear, the Bass patterns from Yamaha gear... get the picture?

The next big issue it the MIDI syncing. Everything is sent out via MIDI. The arpegiator translates the info out via MIDI. The preset patterns, including the groove quantizing is sent via MIDI, resonance changes, filter sweeps, panning... you name it - it's sent via MIDI. This turns out to be a good thing.

Let's put this in persective without causing a flame war. When I purchased the BOSS DR-202, which some folks say is an awesome piece of equipment... it did not transfer anything via MIDI except the actual pad presses. So if you recorded patterns away from an external sequencer, the only thing that you would be able to do is bulk load and unloads.

The presets rhythms are solid, and are a good starting point. With the on-board controls you can really cut them up so that you would not be able to recognize the pattern that it was built from.

I would prefer that it have 2 outs (L/R) even if left had to double as a stereo out. Having the external adapter is also annoying, but for the price I can put up with one.

This opinion is about as honest and thorough as it gets.

Feel free to e-mail me for questions.

D

The easy answer to this is gear like the DJX. It sounds good and has a great price. Plus,you'll have fun w/ it, and in a few years you won't mind having bought it when it becomes outdated, because it was such a small figure of a price and a really good deal (I paid $125 for it).

This is where reviews are supoosed to be posted. If you wish to discuss the pros and cons of the idea of something like the DJX, can use www.the-gas-station.com

And all you pretenders saying it sucks just because it has built-in speakers and the name 'portasound' can take your trash somewhere else. Remember the price point we're talking about here. It has external outputs. How could speakers, no matter how horrible sounding (and they're not bad at all), be anything but a bonus!?

- jake enk.

http://members.aol.com/psboy4a/djx/djx.htm

<I>When will you Euros ever learn who to spell "shop" or "center" right?</I>

Well, I`ve bought one and was totally amazed at the quality of the sounds for the money, far exceeds the crap MC303 "Rave-SoundCanvas". full warm and poweful trance pads that are better than the ones in the CS1x, deep basses and sparkling leads that could be coming out of a Waldorf.

Gripes.. No, I`m not going to moan about the LCD, the sampler with only 128k RAM (just like the £8000 Emulator-1 in 1981) or the speakers but something more personal.. TOO MUCH Hip hop / Rap / Old Skool etc and not enough Euro, Trance and Techno in the patterns also the space allocated to the awful vocal samples might have been allocated to more of those wonderful loops and noises. Talking of speakers, they actually shame most recent ghetto blasters, I mean where is all that Bass coming from?.

Allocate the Ribbon to MODulation and it then becomes quite a usable master keyboard (better than the dearer soundless CBX-K2xg in fact which also has no aftertouch)the action is similar to the AN1x, IE: not in DX7-II/SY85 class but well usable. The GM side is better than the original soundcanvas or most soundcards and as good as the Korg X5 or CS1x and you can run GM over Midi and mix in one of the styles in real time.. had a great time using a classical piece as an intro!.

It sends all its pattern data etc over Midi, just tell your Computer sequencer to use External Sync, put it on record and do the Biz on the DJX, then edit what`s there! and either play it back on the DJX or other synths. great for those like me who are crap at programming drums. Don`t leave it balanced on the top vent part of your CS80, it`ll melt (;-).

BTW 12-year olds usually want Playstations or Nintendos for Xmas, not DJX`s..

Buy one for inspiration, for the portability, for a decent integrated GM box for when you want decent music in games which`ll blow your PC speakers away, for an excellent intro into the creation of dance music, for use as a decent master keyboard and most of all for the bloody cheek of it.

YOU KNOW, THE HARMONICA IS PRETTY BASIC IN FUNCTION. AND IT HAS SUPPORTED MY FATHER FOR 50 YEARS.

SO THERE'S YOUR FUCKING REVIEW.

For £250 UK, (cheaper in the states!!! boo) you`re getting a lot of enjoyment rolled into one package..... worth a 5 if only because it takes the piss out of Roland`s tacky overpriced "Groove Approved" shit.. I think Yamaha did this delibaretly just as they did with the superb AN1x

long live the djx, even with its built in speakers.

The DJX is a PORTASOUND, an expensive one, yes. but a Portasound nontheless and should be treated as such, one thing it is not is a pile of crap touted as professional kit at professional prices like the MC303/505 JX305. no-one takes the other Portasounds (PSR/PSS series) seriously and rave on about how crap they are.. the model ( PSR-D1) the speakers and the battery power make its intentions perfectly plain ... It`s a fun kid`s toy with General Midi thrown in . Argos`ll be selling them for £99.95 no doubt next year