After listening to the great sounding demos of the DGX300 pianos from svpworld, I revisitted this keyboard again.

I would have bought this keyboard if not for one glaring weakness. You cannot select a separate manual bass. It allows you to select split mode and lets you select a combination set of bass and RH voices(piano, etc). But it does not allow you to independently select the bass voice without changing the RH voice. When in this split mode, I don't think you can even layer anothe voice.

Interestingly, the much cheaper DGX200/202 DOES allow you to change the bass voice, RH voice and a layered voice indedently. BUT it does not have the registration memory which is a SERIOUS drawback for live play.

Am I missing something here guys ?

the 202 is a newly designed keyboard which just came out with "current" features from some of the higher end products. There is a shuttle wheel (from the 550 and 2000 series) and the ability to provide any sound for the split you like.
The DGX300/500 is a new model featuring Piano type keyboard feel and looks but using the older PSR350 technology which doesn't allow for as many options as the 202 and was designed more for the Pianist rather than having a more complicated keyboard where you would have more options and more difficulty in assigning sounds, etc.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Explained very well George..

Lukitoh,
I've played both the 300 and 500, and I have to agree with George.. Especially in regards to the 500.. That keyboard is really designed for home use and I don't think Yamaha had the performer in mind when making it.. However, like George said, they have great keyboard feel, but are based on the 350 technology...

Squeak

It just short ONE feature !! If it only has that one feature, that keyboard DGX300 would have been my next keyboard for the next few years. The sounds on that low cost keyboard is nice.

How can YAMAHA miss something like that. Maybe they do it purposely. They always miss that one thing that you really need.

Oh well...

Lukitoh,
Ahhhh you're finally catching on to Yamaha's way of getting users to go up to the next model for that "one" thing they want in the keyboard.. They've been doing this for some time now. Good example: Look at the PSR-1000/2000... The 1000 is missing something as simple as the modulation wheel.. How hard would it have been for Yamaha to add that???? The case is the same as the 2000, but people will pay extra for small features. Yamaha also does really dumb things too like with the DJX series. The original was an awsome step foward for Yamaha, but when they redesigned the thing, the idiots took away "touch response" on the keys, dropped the pitchbend wheel, and even dropped the original LCD display and went back in time and used a weak little LED display...

Squeak