Hey everyone,

I'm wondering if any of you have tried the DJX-II. I want to know some thoughts on the board as well as your like/dislikes possibly?

If you guys know of a good site for info (other than Yamahas' site - including yamahadjx.com), I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks in advance,
Peter Russell

Hi!

I have DJX-IIB, which has almost the same specs as the keyboard version. Great sounds, especially drums, deep basses and cool modulated synth sounds, pads are similiar to some of the standard XG set (on my PSR-640). Some cool drum loops too, and each drum loop is splitted to several samples, so you can remix them into new loops. The keyboard version is a little more 'direct', when compared to the original DJX, everything is right on the board, without having to dig into menus. But this also means, there are some features missing, that were included on the DJX 1, e.g. arpeggiator (replaced with activator), DSP (replaced with live effector, which affects the whole DJX2 sound). First DJX had styles, similiar to the other arranger keyboards, but DJX-II has only patterns, so you can't play it as a 'classic' keyboard (accompaniment with left, melody with right hand). You can control pattern player or you can play melody, but not both at the same time. It's just a groove box with keyboard interface. It as a complete MIDI IN capability (except channel 4, which is meant for 'remote control'), but it's MIDI OUT transmits only clock and bulk dump to computer, so you can't use it as a control keyboard, like the original DJX. When compared with DJX2B, the keyboard version is IMHO better for techno (better pattern control, keyboard for playing some melodies), while the BOX version is more suitable for hip hop music (scratch pad, crossfader). If you just want to groove with it, it's very good, but if you want to play it as a classic auto-accompaniment keyboard or use it for recording melodies into sequencer keyboard, buy DJX 1!!!