Yamaha PSR-D1

The Yamaha DJX So what is this exactly? It’s the first of Yamaha’s new keyboards aimed specifically at creating dance music. As opposed to the PSR series which had voices and patterns that were more general, this keyboard has Synth and Bass Voices, special drum kits and sound effects. In all, it has 155 voices, plus the general midi set. You can also use a sampled sound as another voice, and the keyboard can record this for 6-8 seconds. What can I do with it? All kinds of things! The keyboard had midi compatibility and can be used with popular sequencers such as Cakewalk, Cubase and Logic. This creates a powerful system, combining ...  Read the complete review

Having graduated from a Yamaha keyboard with mini keys, it seemed strange to use full sized ones - my plump fingers had got used to bending to hit the smaller keys. The PSR is popular because it is easy to use; it has 100 voices and 100 styles. There are, it must be said, some voices which do not seem up to scratch, I cannot imagine what you would use them for! Likewise, the styles. It would be useful if you could turn down some of the accompaniments, even if they are good you do not want it to drown out your wonderful chords, you've spent ages to learn. It does not have sensitive keys, but then at about £150, what do you expect? A ...  Read the complete review

If you're new to keyboards and making electronic music or not, the Yamaha DJX is an excellent value keyboard. For round about £200 you get a decent machine with an excellent range of sounds. It has lots of pre-programmed tunes and drum patterns and you can turn on and off various elements of each pattern as it plays to create youyr own "mix". While this is fun for a while, the novelty of this soon wears off..and it is now that the keyboard's strenghts really come out. Plug this beauty into the back of PC with a sound card. Fire up a sequencer like Cakewalk or Cubase and you've just entered the realm of professional ...  Read the complete review

The Yamaha DJX is a nifty wee thing, with loads of buttons to press and switches to push. If you fance yourself as a Dance DJ mixer or composer, but don't have the computers or knowhow to do it, then this is a great place to start. There are 283 voices on this machine, which are good quality. It's basically an advanced keyboard. My favourites are the Seashore and Applause voices. There are also a set of sampled voiced like "Oh Baby!" "yeah" etc. The keyboard is midi compatible - I've only used it with cakewalk, but it was really easy to set up and use. There are loop and effects controls, a microphone ...  Read the complete review