Well I was up in Erie PA this weekend visiting my parents so I dropped by the local music store and was happy to see the DGX-200, DGX-300, DGX-500, P-120, and the Motif... I got to play all these boards and was quite the happy camper when I left the store.. I'm going to start with the Motif.. I know this isn't an arranger but I get quite a few emails from those who have arrangers and also want a pro synth. Plus our very own "Bluezplayer" has one too.. Well folks the Motif completely blew me away! I owned the synth it was redesigned after which was the EX-7, and wow what a total improvment! First I have to say that like it's cousin the EX-7, this synth isn't really a "first time" synth for someone.. This thing is in depth, and the manual will totally confuse someone who's not use to how synths work.. This keyboard is for someone who knows their way around them.. Sure anyone can turn it on and play but when you dig in, boy there is so much to this thing.. Anyways lets talk about sound quality.. Holy Crap the Motif knocked me off my seat.. What a great sounding synth.. The acoustic, synth, and pad patches are awsome!!!!!! I've noticed that people here say they love the synth sounds of the PSR, but sorry gotta say it people.. The PSR's have NOTHING on the Motif in terms of synth sounds (not even the upper line).. I can't even explain it.. You have to hear them for yourself... Yamaha dropped the disk drive and it now uses smart media too. The keys are synth action (feel nice too) The sequencers would make anyone drool.. Not just a 16 track, but pattern sequencer, and an integrated sampling sequencer (again that's a lot to explain on the sampling sequencing... Check the Yamaha page on that one...) Tons of real time control too.. I could go on and on about this board, but you have to play this one for yourself.. (I'm sure AJ can agree to that...) In conclusion.. I WANT ONE!!!!!!!!!! The price isn't too bad either...., $1,700 or so. There are 3 models, 61 key, 76 key, and 88 graded hammer weighted keys..

Now the DGX-300/500: I was pretty impressed with these two keyboards.... The DGX-500 (88 key) is very nice looking and would look great in a living room.. Sound quality was actually pretty good.. Personally I liked the grand piano on both models better than the one on my PSR-550. These boards are essentially the same thing, minus a few keys and cosmetic look. They're basically really nice PSR-350's with some additions.. I noticed some sweet voices too (good job Yamaha) The action was WAY WAY WAY better than the regular PSR line.. Now I haven't been lucky enough to play a PSR-2000 yet, but if it has the same keybed as the PSR-740, then I think the DGX's action would feel much nicer. I also played with the DJ voices, and nothing really speacial (They were taken from the DJX, both the original and second version) They both have floppy disk drives and allow for several tracks of recording.. I think there's 6. However I didn't see anything for recording user styles.. The internal styles weren't too bad either. Personally I wish they would have used the PSR-550 as the basis for the DGX sereies.. A 76 and 88 key PSR-550 would kick some butt. For someone looking for a good affordable 76 or 88 key keyboard these two models are perfect.. Especially the 88 key model... Granted it's not fully weighted, but the action is much better than most PSR's I've played. However I was not pleased with the drum kits.. I expected them to sound cleaner, but they weren't very good...

The DGX-200, for the price it's a good keyboard.. Don't expect too much out of it.. It's really just a repackaged PSR-GX76 with a few changes.. Sound quality isn't too bad. I wasn't completely blown away by this one.. However it's a great first keyboard for anyone.. Plus you get 76 keys..

Ok the P-120... Boy you want to talk about tickling the ivory!!!!! That digital has great action.. The weighted keys are graded where they are stiffer in the lower octaves and lighter at the upper octave range. As far as how it compares to the piano of the p-80, I think that really depends on what speakers you're playing through.. The P-120 has internal speakers, but they really don't do the piano justice.. My first impression of the sound was that the upper octaves were extremely bright and the lower octaves didn't really have enough bottom end.. The salesperson agreed and he hooked it up to a nice set of monitors and WOW what a difference.. If anyone has or buys this thing, and plays out with it.. DONT USE THE INTERNAL SPEAKERS!!!! This thing needs to be played through a good set of speakers to really get that true Yamaha Grand sound...

Well I'm off to bed.. Got back from my 7 hour drive this evening and I'm off to bed (gotta work in the morning)

Squeak

As you might already know, I posted some of my own observation on the DGX series keyboard. I thought the piano sound is good and even better than the higher end models such as the PSR1000 and PSR550.

However, the DGX200 and DGX300 has serious drawbacks that would prevent me from using it LIVE - no way of storing the registration.

DGX500 has registration memory but you cannot change the split voice independently. Just one shortcoming but a very serious one.

OK, I know this is off topic in an arranger forum, but I gotta ramble about the Motif a little anyway. I love playing the Motif like no other board I've ever owned or played on. The key feel is a good bit stiffer than the PSR series. At first I didn't like it all that much, but now that I'm used to it, the PA80 ( which has little stiffer key feel than say the PSR2000 ) feels too loose in comparison. I actually find that I can be a lot more expressive playing rythyms on the Motif and just having a stiffer key feel has helped me to improve my rythym playing. I've even gotten used to playing quick solos on it, though I still prefer the PA80 action for that.

I have a couple of dislikes with the board, mainly the polyphony ( 64 notes ) which is easy to use up when playing with a lot of sustain. The OS is a bit complex, but once you learn it, ( it took me a good bit of time), it is laid out pretty logically. Sampling is a bit cumbersome and you have to add Simms to reach the 64 mb memory level. I wish they'd go "modern" and allow for Dimms, but I believe in dedicated sampling boards / software for sampling anyway, so I won't knock a workstation or arranger for lacking top sampling features. There isn't much else I dislike. A few of the acoustic instruments could have been a little better ( the sax / horn family comes to mind ), but by and large most of the other instruments sound very good to outstanding. The guitars are so much better than the ones on the PA80. Ditto the pianos and electrics. The strings are very good. The sweet flute rivals the one on the 9000. Then there are the synth sounds. Superb, what else can I say ? The sounds were already so good, then I added the AN 150 ( analog modeling board ) and it completely displaces the notion I had that Yamaha can't match the Triton for synth sounds. For me, patch / synth editing is more logical and easier to do too than on the PA80 or any of the other Korg boards I've ever played. I was never a big dance / techno player ( I dabble a little ), but this thing makes me wanna do more of it.

Then there are the 4 sliders and 4 knobs. They are fully programmable. I love being able to adjust paramteres on the fly. This work well on the synth instruments, but also for making subtle changes that enhance and make emulating a guitar or other acoustic instrument sound a bit more realistic as well. Access to the raw samples and good sound edit features are important functions for me. The Motif is excellent for this, as is my PA80. The PSR's always fell a little short for me in this area. I know it may seem weird but one of the things that made me like the ( gulp ) Casio MZ2000 was excellent sound edit features. ) It appears that the VA76 and also the Ketron boards might possibly fall a little short for my likes as well.

It's not an arranger, but the pattern chain feature and the arps are cool too. I use the arps sometims in a way similar to an arranger, but instead one track at a time. User arps, done properly, work very well. I've been able to make some cool ones, including my own live play and by using phrases from the PA80 and other styles. I wish Yamaha could come up with a module that would allow for some of the PSR / arranger functions, or an arranger that had some of the Motif functions and the sliders / knobs as well. I know there will never be a perfect board for me, but a hybrid of the 9000 or Tyros, with most of the Motif features, ( with styles to rival the PA80's for realism, but with 4 fills instead of 2 ) would probably be as good as it gets in todays world. No matter what though, the Motif is a keeper, quite possibly for my lifetime. I didn't like my M1 nearly as much, but I kept IT for 10 years.

AJ