The Expansion Question:

Every month someone will comment or ask me the question, "Where do we go from here".

These are Yamaha DJX owners who were happy with their original purchase but want to expand. These DJX-1 owners were dreaming of the DJX-2 as an upgraded version of the DJX-1 with a backlit LCD display, expanded sequencer, longer sampler recording time, perhaps a floppy disk drive for storing samples, patterns and sequences.

Instead of a new expanded DJX-1 "the second edition", they received a totally redesigned keyboard that looks and acts nothing like the DJX-1. This creates a even greater question for those DJX-1 users who want to move into a more professional direction.

A Look At The DJX-1's Mother:

O.K. so many of us have a DJX keyboard or box of some kind. But to really get a good look at the DJX and the way Yamaha has marketed them, we first need to look at the where the DJX was conceived. Before the DJX was a baby, there was a mommy keyboard called the CSX series of keyboards. The CSX series of keyboards are Yamaha's advanced professional keyboards. Recently I took a long look at the CSX keyboards and the DJX's keyboards. I pondered the questions in my mind, "Why did Yamaha make the DJX-2 a stripped version of the DJX-1".

Then, it dawned on me as I sat a CS2X keyboard and listened to some of the familiar sound voices of the DJX-1. I looked carefully over the assignable knob controls, effects, layout and even the material the knobs were made from. I realized that the DJX-1 was a striped down, remodeled version of the CS2X. The assignable knobs on the CS2X are basically identical to the DJX-1 and are the same blue colored plastic knobs on the DJX-2. I listened to the sounds and some of them are exactly the same voices of the DJX-1.

It was at that particular moment that I discovered that I was actually looking at the DJX's mommy. The father of the DJX keyboards is the CS6X a even more advanced version of the CS2X keyboard.

DJX Engineering:

It didn't take long to see what Yamaha was doing. Yamaha had taken its top of the line Dance keyboards and reverse engineered them for the DJX-1 keyboard. They replaced the CS2X backlit LCD display with a non-backlit LCD for the DJX-1.

They removed several of the CS2X assignable knobs, voices, XG, and other features and what was left over was the foundation for the DJX-1. They then threw on a ribbon controller from the daddy CS6X, added a stripped down sequencer and a stripped down sampler.

The end result was the DJX-1. The DJX-2's were stripped down versions of the DJX-1. I was shocked! Yamaha had started out with a professional keyboard and worked backwards to create semiprofessional versions for the home consumer market. They are brilliant!

Upgrading And Expanding From The DJX-1 & 2:

So you want to upgrade your setup and the DJX-2 was a major disappointment. Well, if you haven't already figured out which direction is up by now, you need to reread the paragraphs above. The obvious choice of upgrade from the DJX keyboards is the CSX series keyboards. As of the date of this writing, the CS2X cost about $600 to $700 US Dollars.

It's a great deal. But if you really want to get the best keyboard for your dollars and have the most compatible keyboard to combine with your DJX keyboard, your going to want to save your money a while longer and buy the CS6X. The CS2X is a good keyboard, but it lacks a sampler, sequencer, ribbon controller and a few other goodies.

What it does have going for it is some really awesome Arpeggiator effects (40 of them).

It also sports layering and panel editing, a way cool modulator wheel that was best modulation wheel I have ever seen before, and it has 779 normal voices, 586 XG voices, and 614 TG300B voices. That's a lot of voices. The CS6X I believe cost about $1300 to $1400 US Dollars. It has 19 real-time control knobs, 380 fat dynamic voices, 4 megabytes of sampling memory, you can expand the keyboard with sound boards (* mentioned below), 128 Arpeggiator effect patterns, ribbon controller, modulation and pitch bend wheels, 100 digital effects, and a SMARTMEDIA(tm) memory card to store your sequences and samples for live performance use.

* (Expanded Information on the CS6X)

The memory cards can hold 4 megabytes of samples and recorded sequencer songs. The built in sequencer can record as a midi file. You can record sequences on a regular computer sequencer software program and then upload it to the CS6X's sequencer and/or store it on a memory card to be used later in a live performance.

* (CS6X Plug-In Sound Boards)

This is probably one of the greatest features of this keyboard. You can upgrade the keyboard with sound cards. A bunch of them exist, including: Analog Physical Modeling Board, Piano Board, XG Tone Generator Board, Vocal Harmony Board, Virtual Acoustic Board, and several others. Software is also include with this keyboard, including: CS6X Voice Editing Software, XGworks Lite, and Card Filer.

It looks like it starts out with about 500 sounds and then you can add the boards mentioned above to expand it.

There You Have It I brief:

If you want to stick with Yamaha, my recommendations for upgrading or adding to your setup is the CS6X.(If you can afford it or are willing to wait a bit longer to get the best (Which will make you happier in the long run), or buy the CS2X which will not disappoint you either.

These are the best (Dance/DJ) keyboards I have heard. The alternative to these keyboards if your into techno, electronica, club music, would be the new Roland Analog Keyboard or the Korg Analog Keyboard.

Copyright 2000 Randall Gorden
All International Rights Reserved