Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha DGX 620???

Hi everyone!

I was hoping to get some advice on buying my first DP. After a long search, I thought of Yamaha DGX 620.

I played acoustic piano in school, but never had my own instrument. I didn't play for some 7 years now. I'm also composing for more than 10 years now, but without the instrument, I've been obliged to do it in a head-to-paper fashion.
I finally collected some 800 euros (~1000 $), and I want to buy a digital piano/keyboard, but I'm totally inexperienced in this topic.

The features that would be important for me are:
- GH, to feel as I am playing an acoustic
- excellent piano sounds
- as many other good sounds as possible (for composing and recording)
- max price 800 euros

Do you have any advices for me? Is Yamaha DGX 620 the right choice for me?

There is also one more thing: in about 2 years, I'm going move to another country, so what about the transportation and taxes on the borders- Yamaha DGX 620 weighs 18 kg! Is it possible to transport your DP to another country without paying half of its price for that?

Thanks very much in advance!

If you want a decent piano feel plus tons of sounds (and a limited budget), the DGX really is a good board. It is heavy, but this is inherent with most, if not all weighted-action keyboards. So you would probably have this dilemma with any keyboard you choose.

DGX620 is older model and the new one is DGX630 which is with doubled polyphony from 620. in the same range, slim P85 is another one you can consider. they both have Yamaha GHS action.

Check out either Yamaha DGX6** or KORG SP250.

here is a good link to view some DP's at the same price range you are looking for.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/keys.html

Thanks!
I'll check if the provider has Yamaha DGX 630, I didn't realize before that 620 has only 32 polyphony. I'll also check Korg SP 250.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of sampling do the DGX series use? Not note for note are they, the 630?

I don't think it's note-for-note sampling.

To the OP:
I think the DGX630's recording features and many of the sounds would make you happy. However, I don't think the keyboard's feel is that great - you might be better off with a different keyboard and some decent software, since IMO it's a lot easier to arrange and record tracks with a full computer.

I wouldn't have agreed so much with you about the 630 until I got them both home. I just couldn't tell that much in the store, with demos in difficult display positions in a noisy shop. But now with even a P-140 beside it, the G.H.S. action in comparison seems to be much less substantial, and its "key thud" is not as quiet as with G.H.E. (you can notice at low volumes). Not to mention with the DGX-630 you're getting so close in price to the M.I.J. Yamaha models that have 3 year warranty instead of 1, and nicer put together cases etc. Maybe why at this point they make the distinction from calling them "keyboards" to "digital piano" not that those terms matter.

And not to get too far O.T. 7even, but do you happen to know at what model level note-for-note sampling does start? I.D.K. if the P-140 has it, but I will say this about the 630's sound- there is something about it's tone that beats the p-140's in way I can't put my finger on exactly. And it's not just because of the bigger (& more) speakers, because I hear the difference in headphones too. Of course dynamics can't be as nuanced with only one velocity sampled, but it's like a fuller presense from the 630. Maybe something to the "Advanced Wave Memory" that the P-140 doesn't have. Either way, it's not enough vs. how much less I like the action and expression in comparison, so the 630 is going back. If sams will take it. Maybe the P-155 will be best of both worlds. CP-300 surely is, but heavy and costly.

I do not believe any current Yamaha digital pianos use 88 key sampling (their marketing materials refer to 'banks'), however I expect this may change once their beautiful Avant Grand is officially released.

Incidentally, sampling every key on a piano does not guarantee an authentic reproduction of the tone. There are a number of other factors that are also extremely important, beginning with the type of piano sampled and how it was prepared, the position of each microphone used in the recording process, etc. Then one has to consider further technical limitations, such as the sampling frequency, bit depth, length (before looping), and additional filtering techniques used to provide a consistent tone.

Indeed, attempting to create an accurate representation of any acoustic instrument through sampling is an incredibly complicated - not to mention exhausting - process.

Cheers,
James
x

It could be the DSP effect that you are hearing. DSP is one of the new feature added to the DGX.

Strictly as a digital piano, DGX may not come out on top. And so it depends on how much you care about other features such as computer connectivity, auto accompaniment/styles, USB drive transfer/recording etc, which IMHO would be of use to OP's use for composing music. Piano sound could always be upgraded using soft synth in the future if desired.

Whatever digital effect is causing it, it makes a nicer tone to my ears with the DGX. Why I'm hoping it's the A.W.M. technology, since that will also be featured on the P-155.

But in case it's not- can you do that, how you suggest upgrading the sound with "soft synth" (?), on the P series also? Although i assume the price of whatever that is will be at least as much as the difference b/t the P-140 & P-155? I agree the DGX series have a whole lot more features that make it a great value depending on the users purposes. Though the G.H.E. action, for me, trumped most other advantages, including the nicer tone.

It could be the DSP effect that you are hearing. DSP is one of the new feature added to the DGX.


Well, I think you're right identicloak, it must be DSP. Even if it's not I don't think it's AWM that accounts for the DGX's better tone. Because I never noticed this before, but p140 has "Advanced Wave Memory" too, so that tehcnology obviously cannot be the difference I was hearing, since they both have it.