Someone once said that in the future professional studios and home computer users would be putting out entertainment of comparable production values. The future is now, baby! :D
I used the hell out of this keyboard from when I was like 18 years old up until I was about 27 when it finally died. I was into breakcore during those years and all I really cared about was having a synth with good drum kits for drum and bass and jungle and it did that. I would beat the living hell out of this thing and play live break core drums on it. It finally died a while back and my best friend Chris, also my band mate, cracked it open and circuit bent it and we recently made a track with it that will likely end up on my latest album. I have nothing but love for this toy and would own it again but i wouldn't pay more than 100 bucks for it these days
Here's footage from many moons ago of me performing drums with it, this was after my breakcore project, which there isn't a whole lot of footage of those shows online: th-cam.com/video/6fadB2R-nIg/w-d-xo.html
When I was 13 years old, I bought the djx at a used music store simply because it had filter and resonance knobs and an arpeggiator. It was the closest thing that I could find (and afford) to a synthesizer. Over twenty years later it sits in my kids’ playroom.
You sure you're ready to raise some little Zoomer rave DJs or modular-synth addicts!? Cause having access to such a funky piece of gear as a little kid is gonna blow their minds in all the right ways and inspire them! I wish I had a mom or dad like you!
"...only bad musicians... like myself" When I was a kid I wanted to play guitar really badly. Now, after 40 years of practice and performance, I play guitar really badly. :P
Not my first keyboard but the first one at age 13 that made me feel like I was actually creating something. Definitely ignited my obsession with electronic music and synthesizers.
The snobbery from the comments in the video is missing the point that this sort of thing is supposed to be a less daunting gateway to electronic music production than giving a kid a modular , a Digitakt and a 32 track mixer and saying 'off you go'. First thing that got me interested in electronic music was my sister's crappy Casio sampling keyboard.
This channel proves that if you are motivated, you’ll make decent music on pretty much anything. My brother had the box version, where the entire interface was a few knobs and a CD for scratching. Demo song was ok, but I just couldn’t be arsed to even work it out
Haha this was my first ever keyboard at 16 I used to go into the local music shop with my mate and annoy the owner by playing the 'rad' onboard presets. I asked the owner how to play it and he started playing Jazz with some shite organ sound, you can imagine the look of horror on the 2 Prodigy loving 16 year old faces. Anyway, I begged my parents for it for Christmas, then when I did get it there was talk at my school for me doing a 'live' DJX set at the end of school party 😂 The other day I found a note from a friend in my school leaving book saying 'can't wait to you to smash it with your DJX at the party' - luckily that never happened, although for story's sake I wish it would have.
@@DoctorNemmo Haha I think I was the intended market, young kids into dance music that wanted a keyboard with those kinds of patterns, and obviously too young to realize how pants it sounded. But it was all fun. I think it was a first in the home keyboard world - all the other casio stuff aimed at kids at the time had stuff like 'waltz' & 'swing' etc as patterns
Loved this video. My first keyboard. I still remember the crazy day I bought it. I was in Dubai at the time and it was one the hottest days of the year. It cost an arm and a leg, even for a 'toy', and was actually marketed as a 'pro synth'. I had to carry this rather heavy box with me to my friend's house because I had no money left to take a cab. Needless to say, I nearly passed out from the heat, and by the time I got to his place, I collapsed in front of the air conditioner, and slept through the day and night. Hah. Good old days. I eventually did sell the DJX when I moved to the US, but it was my first 'real' keyboard that I was able to make half decent demos on, and the sampler was a lot of fun. The goal was to make a whole album using the DJX (because I had no money to buy anything else), record it to consumer tape, and then send demos out to local record labels in Dubai. Ah, the naivete. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Now I want one again!
This morning I woke up, thinking: It's friday, almost weekend....OMG, tonight a new episode of Bad Gear. True story! Man, I love this show! BTW, maybe it's time for a next Bad Gear jam?
I loved DJX. It was my first synth. I used it for years as my main MIDI controller, composing tool and practice keyboard. I left it behind when moving houses years ago, because the keys were beginning to break. I've been regretting it ever since...
I bought one in when it came out, and ran it from Cubase, first on an Atari ST, then on a Windows PC. Drum and bass and Techno - no problem. It's 16 part multi-timbral and has a resonant lowpass filter on each channel plus a bunch of usable sounds and built in samples. Large, touch sensitive keyboard, GM sounds. It's a bit of a Jack of all trades but probably the most cost-effective £260 you could spend back in the day.
Im picking one of these up for £50 later this evening, I've got an Atari 1040STE set up with cubase using a monochrome monitor so hoping to have a bit of fun with it
Another one that I still own. Indeed it does have the same sound chip as the CS1X although Yamaha didn't admit to it at the time. There are extra sounds hidden on there which can be found with a little midi programming (voice / bank commands) :)
Like others, this was my first piece of music gear. Picked it up at a Best Buy when it first came out. Had me feeling some hardcore nostalgia hearing those sounds again. You made it sound way better than I ever did. Keep up the excellent videos.
Check out the oldschool Bad Gear episode featuring the DJX2b th-cam.com/video/efmjwEu73u0/w-d-xo.html and the full final track at www.patreon.com/audiopilz
I bought mine in 1998 when I built my first home studio. I used it in an album project that featured some of the top Jungle and DnB producers of the 90's. When the album came out most people said that my track was the best track on the album and they loved the bass (Moog Bass) on the track. That album did well for me and to this day I still have the same DJX and it still works.
I have a DJX, I wasn’t looking for one, but at the time, I lived in a small town, and synths were not something that came up for sale often, mine showed up in cash converters, I was going to get rid of it, but first I thought I should review the sounds, I decided to keep it based on the sounds alone. It’s well traveled now, having brought it with me, from England to Canada.
I used to have to sell these! Toys R Us was my weekend job and I was the only person who could remotely play keyboards. It kept me entertained on quiet days in the shop!
@@AudioPilz No. I actually was impressed with it at the time it sounded really decent. The sampler sold it to a lot of people although I had to spend a lot of time clearing the sampler of swear words! after those pesky kids had found the sample function hilarious!
(I'm a little late to this one, but whatever.) This is one of the few channels where I keep the notifications on. At the end of every increasingly stressful week of organic chemistry and writing intensive biology courses I check my phone and see a notification for a new Bad Gear episode and it illuminates my day. This channel has been a massive source of inspiration and growth for music production, and for challenging my creative approach with the gear I already own. A great medication for GAS. AudioPilz has cemented itself onto my list of creators to support on Patreon once I have a legitimate source of income. Thank you :)
As somebody who is trying to get into music and is about as knowledgeable of the topic as a rock lost in the vacuum of space I really find these videos inspiring. I'm noticing that there's a strict paradigm occurring; a daw is great if you know what you're setting out to do, but any dawless physical setup with its limitations grows creativity akin to something about monkeys and typewriters . This still doesn't mean that a midi equipped whoppie cushion is viable as the rule of garbage in garbage out still applies, but even with the badest of gear if you treat it like a tool you can hammer some nails. Sometimes just being able to start with something is less daunting than the existential dread inspiring blank screen of ableton live. Approachability is honestly one of the hardest parts of music, and I wonder if devices like the DJX are made to fill that role.
Actually just got this keyboard last week for 80usd. I honestly love it for the most part. The speakers are unexpectedly loud and clear. Sound patches are nice and relatively vast. Not a fan of having to reset some default settings they don't allow you to save.. but a lot of them including the functions you are able to save to prevent this. Arp has so many types/runs to set it to. Dual voices can even be changed to have one sustaining, and another as an arp.. As well as applying 2 different dsps to each voice. Very cool. Assign knob is the best use for the turntable effect as you can use it to lower the pitch of your drums or sounds and keep it there without holding your finger on the ribbon slider. If you find one for 150 or less, is suggest it's worth the cost. Onboard dsp effects are really really fun to play with but the menu makes it quite annoying to get to if you want a quick modification applied to them. Drum sounds are really good on this device.. But not for all styles. This machine predominantly is for EDM hip hop vaporwave etc genres. Back to cost.. Based off of this and many other reviews, once you connect the DJX to outboard equipment.. That's where the value of this thing really makes sense at the 2 to 600 dollar range. (USD). It can certainly be used as a performance device at that point and the possibilities are endless. Again if you find the djx for under 150 - do not hesitate to grab one. I'll hate myself for this.. But check out offer up and I know for a fact of at least 3 of them for under 130 - 19FEB21. GOOD LUCK!
SIR...loads of compliments for all of your powerful and inspirational uploads, till so far! My DJX is absolutely and ridiculously 'good gear' and I spent so many wonderful hours together with it, 15 to 20 years back and used it very often, amongst more 'professional' gear, but my heart opened itself for this unique instrument. At the time I used all of its features at mostly the same time: incredible and endless possibilities in rather good to very good sound quality, I 'must' express this now! All on this keyboard can be changed/so very versatile! Schöner Tag...
@@AudioPilz Hahah... You should NOT! You only deserve all the greatest compliments...all you upload = perfect, HERR! Your enthousiasm is very infectious!
The sequencer might have been rough to use, but this keyboard combined with some old freeware called "Amen" to remix drum loops was my first step into music production. Within a year I had it connected to cakewalk and moved all my sequencing to that. This has some surprisingly good sounds, and remember using the sampler constantly. Nothing but love for this thing, but also wouldn't lose any sleep replacing it with a plugin.
Ayee ive own my djx since 98 an i paired with a yamaha rm1x. An it works like a beast. The djx records in a linear fashion an for people who count notes you'll love it. Djx allows you to stack every effect it offers on every sound. To create a new sound which can be sampled then added to your own bank of sounds on your mpc etc. For people who want to create key groups djx can sample 1 tone then you have option on how to spread it out. Take those notes record them into your mpc bamm you got your own key group with pulling out hair try to figure what key it's in. I still today use my djx an rm1x for creating sound scape sample chop bam got my own trippy sound. The hands on part with knobs make design fun. If you are a creative manipulator the machine is timeless well not really. Honestly the sounds can be layered tuned pitched transposed right at you finger tip. Djx is a monster in the right hands. Much appreciated the video 👊👊✌.
Most of the Germanic countries still use it to my knowledge. I was taught the German system in Swedish school back in the 90s at least, but then today it's very hard to find Swedish language music text books, so most of the widely available stuff uses the American system instead (hesitate to call it English system since we don't have quavers or crotchets or whatever either way, regardless of the note names we use 8ths, 16ths etc.).
@@fisk0 Yep, in Germany it is H and B whereas elsewhere it is B and B-Flat. And all this just because some ancient monk didn't close the loop at the bottom of the "b" later misread as "h".
I bought this used back in 99-00 and absolutely loved it. I brought it with me when I was DJing and used it to add to the mix. I have a few tracks that I wrote using the built-in patterns and some of them were recorded with a classmate freestyling over them. Good times!
I get back to this video occasionally after having sold it a year ago due to money problems. Bit sad but it's nice to know that it went to someone who also was very enthusiastic about its sounds as I was. I may have had it since I was pretty much born but it did get me into music production and as long as it can do that to others I hope it'll be handed down or sold onto other people in the many years to come. I'm glad to have recorded and samples every single preset pattern and song too including intro and outro parts lol, they're fine cheese.
i had no idea you liked The Residents! i’ve been working on finding out what synths they used this week. do you have any idea what drum machine they were using on their first few albums?
I have a studio full of nice boards including a DJX1 and a DJX 2. The 2 is a lot more intuitive to play than the 1. I play the 2more than the 1 because of this. These things are rising in price for a reason. I paid £60 for the 1 and £40 for the 2, both pretty much unused and they are great fun to play without getting all complicated and using loads of kit, it can sit on its own and if you played through a PA in a small bar you could have a great night and people would think you were something special. I love mine and play it regularly.
Hey I am new, I’m loving the channel so far. I recently bought one in good shape from a friend of mine who buys and flips lot of nostalgia junk for the equivalent of 20€ It’s missing the knobs and covered in marker notes; really that adds to it for me that the enigmatic past owner had plans for it and loved it. It makes a great DAW controller for a broke, easily amused 20-something.
Best story in Norway is still a Cs1-x owner who called Yamaha Norway and was angry for painting it blue. He had a home studio, and among black synths and pianos, his wife noted something new and blue.
When I saw DJX my friend had bought I really thought it was home keyboard just like you mention. Wow, a lot more features I would have guessed. Lots of new info to me. Thanks for the house tune with the bobby brownish bass and thanks again for sharing.
Back when it was released, I was 19. ni-ni-ni-ni-nineteen. I was into electro pop, house-music...I wanted one, because I felt it had everything I needed. The sounds, the drums, the modulation, the sampling capacity. It sounded like the greatest musical toy I could use for recording demos ! But people kept telling me it was just that : a toy, including music stores attendants. So I didn't buy it. Anyway , later, I got into "Serious" synths, and then DAWs and then into virtual instruments. But still I thought about buying a DJX second hand, as long as I coulld get it cheap. I owed it to my younger self :-) I got one, two years ago. I love it to death ! It has an incredible range of synth sounds. Skip the pre-programmed arrangements and go straight for the individual sounds. They are usable in many musical contexts, especially the drums. These are dynamically boosted and ready to use. Most of the sounds are amazing anyway. You can edit and tweak them live using the big plastic knobs. You can make them harsh or smooth. The DJX can also be used as a sampler with a nice crunchy sound, and the arpeggiator is wicked. You can make moody, analog Badalamenti strings, squealing Prodigy leads, acid-house lines... The onboard effects are great (And you can use them for treating external sources, and even sample the result. ) Well...thank Heaven for the huge marketing mistake Yamaha made with this keyboard. They wanted to sell it to kids, and also to amateur dance producers. So they disguised it into a Fisher Price toy with speakers and pre-programmed arrangements. But this thing is a BEAST.
90s energy in here is so high that I had to do 8th grade biology homework. No answers given mr. President Captain Jack E-rotic post eurodance youtube core.
I'm glad I bought one of these all those years back. I figured out the sequencer after much trial, error, hair and nail pulling, etc., and made some nice tunes with it (around the time of hard house and hard trance.) Great little investment. I even sold the machine off at more than the price I paid, fully boxed as new, for around £20 more than I paid for it after everyone realised how worse off the DJX2 was. Great little scratchpad in my opinion. The number of controllers, Yamaha spolit us with.
I had that model. Was fun. Simple, but fun. Read later that you can edit Sounds with an CS1x editor - so the DJX was simply a cut down CS1x with AWM engine.
Back in 98 I was 15 years old and I saw this keyboard in a music instruments fair in Santiago de Chile... I went twice just to play with that keyboard... For me it was the solution that I need it to make hiphop beats... At that time I was making music with an Atari computer... I even steal the instructions manual to see the functionality... The word "sampler" was like magic 🤣🤣🤣
@@AudioPilz Yes, but at the end I got a compaq presario and a bunch of music software like rebirth, wavelab, acid pro, fruity loops... Good times 😁 btw I love your videos!
Man, I sure loved mine and was sad when I had to sell it because I was moving out of state. Fun to revisit what a fun little keyboard this was, thanks so much for the memories!
Amazing...35 minutes ago my friend told me he'd bought one for his kid to use from eBay....and I asked if AudioPilz had done one of these yet...well...
Wish I still had mine. It was my first keyboard. Gave it away after acquiring some "real" synths. It was hard to really take advantage of its quirkiness. Glad you used the "voices" in the track.
Wow, my school actually had this (and some other bizarre keyboards I don't remember) and I remember using it once or twice on an assignment! I lost the files to the song ages ago, but i do remember having a... *Time* with it. It was (technically) my first synthesizer too... It does sound nice though.
I played on one of these at a mates house. It had some good late 90s trance saw sounds with some tweaking of the knobs. All in all, it is a good starter into bigger, more powerful DWS setups
The sampling sounds pretty cool. Lo-fi to an extent, but not in the same vein of classic 12-bit samplers. But still cool that it has its own sound. It honestly sounds pretty good. I like a lot of these sounds and though the rhythms might be "dated," they're still actually pretty good. I could see myself having a lot of fun just with sampling alone. That said, I'm not going to be seeking out one of these. It's interesting to a degree, but not super compelling. It sounds good, but maybe not amazing, although I can imagine a world 10 years from now where a synth like this becomes a big deal. I like a lot of it in theory but that design just seems to be more distracting than anything else. I applaud and admire anyone, including you, who uses it to make good music.
Just got this thing for $100 at GC and it felt like a steal compared to the other prices floating around online. ($300-450) It’s a great lo-fi/old school hip hop production instrument
I think the point about „bad gear“ is that very often only the UI or built-in sequencing was bad. In combination with new gear (e.g. Beatstep Pro, Digitakt) you seem to get a lot out of these old boxes, if at least the MIDI-implementation was ok and they pack at least some character (even here you can add some later).. so does that mean I need a ROMpler haha?!
So true but I was really struggling with the Beatstep Pro because the program change management is not as flexible as the one that can be found on the digitakt
I was working in a professional audio store when this came out in 1999. It was very rare that the other staff ever stopped what they were doing, to come and check out what the Hi-Tech department was doing, but when I started testing the DJX keyboard EVERYONE stopped and were blown away by it. I'm more of a Rock / Metal / Classical / Jazz kind of musician, but I was having a great time on the DJX! I bought one years later in 2011 for a mere £50 (approx 45 EURO) in nice condition. My only real criticism is that the sequencer lacks enough linear tracks to use as you want with single sounds, and has a low amount of note memory.
This was the first keyboard I bought. I learned a lot from it. Sadly I sold it. I still miss the ugly crappy sounding synth. It was my first time learning midi. A few seconds of sample time. It blew my mind...and then I learned real music gear existed...and nostalgia makes me want it again.
At some point I will. Having kids put a damper in my music purchases for a long while. I'm still using a RM1X, SH-32, DX200, ER-1, EX-1 and Roland XP-30. Micro freak was my first purchase in over a decade. Thank you for responding!!! You and your channel are awesome!!!
Thanks for the Residents screencap. I never knew Serge Modular was on that album. They were one of the reasons I got into synths in first place. Hardy was an amazing guy. RIP.
Yes... the Yamaha djx I love this home keyboard this is the keyboard that got me back into music in 1998. I got mine in late 1998 or early 1999.. I really don't remember but I had this keyboard for years.. it has really good drum sounds and synthesizer sounds are still pretty fresh. I made tons of music with this keyboard, I believe I sold it around 2012 or 2013 but I did pay close to $300 for a brand new in late 1998 or early '99.. I got it from Best buy I remember that. This was yamaha's answer to the groovebox. I still got my Yamaha djx II to this very day!
so i was doing something else during the video, but that piano in the final jam has such an iconic sound, i sincerely thought it was an classic greek pop/whitest-rap-you-ever-heard-of from my childhood, and i was like HUH?
Djx, still using it! Sequencer cool, but super steep learning curve. Spend a few weeks and you'll love it. Great vid, thank you! *Tracking a hip hop album now and using djx for analog kit and pluck strings November 2024
Seeing an advert with a toy, a limited rompler and one of the finest virtual analogue synthesisers ever made, it's no great surprise that the latter didn't sell particularly well.
It is not that bad. Some of the string sounds i still usable today if you use it like background pads in a metal, goth or synth/coldwave song with some effects, especially if you boost the right parts of the sound with a compressor or eq. This thing can ruin any bands badboy/girl image in 3 seconds, there is no clothing or make up to save anyone!
I have a DJX2, got it in 2009 for 80.00 and LOVE it. But I didn't know the 1st one had touch sensitivity AND working MIDI. I have always wondered what is wrong with my Midi out, but in the end I just would use a different keyboard anyway.
the cs1x is great but is considered bad gear. it is plasticky and fragile however it has 808 and 909 drums, and has been featured on boards of canada songs. and overall its a great 90s techno synth. also its very affordable used. i recommend it. however after ten years my model looks like it has been in an explosion and wont play sound.
Hi ! When i saw this video i soon pourchased a Yamaha DJX for my 15 yo son. I hope he will enjoy it. Now i want to suggest to you a video about QY700 Yamaha. I own an old one since 96 and i just saw that still is on sale for about 450 euros ! It is a good machine actually !!
I had one of these and a TX81Z as a teenager. I used to send the built-in patterns as MIDI out to the TX81Z, which certainly made the patterns sound much more alien that they sounded on the DJX.
Haha this is only the second piece of gear I’ve actually had ThAts been featured on your channel. I bought it new when it came out from musicians friend (I think) for around $250. I kept it until around 2007. Then sold it on eBay. I think I got about what I paid for it. But yea I agree with anything in this video. It’s a weird keyboard.
I had a DJX for several years, until I had to sell it as broken on eBay, because some circuitry had kicked the bucket. IMO, the synth is pretty good, but the sequencer is indeed a major PITA, IIRC mainly because it supports only live recording and has no easy to use track editing feature. A nice feature is the ribbon band controller. The machine gets pretty hot when using headphones, for some reason. So, it's best to use it only with line out and external MIDI sequencer.
This was one of my first keyboards that I'd use with the first synth I've learned to program (a Jd880) during my late teen years. Got a lot of milage from both. Fun fact: many of the effects and arpeggio patterns are taken from the CS6X
The way I see it - as an owner of both a DJX and a DJX-II - the DJX was an attempt to make an arranger keyboard that didn't reek of General MIDI presets, something that people at the time of release were beginning to despise because it could be heard everywhere and sounded kinda lame, and at the same time include DJ features that had started to become popular. So I see it as a crossing between an arranger keyboard and a DJ....thingy like the BOSS Dr. Groove DR-202 - which I incidentally bought the same day from the same seller. The DJX can be played like a standard arranger keyboard while the DJX-II is more like a big sample bank with keys.
I'm starting to develop a complex, you're covering almost all the gear I own (DJXII, Xio, MicroKorg, Pocket Operator) Anywhoo the DJX came with software to mess with the patterns and presets, though it wasn't great. You want to find something that can edit CASM files, which is what Yamaha uses in their arranger keyboards to store patterns. Here's a link to a page on how to mess with CASM applicable to the original as well DJX I believe: sandsoftwaresound.net/mining-the-yamaha-djx-ii/
The keyboard looks funny. Also, the backing beat around 2:36 was reused in the official video demo of the Yamaha Motif Rack presented by Bert Smorenburg.
We used to have television now we have a Austrian guy talking about toys. Life is improving
Welcome to the future ;)
@Layton Ibrahim bot
Progress....they can’t stop it.
Someone once said that in the future professional studios and home computer users would be putting out entertainment of comparable production values. The future is now, baby! :D
No flying cars though...
I used the hell out of this keyboard from when I was like 18 years old up until I was about 27 when it finally died. I was into breakcore during those years and all I really cared about was having a synth with good drum kits for drum and bass and jungle and it did that. I would beat the living hell out of this thing and play live break core drums on it. It finally died a while back and my best friend Chris, also my band mate, cracked it open and circuit bent it and we recently made a track with it that will likely end up on my latest album. I have nothing but love for this toy and would own it again but i wouldn't pay more than 100 bucks for it these days
Here's footage from many moons ago of me performing drums with it, this was after my breakcore project, which there isn't a whole lot of footage of those shows online: th-cam.com/video/6fadB2R-nIg/w-d-xo.html
Yeah, prices have become a bit crazy
I sold mine for 60, because I might be moving to Austria. It just is so bloody big. I woulda kept it otherwise. Had it since 2000ish until last year.
@@hazmatforhumanity7318 1:35 is nuts! That's some Trent Reznor shit!
It is very interesting, at one time the second version of this tool, when it went on sale, I bought it for $ 100-150 a new one
When I was 13 years old, I bought the djx at a used music store simply because it had filter and resonance knobs and an arpeggiator. It was the closest thing that I could find (and afford) to a synthesizer. Over twenty years later it sits in my kids’ playroom.
Passing down the torch!!!
You sure you're ready to raise some little Zoomer rave DJs or modular-synth addicts!? Cause having access to such a funky piece of gear as a little kid is gonna blow their minds in all the right ways and inspire them! I wish I had a mom or dad like you!
Yep I’m convinced: There’s no such thing as bad gear only bad musicians.... like myself 😅😅😅
Great video as usual. Keep ‘em coming!
Thank you so much!
me too...
"...only bad musicians... like myself" When I was a kid I wanted to play guitar really badly. Now, after 40 years of practice and performance, I play guitar really badly. :P
@@mrz80 lol
Naw man there's both lololol
Not my first keyboard but the first one at age 13 that made me feel like I was actually creating something. Definitely ignited my obsession with electronic music and synthesizers.
This and Dance eJay
The snobbery from the comments in the video is missing the point that this sort of thing is supposed to be a less daunting gateway to electronic music production than giving a kid a modular , a Digitakt and a 32 track mixer and saying 'off you go'. First thing that got me interested in electronic music was my sister's crappy Casio sampling keyboard.
The great thing about the DJX is that if you got that as a kid you could still use it for real music production lateron
@@kristianTV1974 I love the snobbery in the comments just as much as I love my DJX 1&2....
We had one of these at school, definitely a trojan horse. Think we played a cover of zombie nation on this thing every lesson for 3 years.
Now I have to listen to that track for the rest of the evening ;)
At my school we had a Juno 106, a W30, a JV synth and a Yamaha MSX based computer.
@@chrishopkins209 So you probably forgot biography, maths and physics??? ;-}
@@R---66---R You had biography at school? i definitely remember other things like biology, but i don't think I've ever had biography class.... :o)
This channel proves that if you are motivated, you’ll make decent music on pretty much anything. My brother had the box version, where the entire interface was a few knobs and a CD for scratching. Demo song was ok, but I just couldn’t be arsed to even work it out
Unfortunately, the box version is much more limited
@@AudioPilz Did the box version have the same guts, just with fewer controls hooked up the PCB, or was it completely different guts?
Haha this was my first ever keyboard at 16
I used to go into the local music shop with my mate and annoy the owner by playing the 'rad' onboard presets. I asked the owner how to play it and he started playing Jazz with some shite organ sound, you can imagine the look of horror on the 2 Prodigy loving 16 year old faces.
Anyway, I begged my parents for it for Christmas, then when I did get it there was talk at my school for me doing a 'live' DJX set at the end of school party 😂
The other day I found a note from a friend in my school leaving book saying 'can't wait to you to smash it with your DJX at the party' - luckily that never happened, although for story's sake I wish it would have.
You were indeed the cooles kid at school
came for the 'synth' stayed for the stories.
Synth makers: here's this wonderful electronica machine.
Synth demoers: LETS PLAY JAZZ
@@DoctorNemmo Haha I think I was the intended market, young kids into dance music that wanted a keyboard with those kinds of patterns, and obviously too young to realize how pants it sounded. But it was all fun.
I think it was a first in the home keyboard world - all the other casio stuff aimed at kids at the time had stuff like 'waltz' & 'swing' etc as patterns
Haha, a good story :-D
the arpeggiator presets are amazing, I saved the midi output and use it still to this day.
Absolutely!
true, I recently sold an XP10 keyboard, great arp!
The CS-series and later the AN series are the same
Literally last night I was looking up old Yamaha PSR and DJX keyboards and found Gearfacts' videos and then today you upload this...
Glynn was a real inspiration in that one!
Loved this video. My first keyboard. I still remember the crazy day I bought it. I was in Dubai at the time and it was one the hottest days of the year. It cost an arm and a leg, even for a 'toy', and was actually marketed as a 'pro synth'. I had to carry this rather heavy box with me to my friend's house because I had no money left to take a cab. Needless to say, I nearly passed out from the heat, and by the time I got to his place, I collapsed in front of the air conditioner, and slept through the day and night. Hah. Good old days. I eventually did sell the DJX when I moved to the US, but it was my first 'real' keyboard that I was able to make half decent demos on, and the sampler was a lot of fun. The goal was to make a whole album using the DJX (because I had no money to buy anything else), record it to consumer tape, and then send demos out to local record labels in Dubai. Ah, the naivete. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Now I want one again!
Arabian desert heat can be so relentless! I feel you!!!
Great story there
This morning I woke up, thinking: It's friday, almost weekend....OMG, tonight a new episode of Bad Gear. True story! Man, I love this show!
BTW, maybe it's time for a next Bad Gear jam?
Thank you so much! I'm currently struggling with Winter and 'rona restrictions but there's gonna be another one!
I loved DJX. It was my first synth. I used it for years as my main MIDI controller, composing tool and practice keyboard. I left it behind when moving houses years ago, because the keys were beginning to break. I've been regretting it ever since...
First love is the deepest🥰
I bought one in when it came out, and ran it from Cubase, first on an Atari ST, then on a Windows PC. Drum and bass and Techno - no problem. It's 16 part multi-timbral and has a resonant lowpass filter on each channel plus a bunch of usable sounds and built in samples. Large, touch sensitive keyboard, GM sounds. It's a bit of a Jack of all trades but probably the most cost-effective £260 you could spend back in the day.
Yeah, there's quite some power under the hood
@@AudioPilz I love your show mate, watch it all the time. It's often quite surprising how good some of the 'bad gear' can sound.
Im picking one of these up for £50 later this evening, I've got an Atari 1040STE set up with cubase using a monochrome monitor so hoping to have a bit of fun with it
@@danfromleeds you can definitely do some drum and bass, house and techno stuff with that setup.
Another one that I still own. Indeed it does have the same sound chip as the CS1X although Yamaha didn't admit to it at the time. There are extra sounds hidden on there which can be found with a little midi programming (voice / bank commands) :)
Yeah, the family resemblance is undeniable;)
Like others, this was my first piece of music gear. Picked it up at a Best Buy when it first came out. Had me feeling some hardcore nostalgia hearing those sounds again. You made it sound way better than I ever did. Keep up the excellent videos.
Thank you!!!
I bought it in the 90s. I left it in the dust for over 20 years. now my son is happy with it . great gear
Nice! Gear shall be handed down in the family!
Check out the oldschool Bad Gear episode featuring the DJX2b th-cam.com/video/efmjwEu73u0/w-d-xo.html
and the full final track at www.patreon.com/audiopilz
THIS GUY MAKES EVERYTHING SOUND LIKE GOLD (: I love these mid - late 90s old sounds (: gives me n64/ps1 vibes (:
Thanks!
@@AudioPilz ❤️
Good work on the early 90s rave visuals during your track. It gave me a full blown acid flashback.
Thanks but there were no visuals ;)
@@AudioPilz Sweet Jesus, it's happening again...
I bought mine in 1998 when I built my first home studio. I used it in an album project that featured some of the top Jungle and DnB producers of the 90's. When the album came out most people said that my track was the best track on the album and they loved the bass (Moog Bass) on the track. That album did well for me and to this day I still have the same DJX and it still works.
Nice! Just left a sub!
@@AudioPilz Thanks
I have a DJX, I wasn’t looking for one, but at the time, I lived in a small town, and synths were not something that came up for sale often, mine showed up in cash converters, I was going to get rid of it, but first I thought I should review the sounds, I decided to keep it based on the sounds alone. It’s well traveled now, having brought it with me, from England to Canada.
I used to have to sell these! Toys R Us was my weekend job and I was the only person who could remotely play keyboards. It kept me entertained on quiet days in the shop!
That doesn't sound like a bad job at all ;)
@@AudioPilz No. I actually was impressed with it at the time it sounded really decent. The sampler sold it to a lot of people although I had to spend a lot of time clearing the sampler of swear words! after those pesky kids had found the sample function hilarious!
(I'm a little late to this one, but whatever.)
This is one of the few channels where I keep the notifications on. At the end of every increasingly stressful week of organic chemistry and writing intensive biology courses I check my phone and see a notification for a new Bad Gear episode and it illuminates my day. This channel has been a massive source of inspiration and growth for music production, and for challenging my creative approach with the gear I already own. A great medication for GAS. AudioPilz has cemented itself onto my list of creators to support on Patreon once I have a legitimate source of income.
Thank you :)
Thank you so much! It means a lot to me
As somebody who is trying to get into music and is about as knowledgeable of the topic as a rock lost in the vacuum of space I really find these videos inspiring. I'm noticing that there's a strict paradigm occurring; a daw is great if you know what you're setting out to do, but any dawless physical setup with its limitations grows creativity akin to something about monkeys and typewriters . This still doesn't mean that a midi equipped whoppie cushion is viable as the rule of garbage in garbage out still applies, but even with the badest of gear if you treat it like a tool you can hammer some nails. Sometimes just being able to start with something is less daunting than the existential dread inspiring blank screen of ableton live. Approachability is honestly one of the hardest parts of music, and I wonder if devices like the DJX are made to fill that role.
Well spoken but I would think again about the Whoopee Cushion part th-cam.com/video/wk-xphOwS90/w-d-xo.html
Actually just got this keyboard last week for 80usd. I honestly love it for the most part. The speakers are unexpectedly loud and clear. Sound patches are nice and relatively vast. Not a fan of having to reset some default settings they don't allow you to save.. but a lot of them including the functions you are able to save to prevent this. Arp has so many types/runs to set it to. Dual voices can even be changed to have one sustaining, and another as an arp.. As well as applying 2 different dsps to each voice. Very cool. Assign knob is the best use for the turntable effect as you can use it to lower the pitch of your drums or sounds and keep it there without holding your finger on the ribbon slider. If you find one for 150 or less, is suggest it's worth the cost. Onboard dsp effects are really really fun to play with but the menu makes it quite annoying to get to if you want a quick modification applied to them. Drum sounds are really good on this device.. But not for all styles. This machine predominantly is for EDM hip hop vaporwave etc genres.
Back to cost.. Based off of this and many other reviews, once you connect the DJX to outboard equipment.. That's where the value of this thing really makes sense at the 2 to 600 dollar range. (USD). It can certainly be used as a performance device at that point and the possibilities are endless. Again if you find the djx for under 150 - do not hesitate to grab one. I'll hate myself for this.. But check out offer up and I know for a fact of at least 3 of them for under 130 - 19FEB21. GOOD LUCK!
Yeah, I expect them to become more expensive too
@@AudioPilz totally agree and hey! Thanks so much for the videos. New sub, but love the content.
Another masterclass in making what you got on hand work for you.
Wicked presentation and editing.
Thanks!
SIR...loads of compliments for all of your powerful and inspirational uploads, till so far! My DJX is absolutely and ridiculously 'good gear' and I spent so many wonderful hours together with it, 15 to 20 years back and used it very often, amongst more 'professional' gear, but my heart opened itself for this unique instrument. At the time I used all of its features at mostly the same time: incredible and endless possibilities in rather good to very good sound quality, I 'must' express this now! All on this keyboard can be changed/so very versatile! Schöner Tag...
I beg forgiveness😉
@@AudioPilz Hahah... You should NOT! You only deserve all the greatest compliments...all you upload = perfect, HERR! Your enthousiasm is very infectious!
The sequencer might have been rough to use, but this keyboard combined with some old freeware called "Amen" to remix drum loops was my first step into music production. Within a year I had it connected to cakewalk and moved all my sequencing to that. This has some surprisingly good sounds, and remember using the sampler constantly. Nothing but love for this thing, but also wouldn't lose any sleep replacing it with a plugin.
Cool, I have to check that freeware out
Used it for a couple of years, than gifted it to a friend, who only recently marked its passing. Great bad!
RIP DJX!!! You will be missed
Ayee ive own my djx since 98 an i paired with a yamaha rm1x. An it works like a beast. The djx records in a linear fashion an for people who count notes you'll love it. Djx allows you to stack every effect it offers on every sound. To create a new sound which can be sampled then added to your own bank of sounds on your mpc etc. For people who want to create key groups djx can sample 1 tone then you have option on how to spread it out. Take those notes record them into your mpc bamm you got your own key group with pulling out hair try to figure what key it's in. I still today use my djx an rm1x for creating sound scape sample chop bam got my own trippy sound. The hands on part with knobs make design fun. If you are a creative manipulator the machine is timeless well not really. Honestly the sounds can be layered tuned pitched transposed right at you finger tip. Djx is a monster in the right hands. Much appreciated the video 👊👊✌.
Thanks!
saved up my birthday money in high school to buy this! definitely helps how to compose a song in their song sample setting
Shout out to the "H" note on the keyboard. I thought we stopped using that centuries ago?! 2:39
Yeah, very continental ;)
What, your alphabet doesn't go in A-H-C-D-E-F-G order?
Most of the Germanic countries still use it to my knowledge. I was taught the German system in Swedish school back in the 90s at least, but then today it's very hard to find Swedish language music text books, so most of the widely available stuff uses the American system instead (hesitate to call it English system since we don't have quavers or crotchets or whatever either way, regardless of the note names we use 8ths, 16ths etc.).
@@Yuzuki1337 the German system does have a B too, it's just a semitone above A (or a whole step below C, which I believe is the point).
@@fisk0 Yep, in Germany it is H and B whereas elsewhere it is B and B-Flat. And all this just because some ancient monk didn't close the loop at the bottom of the "b" later misread as "h".
Why do I suddenly feel like I'm back in the music block at senior school circa 1994?
Ahead of the time;)
I shredded on this thing back in the day
Maybe get an old Yamaha rack sound module?
I bought this used back in 99-00 and absolutely loved it. I brought it with me when I was DJing and used it to add to the mix. I have a few tracks that I wrote using the built-in patterns and some of them were recorded with a classmate freestyling over them. Good times!
Instant flashback!
I love the sound of these old school mid-tier keyboards. This one is totally amazing and should be purchased on sight!
Agreed! It took me ages to find one
I absolutely love the terminology for the descriptions for the tunes cracks me up
Thank you!
I get back to this video occasionally after having sold it a year ago due to money problems. Bit sad but it's nice to know that it went to someone who also was very enthusiastic about its sounds as I was. I may have had it since I was pretty much born but it did get me into music production and as long as it can do that to others I hope it'll be handed down or sold onto other people in the many years to come.
I'm glad to have recorded and samples every single preset pattern and song too including intro and outro parts lol, they're fine cheese.
That's OK. Gear, it comes and goes...
Your attitude about that makes me feel warm and fuzzy lol
AudioPilz nailing it. I use to make breakbeats with this machine in the early 2000s... Respekt AudioPillen für die Ausgrabung...nicht nur für Kinder!
Thanks! Is that what autotranslates makes out of my name? ;)
i had no idea you liked The Residents! i’ve been working on finding out what synths they used this week. do you have any idea what drum machine they were using on their first few albums?
Not many drum machines around in the late 60s ;)
👁️
@@AudioPilz Most organs had them.. If you want crap gear, look at the Acetone Rhythm Ace. :)
@@AudioPilz I have a 1967 Vox Percussion King, other than the kick drum it's not bad!
I have a studio full of nice boards including a DJX1 and a DJX 2.
The 2 is a lot more intuitive to play than the 1. I play the 2more than the 1 because of this.
These things are rising in price for a reason. I paid £60 for the 1 and £40 for the 2, both pretty much unused and they are great fun to play without getting all complicated and using loads of kit, it can sit on its own and if you played through a PA in a small bar you could have a great night and people would think you were something special.
I love mine and play it regularly.
Nice!!!
"You're listening to Bad Gear." -- now I yearn for a 24/7 Bad Gear radio station to listen to...
Working on it ;)
There's currently a worldwide shortage of boxes to tick.
Hey I am new, I’m loving the channel so far.
I recently bought one in good shape from a friend of mine who buys and flips lot of nostalgia junk for the equivalent of 20€
It’s missing the knobs and covered in marker notes; really that adds to it for me that the enigmatic past owner had plans for it and loved it. It makes a great DAW controller for a broke, easily amused 20-something.
This was THE school keyboard used during music class and practice. Good memories.
...or your music teacher was a raver in disguise ;)
Best story in Norway is still a Cs1-x owner who called Yamaha Norway and was angry for painting it blue. He had a home studio, and among black synths and pianos, his wife noted something new and blue.
😅😅😅😅😅 Tricky!!!
When I saw DJX my friend had bought I really thought it was home keyboard just like you mention. Wow, a lot more features I would have guessed.
Lots of new info to me.
Thanks for the house tune with the bobby brownish bass and thanks again for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Back when it was released, I was 19. ni-ni-ni-ni-nineteen. I was into electro pop, house-music...I wanted one, because I felt it had everything I needed. The sounds, the drums, the modulation, the sampling capacity. It sounded like the greatest musical toy I could use for recording demos ! But people kept telling me it was just that : a toy, including music stores attendants. So I didn't buy it. Anyway , later, I got into "Serious" synths, and then DAWs and then into virtual instruments. But still I thought about buying a DJX second hand, as long as I coulld get it cheap. I owed it to my younger self :-)
I got one, two years ago.
I love it to death ! It has an incredible range of synth sounds. Skip the pre-programmed arrangements and go straight for the individual sounds. They are usable in many musical contexts, especially the drums. These are dynamically boosted and ready to use. Most of the sounds are amazing anyway. You can edit and tweak them live using the big plastic knobs. You can make them harsh or smooth. The DJX can also be used as a sampler with a nice crunchy sound, and the arpeggiator is wicked.
You can make moody, analog Badalamenti strings, squealing Prodigy leads, acid-house lines... The onboard effects are great (And you can use them for treating external sources, and even sample the result. )
Well...thank Heaven for the huge marketing mistake Yamaha made with this keyboard. They wanted to sell it to kids, and also to amateur dance producers. So they disguised it into a Fisher Price toy with speakers and pre-programmed arrangements. But this thing is a BEAST.
Agreed!!!
90s energy in here is so high that I had to do 8th grade biology homework. No answers given mr. President Captain Jack E-rotic post eurodance youtube core.
Thank you!!!
Oh man a Captain Jack reference.
@@billnetherlands AYK, dude, this whole video is a Captain Jack reference)
@@billnetherlands go to the Village in your
tie-dye jeans
I'm glad I bought one of these all those years back. I figured out the sequencer after much trial, error, hair and nail pulling, etc., and made some nice tunes with it (around the time of hard house and hard trance.) Great little investment. I even sold the machine off at more than the price I paid, fully boxed as new, for around £20 more than I paid for it after everyone realised how worse off the DJX2 was. Great little scratchpad in my opinion. The number of controllers, Yamaha spolit us with.
OG DJX is definitely the preferred one of the two
The spirit of this thing lived on as the DJ button on every Yamaha PSR keyboard for years - the bane of every long-suffering music teacher's life.
That must have been really annoying for a teacher
My band teacher used to use the "HYUGH" sound to tell you if you played something poorly, but usually missed and hit "DJDJDJ" a few times first
I had that model. Was fun. Simple, but fun. Read later that you can edit Sounds with an CS1x editor - so the DJX was simply a cut down CS1x with AWM engine.
Didn't know that! Thanks!
Back in 98 I was 15 years old and I saw this keyboard in a music instruments fair in Santiago de Chile... I went twice just to play with that keyboard... For me it was the solution that I need it to make hiphop beats... At that time I was making music with an Atari computer... I even steal the instructions manual to see the functionality... The word "sampler" was like magic 🤣🤣🤣
This thing and an Atari is probably a pretty nice 90s setup for hip hop beat production
@@AudioPilz Yes, but at the end I got a compaq presario and a bunch of music software like rebirth, wavelab, acid pro, fruity loops... Good times 😁 btw I love your videos!
Man, I sure loved mine and was sad when I had to sell it because I was moving out of state. Fun to revisit what a fun little keyboard this was, thanks so much for the memories!
Thanks for watching!
Amazing...35 minutes ago my friend told me he'd bought one for his kid to use from eBay....and I asked if AudioPilz had done one of these yet...well...
There are no coincidences ;)
@@AudioPilz Indeed...
Your content rocks and is keeping me sane. Please keep it up!
Thank you so much!!!
"Hellooooooo I'm the bad gear critic, I play it so you don't have to."
Always a pleasure!
Wish I still had mine. It was my first keyboard. Gave it away after acquiring some "real" synths. It was hard to really take advantage of its quirkiness. Glad you used the "voices" in the track.
It's quirky indeed
Wow, my school actually had this (and some other bizarre keyboards I don't remember) and I remember using it once or twice on an assignment! I lost the files to the song ages ago, but i do remember having a... *Time* with it. It was (technically) my first synthesizer too... It does sound nice though.
I think Yamaha made A LOT of money from selling DJXes to schools
Remember reading about it in the Future Music magazine from 98. Still got it !
Great review!!!!!
Thank you!
meanwhile in Ben Jordan's house "it was right here officer"
Isn't he more of a Roland JX-305 guy? ;)
same thing 😆
I played on one of these at a mates house. It had some good late 90s trance saw sounds with some tweaking of the knobs. All in all, it is a good starter into bigger, more powerful DWS setups
Agreed!
The sampling sounds pretty cool. Lo-fi to an extent, but not in the same vein of classic 12-bit samplers. But still cool that it has its own sound.
It honestly sounds pretty good. I like a lot of these sounds and though the rhythms might be "dated," they're still actually pretty good. I could see myself having a lot of fun just with sampling alone.
That said, I'm not going to be seeking out one of these. It's interesting to a degree, but not super compelling. It sounds good, but maybe not amazing, although I can imagine a world 10 years from now where a synth like this becomes a big deal. I like a lot of it in theory but that design just seems to be more distracting than anything else. I applaud and admire anyone, including you, who uses it to make good music.
They have become quite rare (at least around here). It took me ages to find one. Maybe another good investment
I just can't imagine the time and effort it takes to make these videos at such a furious pace. This is something I'll thank the lockdowns for.
Thanks! True, it's quite a ride
If you comment here often, you may be a poor musician - but you're definitely an excellent artist!
Many poor musicians are ;)
Just got this thing for $100 at GC and it felt like a steal compared to the other prices floating around online. ($300-450) It’s a great lo-fi/old school hip hop production instrument
I think the point about „bad gear“ is that very often only the UI or built-in sequencing was bad. In combination with new gear (e.g. Beatstep Pro, Digitakt) you seem to get a lot out of these old boxes, if at least the MIDI-implementation was ok and they pack at least some character (even here you can add some later).. so does that mean I need a ROMpler haha?!
So true but I was really struggling with the Beatstep Pro because the program change management is not as flexible as the one that can be found on the digitakt
I was working in a professional audio store when this came out in 1999. It was very rare that the other staff ever stopped what they were doing, to come and check out what the Hi-Tech department was doing, but when I started testing the DJX keyboard EVERYONE stopped and were blown away by it. I'm more of a Rock / Metal / Classical / Jazz kind of musician, but I was having a great time on the DJX! I bought one years later in 2011 for a mere £50 (approx 45 EURO) in nice condition. My only real criticism is that the sequencer lacks enough linear tracks to use as you want with single sounds, and has a low amount of note memory.
Yeah, they put plenty of pro stuff in that keyboard
This was the first keyboard I bought. I learned a lot from it. Sadly I sold it. I still miss the ugly crappy sounding synth. It was my first time learning midi. A few seconds of sample time. It blew my mind...and then I learned real music gear existed...and nostalgia makes me want it again.
You can still find them rather cheap - why not get another one?
At some point I will. Having kids put a damper in my music purchases for a long while. I'm still using a RM1X, SH-32, DX200, ER-1, EX-1 and Roland XP-30. Micro freak was my first purchase in over a decade. Thank you for responding!!! You and your channel are awesome!!!
Thanks for the Residents screencap. I never knew Serge Modular was on that album. They were one of the reasons I got into synths in first place. Hardy was an amazing guy. RIP.
Legend!
Oh lord - I was rocking this one in High School sadly
The keyboards in our high school were even worse ;)
The only keyboard my high school had was an old, beat-up, out-of-tune upright piano.
Yes... the Yamaha djx I love this home keyboard this is the keyboard that got me back into music in 1998. I got mine in late 1998 or early 1999.. I really don't remember but I had this keyboard for years.. it has really good drum sounds and synthesizer sounds are still pretty fresh. I made tons of music with this keyboard, I believe I sold it around 2012 or 2013 but I did pay close to $300 for a brand new in late 1998 or early '99.. I got it from Best buy I remember that. This was yamaha's answer to the groovebox. I still got my Yamaha djx II to this very day!
First love is the deepest!!!
so i was doing something else during the video, but that piano in the final jam has such an iconic sound, i sincerely thought it was an classic greek pop/whitest-rap-you-ever-heard-of from my childhood, and i was like HUH?
That sound totally blew me away
Djx, still using it!
Sequencer cool, but super steep learning curve. Spend a few weeks and you'll love it.
Great vid, thank you!
*Tracking a hip hop album now and using djx for analog kit and pluck strings November 2024
NO, this is NOT bad gear , the DJX has awesome organ sounds , i think i still even have one somewhere i kept for the kids !
It's a nice electronic music gateway drug for kids!!!
i was caught off guard by the piano house tune, those drums really are good
They surprised me too! Nice groove
“Keep an eye open”
I see what you did there
I can resist everything except temptation
Seeing an advert with a toy, a limited rompler and one of the finest virtual analogue synthesisers ever made, it's no great surprise that the latter didn't sell particularly well.
It's no mystery...
the first piece of bad gear i own!
It should be in every house!!!
@@AudioPilz Tja...dann muss ich nachlegen. Microverb2 approved :D
Made a lot of awesome music with that keyboard, 2000 - 2006, even bought it again later, after the keys wore out. I own 2 :)
Two are the absolute minimum ;)
@@AudioPilz well as I said, my keys broke on my first, and I wanted to re-create those old songs.
I bought one for £20 two weeks ago. Let’s hope it’s no that bad.
Great price!!!
It is not that bad. Some of the string sounds i still usable today if you use it like background pads in a metal, goth or synth/coldwave song with some effects, especially if you boost the right parts of the sound with a compressor or eq. This thing can ruin any bands badboy/girl image in 3 seconds, there is no clothing or make up to save anyone!
Bargain and you will enjoy it lots
I have a DJX2, got it in 2009 for 80.00 and LOVE it. But I didn't know the 1st one had touch sensitivity AND working MIDI. I have always wondered what is wrong with my Midi out, but in the end I just would use a different keyboard anyway.
I don't know what Yamaha was thinking with the DJX2. Nice sounds tho
I love the cheese this synth puts out. Think I'm going to find a used one for my son. I also love how you make cheese sound like caviar :D
Thank you so much!
Nice. I still have my old DJX's ribbon controller in my parts bin. I think I have a recording somewhere that features those pizzicato strings.
These pizz are really nice!
the cs1x is great but is considered bad gear. it is plasticky and fragile however it has 808 and 909 drums, and has been featured on boards of canada songs. and overall its a great 90s techno synth.
also its very affordable used. i recommend it. however after ten years my model looks like it has been in an explosion and wont play sound.
I agree but the prices have already skyrocketed
I use it mostly as my main controller now. It had a companion sampler/sequencer device you could get iirc
Hi !
When i saw this video i soon pourchased a Yamaha DJX for my 15 yo son. I hope he will enjoy it.
Now i want to suggest to you a video about QY700 Yamaha. I own an old one since 96 and i just saw that still is on sale for about 450 euros ! It is a good machine actually !!
Nice! Great suggestion, thanks!
It sounds quite nice. I remember bullying, scorning and mocking this keyboard users back then.
The DJX wasn't bad gear. I was... a bad person.
I wouldn't say that...
I had one of these and a TX81Z as a teenager. I used to send the built-in patterns as MIDI out to the TX81Z, which certainly made the patterns sound much more alien that they sounded on the DJX.
TX81Z is actually really nice
Haha this is only the second piece of gear I’ve actually had ThAts been featured on your channel. I bought it new when it came out from musicians friend (I think) for around $250. I kept it until around 2007. Then sold it on eBay. I think I got about what I paid for it. But yea I agree with anything in this video. It’s a weird keyboard.
Yeah, prices are in that region again 😂
'Weird' is always great, because it's not 'mainstream'...
I had a DJX for several years, until I had to sell it as broken on eBay, because some circuitry had kicked the bucket. IMO, the synth is pretty good, but the sequencer is indeed a major PITA, IIRC mainly because it supports only live recording and has no easy to use track editing feature. A nice feature is the ribbon band controller. The machine gets pretty hot when using headphones, for some reason. So, it's best to use it only with line out and external MIDI sequencer.
Wow, I wasn't aware of the headphone issue. Thanks, good to know!
@@AudioPilz You're welcome! :)
This was one of my first keyboards that I'd use with the first synth I've learned to program (a Jd880) during my late teen years. Got a lot of milage from both. Fun fact: many of the effects and arpeggio patterns are taken from the CS6X
True! Many pro stuff in that kids keyboard ;)
Of course he loves the Residents. Every time i see one of these videos i love the series even more. 🥰
Thank you so much!
based
Why not? ;)
More like Bassed.
Based on what?
I was gonna say it's been ten minutes where's the new Bad Gear video! lol bravo as always!
Notifications are not what they used to be ;) Thanks!
Not bad.
I had more fun than I should have had ;)
The way I see it - as an owner of both a DJX and a DJX-II - the DJX was an attempt to make an arranger keyboard that didn't reek of General MIDI presets, something that people at the time of release were beginning to despise because it could be heard everywhere and sounded kinda lame, and at the same time include DJ features that had started to become popular. So I see it as a crossing between an arranger keyboard and a DJ....thingy like the BOSS Dr. Groove DR-202 - which I incidentally bought the same day from the same seller. The DJX can be played like a standard arranger keyboard while the DJX-II is more like a big sample bank with keys.
That sums it up nicely!
I'm starting to develop a complex, you're covering almost all the gear I own (DJXII, Xio, MicroKorg, Pocket Operator) Anywhoo the DJX came with software to mess with the patterns and presets, though it wasn't great. You want to find something that can edit CASM files, which is what Yamaha uses in their arranger keyboards to store patterns. Here's a link to a page on how to mess with CASM applicable to the original as well DJX I believe:
sandsoftwaresound.net/mining-the-yamaha-djx-ii/
Thanks for posting! AFAIK this only works with the DJX2 but I haven't tried it TBH. Did you figure out how to do it?
The song you made with it is fantastic!!! Made me dig mine out and use it again!!
Thanks!
The way pronounce Yahmaha is like nails on a chalkboard for me
I haven't found out how Japanese people pronounce it
@@AudioPilz th-cam.com/video/7Ls_XxZuXW0/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for posting!
@@AudioPilz I for one like your Austrian (?) pronounciation, it adds character :)
The keyboard looks funny. Also, the backing beat around 2:36 was reused in the official video demo of the Yamaha Motif Rack presented by Bert Smorenburg.
Good to know, thanks for posting!