DGX-230

76 piano-style keys with Graded Soft Touch action, stereo piano sound, a built-in recorder, Pitch bend wheel and USB computer connectivity

If you're looking for a reasonably priced piano replacement, look no further than the DGX230. It is the music student or professional musicians' answer to "I need more keys!" and many music teachers encourage new students to get a keyboard that will grow with their needs. It features 76 non-weighted keys that not only look like piano keys but have a Graded Soft Touch (GST) action with different levels of resistance, making it easier for a budding musician to move to an acoustic or digital piano.

The DGX230 delivers on its piano theme with a special mode of fingering called Full Keyboard Mode. This allows the player to play the keyboard like a piano; for example a chord with the right hand and bass notes with the left. When using the accompaniment feature, the virtual band will follow these chords. Traditional portable keyboards normally require you to chord on the left side of the keyboard, in the bass section, which is foreign to most piano players. The DGX230 is also capable of this mode, for those who prefer it.

The DGX230 has 30 built-in songs plus 70 more on included CD-ROM for you to learn to play using the Yamaha Education Suite. The songs are separated into left and right hand parts, providing 7 levels of lessons plus a convenient chord dictionary.

Imagine capturing your student's first performance or writing and recording your own songs. With the DGX230, you have the equivalent of a built-in multi-track recorder to record one or multiple instrument parts at a time and assign each part to a different track. Six tracks are provided to accommodate sophisticated melodies, chord accompaniment and rhythm parts.

The DGX230 comes with 30 built-in songs plus 70 more on an included CD-ROM and an interactive lesson system, divided into left and right hand parts, for learning them. In addition, you have the ability to connect to a computer via USB, download more songs from the Internet into the internal Flash ROM (PC only), and use all of the Yamaha Education Suite features to help you learn to play them. Yamaha makes it easy to get connected with the new PC button. Now, instead of wading through function menus and fighting through a maze of selections, one button is your expressway to music on the web and your computer. In addition, once connected, you can play your songs into the computer (PC and Mac), edit them if necessary, and e-mail them to your friends and family. And with General MIDI (GM) and XGlite compatibility, song data always plays back with the correct sounds.

There are many tools in the keyboard that make it easy to be a power user from the first day you own the keyboard.

Five different master equalizer (EQ) settings are provided to give you the best possible sound when listening through different reproduction systems—the instrument's internal speakers, headphones, or an external speaker system. You're in control.

You can change the "feel", or arrangement, of songs by simply pressing the Easy Song Arranger button, allowing you to re-mix any MIDI file. For example, you can try your favorite song with a Rock feel, Hip Hop, then Jazz. It's fast, powerful and one-button simple.

The DGX230 comes equipped with 116 panel voices, 12 drum/SFX kits plus 361 XGlite voices. Included in this selection is stereo-sampled Piano, a selection of special voices including Sweet! Trumpet, Flute, Pan Flute, Soprano & Tenor Saxes and Cool! Voices including Galaxy Electric Piano, Organ and Rotor Organ.

In electronic keyboards, the more sounds made at the same time — polyphony — the more memory is needed. Obviously, more is always better, because too little polyphony can cause dropouts in dense passages of music. The DGX230 has 32 notes of polyphony and will play back 16 different parts or sounds at once (16-part multi timbrel); enough for the most demanding needs.

Yamaha has long been a world leader in digital signal processing technology. In fact, Yamaha professional audio products are found in most professional recording studios around the world. The DGX230 takes full advantage of this know-how, giving you an extensive range of nine, top-quality reverb effects that simulate playing in everything from a small room to a large spacious concert hall and four chorus effects that add richness to electric pianos and guitars in particular. You'll also find 26 types of Harmony effects for your melody part.

Just what the teacher ordered! A fully adjustable metronome is just a button push away.

In addition to the 100 songs mentioned above, the DGX230 also has auto accompaniment styles that "follow" your playing. Simply select a style of music from the 160 built-in styles (example Rock) and start playing. The DGX230 will create a backup band (bass, drums, strings, guitar etc.) and "follow" you through the song. You can play your songs and try different genres of music. And if you can't find the right style for your song, you can go to www.yamahamusicsoft.com, preview from the selection, purchase and transfer it to your keyboard (PC only).

You're never more than a button push away from the most realistic piano sound in portable keyboards today. One press of the Portable Grand button resets the entire keyboard to a stereo-sampled piano — perfect for when it's time to practice. Yamaha is known around the world for the quality of our acoustic pianos and this attention to detail is evident as you enjoy the warmth and clarity of the DGX230 Portable Grand piano. And of course, the keyboard includes a Sustain Pedal jack on the back for practicing and playing piano pieces.

The DGX230 features USB MIDI, Sustain Pedal jack and a Headphone jack for private practice.

Designed to provide you with everything you need to get started. Kit includes a two-year extended warranty, energy saving* power adapter, footswitch, stereo headphones, bonus coupons and a DVD-ROM. Look for it at a dealer near you.

* Adapter goes into low power mode when instrument is turned off.