Initial Feelings about DX-100
for...@blia.uucp
DX-100, Starter Kit (cable to hook up to ghetto blaster and some
tapes), MH-10 Headphones, and a 5' MIDI cable for $350, including
tax. This seems like a pretty good deal. The headphones and cable
were included "free" as part of a special offer. I don't know if this
was from Yamaha or from Guitar Center. I should add that buying
from Guitar Center is like buying baskets in Tijuana. You should
always go in knowing what you want to pay because they will BARGAIN.
In my case, they started out offering me the stuff at list, with
them "throwing in" the tax. Since list was ~$475 this was not any
great offer.
So far I'm very pleased with the DX-100. I'm not much of a keyboard
player so the small keys don't bother me too much, although I could
see how they could be a problem if I get better. What is amazing about
the DX-100 is how much you get for your money. I've seen many toy
keyboards at department stores that cost more than a DX-100 but don't
sound as good. The sounds in ROM range from being hardly recognizable
to being fantastic. I especially like the low range of the
Ebony and Ivory (I think this is its name) and the sitar sound,
although they should have made the bend on the sitar only work on
the last note played. I'm just now starting to understand how
to create my own sounds. The manuals that come with the DX-100
are OK, not great, and seem larger than they are since they
include French and German versions. The manuals do assume you
understand sound generation.
I haven't tried storing or retrieving sound using the cassette
interface. I'll probably stick with this until I decide if I
like the whole thing well enough to warrent buying the MIDI
interface to my IBM-PC. A friend of mine has a DX-7 hooked
up to a MAC, which provides some impressive features.
This submission is obviously not chock full of new information
but I did want people to know that the DX-100 is great for
beginners like me.
Jon Forrest
ucbvax!mtxinu!blia!forrest