So what follows is a list of what I've been experiencing with it.

Right-o first thing is the sounds. They're OK in the most but I surprisingly found myself to be using the GM sawtooth and bass+lead more frequently than the supposed 'fat' synth sounds that come earlier in the list. I found a lot of these sounded similar and a fair few of the bass leads are too crackly and bitty in the lower octaves, which sort of defeats the object. But the organ and pad sounds are good and I found a couple of the brass sounds to sound incredibly Orbital-esque having been tweaked a bit. And sound #1 (I forget the name) sounds like a nice distorted organ with hard distortion on full and the cutoff put low. I've not yet found a place to use any of the provided vocal samples, I have in the past found them cheesy and unsuited to the style of music that I've been writing. And the drum loops seem to have been stuck in the list for some sort of novelty value, being useless for inclusion in any sort of hopeful release, unless you are a fan of presets. In general though I have not yet found an occasion where, writing exclusively with the DJX, there has not been a sound to fit what I'm after. The extended drum kits, the analog kit #3 and DJX and B900 kits especially are brilliant for creating all sorts of mental rhythms.

Second main point is the filter section, which comprises of a cutoff dial and resonance dial. The cutoff is probably one of the keyboard's key features, as on some sounds it provides incredible sweep range. For the vast majority of my tracks the resonance dial has remained at maximum, and I reckon that Yamaha'd be better off including resonance as one of the options in the Assign knob, and then giving the resonance knob a more useful function as I hardly use it. Modulation'd be nice, or a DSP level. But the main point is that the Cutoff knob is incredibly powerful for a keyboard of this price, and I have found it invaluable. (By the way I was confused when in the manual Yamaha state that the Cutoff knob is not recordable and is just a performance feature... when it is assigned to MIDI controller #74. Perhaps they mean the built-in sequencer, although I have not bothered using it.) In fact most of the major tweakable things on board the DJX are controllable from an external sequencer, which is really useful. However it'd be even better if the bass boost knob was MIDI-controllable too, as then the DJX could have a LPF and also a crude HPF. Instead the bass booster seems a part of the final amplifier of the keyboard, not being channel-specific. At this price though I am not going to complain. In general the MIDI control is excellent.

Finally I'll just run over the effects. The DJX can layer reverb, chrous and DSP effects, which means you have three aftermarket effects to play with, which for the price is great considering my Korg i4s can only run two main separate effects (ok four if you use the dual-channel ones). Although quite why the reverb and chorus/flanger types appear again in the DSP list is beyond me... as of yet I have never needed a double reverb. In my opinion the DSP section should have other sorts of effect built in such as a really nasty crackly distortion and perhaps a slower wah effect built in instead of the reverbs.

But to round off, the DJX is a pretty good keyboard for the money. Although if all you're doing with it is rigging it to an external sequencer and using it for the sounds, like me, then you'll be mildly cheesed off with the odd limitations here and there, because it seems to me this is really intended as a play keyboard with all its preset styles and so forth. And unfortunately I found the sampler not much use due to only 3 secs max time for each note, and a limit of 6 secs overall. There's a built in loop function but you can only specify the end point of the loop and not the start, so careful sampling is essential. Which is not too easy because the input level is stupidly low so you really have to whack the volume up on whatever you're sampling off. But for little squelchy bass notes etc it is pretty cool. So a OK keyboard then, but bear in mind there's a lot of flashy accessory built into it, and it is really just a PSR keyboard. For beginners to learn with I would assume this keyboard is pretty essential, pros may find it too limiting. But it's worth checking out (second hand now, I don't think they're making them any more).

-The majority of the sounds suck because there is no fatness or warmth to them (good for the price though).

-The filters and FX are really suprisingly a good value to the board that is so cheap.

-The sampler is a bit cheezy, but it comes in valuable.

-Overall, it's great for it's price, but the sounds aren't top of the line stuff (which you should expect for the money). So, my main gripes are semi-crappy sounds and no sequencer. If there was a sequencer even for the drumming I would praise this board a lot more highly, but it's just too hard for someone to take the time and play everyone in every measure. Believe me, when I first got it, I played each drum note for over 170 measures, it sucked!

So, if you're just starting out, it's a good buy. If you're rich, it's a good midi controller...if you are just an average person who wants to buy another synth, pass it up.