The DGX 640 is Yamaha's replacement to the DGX 630 and is the newest in its line of portable digital midi keyboard pianos. It's designed to closely resemble a real piano in feel with its 88-key weighted Graded Hammer Standard keyboard action.
Like in a regular piano the lower note keys have a heavier feel to them while the higher ones are lighter to make it more responsive. What sets the DGX 640 apart from a regular piano is the fact you can actually control the keyboard's sensitivity to match your playing style.
A great feature is the Live! Cool! And Sweet! Voices - a huge collection of acoustic and electronically amplified instruments sounds that fully captures the natural presence and playing of a real instrument.
It has both USB to Device and USB to Host capabilities allows you to connect USB flash drives in order to read MIDI files and date (or to save MIDI files and data) or to connect it to your computer so you can download directly or play your computer recordings on this digital piano and midi keyboard.
The 237 types of Digital Signal Processor or DSP gives you a range of ambience effects, distortions and dynamic processing tools that can let you play around with the sound to your liking. If you're thinking of playing a song from pop to say a ballad you can do so with the Easy Song Arranger.
With the built in music data base you have a wide range of options that can be further enhanced with files from your computer or USB flash drive. And if you're a beginner or simply want some assistance then the Yamaha Education Suite (Y.E.S.) has built in tutorials that offer you a step-by-step guide on how to play the music. On top of that you can still play like a pro even if you're not with the Performance Assistant Technology (P.A.T.).
Other features and specifications of this robust digital piano and midi keyboard include a total number of 535 voices with 64 polyphony and 4 featured pianos. There are 35 reverb styles, 44 chorus types and 26 harmony types. 165 preset styles and 30 preset songs give you a wide range of music to choose from.
It comes with a pitch blend wheel, a chord dictionary and two headphone jacks so you don't need to wake up the neighbors when you want to play or hear your creations. With its built in speaker and sound system you can bring it and play it anywhere.
Of course bringing it can be a hassle since it is a little over four and a half feet long and weighs approximately 46 pounds but if you are able to do it then it is a best buy.
The Yamaha DGX 640 digital piano and midi keyboard is one of the best for people who are starting out learning to play piano music or for people who have the itch to compose music. It may not be compact but it does make up for it with its robustness and style.
