Yamaha DGX640 Reviews

“After playing around with it for a couple of days, I am very happy with the result of my investment”

 

At first, I had my eye on the Yamaha DGX-630. It looked sleek, modern, and had plenty of gadgets which I like to have. It was then I discovered Graham Howard and UKPianos to help me. I contacted Graham and got a very quick response from him saying that it produced a thin and weak sound. That is what put me off. Time to do some more hunting…

After a couple of hours on the internet, I discovered that there was a newer model of the 630, the Yamaha DGX – 640. It claimed to be the most realistic piano sound and touch every cloned on a digital piano. The feel was supposed to be better and the top keys were matte. There were more sounds, styles and voices (535 I believe) and the walnut finish made it look stunning. I knew this was going to be the focal-point of my Living Room!

So I went down to my local music centre and took a look at this machine, boy was I impressed. I tested it for response levels, sensitivity, sound quality etc, just like on the site. I also discovered that there was an optional pedal board for it, LP-7 containing all three pedals which was even better. There was crystal clear display, same with the speaker quality. This well and truly had everything I needed AND MORE for a nice £612. The same piano was in the music store for a whopping £729! Complete rip off!! Then again, same with most music stores.

I went to the Digital Village website and ordered it plus the pedal board for an extra measly £43.99. 2 days later it arrived. There was a man with a checkboard and a massive box beside him, I knew this was the piano. I scribbled down my signature, dragged it in, said goodbye and shut the door. Then to the kitchen to grab the first steak knife I saw! Slicing open the box, revealing another box! It was the LP-7…

I took it out of the main box and placed sliced the seal, slid it out and gazed! It was bigger and better than I thought, it felt sturdy and when shaken, nothing rattled. Setting that aside on the sofa I arrived at the good stuff! I annihilated the delivery box and literally threw it out of my site. It may have hit the TV a bit but I wasn’t going to let that spoil the moment! Then carefully and delicately I sliced the sealing tape, removed the styrofoam and there was the beauty… Wrapped in plastic covering. Sliding it out showing the pitch-bend wheel and the left speaker already made me a bit too excited so I just thought “screw it” and dragged it out , pierced the wrapping and ripped it off. There it was! I digged in to find the instruction manual and the power supply. Fortunately there was a socket close to me so I powered it on and pressed a note. The sound was wonderful. Strong and vibrant.

After playing around with it for a couple of days, I am very happy with the result of my investment. I upgraded from a little Yamaha YPT-210 61-key 32 note polyphonic no touch response keyboard to this 88-key 64 note polyphonic touch responsive graded hammer action digital piano. I tried out some of the Clavinova series pianos that they had in the £800-£1000 range and trust me, they are not worth the money, you literally pay more for less.

Review by Andrew

 

“Its emulation of a real piano is awesome and the built in functions to make learning both easier and a pleasure are brilliant”

The Yamaha DGX-640 was a present for my partner and she is delighted
although still learning the full capability of the piano itself let alone playing it.

As an I.T. person and not a keyboard player myself I am mightily impressed.
Its emulation of a real piano is awesome and the built in functions to make
learning both easier and a pleasure are brilliant. We are still probably
some years from such a keyboard replacing the Steinway at the Royal Albert
Hall but for use at home or in a school getting a digital piano rather than
a “real” one is a no-brainer.

Incidentally, we got the piano on a visit to Milton Keynes which is where I
lived from 1985 until recently. I was astonished to find that the large
music store (Chapells) had gone and we eventually had to travel to the One
Man Band shop in the backstreets of Banbury to find a sensible selection of
keyboards.

I had previously looked at the Yamaha P155 on the internet and we tried the
software included version of this keyboard.which I would happily have spent
the extra to buy. But you need to be a fairly experienced pianist to even
notice the difference. To the credit of the young man in the shop he did not
try to sell us the more expensive model focusing on what was most suitable
rather than most profitable.

The large box fit neatly in the back of the Picasso and is now back in my
partner’s house in the Ardeche. You need a Philips screwdriver but putting
it on its stand was fairly easy. Since it is basically a computer with a
rather small screen but a large and very realistic keyboard and good
speakers there is not much to not work.

Review by Nick Bishop

 

“We found the middle octaves far too shrill or almost ‘harpsichordal’ for our liking”

Hi Graham
Many thanks for your digital piano buyer e-book and free piano lessons which I am currently devouring. My wife, Barbara, is the principal pianist and I really downloaded these items for her so she may be in touch directly in due course if that is OK.

She’s been learning on a DGX230 for 18 months and feels it’s time to move on (although this keyboard is pretty remarkable value for money). In fact we decided to purchase the DGX 640 only to find the middle octaves far too shrill or almost ‘harpsichordal’ for our liking. The bass and treble octaves are far more convincing than on the 230, however, and the feel of the keyboard far superior.

Suffice to say the DGX640 has been returned and we decided to audition locally. We found a second DGX 640 to sound similar to the one we returned so I don’t think it was a faulty item.

We’ve also ordered the Rocket Piano course – it sounds really good and the reviews are unanimously favourable. Learning to play is far more complex and difficult than I imagined (especially for a 65 year old brain!) but these courses may well encourage me to persevere.

Review by David

 

“Very live grand piano sound”

I suggested to buy new Digitial piano , i began search , i found 2 chioces , the dgx 630 , 640 … Finally i decided to buy the DGX-640 W i orded it from radioshack , and i recived it after 7 days … i played on many acoustic pianos and digital pianos . so the DGX 640 is really excellent instrument … excellent keyboard gradded hammer , excellent sount qaulity , very live grand piano sound , and the excellent option in the instrument is the touch sensivity control , the player can choose between 3 choices ,,, soft , medium , hard …. really amazing instrument .. but there is only one problem from my opinion in the DGX 640 … its about the tracks in the record mode .. if i am recording song for example … i want to record my own style using a drumkit on the single track .. the problem that if i recired for example snare drum and after i finish i want to record on the same track timpani ,, this cant be done .. the snare drum will be overwritten by the timpani … thats the only problem .. by the way it will not be a problem if u dont want to use record … Amazing Instrument .. really if u want to buy excellent digital piano with a lot of excellent options it will be The YAMAHA DGX-640

Review by Alexandria, Egypt

 

“It does exactly what it says on the box”

I read the reviews on your site Graham, Thankyou for your input.I have since bought the Yamaha DGX 640.
I am extremely pleased with my digital keyboard.It does exactly what it says on the box.

Review by Roger Aucott, Nottingham

 

“This is an amazing machine

Sound:
The Yamaha DGX-640 features the Live!, Sweet! and Cool! voices which I must say are truly impressive. The default piano has an amazing sound for such a low price Digital and you will be astounded. Some have critisised this model for the lack of speaker power, although I must disagree. I am lucky as we have this piano at the school im at and I have performed on it in a large hall without any external amplification and it held up well. The piano has great bass in the lower notes, which you expect on a Grand Piano.

Touch:
The keyboard feels great considering it’s Yamaha’s lower range ‘GHS’ (Graded Hammer Standard). I have played on many different high end ‘Clavinovas’ and the keyboard on the DGX really does replicate an acoustic piano. It features matt keys unlike the cheap keyboards you find at Argos for eighty pounds!

Overall:
The Yamaha DGX-640 (in cherry and walnut) is a great Digital Piano and I would reccomend to anyone looking for a well priced, acoustic replacement. I am not a professional pianist but I know a great piano when I play one and this machine is what its says on the tin; a Portable Grand. The differences between this and the Clavinovas is that the Clavs have slightly better touch and piano tone (as they are sampled from Yamaha CFIIIs – Concert Grand), but I really do not see the point in paying more for less. I am in love with the DGX-640 and i’m sure you will be too. These instruments are currently going at great prices so I truly reccomend catching one while you can! THE YAMAHA DGX-640 IS A TRULY OUTSTANDING PIANO!!!

Review by Kieran Davis

 

“These are customer reviews from actual owners of this piano.
The most recent review is at the top of this page “, Graham Howard, Piano Advisor

Send me an email if you have any questions or need advice: grahamhoward@ukpianos.co.uk
Or call 020 8367 5107

 

>> For Yamaha DGX640 information, specifications and prices, click here