Yamaha DGX520 Piano-focused Portable Digital Keyboard

YAMAHA Updated: 2007-10-03
Yamaha DGX520 Piano-focused Portable Digital Keyboard

The all new Yamaha DGX520 is the portable grand that the family can explore music on and grow with. This 88-key lightly weighted action product includes state of the art enhancements like USB MIDI for computer connectivity, USB TO DEVICE for connecting USB storage devices, and an amazing educational suite that will get you up and playing immediately.

Amazing Features Include:
* 88-Key Lightly Weighted Action
* 500 Instrument Voices including: 127 Standard, 361 XGlite, 8 "Sweet!", 5 "Live" and 5 "Cool!" Voices
* Amazing Live! Stereo Grand Piano
* Yamaha Educations Suite (Y.E.S.™) – Features lessons, grading, and songs to learn
* Performance Assistant – Allows you to play along with any built-in song regardless of your level of ability
* Easy Song Arranger – Allows you to play back songs in 150 unique accompaniment styles
* Music Database – Sets up over 250 songs
* On-Board Sequencer – Records 5 Songs / 6 Tracks
* 2-Way Speaker System with a Bass Boost System
* Large Full-Dot Matrix LCD – Allows easy viewing of music score and lyrics
* Flash ROM – Download songs from the internet
* PC Connectivity – USB MIDI and USB to External Device Storage
* Matching Stand Included!
* Matching Piano Bench Optional

So Easy To Use!
* Music finder: Complete keyboard setups by song title. The keyboard selects an appropriate voice for the right hand melody, the correct musical style and the correct tempo. Simply call up a song title and start playing.
* One Touch Setting (OTS): Provides you with a recommended voice with effects for each style. For example, on a jazz style OTS might be piano, for a Latin style it might be acoustic guitar and for a rock style it might be a guitar with overdrive etc.
* Registration Memory: Set the keyboard up just the way you like and take a digital snapshot by memorizing it to one of the Registration buttons. Load and save up to 16 Registrations to User memory. The Registration buttons are conveniently located just above the keyboard.
* Performance Assistant Technology: Performance assistant technology is a feature from Yamaha that guarantees that you can't play a wrong melody note or chord. Select a song, press the Performance Assistant button Chord Mode and play the keyboard – any notes you like. Every note you play will fit the music! If you move up the keyboard, the pitch goes up. If you move down, the pitch goes down. Play a perfect arpeggio, or play chords in time with the music, or really "go for it" and play a solo. As long as performance assistant is "on", you're "on". Imagine being able to give a concert to your friends or relatives the very first day that you bring this remarkable keyboard home.
o Chord: No matter where or what you play, the result will be musical, well-balanced sound. This type offers the greatest freedom, allowing you to play anything with both your left and right hands.
o Chord/Free: If you can play simple right-hand melodies but have trouble with left hand chords, this is the type for you. The Chord type applies to only the left-hand section of the keyboard, allowing you to easily play chords to support the melody you are playing with your right hand.
o Melody: This type lets you play the melody of the selected song by playing any keys with just one finger. Start playing melodies right away, even if you have never played a keyboard instrument before!
o Chord/Melody: Play the melody of the selected song with one finger on the right-hand section of the keyboard, and play chords on the left-hand section of the keyboard using the Chord type.

Yamaha Education Suite: Helps you learn to play
The DGX520 has 30 built-in songs, plus 70 more on an 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.

* Three keyboard lessons for each hand
o Waiting Mode – stops the playback of a song until you find the correct note and then continues.
o Your Tempo Mode – Learn to play the correct notes with the correct timing. Song playback tempo will vary to match the speed you are playing at. The song will slow down when you play wrong notes, so you can learn at your own pace.
o Minus One Mode – Here's where you can perfect your technique. The song will play at the normal tempo, minus the part you have chosen to play. Play along while listening to the song.
* Lesson Grading – Monitors your progress as you practice each lesson and gives you a grade.
* Repeat and Learn – The song location will move back four measures from the point at which you pressed the button, and playback will begin after a one measure count-in. This section will repeat allowing you to practice until perfect!
* Chord Dictionary – Shows you how to play chords and tells you which chords you are playing by displaying the notes and chord names on the LCD screen.

Easy Song Arranger
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.

Auto Accompaniment Styles
In addition to the 100 songs mentioned above, the DGX520 also has auto accompaniment styles that "follow" your playing. Simply select a style of music from the 150 built-in Styles (example Rock), play a chord and the DGX520 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.

Full Keyboard Mode
The DGX520 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 DGX520 is also capable of this mode, for those who prefer it.

Realistic Sounding Voices
The DGX520 comes equipped with 361 XGlite voices, 12 drum/SFX kits plus 127 panel voices that feature a selection of special voices including Sweet! Clarinet, Trumpet, Muted Trumpet, Flute, Pan Flute, Soprano & Tenor Saxes, Trombone, Cool! Voices including Galaxy Electric Piano, Suitcase Electric Piano, Electric Piano, Organ and Rotor Organ and Live! Voices including Grand Piano, Warm Grand Piano and Orchestra.

* Sweet! Voices reproduce all the natural expression and vibrato of their respective acoustic instruments
* Cool! Voices feature long samples of electronically amplified instruments
* Live! Voices use stereo samples to ensure the most accurate reproduction of each instrument's natural presence, resonance and vibrato
* Dual Mode allows you to combine two voices across the keyboard at the same time – for example piano and strings.
* Split Mode allows you to select a different voice for each hand – for example piano for your right and bass for your left. The combinations are limited only by your imagination.

Digital Effects
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 DGX520 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 parts.

Lyric, chord and notation display
Have you ever played a song and wondered what it would look like as sheet music? The DGX520 can display the score to a song whether it comes from the Internet, the internal selections or ones that you record yourself, and the pages scroll automatically when a song is played back no more page turning!

2-Way Speaker System with a Bass Boost System
Separate woofers and tweeters deliver sounds with clarity and precision for more lifelike instrument voices. Also, a special port on each speaker adds a powerful impact to bass sound reproduction.

USB Connectivity
The DGX520 has 2 USB ports on the back, USB TO HOST and USB TO DEVICE.

* USB TO HOST is plug and play simple for recording and playing back MIDI files, as well as transferring data to and from your computer.
* USB TO DEVICE is for connecting optional peripheral USB storage devices like floppy disk drives and thumb drives*. When a USB flash memory is inserted in this instrument's USB TO DEVICE terminal, user songs created on the instrument and the registered settings can be saved to or loaded from the memory medium. USB flash memory can also be used to transfer song data downloaded from the Internet to the instrument, where it can be used with the performance assistant technology and the Yamaha Education Suite features mentioned below. Furthermore, user songs saved to USB flash memory in MIDI file format can also be used with these features

Quickstart DVD
All Yamaha portable keyboards and digital pianos feature a Quickstart DVD with introductory lessons to help you start playing real music today!