Review: 14 Reasons why the Yamaha DGX-670 is better than the Roland FP-30X

Review:

Yamaha DGX-670

$800 USD

Roland FP-30X

$750 USD

In this article, I am going to tell you the 14 reasons why the Yamaha DGX-670 is better than the Roland FP-30X. The DGX-670 is an 88-key arranger and the FP-30X is a piano-centric digital piano. Comparing these 2 digital pianos are like comparing apples and oranges, similar but vastly different.

Feature #1

LCD Screen

The Yamaha DGX-670 has a glorious 4.3" full color, high-resolution LCD screen which is easy to see, with a quick glance you will be able to get all the critical information you need from it. You will be to see the active voices, selected rhythms, tempo, transition, loaded audio backing tracks, and much more than the main default screen. Any form of voice selection, editing, balancing volume mic is made easier with a visual indicator. You will also be able to display music scores and lyrics for you to play and sing along with. On the other hand, the FP-30X requires you to connect to 2 clunky smartphone apps or you will need to keep the user manual beside your FP-30X in order to refer to a chart indicating which key you need to press to change sounds and access different functions.

LCD SCREEN ON THE DGX-670

Feature #2

Sounds

The DGX-670 has more than 600 voices offering different tones and a wide genre of music. These 630 sounds include VRM, Super-Articulation, and mega voices rankly, have so many textured sonic complexities. Compared to the FP-30X which has a fantastic SuperNatural Piano sound engine as well as a few excellent bread and butter electric piano sound. but with only 56-panel tones and additional 127 General MIDI tones via an app pale in comparison.

Wide array of sounds

Feature #3

Piano Room function

The Roland FP-30X has a Piano Designer app on your smartphone which is really powerful allowing you to tweak parameters such as string resonance, damper resonance, different tunings, and velocity curves. Even the option to individually modify each and every key on the FP-30X so it behaves exactly the way you want. However, the Yamaha DGX-670 Piano Room is capable of similar functions without the need for an app. Every parameter you want to tweak is presented to you on the LCD color screen. The Piano Room shuts out all other features of the DGX-670 and puts the piano into an environment purely for playing Piano and Electric Piano without any distractions making it no different from a piano-centric instrument like the FP-30X.

Piano Room feature

Feature #4

Styles

The DGX-670 has a massive 263 styles and these styles aren’t rudimentary rhythms like those found on the FP-30X but are highly intelligent and innovative. It comes with their latest adaptive, unison, and accent styles found on their flagship keyboards which the various accompaniment parts can be toggled on and off. The DGX-670 also comes with a style creator and editor for you to build your own library of infinite styles for those of you with a voracious appetite. The FP-30X has a dozen rhythms you can play along with, coupled with the option for you to trigger different intro, endings, rhythmic fills, and variations. The only downside to that it's only available if you use the app.

Huge numbers of styles

Feature #5

Pedals

The Yamaha DGX-670 and the Roland FP-30X both support a single pedal and a triple-pedal system, totaling up to 4 pedals. On the DGX-670, the pedals can be assigned to 40 different functions such as switching voices, turning on and off effects, triggering rhythm intro, endings fills, controlling pitch bend and modulation, and many others. As for the FP-30X you use the pedals for the usual soft, sostenuto, and damper function and that’s about it. It is a shame that Roland take the opportunity to increase the FP-30X potential by including an on and off toggle for rotary effects on an organ voice or tremolo would been a great addition

Multiple pedal functions

Feature #6

Registration Memory and Playlist

The DGX-670 provides you with an unlimited number of registration banks to save complex user registrations which you can recall with just a single button press. You can also easily set up playlists on the DGX-670 for different performances. You can also even change the voice registrations in any order you desire, handsfree, just by using the pedals. However the FP-30X you can only layer and split the voices across the keyboard as well as apply a bunch of basic effects to your voice setup but there is no way you can save multiple voice configurations for quick one-button recall.

Unlimited registration memory and playlist

Feature #7

Microphone Input

The Yamaha DGX-670 has a microphone input so either you or someone else can sing along as you play your piano. This feature on the DGX-670 is quite in-depth, it allows you can configure complex reverbs, compressors and effects to get the best out of your voice. With a simple press of a button or step on the pedal, these functions can be easily toggled on and off instantaneously. The only downside to this is that the piano will only work with a specific type of microphone. On the other hand, the FP-30X does not have this function.

Configurable Microphone feature

Feature #8

Mixer

The DGX-670 has a button to toggle a mixer panel on the LCD screen which will be a familiar sight. The mixing board with faders will show the balance between the voices, the rhythms, and the microphone input. While the DGX-670 only requires a push of a button, the FP-30X will require you to use a mobile app and will also require you to hold down a function button while pressing the corresponding piano keys to layer and split the voices across the keyboard.

Easy to use mixer board

Feature #9

Effects

The Yamaha DGX-670 comes with 500 different effects to mold your sound into whatever your mind imagines. With a plethora of reverbs, choruses, flangers, distortion, rotary, stereo pans, and much more. Not only you can apply these effects to voices but rhythms and the accompaniment and the microphone vocals. For the Roland FP-30X, there is only the basic functionality, which allows you to adjust the brilliance and ambiance of a tone.

Customisable effects

Feature #10

Buttons for Everything

With the 4'3 LCD screen and the Direction pad, it is so much easier to maneuver your way around the keyboard. The DGX-670 also has a data wheel, 2 rows of buttons below the screen to quickly select and change the parameter you want. You will get panel buttons for most features you need quick access to, like transpose, turning on and off voice layers, and selecting voices and rhythm.

This is where the FP-30X unable to compete with the DGX-670 as it requires you to constantly reference the manual to figure out the combination of buttons and key presses to access basic stuff like the transpose feature.

Fully equipped with buttons for easy maneuvering

Feature #11

Speakers

While the Roland FP-30X has a pair of 11 watts amplifier speakers which produces a more powerful amplification. The Yamaha DGX-670 comes with 4 speakers instead of 2. With more speakers, the DGX-670 is better at delivering separate ​frequency ranges for a more nuanced sound.

Four speakers

Feature #12

16 Tracks Sequencer

The DGX-670 has a full-fledged 16 tracks sequencer which is an advanced sequencing tool that has functions such as punch-in, punch-out, and track quantization. . The FP-30X also has a song recorder but it is linear which is not as flexible as the DGX-670. The linear song recorder is more catered for single-take solo piano recording while the 16 tracks sequencer on the DGX-670 will allow you to build polished performances

Full-fledged 16 tracks sequencer

Feature #13

USB Audio

Both the Yamaha DGX-670 and the Roland FP-30X have a playback function that can play back digital audio backing tracks stored on a USB stick. However, the difference between the FP-30X and the DGX-670 is vast. The FP-30X can only playback the audio on the USB stick while on the DGX-670, with the aid of the LCD screen you will be able to see the titles, you will be able to set A-B repeat points in your song if you want to practice just a segment of a song. You can also adjust the pitch of an audio file to fit the key you are singing or playing in. You can also slow down and speed up the audio file as desired and even perform a vocal cancellation on the audio track and you can play or sing the melody if you cannot find a minus-one track to play and sing along with.

More in-depth USB Audio functions

Feature #14

Bluetooth Versions

The DGX-670 uses Bluetooth 4.1 protocol which is newer compared to the FP-30X which uses Bluetooth 3.0. With a newer protocol, it provides better latency, better quality and better power efficiency when streaming audio wirelessly from your mobile devices to the DGX-670.

Newer bluetooth protocol

Conclusion

If you are looking for a piano with more complex and in-depth functionalities, the Yamaha DGX-670 got everything you need in the bag. It covers all bases required to cater to specific requirements and requests of the user making it perfect for those who want to dive deeper. At the same time it only cost you $50 more to get the Yamaha DGX-670.

I hope that this review has been useful for you. Do check out the links provided in this article for the latest updates and prices of the Yamaha DGX-670. If this keyboard is not for you, do look at the other articles in this blog to find your ideal instrument.