The NEW new keyboard

Last month, I bought the Yamaha DJX pictured below from someone in Valrico who’d put it up for sale on Facebook Marketplace…

It’s similar to the electronic “band in a box” keyboards you can buy at Costco or your preferred “big box” store, but with one very important difference: it was made specifically for hip-hop and electronic dance music. Even though it was released in 1998, it still sounds fresh and fun.

I wrote about the DJX in this article, which I ended with:

Aside from making music with the DJX, I’m also keeping an eye out for its even more rare little brother, the DJX 2…

I enjoyed the DJX so much that I decided to try to find its successor, the DJX II, which was released in 2000. Rare and precious as the DJX is, the DJX II is even more so. If you enter the term DJX into a Google Shopping search, you’ll see a couple of DJX keyboards, and a few more DJX IIB devices, which were DJX IIs with the keyboard replaced by a CD scratch wheel…

…but you’re not likely to see any results for the DJX II keyboard with its distinctive alternating dark grey/light grey “white keys.”

After a couple of days’ of typing in search terms on Google, I did what I always end up doing: I wrote a Python script to automate the process for me. In addition to checking Google, it also scoured a number of Craigslist sites, and that’s how I found this listing:

I contacted the seller, who’s a really nice guy, but didn’t want to deal with shipping and electronic payments. He wanted to sell to someone who could pick it up in person and confirm for themselves that it was in perfect working order, and pay in cash. Personally, I can’t blame him.

I thought about hiring someone from Taskrabbit to pick it up and ship it to me, but I decided to go on my social media accounts and ask…

Fortunately, like Cassian Andor…

My friend Meghan, who moved to Phoenix not too long ago, stepped up. I sent money for the keyboard, shipping, and her time, and on Friday, it arrived in a very big, very well-padded box.

I’m now the proud owner of a Yamaha DJX and DJX II:

…and my office is looking increasingly like Fatboy Slim’s supervillain lair:

For the curious

If you’re wondering why I’m so excited to own a 25-year-old keyboard, here’s a couple of looks at its features. This one’s from four years ago…

…while this one was posted just last month:

When the DJX II was released, Yamaha made the then-unusual move of creating a promotional video: