And a Bontempi is a SUPERB home keyboard, based on it's OWN merits...!

Of course, as soon as you start to COMPARE...

Seriously, though... sadly, Yamaha refuse to place an arranger in the mid-price bracket. You go straight from the $1700 PSR S900 to the $3500 T2. No stripped down T2 at $2500, no better constructed S900 at $2500...

That's a hell of a pricing gap, IMO. Comparisons between the S900 and ANY $2k+ arranger are going to have to address build quality issues, no matter HOW much Ian doesn't think they factor in. OS, sounds and styles, the S900 has a lot going for it. Were Yamaha to make it in a PA800 quality form factor, we could have a MUCH more direct comparison.

But until most of us here develop the skills that Ian has, to completely ignore ANY tactile feedback from keybed and buttons and to concentrate on the sound and OS ONLY, the S900 will have to always be the 'ugly duckling' of arrangers. Maybe Yamaha will one day let it become the swan it already SOUNDS like.

Until then, those poor musicians like me amongst you will have to go back to our pitiful arrangers, that only FEEL like a real keyboard (OK, they sound pretty good, too!), and only dream of the day that flimsy keybeds and buttons don't matter any more...