I don't know the answers for sure J. but, in the case of the PA80, some of the styles are very song specific. For example the rythym blues style plays the exact notes from the song "Soul man". You really notice it on the intro's and endings.

Oddly enough, this is a preset style. Korg released a bunch of extra user styles after the PA80 came out, and many of these were so song specific that they only work well for that one song. Even the preset open rock 2, is geared directly at "Brown Sugar", although it will work pretty well for Free's "Allright now".

Perhaps the country styles gravitate more toward modern country. I'm not sure because I don't play very much country. The rock, blues, jazz, and soul styles seem to gravitate more toward the "classsics" ( ie. older tunes ). This can work well for a lot of the entertainers ( including myself when I occasionally wear that hat ), but doesn't necessarily give me a lot to work with if I want to "scratch pad" an original idea on the arranger. So I'm guessing that the programmers look more at what has been popular rather than looking toward current and modern beats. At least it seems that way.

On the Motif ES, when I listen to a lot of the arp and drum patterns, I get a sense that the phrases are geared more toward modern music. There is a good representation of what was happening in the past, but also a large portion of typical beats and grooves found in current music.

AJ

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 11-05-2003).]