Fran,
This time I have to disagree with you substantially. (ah, to be expected from a Korg player, I hear you say !!).
First of all your equation in my opinion is a faulty one.(VA7 +Discover 5+ G1000= G-70)
My personal experience with Roland, which was a very positive one ended with the arrival of the G1000, which was only a minor leap forward compared to the G800, soundwise that is. (structurally they are identical). As mentioned earlier in this thread I programmed very extensively on the G800 and hence my statement that ALL Roland keyboards need very extensive programming and tweaking by the user to get substantial results. In this respect the G70 is no different but even a shade worse. (to say that the recent updates have substantially improved the machine is absolute nonsense in my opinion.)
A very important factor to take into consideration is the absence of internal speakers on account of which the board will always sound somewhat different wherever you play it depending on the speaker system used. But of course this cannot be the main reason for faulting this arranger keyboard.
I must also be critical of your (valued) contribution cause as you state yourself you have never ever seen the thing let alone played it therefore it would be wiser I think to suspend your evaluation.
Personally I have played it for a couple of hours on several occasions at a friend of mine and like I have stated several times , have always come away disenchanted.
Contrary to many views I find programming on it not so pleasant ( the touch screen is in fact minute compared to the size of the keyboard, a sort of Technics vice versa if you get my drift) and it took me ages to get anywhere near a decent total registration. Once I had got that far I kinda thought, this is not too bad........
Incidentally I am one of the Korg PA50 guys you are referring to (??) . All I can say is that I have played the KOrg PA80/50 for nearly 4 years now and to my heart's content. The only thing stopping me from getting the PA1X is finances.
Many here also think the SD1 is the best.
I agree it is a very good board that I have owned twice myself, but in the end I was personally disappointed with the repetitiveness of the styles. (generally one bar, two at most). With Korg most styles run the length of at least 2 bars and often 4 or more, which in my opinion makes it much more versatile.
All the discussions and contrasting views on the G70 in themselves prove to me that this is by no means everybody's cup of tea.
I cannot recall any such a debate going on with the arrival of the other top arrangers, generally everybody wanted to have one but was only held back by the strings of his/her purse.
Like Roel I am curious to learn whether anyone has got anything to share with us that is not Roland pre-cooked, but my personal experiences with the board are truly disappointing.
In all fairness I should add that another good friend of mine, who has had all Roland keyboards from the day one, thinks it is the best board ever................
I am also anxious to learn what Scott's assessment once he gets his hands on it !!

regards,
john