I don't think I've heard anything from an authoritative source that ever claimed the T3's drums were ALL new (your local dealer probably knows less than you do, for all his spouting off!).

No doubt SOME drums will change. A few new kits, at best. Hopefully, punchier and more dynamic. But expecting a wholesale change is sheer lunacy! That's what the Yamaha lovers LIKE (or they wouldn't have bought one!), and Yamaha aren't THAT stupid to completely change everything.

Sad thing is, Yamaha only have to change the sampler to something that could read Akai sample format, and you could have your fill of great sounding drums. But while it remains a closed format, and Yamaha do next to nothing to address the lack of available content for the format they have all to themselves, they lose customers to keyboards with punchier sounds.

I'm starting to question just how smart those guys actually are... First, the 76 phobia, and now the 'closed' sampler. It's almost as if they are saying 'Go away, all you pros! We don't want your money, it's much easier ripping off 'home' players'