I used to use my K2500 on Bourbon St. for the 10 piece I was in... I would load up a bunch of stuff on start-up - basses (I was doing LH bass in a 10-piece... go figure!), rhodes and clavs, some sampled B3 stuff, anything I felt I had a better sample than the ROM sounds. But once it was loaded (it came in about 80MB, and took a minute and 20 sec to load off the HD), that was it... I couldn't reload during the performance because they always go dead while you load (Audya? any different?).

I have an extensive library for the Kurzweil (still have it after all these years!), and have yet to find much that competes in the ROM section of most arrangers. The piano in the G70 is one notable exception, but even there, I have many other comparably good pianos ranging from beat up uprights that the Temptations used, to the same brightened up Steinway that Elton used on 'Don't Shoot Me, I'm only the Piano Player' and several others. Latest is KSounds Vol2 http://www.ksounds.com/Demo/KSV2_Kurz/KSV2_Piano_1_full.mp3
which I think is quite exceptional.

However, for live use with an arranger, well, unfortunately, the G70 doesn't include a sampler, and I am still conflicted about how to use it... Ideally, the thing would load up in a flash, and I could do anything I want. The Ketron 'Live Loop' thing is easy to do on a sampler, just send the trigger notes from the drum track, and you are in business. Strings I still do exclusively on the K2500, never heard a string patch in ANYTHING'S ROM that came close (I have string libraries that cost a grand+!).

Samplers COULD be very cool in an arranger context, just think of being able to replace ANY sound that you consider sub-par with a TOTL alternative, but with most modern arrangers and even WS's load times being even slower than my ancient K2500 (about 1MB/sec from the HD), they just aren't practical for anything other than perhaps a piano sound or something like that that you will use a LOT.

I am disappointed in the Audya's decision to limit the sampler section to 64MB, although the jury is out until I find out load times. If it is computer fast it is still practical, but if the RAM pipe is still mired in hardware speeds, it is no better than a PA2 or T3. Still not fast enough for the 'any song, any time' request ethos of the general arranger player...

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 12-28-2008).]