Bill, that's more money just in VSTi's than most spend on their entire arranger! THEN add the hardware, which currently ranges from close to $3k upwards to $10k+

Not ALL of us here are wealthy retirees with our children's inheritance to burn!

At some point, the concept of diminishing returns kicks in... In a live situation, the difference between today's TOTL Big 3 arrangers (OK, Big 4 now with the Audya!) and all this VSTi nonsense is minimal. And in a non-live situation, a FAR less expensive laptop or tower computer can do the same stuff as a sound source.

Paying a $3k-8k premium, just for the convenience of it all being housed in one keyboard just doesn't strike me as money well spent.

Perhaps in the future, things will get better (cheaper! ), but anyone getting into this at the moment reminds me of those who bought $250,000 Synclaviers back in the eighties. I sure haven't seen anyone STILL playing one now live...

You think they got their money's worth?