Yes James, I agree. Why Korg did not do that is a total mystery, but now the Genie is out of the bottle, so to speak, more power to Stephen Kay.

I would not even be surprised to see in the future it even being linked to Yamaha. Wow an XS synth with Karma......Wooohooo!!!!!

And Stephen Kay releasing his own VST would also be awesome

As for the old MS , unfortunately it was not just the arranger that had issues James. As I have said I use an arranger for a small percentage of what I do.

As a VST device connected to a keyboard it was great, really!

But the issues were myriad : how the controllers were mapped, how the panel button functions were changed with no documentation as to new functions. Or were jsut "disconnected" from the OS again with no documentation.

How users are now forced to pay for features that were advertised to be an intrinsic part of the OS.

The complete lack of ANY serious documentation. The glitchy nature of the Linux system with Audio. The random operational failure of the JACK audio routing system. The noise artefacts from digital controls. The fact that even though there are 8 sliders the real-time "real world" live use was quite awkward and clunky.Output gain staging op amps requiring serious output limiting.

Look, there is probably other stuff, but I just cannot remember (and I really cannot be bothered, to tell the truth).

And all of that is BEFORE we even look at styles or the arranger side. Or even the sequencer side which was NOTHING even remotely solid like Cubase, Logic or Sonar. When I dumped my MS, it still could not even properly save CC0/32 or patch data properly in a basic MIDI file.

But of course, that is not Lionstracs fault, as they are very quick to point out.

That's the fault of the Q-Tractor developer.

Not trying to be rude here, but following your line of argument, all Dom had to do was provide a concept of a sequencer onboard, whether it worked properly or not was not his problem but the problem of third party devlopers and end users.

Sorry but thats not a concept I can agree with.

Plus the MS had the most convoluted and arcane system of saving files from the sequencer I have ever come across. I figured it out in the end, but its NOTHING intuitive or like any other file system.

So yes this new device would have a lot, no a MOUNTAIN of fixes to do..Again all this is just my opinion but based around actual ownership.

There are other owners out there who would know this stuff too, but for whatever reason, they are deciding to "piss in the pocket" as our saying goes...or "sucking up to the boss" and either glosssing over the deficiencies, or are in denial about their existence.

Or of course they are so proficient in its use that they can use it as it is. But apart from Zmago , I have seen no compelling evidence of that anywhere, even from the owner of the company.

Dennis