Fran, that's a bit harsh, especially after that very fair review at the top of the post. Craig (just like you!) knows what he is looking for in an arranger's sound and operation, and this world is big enough that you can BOTH have different ideas of what that is...

Incidentally, Fran, what DIDN'T you agree with in Craig's E80 review....?

I think that Craig would be surprised to find that virtually ALL of the new styles in the E80 have already been ported over to the G70, and that OS3's new EQ options (3-band parametric on every Part, AND every single drum within a kit!) can get the G70's sound VERY close to the E80, as well as fixing any niggles about certain sounds from the pre-EQ days.

If the styles were the main difference between G70 and E80 to you, you might want to take another look at this one.

My take on the whole Yamaha/Roland thing is that the 'sound' is more live on the Rolands, and the touch screen is more intuitive than Y's buttons around the screen, but the Y's Mega and SA voices are to die for, especially the guitars. I have a guitarist, so the Roland is a better choice, but if I were primarily solo, it would be a much harder decision...!

I am investigating whether a Yamaha Motif module or cheapo arranger might add these voices to my arsenal, and then I get the best of both worlds. I just don't believe EITHER of them are clearly superior, which is why I don't flip when I see dissenting opinion. There's room for all of us...