From what I've heard so far, I don't think I can say it sounds BETTER than my G70, although in the drum department there is more choice. But I t5hink we are finally seeing Roland fine tune the style programming to something acceptable OOTB, which the last few arrangers weren't, in all honesty. And the use of the extra ruff and flam samples is better utilized. It's not so much that the G70 didn't have them, it's just that not too many styles were written that used them, IMO.

I only wish I had got this a couple of weeks ago, as I had a ton of time to kill. Last week, I couldn't BUY a gig! This week, I can't buy a day off... Typical seaside town, I suppose!

One use of the BK that really intrigues me is as a back end to my KX-5 keytar. It can't call up anything on the BK (old Yamaha gear only sent the first 64 MIDI PC#'s and no CC00/32 at all), but the Performance list can be set to FC-7 switches (up/down) and OTS can call up all the patches I would need. I mean, just for jamming with bands, it looks doable, and as a front end to a sequenced, MP3's and limited arranger use gig, I might be able to put something together entirely driven from the KX-5! That might be neat...

I've been using an old M-GS64 module for the KX-5 for donkey's years, and it really needs something a bit more modern. This might be the poo!

And, don't dismiss this so lightly Ian... even with the T4, this thing might add back the punchy drums that only the new kits provide. Just in case you get a more up front gig...

The more I play this, the more I'm impressed. Most of an E80, with better balanced and programmed styles, at a quarter of the price. Not too shabby!