Most OS's, if you spend enough time on them, end up seeming pretty familiar. Once you get used to them, you never really remember the effort and head scratching you had when you first got into it.

John, trust me... if you came into Korg for the first time after using Roland, or Yamaha, you would be getting those headaches daily!

I think that one of the areas that Korg suffer from the most is that NOTHING is ROM, essentially. Everything can be overwritten with your own stuff. Styles in the main section, Tones, effects, you name it. From working with Korg users, one of the most frequent problems they present me with is 'I've overwritten a Factory sound/style/Performance (whatever) and now my Performances or Songbooks are messed up!'

Maybe not the hardest issue to fix, but it simply illustrates the potential pitfalls Korg can present you. In truth, as long as I have my OWN area of storage where I can put my own stuff, I don't really feel the burning desire to mess with the ROM area (or what is a ROM area for most other arrangers)..! I think Korg unnecessarily complicate things with this system. Of course, it's great for the power users that everything is completely user configurable. Korg have made the closest thing to a true workstation in the arranger pantheon. BUT.... you have to look at what the average arranger user's general technical ability is. On the whole, these things are bought because somebody wants something EASIER than a full blown workstation!

This is the only arranger with basically a FULL WS as the underpinnings, including a full featured sampler, then a VERY complicated arranger is tacked on over the top... It's hardly surprising that, to people coming to it from arrangers designed primarily for simplicity and ease of use, it is like walking into a NASA briefing!

Personally, if I want to be baffled by a piece of gear, I'll stick with my Kurzweil! When it comes to arrangers, I want as much simplicity as I can get away with without losing total control. I am sure, if I get a TOTL Korg, eventually I'll have it down. But I know, simply from messing with my friend's PA3X, that it will take a LOT longer than anything else in the arranger world!

Fran's challenge is a valid one. When it comes to rapidly setting up Performances from scratch, and doing the main tweaks that optimize a style for you, and then saving it without risking messing something else up, my tip of the hat goes to Roland. And, I'm sure that anyone coming to BOTH for the first time (say from Yamaha) will get the Roland OS down MUCH faster...