Unfortunately Fran, Roland has no one to blame but itself.

From what I understand, it was a combination of poor marketing and bad product placement, not the quality or the technological level of the instruments.

As I've said to you many times, I think Roland makes an excellent product, and I've used their instruments in the past...in fact, I did demos and clinics for them.

You have to sell quite a few BK-9's to equal the profit made on one TOTL instrument, which in turn, helps pay for research and development for future products.

I also think having a TOTL in the line-up promotes confidence in the company. Roland always managed to introduce features that the other companies didn't think of, and eventually, had to copy to stay competitive.

There used to be the three TOTL's from the "big three" of Roland Yamaha and Korg and the loss of Roland's top effort leaves a big gap that will eventually get filled.

I just think it's kinda sad...that's all.

Ian