Hi Trident,
first up, you possibly could use your Casio with omb.( I assume it has midi & sends & receives ?, I think I read somewhere about it being able to use only 4 channels at a time??) Anyway it would just allow you to try it out & see how you like working with a software based arranger.

If in the end you ended up with a psr keyboard of some sort( psr 2000, 3000) , OMB wouldn't be a waste of money either, as you could always use it as a psr style editor.

If you ended up with the WK3500, OMB could be used with it also as a realtime arranger with the WK as your sound source. 2 arrangers for the price of software & an arranger.
Another option might be a DGX ( I've recently bought a dgx305 ( does it's midi thru usb & works with windows xp only, I think)
The dgx 300 had normal midi in/out.
DGX305 thru usb. Only loads 1 style at a time thru a smart media card, and only has 2 variations, 1 intro/ending. But midied up to OMB you get the 4 variations , 3 intro/ending that the normal psr styles have. Only has 32 note polyphony though, so there may be some compromises, but it is xg lite so psr styles don't need as much tweaking & editing as a gm sound source does.
I've used omb to edit & cut down a couple of my 9000pro styles.
Haven't had a great deal of time to spend on mine yet.

As for Hypercanvas, the psr styles will require some tweaking and some editing. Hypercanvas is GM2. Psrs use additional sounds & drums that are over & above the gm set.
There are demo's available for Forte http://www.brainspawn.com/products/forte/?op=download

Hypercanvas http://www.edirol.com/products/info/hyperCanvas.html


OMB http://www.1manband.nl/omb.htm

Midi Yoke ( Virtual midi cable) http://www.midiox.com/index.htm?http://www.midiox.com/myoke.htm

I also needed an asio driver for my laptop,
I managed to get this one to work.
http://michael.tippach.bei.t-online.de/asio4all/

Actually Frank & AJ helped me with all this soft synth stuff. ( they're the experts )It was a fair bit of trial and error on my part , but I eventually got it working.

If you actually have an SB Live soundcard in your computer, Synergi soundfonts may be another option for you. Again the psr styles will need tweaking.

best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by trident:
[B]Hi Rikki,