Hi Douglas,

I know about your fever. I have it too waiting for the XD9/XD3 and the new Tyros.
Like Scott and you I used to be a huge Technics fan and switched to Yamaha a while back.
I think the important question here is: what do you want to do with it and what kind of music do you play.
As Don and Scott have already pointed out Ketron Styles are certainly more alive.

When Andrea came down to S. California we had 3 boards to try side by side: 9000Pro, X4 (X1) and KN6000.
When I played around with some of the Ketron X4 styles, everybody started to tap their foot. They were very alive, but as I have said before, not too many songs came to mind with the styles I played, even though I had a blast improvising.
I bought the 9000Pro because the styles fit a vast genere of music. Plus if you use vocals, you don't want to have the styles overpower your singing and do a solo gig.

The live drums on the 9000 are very good, as they are in most boards today.
I would really suggest you listen to the styles in each board for a while and think about the music you are playing.

The new Tyros promises more in your face styles. The styles in the new 2000 are already a vast improvement over the 9000 styles.

You can also add a XD3 module, which will give you acces to the Ketron styles (one of my considerations right now).

Since the new Genesys, the XD9 and the new Tyros are on the horizon, I would deffinately wait, since they promise to be a step up in sound technology. We'll see

Eric