I hear you Dave . I am a gigging musician in a sense. I play for various Gospel choirs and groups in and around Birmingham and the west midlands UK.I dont get paid but i work just as hard never the less. I work full time in the day time as i have a family to support to support. But most weekends i am sat around the keyboard with some young people either jamming or arranging on the fly.

For me it is crucial that if i purchase a keyboard it does all that i need it to do quickly and well and much better than how i do now. Minor incremental changes do not interests me. I have not upgraded my Yamaha PSR 8000 yet because
1. Obviuously these new boards come at a premium price!
2. The new features that are being marketed as new are actually a lot of the old features "tweeked abit".
3 I have yet to listen to a new arranger that sounded like i should pay another £2000 . Although some of the boards have newer samples and more sounds the actual difference in quality is not majorly significant unless you are in a studio .
4.There is very little in terms of what i do, writing and arranging that the new boards inspire either through sound or function to make the next investment.

I owned a Technics KN1000 before the Yamaha and it was about 4 years before i upgraded to the Yamaha. There was to my ears a step change in tonal quality and functionality between the two not least of which was the sampling facility and the vocal harmoniser.Both completely revolutionary functions to an arranger board. I still use the sampler now live in rehersal and in playback in performance in church.

However i do agree with you that the drum samples have improved significantly over the years. The other significant improvements in instrument sound has been some of the soprano saxes that really sound convincing to the point of disbelief! And some of the acoustic guitars.But not a whole lot else.

The Korg PAX sounds very interesting but if i were to purchase it , it would have to be in a couple of years time when the price has come down to justify the purchase.

The synth sounds are always interesting asthey dont have to sound like any real instrument and so you have nothing to compare it to. But i guess my focused use of sounds makes them of limited value.

Touch screens dont interest me, colour screens dont interest me,i can live with heavier weighted intruments if the sound quality is there. ( i have sufficient young Church brothers who i can enlist to carry my board) so my back does not need to thank me for another board yet.

I guess i am just waiting to be "wowed" again.... The newer Roland synths with the skip back sampling and realpianos are very interesting and if these facilities were available on an arranger then i would be very interested