Freddynl,

How much is a GEM WK8? A loaded Solton X1-HD is about US$2,900+, with harmonizer about $175 - I actually got a quote for X1-HD for about $2,700 but I did not buy from that person, I bought it from George Kaye because he shows excellent attitude and knowledge in supporting his products. X1 plays MIDI files with lyrics well, even *.kar files - you do not have to pay extra for karaoke functionality - its lyrics display is much better than Yamaha PSR-7X0, Roland G1000, Korg I-30 ... etc., also displays guitar chords, with much more lines of lyrics displayed so you will not have a problem of having to wait for the lyrics to show up. DannyUK was very skeptical about X1 and he asked a lot of questions in the old arranger keyboard forum before he finally decided to purchase Solton X1. You are exactly repeating his steps - he also owns a GEM WK8 and he compared WK8 and X1 very thoroughly and made his choice. The new trend in the market seems to be the competition between the soon-to-be-released Yamaha PSR-9000 and the current king Solton X1.

Paul