I have to agree Squeak, and also with your assessment that the Motif is the excception to the rule. I favor many of the bread and butter sounds on it as compared to the PSR740 and 2000 I had before it. As we always say sounds are subjective but for me:

The Motif is the winner vs my PSRs for acoustic and electric pianos ( big time on electrics ), drums ( acoustic and electronic ), guitars, basses, strings, and of course synth sounds ( again big time with the AN150 board installed ) . The PSRs were as good and in some cases better on saxes, horns, woodwinds, and organs. I prefer most of the latter sounds on the PA80 as well vs the Motif.


I tried the Triton and Karma extensively and did not like the way a lot of the acoustic sounds were set up on them vs the way they are set up on the PA80 ( same samples in many cases ). I was not overly impressed with a lot of the acoustic instruments on the Roland Fantom either.

Sounds and key feel are among the things that matter most to me on a board, and for my tastes I like the PA80 ( key feel could be better ) and the Motif for their sounds. They are great for me for live play away from home, and between the two I have more good sounds than I'll ever need when playing along with other musicians. At the home studio they work nicely as well, in tandem with my samples and software.

I've been focusing on using what I have and am no longer looking to replace anything at this point. I really like my current setup, so why search ? I still want to have a go with the XD9, but mainly because I'd like to have a backup arranger for the PA80. I could also envision a PSR2000 winding up in my hands again as the backup, but one of the key reasons I don't want another 2000 is the key feel. It just isn't comfortable at all for me.


AJ