I have owned 7 roland arrangers and only 1 yamaha. I have always wanted Roland to be the best because its the brand i grew up with. I too strongly believe the g1000 was Rolands last fantastic sounding keyboard. I think the reason is because at that time (was it 1998?) the competing keyboards from yamaha were not as good. But in the last 5 years yamaha has taken a giant leap ahead of the competition with its tyros and tyros 2. Roland on the otherhand seem to have taken a downward spiral and have not yet recovered from that. I know a shop not far from where i live that has been unable to sell the g70 they have on display for one year now .why? The same shop sold MANY g1000 and VA7 .. I see alot of people saying Roland recycle the same old sounds with each new arranger. Even the Korg Pa1x sounds amazing with its rx tecnology. Roland seriously needs to invent new technology for their sound engine and need improved marketing. Yamaha continues to remain the benchmark. These are my feelings....