Well I agree with a couple of things with Uncle Dave, but I haven't experienced any drops in polyphony with sounds or vocalizer. There are new patches for the vocalizer settings ( hint, wink, send them to me ).Everything on sounds I agree but I think the edge for strings goes with the SD1, especially in a band situation, but once again these are opinions, and probably shouldn't count after coming back from a Metallica concert. Just kidding. As for operations I can navigate both pretty good. Except the fact the VA7 doesn't have as many variations or fills readily availbe for live play. Both are top notch. I think the sounds of the VA are better when listen alone as a sax or acoustic guitar, but when in a band situation the nuances seem to get lost.