Well cassp....... yes, probably the least boring thread for a while!

You seem to be describing your perfect arranger, and many of it's ideas are in the G70......

Varios seems to have been abandoned by Roland and was mono only, and still suffers from exactly the same RAM load-time problems that samplers have..... a good idea before it's time.

By 'loop sequencer' do you mean the old Roland Chord Sequencer? If so, welcome aboard, brother! The best idea they ever dropped.....

As for your requests for computer-like sequence editing facilities, well....... why not use a computer? Why try to do the same thing on a 4 inch square display when you could see everything on a nice widescreen 24 inch flatscreen?OK, some people prefer to do their sequencing on-board rather than use a computer, but some people still write letters to each other in paper and ink and POST them to each other rather than use e-mail. Only those who have never used a computer sequencer prefer the on-board one.....

The G70 comes in a smidgen above 40lbs, but is manageable (I'll take durability over feather-weight any day)

It has live sliders for everything, keyboard, sequence and style parts

See above for how I feel about the VK organ (but it's still great!)

And having both a K2500 and a G70, I can assure you that the G70 more than stands up to the K's ROM sounds, betters most of them and is infinitely easier to use, live, especially if you haven't got a ton of time to set up EVERYTHING in advance. If I've got no prep time, I grab the G70 first for everything.....!

Give it a whirl, and consider an Akai Z8 or '4 for the sampling chores.