squeak.... I think you have missed the most important aspect of SA voicing, the thing that DOES make it revolutionary. Yes, some of the SA 'tricks' are done with velocity switching, and you are right, old hat. BUT.... the thing that REALLY makes the horn samples shine is the ability to trigger tongued/legato samples depending on how you play. NOT velocity based.

It is a very similar concept (although the means of deriving it are totally different) to the 'percussion' part of a Hammond, where the percussion only plays at the beginning of a phrase, and doesn't reappear until you lift your fingers off the keyboard completely. So the T2 (and now the S900 and the new MotifXS) are capable of phrasing lines with FAR more expression than before, and also tie it to a technique (legato/staccato) that all keyboard players already know and understand. It truly IS revolutionary....

Now horn or string lines are just the beginning... For you, especially, here is a way with samples to get close to the minimoog-type envelope triggering on synth sounds, but polyphonically, too. The possibilities are just beginning to be apparent. Even Yamaha have only started to realize what this can do (the MotifXS's SA voices are FAR more customizable and flexible than the T2's).

What Yamaha have managed to do is to give us another layer of control, WITHOUT tying it to a non-standard performance technique. This is, I believe, one of Yamaha's traditional strengths. Rather than put this control on footswitches, or 'hot keys' like some GIGA type sounds do, Yamaha just worked out how to let the machine recognize what you are already playing, and turn it into useful sound control. No hoops to jump through.

I can only hope the rest of the synth and arranger world jumps all over this technology. It is the first truly new way to 'play' samples since the Emulator came out.