I find for myself that the PA80 is the closest thing for me to a hybrid of an arranger and a workstation without being a true workstation. There are plenty of fat and "experimental, dance etc type synth samples and sounds in it and the synth edit capabilities rival that of some "pro" workstations, yet I can summon up many "traditional" sounds in it as well at the touch of a button, and I find these sounds to be very usable as they are, most sound excellent to me and require no editing at all. Sometimes I DO like to play with sounds, and the capability is certainly there, but more often than not I want just to play and compose, and the PA80 makes it easy for me. If I wanted a true synth that makes some nasty sounds, with the tweak of a knob or two or ten to mess with in real time, the truth is, for me most of the "pro" workstations will fare no better for me anyway. That's when I start looking at things like the Nord lead or MS2000. Other than that, give me a top end arranger any time, as simplicity is the key for me as well, and my only complaint if I had any with the PA80 would be that it might be a bit complictaed to operate were I to play as a solo act in a real time setting, as opposed to let's say the PSR series, but since this is not my primary use of this board, I'm very happy with it, and would find it very easy to use as a gigging musician in a regular band. I find it very easy to use in my studio as a great compositional tool as well. If the so called "pro" guys can't deal with it, that's their problem, I couldn't care less. I have been playing for well over 30 yrs both as a pro and at home, and at this stage of my life, "status" by brand name or type doesnt mean squat to me. It's all about the music and what I feel comfortable with.

In all honesty though, for more complex jazz or jazz fusion pieces that I want to write, the styles make great scratch pads for ideas and for listening to chord progressions, but that is usually as far as i go with them. I generally transpose my ideas into real time playing of sevral of the instruments, and let a program like Jammer pro do the drums for me, as I am not proficient enough at programming or real time playing on the drums. I do find the styles to be a bit constrained it that manner, but very useful for other stuff, sometimes even better for me with an edit here or an edit there to the style itself. Sometimes I use the style just as it is too, it just depends on what I'm doing musically at the time and the mood of the piece and whether I feel the need to put a more "personal" stamp ( ie my own arrangements ) on the piece or song.

AJ


[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 11-07-2001).]