To Vic83 and Kelfar:

I needed a keyboard for oriental music as well. I have owned a Roland E40OR and I have had the pleasure to play the GEM WK2 Oriental for 2 weeks. It is really nice. But then I got the Roland E500 OR which sounded really good with the 3 Arabian Drum Kits. But then I bought myself a Korg i30 since in Yugoslavia and Turkey there were a lot of professionle musicians (taping CD's etc.) who plaid this i30. Well i can assure you that the i30 definitely is the best keyboard for Oriental music. It has some brilliant tapans (oriental drums) but you need to make them yourself. I have a tapan that is more beuatiful than a real one and also a Tarabuka that sounds extremely nice.

I would like to hear Vic's opinion about the Korg. I do realize that the Korg doesnt have enough oriental styles on board, BUT the i30 is the only keyboard that has 4 banks, A B C and D of which C and D can be used for OWN (so Oriental arrangements). Mine is completely filled and also a lot of MB on my Hard Disk. None of this comes close to the Roland or Gem. And one more thing: do you know what a ZURLA is? A sort of Oriental Flute. I have that sound ORIGINAL created for me and it sounds SUPERB !
For Oriental: sorry but the Korg is it. Just not for lazy people who need to take of the package and start immediately. I have a lot of Musician CD's of people who use the Korg i30 for it.

I would like your opinions on this.

Ilija