Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt, but in all fairness, except for modern cutting edge musics, live loops are usually used on most arrangers to beef up the fairly poor drums. I think that the V-Drums in the G70 are SO good (when programmed well) that there isn't as much need on Roland's as, say, Yamaha's, whose drum sounds could definitely do with an upgrade (I know some will knee-jerk a reply to this, but it is a comment made by many Yamaha owners as well as those that have tried them).

I simply feel that, by the time you need synchronized loops, arpeggios and modern tools like that, something like a FantomX or even better, a MotifXS is probably a better purchase. Just stick it on TOP of your arranger!

I feel that Roland, before they distract themselves with trying (probably futilely) to play catch-up with Ketron on live loops, or Yamaha's well-honed SA technology, should spend most of their efforts returning the actual OS to the effectiveness of the G1000, that, although a little long in the tooth sound-wise, was still one of the easiest and most flexible arrangers to PLAY.

It's MIDI implementation was seamless, it's arranger operation was seamless, it's performance data structure was unified.

The last few years with Roland have been one big litany of 'Why did they drop THAT feature?' from countless users. Sure, they have made the G70 and upwards SOUND the best that Roland have ever achieved, full, fat and deliciously 'live', with by far the best grand piano, drums and organ of just about anything, short of software arrangers like Wersi. But it has been the 'dropping' of things like Bass & Drums/Small Combo/Full Ensemble shortcut muting buttons (from the VA series), detailed aftertouch controls (from the G1000), seamless change from normal arranger mode to Pianostyle mode (from G1000) and many, many others including, of course (groan!) my favorite (and MANY other's!) the Chord Sequencer (from the G1000) that has most of us worried.

Most other manufacturers seem to incrementally improve their OS (maybe too slowly for some, but you seldom hear much protest about formerly available features now sent out to pasture), but Roland have this fetish with re-inventing the wheel every new arranger series, instead of just slowly improving it. This often adds in a lot of REALLY cool features (the Makeup Tools style and SMF quick editor is something I do NOT ever want to do without again!), but it often seems two steps forward, one step (one giant step!) back...

I am simply happy to hear at least one counter-rumor to the doom and gloom (somewhat gleeful in some cases!) prediction of Roland's imminent demise in the arranger market. Time will tell.

But I will state quite clearly that, if Roland just graft these 'me-too' features onto their next G-series without addressing the fundamental OS flaws (no global split, anyone?), my G70 may be my last Roland, and probably my last arranger. It is doing the job SO well that I can quite happily play it for as long as it lasts (ten years and still counting for my G1000). By that time, things will be SO different, the concept of the arranger may be unrecognizable to us now...