in Roland's defense, every iteration of the Fantom has been a clear step up. I agree the timing is bad, but after yrs playing a yamaha arranger (9kpro) and waiting for yammy to build a logical replacement, I find the fantom-s, which I got for 1275, to be a great keyboard. the sounds are really strong, the expansion is nice, and it's possible to use the pads for drums/rhythm loops (which are easy to sample in and then edit) in an almost arranger-like way. I'm more inclined to work with Roland going forward, if just because it's clear they're thinking about ease-of-use in the OS and trying to sincerely better an already good product. can't wait to try the fantomX!