I can echo a lot of what AJ's experiences have been like, including the former use of XGWorks and SQ01. I just got a new studio computer on the only software going on it is what I actually use - won't be Yamaha software. I'm waiting until after NAMM to be certain but I'm probably going to have to upgrade to Sonar v4 for the surround-sound capability. The new computer has surround and my studio is going that way this year. I use the Motif's OPT voice editors in Sonar also. I'm finally adding the mLan interface to my Motif ES 8 which is partnered with a studio 9000 Pro. Otherwise I use Reason 2.5 (going to v3) and Sony Sound Forge.

I own a lot of softsynths but the only one I actually use a lot is still Yamaha SYXG100 on a laptop... wouldn't it be great if Yamaha revived and developed a new VST version of that?

Yamaha's Cubase... that's going to take getting used to. Who knows what they will do with it? But they sure have left behind some nice and often useful technology along the way. That what worries me... what they'll discontinue next.

There are some pretty farout rumors floating around NAMM this year, such as a possible new Korg "Open" synth that may be in the mold of the Open Labs nEko. It makes a lot of sense - Korg makes softsynths. If so, the softsynth-host-keyboard war has begun. It could be epic. It's fun to imagine that we're not that far from a hardware arranger that could load VSTi's.