Fran mentions the achilles heel in using the mp3 as a substitute for an SMF (or simply using the arranger)...

It is a LOT of work to completely redo your entire backup library when you buy a better keyboard if you have to firstly rework the sequences to sound their best on the new keyboard, THEN laboriously (and in realtime!) record all of them to mp3 a second (or third or fourth!) time.

Many (probably, from reading here, I'd say most) don't bother, and end up, after paying a fortune for a new TOTL arranger, with a show that sounds 80% or more IDENTICAL to what it was before the new equipment. Hardly effective use of the new toy, IMO.

In fact, Fran, if the majority of your sequences are still G1000, you miss out on what is, IMO, the BEST feature in the G70, those amazing drums! Plus, of course, you have to deal with poor audio and 'glitchy' sound if you decide, maybe for a different singer, to perform the mp3 in a different key, or God forbid!, a slower tempo.

This is why I think I am committed, at least for now, in keeping my sequences as SMF's and avoiding the whole mp3 thing. Unless you actually add in REAL players (it's amazing how many mp3 users forget about, instead of having typical crappy guitar arranger parts, they could simply hire a guitarist to PLAY them), what exactly do you gain in going to mp3? 128 poly keyboards make voice-stealing moot, and the flexibility you gain in transpose and tempo changes, along with the gain in overall quality you get changing to a newer, better arranger make committing yourself to audio a dangerous path towards stagnation...

BTW, completely agree with you about the SHAPE of the G70 keys. Without a doubt, the best key-bed on the planet at both piano AND organ techniques. It is amazing no-one else has figured this one out (even Roland, on ALL their other keyboards!). You can't play organ parts well on a piano shaped key, you can't play piano well on an organ shaped key. Compromise is necessary..

We could ALL learn from this