I think there's a lot of judging of people's decisions going on here, and they all seem to be based on our own personal criteria. Why on earth does Zuki have to conform to someone else's type of behavior when he's spending his own money? First of all, there are many factors that account for the frequent buying and selling of (especially) arranger-type keyboards. We all know what they are.

1. The general unavailability of arranger keyboards in local stores for auditioning.

2. The very nature of arrangers means that the music produced by them is going to get boring (stale, repetitive, predictable, uninspiring, etc.) in a very short period of time, especially when playing the same venues a lot.

3. Musicians are fickle by nature (why do guitar players have to have so many guitars?).

4. The grass is always greener.........

I also don't buy the argument that a working pro can't tell in a week that a board isn't right for them. Frankly, I think they have a pretty good idea in about an hour. Note, I said 'working pro'. That implies that they already have a working knowledge of the way arrangers work, several good frames of reference via prior arranger ownership, are able to zero in on (and evaluate) the specific types of styles that they will be using 'on the gig', and how intuitive the board is for real-time navigation (small learning curve). I believe Don when he says he can accomplish this in a week. So can I, given full-time access to the board. Why? Because I (and probably Don and Zuki and Capt Russ, and Donny) don't really give a darn what the board IS CAPABLE OF, only "what can it do for me right now? (for the type of music that I play)". I don't think most working pro's want to feel compelled to be a member of the geek squad to get the required utility out of a new board. Of course this doesn't apply to everybody, but we shouldn't be so judgemental about those that it does apply to. To say that you're not going to help on the board anymore because someone whom you supplied information to, sold there board to quickly, is....well....???

Another thing, everything about a TOTL arranger is subjective. I, personally, would never buy an arranger based on it's Ballroom styles. Simply because I'd never use them and consequently, don't really care if they're good or bad. With all due respect to DonM, Russ, AJ, and others who like the Ketron sound, I couldn't find a single style on the SD5 that I liked; not because they weren't good (subjective), but because the overall sound of the keyboard was very "European" to me, you know, kind of "Schlagerish". Not bad, just not what I'm into. I can understand Zuki, looking for something 'new', immediately rejecting it, especially if he were looking for something "Yamaha-ish" but better.

Me, I relish the flurry of buying and selling activity. You never know when you might be able to pick up a bargain. Long live free enterprise.

chas