Thanks, Rikki....

So - there you have it. NONE. Not one more 'live loop' style from Ketron since the day they released the SD-1, and the acknowledgment that making your own loop slices, for something even as trivial as the drum loop (it is by FAR the easiest to slice well, with well defined transients and little sustaining sounds) is quite difficult. And how long has the SD-1 been out now, four years or more?

Now imagine how many FEWER there will be when the task of slicing and matching the loops includes all those necessary for guitar parts, etc.. (well, actually, it couldn't POSSIBLY be any fewer!)....

You are beginning to see the results of technology without content...

One final warning... OK, you say to yourself, I'll make them myself, no matter HOW hard it is. You buy a decent loop library, or two (or three!), laboriously slice them to hell and back, painstakingly crafting a few good styles. Can you share them with your friends, can you sell them to other Audya users...?

NO! Professionally recorded loop libraries have stringent copyright restrictions. On the whole, you are NOT allowed to re-sell them, you are NOT allowed to use them to make another commercial loop product, you are NOT allowed to share them, and you cannot use them in a commercial recording without owning the original loop rights...

These laws are FAR more stringently enforced than MIDI copying, due to the prohibitive cost of making them in the first place, and audio, under the law, gets far better copyright protection and enforcement than MIDI products (whether this is fair is a topic for a different debate)...

So the degree of new USER styles, compared to Yamaha, Roland and Korg (who don't have to wrestle with these issues) will also be minimal. At least, for 'live loop' styles.

Look, I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but issues like this often get lost in the glow of hype about new technologies. Sure, the technology is amazing. But it's implementation is often FAR short of our expectations. One door opens, but two more shut.

Demonstrably, those that tout the highest technical achievements are those with noticeably poorer styles, and style selection (and user style creation). For all their 'closed'-mindedness, the big three at least understand that content brings us back for more. NOT the promise of advanced technology, but you are on your own when it comes to the content.

Arranger users are a very small fraction of the entire keyboard market. Professional arranger players are a very small fraction of THAT fraction. And 'pro' arranger players (or talented amateurs) that create their own styles are a tiny fraction of THAT fraction. And the fraction of that fraction that has any ability slicing and matching loop libraries is microscopic.

And yet, these appear to be the target consumer for products like the MS and Audya... Best of luck, mates!

While technological improvements are good, in all fairness, if my G70 improves NO further, but I keep getting a reasonable supply of inspiring new styles for it, I could happily take it to the grave. Each new style is like getting a new arranger. Sure, there's a couple of niggly little OS things I would LOVE improved, but if they DON'T, and I still keep getting new Roland and third party (and user!) styles for it, I will be content.

But if it were up to me SOLELY to make new content, I would be changing arrangers as often as Donny or Zuki

Domenik, AJ..... Food for thought.