I own a 1080 W/vitage exp.board, and I am very pleased with the unit! It has exellent pads and very radical effects to manipulate the wave forms> I write ambient,techno+ trance, and this is a unit that everyone needs to have in there "arsenal". You can,t tweak in real time ,but, you can assign the effects/LFO's to any tempo. I find that very useful with building pads with my Cs1x arppiegiater! If you budget allows you to purchase the SuperNova, Virus,Quaismidi,Waldorf or Nord Lead, go for it,these synths rule! If you go the economical route, go with a JV-1080 for around a $1000. I have a freind that has a An1x, and it beats the JP, lock stock and barrel,but you have to deal with low poliphony! Good Luck!