Dennis,

I'll be the first to agree that most of the online MP3 demos are absolutely atrocious and had I based my buying decision on that alone, I'd never have bought a Wersi. When I was doing research prior to buying my Abacus Duo Pro I listened to all the MP3 demo's, spoke with many Wersi owners, and received a few CD's that were done entirely on the Wersi. Claudia Hirschfeld's CD was one of them and it was better than any online demo I've heard from Wersi bar none.

Like others here I didn't have local access to a Wersi so I bought mine having only heard it via online, CD, and from the recommendation of other Wersi owners. Wersi USA (Ralph and Chris) were very helpful in answering all of my questions prior to purchase and I felt confident in their service abilities. I didn't feel my purchase was a gamble because Wersi appeared to have everything I wanted in an instrument. I was truly shocked when I first received the Wersi in person because the way it sounded was far better than I could ever have imagined. The only way I can describe it is this... On my Yamaha's, Technics, Korg's, and Roland's most of the sounds needed to be tweaked to make them sound more realistic and usable. On the Wersi the sounds actually sound real so tweaking wasn't necessary. In fact it wasn't just one sound that was realistic, nearly every sound was. Much like Yamaha owners love their SA and Megavoices. Imagine having 700+ SA voices as opposed to 20 or so, would that make you happy? I'll bet it would. That's how I'd classify the Wersi. Now when I go to compose on the Wersi finding a usable sound isn't a task, I merely choose the sound I want and never think twice about needing to tweak it, manipulate it, or spend hours making it usable.

I realize naysayer's like Diki will still bash the Wersi without ever having used one, but by doing so he and others are making comments without truly knowing what the instrument actually sounds like and what it's true capabilities are. For those few willing to make the effort to audition the instrument in person and make the investment in such a fine instrument, they won't be disappointed.

Anyone in the USA who is interested in hearing a Wersi in person should call Wersi USA and see if there's an end user near you that will let you audition the instrument in person. The Wersi owners I spoke with were a nice bunch of folks and I'm certain like myself they'd gladly let prospective buyers test drive the instrument.

Anyone near me who wants to come by and audition the Wersi, by all means contact me.