Personally, I think what Korg and Roland have done is perfectly illustrate what CAN be achieved with simple software upgrades alone.

That the market leader choses to ignore this is indicative of their attitude towards profits. Company first, customers second.

While Korg play catch-up in the area of CONTENT, now that the bare technological gap has been breached by DNC technology, Yamaha owners can continue to crow about it's capabilities. But that crowing will start to get muted once the samples for DNC to work on are introduced.

Yes, the Korg has few samples in ROM that can make the most of the new system yet. And that, from the reaction to the demos, is the Yamaha fanboys saving grace. But the bottom line is, the raw technology to do exactly the same as SA (and maybe SA2) is now a Korg feature as well. The capabilities of the system look VERY similar as far as I can tell. With one, of course, important difference. You can edit the Korg's SA technology, and you can create content yourself for it, or buy it from a third party.

So Korg, on capability alone, shoots WAY to the front. At no cost to the owner whatsoever. And, when the content arrives, there are an awful lot of Yamaha users, who have had NO choice whatsoever if SA technology is important to them (and I think it is a primary reason why many chose it) are going to look at Korg and think 'Well, it's already virtually a T3 - but in four year's time, it will probably be MUCH better, whereas the T3 will be exactly the same' and make a decision accordingly (remember, this is going to work on a PA800 as well as the PA2Xpro, for those that want 61 notes and speakers and much lower price!).

It's a piece of cake to remain the market leader when you have capabilities that no other arranger has. Basic, fundamental features. But that barricade has been broached. The walls are starting to crumble. And Yamaha, without a dominant technological edge, may have to reconsider the process of only making improvements in new models, when their competitors are doing it for FREE.

It's a short technological step from hero to zero...

Korg don't look like they are running scared... they look like they are looking to the future, and it just got a LOT rosier at no cost to their customers.