OTOH, Bill, to be honest, although Baartman and Volkcen are great players, it's fairly easy to find Yamaha user demos that come close to the factory ones. So it's fairly easy to assume that, in OUR hands, it's going to sound pretty good, and there is not an insurmountable hill to climb to match the demos.

But when most of what you hear is humdrum at best from real users, and there ISN'T a great factory demo (using factory sounds), that's a warning flag IMO...

Wersi and Lionstracs need to do a better job at persuading potential buyers that the things CAN sound great OOTB. Because none of their users have done anything to persuade me, that's for sure... You see, that's the most worrying thing about the whole 'soft' arranger concept. 'Closed' arranger users have no trouble or reticence posting stuff that at least usually comes CLOSE to the factory ROM demos. But mysteriously, nothing of any impact has appeared for MS or Wersi that impresses me in the slightest from it's actual users. Are they ALL terrible musicians? Are they all terminally shy?

Or is it more likely that not one of them can make something at a professional level, either due to the problems with the arranger or it's sounds and styles? If Joe Six-pack has no problem posting a T3 demo (and making it sound good), what is the impediment to the MS or Abacus user?

I'm afraid I'm a sceptic. If you can't make a Wersi demo that impresses me on the web, I guarantee I will be no more impressed to hear it live.