Robert,

I'm somewhat aware about the the Gibson stuff. I failed to mention that my Les Paul actually started it's life as an Epiphone. It had a very nice Sunburst finish, but I could never get anywhere near the rich tones of the old Les Paul that I remember an old band mate got from his, though I realize mine was an Epiphone. I say it "started life" as an Epiphone because I traded a keyboard controller to a local guitar Guru ( who also happens to be a friend ) for some custom work on it. He did a fabulous job. It still looks pretty much the same, but the sound and response are quite different now. Two of the three guitarists who regularly frequent my very modest little studio to record and / or jam have Gibson LP's ( I'm not certain which models or how old to be exact ) and both seem to like mine better. I tend to agree with them. Bless my friend Floyd for what he did to that guitar.

I remember wishing that we could emulate a guitar flawlessy on a keyboard, and waiting for the day that the technolgy would bring us there. Yet another part of me silently cheers that it hasn't completely gotten to that point yet.

Diki's spot on for me. No one keyboard is the end all for a studio musician. I'll stand by that disclaimer for every board I've ever owned or even played, and the M3 is no exception. I embraced the Vsti technology initially because when they were the flavor of the day I so wanted to own a CS80, OB8, and a Prophet 5 ( amongst others ). Finances dictated otherwise. Today I have many of the major reproductions inside my computer, and while some of them aren't perfect emulations of their hardware cousins, they are more than close enough for me.

I identify with what you say about the feel you get from your Tyros. For those times I want a more complex guitar solo, for example, at my level of guitar play, using Musiclabs Real Strat and a good guitar amp sim is actually going to sound much more authentic than if I tried to play the same piece on an actual Strat. I'm not certain I'm happy about that though.. it just exposes my mediocre guitar playing ability more than anything else. Actually, the T2 is pretty much the equal of Real Strat when it comes down to the articulations. It may not have quite the complexity and flexibility of RS, but for me that part of it is close enough for most guitar solo work. I just prefer the actual tone is a bit better on RS, but that is a very subjective personal preference.

Cheers,

AJ

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 02-06-2009).]