Ian,
The buttons are great for OPERATIONS...however the touch screen is super for setup/programming etc...one good example is entering text for naming things etc. On my PA2XPRO, you touch the item and a popup keyboard comes up..full alphanumeric and special characters. Super nice..instead of pushing all those buttons over & over untill you get the chatacter you want (in this day & age that is very poor).

When writing your own styles, creating your own sounds, sampling, editing MIDI sequencer files etc. the touch screen is the very best.

Also, when I am playing I do not need the touch screen function rarely...it's all with the buttons.

Lee