I still don't see how y'all can compare a 61-key board with an 88-key...... IMHO you either NEED the 88-key's, or you don't. As a piano player, I NEED 88-keys. This is, in my opinion, the first thing you should think about with these two particular synths. If you really would like to have 88-keys, you're not going to find a much better deal on a full-blown synth with 88-keys than the RS-9, maybe a couple good stage pianos, but............. nothing like the RS-9 at this price. Soooo, first of all ask yourself "Do I NEED 88 keys??" If the answer is yes.... then obviously the RS-9 would be better for you. Now for y'alls other questions.........

(WARNING!!! THESE ARE ALL MY PERSONAL OPINIONS AND IN NO WAY ARE DEFINITIVE OR GUARANTEED TO BE CORRECT, THIS IS JUST HOW I SEE IT!!!)

Ok, that said I'll move on to the first question y'all had, the sounds...... I played around with the RS a little bit and I really liked most of the sounds. If it's true that they come from the XV-series then they should be very good in general (I own the XV-88 and LOVE the sound of this board, the RS's should sound really good) Obviously the RS's don't have nearly the library of sounds available to them that the XP-30 does (The XP-30, like lprisan said, it has more than twice the patches of the RS-9) Also you can expand with the XP-30. I don't know for sure, but assuming from what I've read in y'alls posts, you can't expand the RS-9. So you have a much greater library of sounds at your disposal with the XP-30. If you're going to be needing some weird sounds (Like the sound FX or vocal boards) you probably won't be able to do anything like this with the RS, however with the XP-30 all you have to do is buy the expansion board. If you need lots of different kinds of sounds.... the XP-30 is the winner.

Next question.. Sound editing....... (WARNING!!! AGAIN, I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE ABOUT THE SPECIFICS OF EDITING ON THESE SYNTHS, JUST GOING FROM WHAT I READ ONLINE) The RS's were designed for an amateur or beginner player..... not saying they don't sound good, but they (in general) probably won't have the depth that the XP-30 would have. I would imagine that the RS-9 could save some user sounds.... but maybe not as many as the XP-30.

I'm not really knowledgeable enough about either of these synths to answer your other questions...... but I'll say this, GO TRY THEM!!!! If you have any kind of music store nearby, go there and ask to try these out...... decide which one YOU think sounds better, decide which one YOU think feels better...... get it???

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Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[This message has been edited by KeyboardFreak (edited 03-16-2001).]