I'm back and exhausted. Let me reply to the new postings tomorrow, though I wish I had gotten to read Rikki's comments on the version of the OS.

I spent 4 hours on the PA800 and one hour on the M3. Most of the time was spent learning to navigate the 800 system (the salesman didn't know how to play it), but I have to admit I picked it up relatively easy. It functions no different than a computer...very logically. If you know MS Windows real well, you pretty much know how to get around the 800.

Unfortunately, I spent so much time "learning" how to play it, I was a little too tired to scrutinize it closely. I had just finished a gig at 3 pm. One really needs to spend a whole day going through it bit by bit.

One thing that really got me down was (after reading Lee's remark about the drums) the sound quality. I muted all the tracks and listened to the drums alone. There was no kick in the bass and no punch in the snare. I was impressed that the cymbals played themselves out to the end and didn't cut off as I heard the Ketron do. The Latin instruments sounded good, but then again they only need crispness (cowbells, timbales, etc).

The bass was strong but I didn't have the time to listen closely to see how well it emulated a real bass player.

Back to the overall sound. He ran the board through a big combo amp, but it was not a well-known name and consequently it sounded muffled. I asked for a Mackie 450 and they had a 450 V2 on the floor so we connected that. It sounded much better and still better when I EQ'd it. Yet.....it didn't sound good. To get the bass drum to sound fuller, I had to "color" the rest of the instruments.

The trumpets (remember I'm a trumpet afficionado) sounded excellent. Loved the "wash trumpet" ....did a great version of Clyde McCoy's Sugar Blues with it.

The piano sounded muffled. Some of the guitars sounded real good, some didn't. I thought the Flamenco guitar easily scored a 10.

There WAS a scarcity of "big band" styles, but then I got to a page (I forgot where) and there was another 4-5 bb's to work with. considering I only work with one in my present keyboard, that would have been a gift to me from the music Gods.

Enough of my review.

Thanks Zuki and Rikki for the additional comments. I understand what you guys are talking about more now that I’ve played on it. BTW…I’m wondering why only 3 breaks and not 4?