Roland have allowed you to save your styles to the internal 50MB SSHD or to an up to 4GB Card since day one. Loading from these is instantaneous, no HD lag whatsoever, you can do it while another style is running and it loads seamlessly...

Because there are no MP3 facilities, that 4.5GB of storage allows for a HUGE collection of styles and SMF's, all of which are instantly available to the G70. No going to Disk pages first... the style DB simply presents them regardless of where they are, ROM, Internal or Card.

And there is a USB connection for connecting to a computer to back up and load in additional styles. No USB stick port, but I see little use for that. I load what I need (and tons I don't!) in advance and I'm good to go...

Not really sure where you got your info, Dan, but that one is dead wrong...

BTW, I've tried style and SMF editing on both Yamaha (which need external software before they have even HALF the capabilities that Roland do) and Korg, and neither of these is anywhere near as friendly, graphically simple to use and comprehensive as Roland's Makeup Tools and Style Composer sections are.

I haven't tried this on a Ketron, but from reading posts from frustrated Ketron users, I simply conclude the same... Point is, you never hear Roland users complain how difficult this task is. Yes, essentially the same things need to be done, but it is the STYLE that they do it in, the workflow and tool presentation that makes the difference.

I would be willing to do a head to head with any other arranger type any time.... start with a poor conversion translation, with wrong drum sounds, mismatched dynamics, bad Part balances and choice of less than the best sound selections, etc. (you KNOW how bad those translated styles can be!), and I bet I can turn it into a usable style in far less time than any other system.

Ask around here, other players that have used Roland's and other brands. Most times, even when they don't like the arranger itself, they have very kind words for the editing tools...