as usual we are going to get confused with technical specifications and actual musical applications. The XS can layer up to 8 elements in one go and they boast this in their demos all the time. But my brother actually owns the XS. How many sounds in the XS actually use actually use up to 8 elements in one sound ? . You will struggle to find more than 20. The only genuine application yamaha have for this is in their drawbar organs. Any other sound that uses anymore layers than 4 or 5 make very little musical sense unless all you intend to do is make lush pads that oscilate and crossover and fade over time. Put a few of them in a song and what do you have....one hot mess !!! The korg PA2X can layer up to 16 . I have never had the need to layer more than 4 or 5 at a push..so what ?????

And another thing ..how many records do you know where the sole instrument used from start to finish and all production was done entirely on one keyboard King frog? None ! Zero Zip! Whether i use the Korg, XS or Fantom it is only the basis for the scratch pad (a decent one yes) but never the less the scratch pad for my production. An arranger such as the PA series can fit in very well as part of that production.

Listen to a commercial RnB or Hip Hop record King Frog and tell me what you hear. Pick one you think cant be done on an arranger . Send me a link to it on youtube and i will do my best to reproduce it on my PA1X. Just bare in mind i don't have a multi million dollar studio :-)I#

I dont want to keep debating this with theoretical talk , i want to show you with a practical example. WE could even have some fun with it and see who on the forum can get the closest to it on an arranger :-) I am game