Ian, you are misconstrued what "average" means...it has nothing to do with skill level....

And of course I am advanced....in many ways..

I do not use styles as many folks here do..I find them way overdone, and do not leave room to play over as I would like..

I rather record the arranger and save as a sequence..

I prefer playing over sequences...My boards also read chords with sequences..giving me a guideline to play over them...And my "crutch"..lyrics to read...


You mentioned the Roland's sound as the E-70..nothing changed...I think you need to revisit the E-70..

The "best" sounds are not the only criteria for a great over all sound...The G1000 was not the "best" sounding board..although there are many sounds as good as today's offerings...what made it sound great using the G1000 banks....were the balance of the patches, and how well they blend...One of the reasons the G1000 plays SMF's as well as any other board...Matter of fact the G1000 (bank) plays SMF's better than the default G70....until you modify pianos, bass, drums..etc..Than the G70 is the "best" at SMF play...

Another example..The newer Yamaha's have some of the best sounds available...but not all, and far from it...The XG sound bank is still the worst of all manufacturers..(probably need the XG bank to play SMF's..but not very pretty)..

For every super guitar, sax patch there are many duds...and they are not balanced enough to be used universally ..as in other instrument resources (sequences, styles etc)..They are designed to be used exclusively with Yamaha gear...but I believe they missed the mark..

My point....when I refer to "average"..it is the majority of players that will just power up a keyboard...judge what they hear...and play what they hear, without the need to alter anything...Also the vast amount of "average" players simply want to play a melody line over the style...."Average meaning the majority"...

So....I am not "average"...

Maybe well advanced...