hi Rikki,thanks, well you say you are not a pro,but if you've been using this stuff for 20 years,I wouldn't say that you aren't...

Actually your thoughts about the SD2 really helped me because I didn't know things would be so fussy. I will just use the internal sounds of whatever I am using.

By the way,I just bought a GEM Genesys XP expander that I found used but as new,for about half the price of a new one.
Man,I feel like I am breathing again. I am currently using it with my EMu x-board 61 which is not bad (semi-weighted keys) but I think I'll now buy a weighted-keys M audio controller ,which does not cost a lot.

The Genesys has very good sounds,at first I could only see the main 128 presets and thought 'ok good,but that's it?' . Then I found a sort of hidden menu where I can get a lits of about 1400 sounds! Some of them are called 'Real' (realguitar,etc) and are pretty good for a guy who owns two Eastwest libraries!

The Genesys even has a sampler,at first I thought that a mere 32 mb for sampling would be next to useless,but I even sampled a violin sound from Eastwest and shrank it to about 20 mb ,lol
It took hours ,though,but it can be done!

I am feeling like a musician again. I just press 'record' in the sequencer,and I listen back my ideas. And no crashes and stupid errors happened! Brilliant!

I might still want to get a Korg PA arranger,though,as what you said about it , made my head buzz....eh eh

thanks ,I really enjoy these forums