Sorry.., but I think Korg has been closing the gap well before Roland. The Korg PA series when introduced hit the market with a Triton based sound engine.., and very detailed patch editing. Even the low end PA-50 is more "synth" than the GW-8.

Squeak
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GEAR: Yamaha MOXF-6, Casio MZX-500, Roland Juno-Di, M-Audio Venom, Roland RS-70, Yamaha PSR S700, M-Audio Axiom Pro-61 (Midi Controller). SOFTWARE: Mixcraft-7, PowerTracks Pro Audio 2013, Beat Thang Virtual, Dimension Le.