Look, I've always based a LOT of my views on the MUSIC I hear coming out of an arranger. Let's face it... the factory demos weren't made impossible by bugs. Somehow, magically, the thing worked. Certainly well enough to make some pretty amazing sounding demos (as well as Frankieve's stuff that he recorded).

Sorry Donny, but in MY world at least, buying a backup keyboard means buying a duplicate of what I have. Buying something else isn't buying a backup, it's buying something else... Plus, I don't feel like ponking down an extra $3000!

I've never disputed how GOOD the Audya sounds, OOTB. The problem for me is, I'm not really an OOTB guy (although I like the OOTB sound to be damn good to start with). I like to tweak and mess with my styles, change drumkits, change drum sounds, mess with the groove a bit. You can't do that on an Audya. It is what it is. I'd certainly LOVE to hear you do something on the S900, then do it on an Audya If I ever need a 'background' arranger, I'll definitely look at a Yamaha. But, so far, I like the high energy stuff a LOT more. I'll play that 'intimate' (read 'background') stuff when I get old!

Oh, and BTW... who converted the GW-8 stuff? Fran? 'Nuff said!

I've already got a few tweaked that are pretty damn good, definitely different to the G70 ROM styles (and a change is as good as a rest) but stylistically in the ballpark. Fran just needs to work on his Makeup Tools skills. Remember, I've HEARD some of his efforts with SMF's before

The trick with quite a few of the styles is to listen to the original. I will soon be putting up short MP3's of all the GW-8L's Style Variation and fill divisions, with the #4 complex Intro and Ending. So far, I've just done the Pop/Rock section (55 styles!). I am just waiting to find a site that can accept the large file (it's about 64MB) and host it for a long time (no point in doing this and it comes down quickly).

Once you hear what things are SUPPOSED to sound like, tweaking the style becomes easy. You've still got some work to do, but don't take Fran's efforts as proof they can't sound good, anyway!