Hey all, I'm a bit of a newbie to this board, although I've been doing midi for a little while now. I usually use midi via Finale/Cakewalk/Harmony Assistant for orchestral work.

Up until recently, I was using an E-mu Proteus FX for more realistic sounds, but it's pretty limited and its brass and pipes are quaky at best. So I'd like to pick up a JV-1080 and probably the orchestral I and II boards and maybe the vocals board as well. Unfortunately my funds are pretty limited right now. (Twelve hundred bucks is a little over my limit) I've heard that the roland 'midi boxes' (rack systems) are pretty durable, so I figured I'd go with a used 1080. Can anyone suggest the best place to look around for used Roland gear, or does anyone know if there are any hot deals around on any Roland keyboards or modules that already include the Orchestral sounds (i.e., the XP-30)?

Or, for that matter, does anyone more experienced with various gear think there's a better Orchestral MIDI box that I should be looking at?

Any help would be tres appreciated. Thanks in advance from the token newbie!