All: I couldn't help myself so I went to Guitar Center tonight were I bought the Axiom to try out the X-Board 61 which they had in stock. I liked the feel of the Axiom a little better but found the X acceptable. So I swaped the Axiom for the X, took it home, set it up, found that Ab to Eb above middle C was dead , took it back, got another one, plugged it in and the 2nd one worked fine.

The Axiom had nicer fit and finish to it. I liked the shape and feel of the black keys on it more than the X. The Axiom also has a Midi in as well as a midi out so it also acts as a USB-Midi interface for your computer to plug in other midi keyboards. The X does not.

The reason I switched to the X was that I felt the Axiom was better suited if I was using recording software. My main use is Notation Software and potentially live performance. I thought the 16 programmable bank keys on the X would be faster to switch around in arranger software than the Axiom. I read the reviews that Cajun listed. I can see how some thought the X's buttons may not be top-of-the-line but I think they are of OK quality. With the action and control surfaces OK for me, the final selling point for me was the included software:

- Proteus X with a full sound library
- Cubase LE

While not the full-blown versions of the software they are good enough for me to play around with for a long time as most of my time is spent with my T2 and my real piano. So for the same money as the Axiom (Guitar Center charged me $0 to make the swap) I got 61 keys instead of 49 and a bunch of cool software.