George, do these Casios have either an "arranger hold" or "sync stop" function? In other words, is there a way to set them up so that when a style is playing and you lift your hand from the keys in the accompaniment section, the style stops; and when you play another chord, the style resumes?

Yamahas can do this by activating a setting called "sync stop" (you can even specify how long you have to hold the keys to "latch" a chord.) Roland and Korg also have a "sync stop" function in the style control section. In addition, Roland has a menu parameter called "Arranger Hold", and Korg has a "Memory" button right on the panel for this purpose.

I read the manual pretty thoroughly, and unless you activate it by pressing the "Syncrho / ending" button twice, it appears that Casio has omitted this important capability. Which brings up another important question...

Do these boards have the ability to accept firmware updates? I wasn't into arrangers 10 years ago when the MZ-2000 made its debut. Can anyone say whether Casio supported that board with firmware updates to fix bugs, add features, etc.? Thanks!