tonewheel.....thanks for posting all that information. It was a really interesting read. I've often wondered how they put styles together, etc.

But, I think instead of spending this time and money on forever creating new styles of basic rhythms, they should sell us the machine with basic styles for each dance (Fox Trot, Rhumba, Swing,Disco, etc) and a mega-tutorial on how to put our own styles together. Then we would each have what drives us, motivates us,individually in our playing.

I think, in the never-ending effort to create new styles for new machines, many of these "variations" of basic dance styles these last few years have become almost "bubble gum" like.....plain silly....like something out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

It's like taking Beethoven's Fifth and trying to make it sound better with each generation of interpretation. It can't be done, and shouldn't be done. To me the best Fox Trot or the best Latin, to the best Disco, etc is the basic one. What you add to it musically, with your playing, is what makes it sound attractive.

Maybe if the companies did that (showed us how to make our own styles), with the money saved in production, they could then cut the arranger prices in half. I wouldn't object to that. Do your own work, compose your own rhythms, make the styles YOU like, no time wasted in chasing down styles from here, there and everywhere, and......having money left over from your keyboard purchase to buy a full tank of gas!