Buttons cost a LOT of money, and they tend to be one or two trick ponies. But a touchscreen can do ANYTHING.

It also has the HUGE advantage that, if new features are added, or existing features altered in updates, there's no need for a new arranger with new buttons for the new features. Just a new screen display.

Obviously, no, you can't do away with buttons entirely. But much of the crazy packed with buttons arrangers like the PSR S950 could be simplified and buttons be on screen rather than physical.

The deciding factor is more about the logical choice of what get displayed WHERE, and links from one screen to another. If you have never played a G70, try one out. It has very few display blunders, and a logical flow to the links within screens that keeps navigation to a bare minimum. There are functions that take nine or ten separate actions on a BK-9 that can be done with two button presses on the G70 screen!

That kind of operational simplicity simply cannot be achieved without a touch screen. Or your entire front panel becomes a confusing mess of dozens upon dozens of similar buttons waiting to be accidentally pressed!

I had a Triton long before my G70, and was OK with it's touchscreen, but not blown away. But the G70's uncanny logic at minimizing what you need to touch to get almost anywhere you want to go turned me into a believer! It's not the screen, it's the DESIGNER of the OS that makes or breaks it.

And yes, once you are used to them, it is virtually impossible to NOT touch a nice non-touch screen like the S950 or Motif's! Talk about frustration!