Hi Beebop,
bizzare, I pretty much feel the same way about my 9000 pro, that it's not as intuitive & that the manual is LESS than helpful. The manual tells you that you can perform certain functions, but then fails to tell you how to go about it. Spent many frustrating hours trying to sort things out.
Fortunately I didn't buy any of the sample ram, even though it was the sampler that intrigued me in the first place.

After i bought the KN7, I decided that I'd try to sell the 9000pro. I was a bit hesitant to do so because I thoroughly enjoy being a member of the psr style group ( also a fabulous bunch of friends) and also because I'd bought some great 3rd party styles for the pro , which, if I tried to convert them, wouldn't sound as good on the kn7 as they do on the pro.

I ended up with the best of both worlds when I discovered what I could do with Audio and the sd card on the kn7.

I'm actually starting to use my 9000pro again and even added a secondhand VA7 to my collection. I create a backing track in steptime ( play in chords & parts intro, vari 1 etc) in the 9000pro sequencer, save it as a midifile. Record it as a wav file via computer, convert it to an mp3 using Panasonic Juke Box Program and save it to sd card.

Then I just plug the card back into the kn7 and I can play along using kn voices for melody & left hand parts while the backing is played using the 9000 pro voices because it's an audio file and not a midi file.
I can't have all my keyboards in the living room ( just the kn), so it's a great alternative to having to have them all midied together or to go through all the hassles editing the 9000 pro midifile to suit the kn7.

Each of the keyboards have their own unique styles and sounds, but for me the kn7 is the easiest one to use, even though my playing SUKS ( hee hee)

I'm pretty sure you'll love the KN7 if you decide to get one.

best wishes
Rikki