Hey DK, first of all let me name a few synths in your price range...... the S-80 and N1 are two good ones....... I've heard many great comments about Ensoniq's ZR-76 also (Only 76 keys..... not the full 88), The Roland RD-600 is a good stage piano and the Alesis QS8.1 is also worth looking at. Now for your requirements:

1. Good Piano Action...... I am a piano player and I really liked the action on the S-80..... more than the N1..... the Roland RD-600 was pretty good too

2. Good Piano Sound..... the S-80 to me had the best sound of the ones I tried.... except maybe the RD-600, Try Ensoniq's ZR-76, I've heard great things about their piano

3. A controller to interface to an SB Live Platinum, Cakewalk, Soundforge...... the S-80 is pretty good here.... It doesn't have it's own sequencer but I'm pretty sure you can set up multiple splits/zones and it has many pedal inputs for midi control changes. If you're looking for a synth with it's own seq. look at the ZR-76 I've heard it's pretty good

4. A synth that sounds good on it's own, s-80 is good.... but keep in mind it only has 256 presets, you'd have to edit some sounds or buy an exp. board to get more... The Korg N1 and Alesis QS8.1 have many more presets... so you'll spend less time making new sounds and more time playing..... if you don't need that many different sounds though the S-80 is great

5. Resale valus...... I really don't know here...... you'll prob. get around $500-$1000 for just about any synth in the price range you mentioned.... don't expect more than around $1000

6. Not very heavy...... I don't think any of the ones I listed were more than 60 lbs.... so no prob. here

7. Web resources, Downloads, User groups....... don't know...... I think the S80 has a web page that has downloadable patches and other stuff..... www.yamahas80.com I believe..... can't say I know about any others

8. Want to spend about $1500..... S80 is right there.... N1 and QS8.1 are around there...... the RD-600 may be a little more and the ZR-76 I would guess around $1700 since it has a sequencer

9. At this time, only home use...... use for what???? just playing, sequencing midi's??? anyway I would recommend the S-80 prob. it has a good feel and is fairly easy to understand...... some people said the manual was confusing...... but I looked at it and it made pretty much sense to me

Concerns and Questions now:

1. Samples, Voice Banks, etc....... You can edit your own voices using the wav's on the S-80........ I think they even include a computer program that helps you somehow.... as for loading voice banks.... a voice bank would be a collection of patches(voices) prob. using the samples on the keyboard.... There is one user bank on the S-80 with 128 different assignable patches.... and you can save voice banks on the SM cards I am pretty sure. I believe the only way to get new samples for the S-80 is to buy an Exp. board. Yamaha has a Piano, GM/XG, and a Vintage Synth exp board right now..... I don't know if any more are coming or not

2. How good is the arpeggiator?????? I don't know much about arp's but I believe this one is pretty good...... it has around 45 preset patterns and I think you can edit them to make your own

3. Korg has 2/3 of the market........ I don't know..... it's possible with the Triton's and Trinity's they make..... I really would doubt it though, maybe in the Sampling/Sequencing over $2500 category. Don't believe that stuff..... it's really hard to imagine they sell that much.... I wouldn't be surprised if someone sold more than they did.

Also if you don't mind spending about $2000 look at the Roland XV-88....... this is my synth and it has wonderful action and sound..... I haven't used it yet with the computer but it is capable. The only complaint I have is it cannot play midi files from it's SM card drive. In my opinion the sound on this is better than just about anything else out there..... at least in pianos and stuff like that. Also it is very expandable........ 18 SR-JV boards out right now and 2 new SRX boards...... and the XV has 4 slots in all. If you can spend about $500 more..... I would say really look at this one, but if not I would recommend the S-80 or maybe the ZR-76. I hope someone else here will give you a second opinion, but there's my two cents.

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