Clif,

It says that they have added two buttons - give me a break! The 'Va' in Italian (and Spanish) means 'Go' in English - remember the proverbial marketing fiasco of marketing Chevy Nova in Puerto Rico, when GM marketing honchos did not realize that nobody wanted to buy a car called No-Go?

On the subject of Oriental sounds - the soundset of VA series is a superset of that in G1000/G800/E70; hence, any sound that you could find in G800 you will also find in VA instruments - you are right, George.

As far as sound expansion goes, for my usage (live performing and home use) it is not detrimental, though, as Clif is saying, if I had the option, I may be tempted to splurge on some sound expansion cards. The instrument of my dreams would be a 76-key instrument in a compact case (like Solton), with inobtrusive built-in speakers (like Roland KF90), vocal harmonizer, hard disk (don't give me the unreliable ZIP drive), and the user interface which is both easy to use and efficient (for live performances), besides the high quality sounds and styles. The VA series seems to come up short in most of these categories, so I doubt that I will upgrade.

Regards