I have NOTHING against using midi sequences (commercial or otherwise), and as I've already acknowledged many times, I will utilize them myself, if the situation bears: solo singing, or specific audience requested tunes which demand it. My only beef is when guys (and/or gals) use them and then pretend to be playing on the keyboard, the parts played back.

I also acknowledge that Yamaha isn't the best sounding in the GM/GS sound dept, and that Ketron and/or Roland is perhaps the better choice if SMF playback is your highest priority in an arranger kb. On the other hand, Yamaha's claim to fame is XG format midi files, and of which supports a larger (and perhaps even more impressive sounding) sound set. When it comes to midi files, I prefer XG to GM, but since I don't use midi backing tracks very often anyway, what Yamaha delivers in this dept, is more than suitable for me, especially considering that (imho), Yamaha excels in arranger specific sounds, styles, and user friendly navigation.

That said, my number one preference when performing is 'auto -accomp' mode because it provides the most live performance flexibility, including the ability to utilize various different chord substitions (on the fly) to invigorate the song with my own unique creative twists (on the fly), ability to trigger spontaneous fills (= LIVE), modulating the key of the tune at will, or conveninetly repeating a section(s) of a song, all on the fly, to respond to the mood of the audience as needed. SMF's not only lock me into what is played on the MIDI sequence, but, except for those few songs that include hook lines which can't be easily duplicated in live playing, I have no interest in imitating the COVER version when I perform, but opt to use (often very differnt) styles than expected. I suppose it has a lot to do with the venue and specific audience you play for which determines what's expected and what's acceptable. - Scott