Yes I was there last week, and saw them, I have nor been @ Murphys in a long time, I usually go to the GC in Arlingotn because If I want to buy the PSR3000 I can get it for $1250.00, the PSR1500 for $850.00 but the last time I was there they only had the demos.
ANs now that I was ready to buy, my working van brokedown .

If anything other than Yamaha and Roland are hard to find in the U.S., then maybe that's why this forum tends to be weighted towards those brands.

Cassp, I think you hit the nail on the head saying that folks aren't willing (or more likely don't have the time) to do the extra legwork involved in getting the keyboard they really want.

It's difficult to imagine that a major city and music hotbed like Detroit has so little to offer in the way of dealers with a strong selection of arrangers. It's probably fair to assume, then, that other large U.S. cities are in the same boat.

On that question of Arranger vs Synth Workstations (slightly off topic for a second) I happen to be buying a PA1X Pro Elite for 2 reasons:

1. Price - I have a sensational price that is the equivalent of the Mofif XS price (and the Elite has 76 keys DAMMIT!

2. The Pro seems to have the modern sound/features (Sampling looping etc) that I'm looking for.

It IS an older keyboard, but with the latest OS upgrades, and some "style stealing" from the PA-800, I think it IS that half-way house between Arranger and synth workstation.

Um....this is only my humble opinion I know, and YMMV greatly...

DNJ said - "what are you specifically looking for ....also have you tried to use the G70 tools to create your own specific user styles...."

Specifically, the G70 styles have these ghost instruments that make up the style. I say ghost because they are nondescript for the most part unless you add L1,2,3 voices. And they're not all that loud. There doesn't seem to be any knock out rock beats - good, maybe but nothing that can stand up to a midi file. If I play slow-med solo it's not that bad, actually good. But try to use a style with a guitarist, sax and keys and I THINK it falls flat. We practiced 'Old Man Down the Road' with a 70s beat using just drums and bass and I thought it would work fine. On the job it sucked big time (to my ears) and I shut the song down early.

What do I want? I want a XK3, SR16 and PC88 in one keyboard. I can live without the rhythms, but need the drums. The G70 is probably the closest to what I want from what I've seen. I've never seen a Korg Pa1x or PA800, which might have better rhythms - hence the original post.

Have I tried making my own? NO. I can't even find some of the edit screens yet. I'd like to save a default registration too, but I'm not that far into the learning curve yet - I've only read the manual 3-4 times.

Thank goodness I owned a DC5. I think it was a fantastic keyboard. It gave me many of the features of the G70 at a much more affordable price. And now I read about a Roland E600? What is that? It sounds like a DC5 with full arranger functions.

After all this B----ing, I must say I do like my G70. It's not going up for sale anytime soon. I'll learn how to handle it as I should and it will end up being one of my all-time favorite boards. If not, where's the nearest Hammond dealer?

My take on most of the G70 rock styles for live is... get rid of the Rock kits. Makeup Tool them so they use the regular V-Drum Pop kit. All that extra oomph from the ambient rock kits just blurs the sound live (where you actually have a real room to add ambience), and the styles sound more dynamic with the crisper V-Pop1 kit (IMO).

Secondly, take a look at my Tip and Trick at roland-arranger for adding an MFX effect to style tracks (basically, you loop the Direct outs back into the IFX inputs) and add a nice amp to cleaner rhythm guitar parts, rather than using the sampled rock guitars. Quite a bit more dynamic, especially when using the Dynamic Arranger feature to vary their dynamics... They can make a pretty good rhythm guitarist if your guitarist plays lead...

Once you try adding the IFX to whatever style part you want, it opens a world of newer sounds to the style palate..