I had a great time at work with the 7k tonight. I had a drummer, so the arranger never got turned on. Just bass, chords (mostly Piano, Rhodes and Organ) and vocals form me. Drums and vocals from my partner in crime.

Let me summarize the night:

1) Key feel was joy
2) sounds were perfect
3) volume (monitor speakers) was great
4) versitility was superb
(remember ..... no auto stuff)

There were a few bugs that Yamaha and Korg did that are now a thing of the past.

First - the transpose and tempo buttons are dedicated, and require only a single push to activate them. Yamaha needs 2 for transpose and 2 if you want to use the data wheel for tempo.
Second - sounds did not cut off when switched from one bank to another. The transitions are smoother and seemless on the kn.
Third - the bass is stronger, more exciting and routable to separate outs. Very cool.
Fourth - the height of the flip up lid was not as bad as I first thought. My laptop was about 2 inched higher than it used to be. I might be able to live with that. We'll see how it looks in pictures from the crowd view.

Now - some down sides:

The sequence/MP3 playback is still a little cryptic compared to the big three (Y, R & K). It's difficult to search quickly, and impossible to jump between audio and midi screens during playback. (Unless I missed a trick)

Tomorrow night, I will give the arranger and drums a test ride. I'm a soloist again, and this will be a good test.

I have to admit - as far a s a "live" instrument ..... this did a bang up job tonight. I was very pleased. Now, we'll see how the auto guys stack up. Hmmmmmm........