I've never even tried to program it without the PG-200, so for all I know it could be frickin' impossible.

People complain that it isnt very resonant, but you can get some mad-chirpy sounds if you distort it a bit.

Yes, the chrous is a bit noisy, but who cares? All you need to do is clean it up a little when you're in the studio. No biggie. Atleast it HAS a chorus, and its damn good aside from the noise level.

The internal sequencer is not MIDI, which is unfortunate. It is still fun to set a bassline going and have a tweek-o-rama session, though. Lots of fun.

The preset are pretty funny. Pretty much all of the ones in the second bank (ones that ARENT failing to imitate real instruments) sound really cool and 80s-tron-ish. "Sync Sweep" is really nice, as is "Filter Flow". "Distortion Guitar" is good for a laugh.

I love the pitchbender on this machine. So simple. Beside it is a switch with three settings - Low (1), Mid (3) and High (7). None of this fussing about with midi settings, just set the switch and let 'er rip.

I believe this one cost me $NZ400 (uhh, $US200-ish?), which is a very good price considering it has the programmer, AND came with a practise amp and hardwood case.

Overall I am very happy with this machine, it taught me about analog waaay back, and I still use it with my other synths today (hard to midi up though, better to just sample whatever you were going to use it for as opposed to midi-ing it)

Pros: Price. Filters sound okay, only minimal stepping. Slider for making editing changes, but it can only control one parameter at a time (maybe you should call that real time editing. ;) Warm sound. People complain about the chorus - I think the noise adds to the warmpth, but if you were recording, youd wanna turn on the chorus only once you start playing it. Set the LFO to random and hook it up to cutoff - instant Pulsar/SuperComputer sound. You can make some great sounds with the board, but .. well .. listen ..

Cons: Absolutely no sysex implementation, so you can't sequence cutoff changes. No response to velocity control. Sequencer is useless in this day and age. You can push the resonance into feedback.

Bottom line: I think it sounds just fine (who the hell cares if it doesn't sound like a Juno or a such and such. It's a synth all its own.) Its fairly fun and easy to program (even without the PG) If you've got a recording studio setup, its one more synth you can add to your mix. If you're the type to sequence all your stuff first, then mixdown, it's pretty useless. You might consider looking at something from the MKS line. Juno sheep may not understand the JXp3s place in the studio, but don't let that fool you. It can make a cheap, fun addition if you've got the resources. I can cut through the mix. Performace-wise, I wouldn't even consider it.

PS. All the people who say editing is brutal without the PG200 are only half right. It's brutal if you don't take 15 minutes to learn how to do it through the keyboard. Trust me, you can get really fast through the keyboards buttons and (one) slider.