The guy on the other end agreed with me and said that THOSE were the exact reasons that they are no longer being produced. He then explained that their production was for those who didn't yet have one of the JV/XP synths, but wanted access to the sounds on the expansion cards.

Don't buy this: save your money, buy a 2nd hand 1080 or XP-50, and then go buy the expansion card. Sure, you'll pay more, but you'll have access to EVERY parameter with the touch of a dial, 64 voice polyphony, 16 parts, etc...

Oh, yeah, I bought one from a guitar store for $300 new, played with it, then returned it the very next day. Sure, the waves and programming are wonderful, and some even sound REAL, but the lack of control and expandability make it not worth your time. Unless you play with GS/GM. Then it's right up your alley, especially if you compose classical music and are just looking for a cheap sound module with good sounds.

But the shops probably won't sell it, so offer them $250, or maybe $200 for it. If they're smart, they'll do it.

MIDI compatability is rough, esp. with GS or GM. Display and coursing through the patches with tiny buttons could drive you mad. It also features five demo songs, only two of which I think really show it off. With much work and patience, you can get this module to sound pretty good. A little bit more engineering would have paid off. But for standard backround, occasionally featured string sounds, it works without too much tweaking.