one of my first "VA"s, and very fun

programming a VA with a mouse is not my idea of fun, and i would argue that it's not a good way for a beginner to learn either.

i bought this unit because it's cheep, has great polyphony, 4 part multitimberal, and plenty of controls.

you may have already read the available indepth reviews, like i did, so here is my take on the most common negatives.

yes sync&ring are limited, but if you care that much about those sounds, this box probably isn't for you anyway.

it's very easy to program, and the shared LFO & OSC controls are not a big problem at all.

the LED screen isn't even a big deal - the effects have funny names but you can quickly flip through them and choose with your ears, not with the codes !

the cutoff does make "zipper" noise. i assume it operates on values 0-127, and there is no glide between values as you turn it. if the movements are slow, it's no problem, but fast movement in the higher frequencies makes a clear stepping sound, perhaps undesierable but still, unique. i should add that it has only been apparent with hand-tweaking, and i havn't noticed it when modulated from the Envelope or the LFO.

the programming process (esp with Perforamnces) is like other roland boxes i have used. the terminology is the same as my JV-1080 and took about the same amount of time to learn to setup a performance on 4 different midi channels. sysex "bulk" dumps are the same, and so is the concept of the "temporary" patch/performance area.

a great value at <$250, but you do need a keyboard to control it.

4 of 5. if it had a data-wheel for values and 4-stereo outputs, i'd give 5.