The Q is so great because it was ahead of it's time in reguards to design. Thankfully it holds up to analog synths as well as any digital (rompler) hardware synths and/or high quality software synths. The Q is amazing because it not only scores well on emulation, but has substantial futuristic qualities as well as a strong signature sound that adds to the quality of patches rather than get in the way. You can do some amazing emulations with the Q. It is one of the few synths to get the 'feel' of an Oberheim. Still, the Q is for sonic explorers, so it's 256 presets and 100 multis may seem slim to some. In fact, you'll probably be hooked and start saving your signature patches after you get used to the program flow, which is a bit different from typical analog interfaces. The good news: the interface is well designed and the manual will help - it's on the Waldorf site if you wish to view it. Soon, you'll find you don't particularly think of old synths, but of the Q's capabilities.

For me, that makes the Q one of the finest synths made, one that synth history will treat well.

Lastly, for those waiting for a good deal on a Q or considering a micro-Q, you might want to try KOMPLEXER. It is a fantastic emulation of the Waldorf micro-Q and sounds near exact. My micro-Q sounded pretty close to the Q. It lost a bit of sonic clarity along with processor capability, and couldn't match the quality of the Q's filters - as I remember, it was missing a processor that accounted for the filter and effects. However, KOMPLEXER is very good sounding and dead on to a micro-Q. I mentioned the micro-Q and KOMPLEXER as options although I couldn't see going back to either over my Q. It's functionality and sound quality are considerably better. In addition, if you don't need the keyboard, the Q-rack is very well designed. It has half the controllers but still makes sense when programming and using. So, if you see one of those, they're the same sound as the Q keyboard, though some are priced similarly.