I got the synth for half price, when manufacturing had just ceased, and I'm sure it would have been well-worth it's full price. It's the first synth that I've owned, and I am well pleased with how easy it was to learn use - the manual was good. (I've come to realise that actually being ABLE to use it to it's full potential just comes from experience, both musically and with synthesizers!) The preset sounds are absolutely great, and very inspirational. However, I am very dissapointed that there are certain orchestral sounds missing - harpischords, timpani, solo violins, etc - not only are those voices missing, but they don't even have any samples to build them with in the ROM!! Come on Yamaha! Oh, and how about a couple more decent DX electic piano sounds?

The sequencer is not up to my expectations - even when doing a simple 8-track composition, I get notes cut short and dropped off every now and then - not very impressive, especially if I'm doing music for someone's wedding!!

The arpegiator is a lot of fun, as are the analogue style control knobs, 3 wheels and great ribbon slide control, filters, and VAST range of effects! I like the techno arpegiators best. And just incase anybody hasn't found the following (I didn't for about a year!), on one of the demo disks, there are 40 demo pattern tracks, from jazz to techno!! They're good for inspiration too!

Anyway, have fun! And If you get chance to buy a second hand one now, go for it!

Wesley