Ok, Some more things to think
about:
1) Most of the problems are sequencer related,
though I see the occasional quirk, and let me tell you all my sound gear has the
occasional quirks, for the most part for a company that _JUST_ got into
sequencing, they are doing a pretty impressive
job.
2) They really do keep an eye on this list and
look for bugs, areas of weakness etc. and the odds are that since the company is
small and this is one of their main products they will focus on getting it
right.
3) As far as EMU support, well... My Audity
spent roughly 2 1/2 months just getting a rom upgrade, I was supposed to get the
orbit soundset add in chip, and between production problems and a lack of
keeping track of my unit I was fairly convinced I wouldn't see it again... Never
did get the chip. But bear in mind that the guys working out the OS kinks
focus on just that, that they do listen and that they are quick to respond with
new OS's. Look at Waldorf with the Waldorf Q, it's been out for years, but
when it was originally released it was just awfull but they kept tweaking and
now it's practically rock solid and does some FREAKY stuff. Same with my
Access Virus b.
4) A lot of the lockups can be avoided and they
include tools for figuring out what's going on as well as actually tell you what
things to do to improve your results. More importantly they pack in a huge
number of really impressive features so when they DO get the rest solid and
polish it up it will be extremely nice!
And if
your going to look at external hardware sequencers, check out the Roland MC80
(Sweet and reliable with all the bells and whistles) and if that's too much
check out the Roland MC50mk2. You should be able to score these for super
cheap, keep an eye out on eBay. These two are really solid, though the
Yamaha QY700 looks like it may cover most of your bases, and the RM1X does well
too but definately has it's quirks. As far as duplicating sequencing the
functionality of the XL7, the MC80, RM1X, or even an MC505 would do the
trick. Course none of them have the sounds the XL7
has...
Andre