becoming53

Good to read all of these detailed opinions the VR-09 while I wait for one to arrive in the UK so I can decide whether to trade in my Juno Stage. One question that I think I can already guess the answer to...will I be able to do a "hybrid" split / layer kind of thing...i.e. one patch sounding across the whole of the keyboard, and a second layered with it but only on one side (left or right) of a split point?

Yeah it's nice to have the 76 keys on the stage...but I have a weighted 88-note stage piano underneath anyway, so I'm really looking for my ideal "everything-but-piano" board (for a covers band)

I think it would largely be a matter of the appeal of the drawbar organ function (and perhaps also the VA synth, particularly with the iPad app... though if you have an iPad, there are numerous nice, cheap VA apps you can run on it which you could drive from your Juno Stage too). Other than that, I'm not sure what its to be gained, and from the sound of it, the Stage seems more flexible overall, and it sounds like it may have the better feeling action, besides. Yeah it's mainly the drawbar organ engine that's tempting me...I'm currently driving an ipad from my Stage and running garage band for my organ sounds, and I'd quite like to phase that out for simplicity, and also to add real drawbars. But I really like the action on the Juno-stage and the ability to split / layer more than 2 sounds...I'd possibly miss the arpeggiator as well. Meh...I'll wait to play the VR-09 and then go with my gut. Thanks for the input.

Does anyone know a release date for this in the UK? I want to try one before ordering - but if the synth sounds and the split / layering capabilities are up to scratch, I can see myself trading in my current top tier (Juno-stage) for one of these. Unless anyone knows of any reasons why that would be a really bad idea?