Wow John... your French is way better than mine... and I've lived here for all of my 53 years. Back then French wasn't such a big deal like it is today. I spent a lot of time at Expo 67... I was 11 years old during that time.

I play rhythm acustic guitar and I sing. I worked in clubs around here for over 35 years, doing Country and some old rock and roll... I started very young, much to my mother's dismay... heh... The last band I worked with had quite a following. We worked in one club for almost 10 years - almost unheard of for local bands.

I do covers of old Country music from the 60's 70's and 80's - all the classic, pure Country stuff - George Jones (the best damn Country singer of all time), Buck Owens, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard - along those lines. I have also written a few songs. One of them was used as background music in an episode of an old Canadian produced TV show called "The Rez". It played for 1:32 minutes in a bar scene. It also gets air time on a local radio station here. On average, it gets played once every other week. I was the only musician around here collecting royalty checks. By far not enough to retire on... but at least I had bragging rights... heh Thus, this is the kind of stuff I do - old Country classics.

As for the JV1010... whether it still works or not... I'm not interested in using it anymore (hello eBay???). I want to get "modern" stuff now. But like I said... I don't want to spend a fortune - I'm not a pro... it is only for my own pleasure now.

The Native Instruments Absynth 4 is going for $240 at Steve's. The usb controllers are going for $170 - $200. I kind of like the idea of the smallness of the E-MU Xboard 25 - Not because it's $30 cheaper than theE-MU Xboard 49 - I just don't think I need a 49 key as I'm just a "hunt and peck" keyboard player. And so all this stuff would be around $500 - and so I'll be completely set up for about $1,000 when you factor in BIAB/RB. I wouldn't want to go above this, considering what I'm doing with it.

As for finalizing my decision about all of this... It won't be a done deal for 2 weeks... I'm off to somewhere sunny and warm where I'll be basking on the beach this afternoon... can't wait!!!

Thanks for your much valued and appreciated input... and I'm hoping that I'll get plenty more before I take the leap.

Bobby

https://soundcloud.com/bobby-t-394727974