No seamless sound switching :-(

[Arjan]

It's a shame that Roland didn't bother to make the Ax capable of switching sounds seamlessly. It's only mono-timbral but I can't help but think that this is a software-only limitation and that the processor more than likely would be able to pull this off.

Not a deal breaker for me, I didn't actually expect that it would do this, I'm not even sure yet if I'm going to use the internal sounds or just MIDI. It does have some nice sounds but I've programmed some sounds on my JP8080 that I like better for soloing. Not sure if I'd want to hook up both audio _and_ MIDI.

[Artemiy]

Roland, as anyone concerned about production cost, would never put a processor that has more power than the synth needs.

[Arjan]

True, and Roland truly is a champion at that. But it can actually be cheaper to re-use an existing processor rather than designing and fabricating one just for this model. The main reason not to do that, other than possibly cost, would be to reduce power consumption.

I can guarantee you that there are many devices out there (TV's, DVD players and so on) with different specs but _identical_ hardware. These days differences in specs are often down to software only. Not always,but often.

[Rodan]

And of course using the same processor can often give you savings in software development costs. Not a big deal for high volume production, but I wonder what the AX production rates are?