I've been working with the R-8 and while it's a really cool, powerful machine and does some interesting things, there's something about the MIDI implementation that's not really what I want. That is, MIDI numbers are assigned to the instruments and not to the pads. If you record a MIDI sequence from the R-8 onto a computer, for example, and then change out the sound on the Kick pad, then play the sequence back from the computer to the R-8, the old kick sound will still play because it recorded the MIDI note of the *instrument*. Likewise controlling the R-8 using an external controller - you'd have to go in and reassign the MIDI note for the instrument every time you want to make a change. You can't just set, say, C1 to be your kick sound and then just quickly toggle through the available kicks while a sequence is playing.

Compare this to, for example, the Alesis SR16 where each pad gets a MIDI note assignment and all you have to do is swap the sound for that pad and you're good to go. Any sequences you had elsewhere will play back just fine with the new sounds.

My question is does the R-70 do this? I've read the manual and it looks like the architecture is incredibly similar to the R-8 except they added something called "drum sets" but it's unclear to me if this really works like I think it might. Can anyone who has experience with this unit tell me whether this makes it easier to create a set of consistent MIDI notes that will serve as a kind of template in which I can easily swap individual sounds similar to how it works on the SR16? And yes, I could use an SR16 but it's really not as powerful in many respects as the Roland units, which also just sound awesome.

Thanks