The sad thing is that with a number of pcs today which is growing, com ports are not included as standard fare so you either have to use a usb device or add a serial card. Hardware synths have been depopularized by the big two via miss leading info concerning their expense and their apparent size and weight when looking at it from a laptop point of view for instance. The reality of it is that though hardware synths can be pricy starting at around $250.00 they will free resources and for laptops, they can be quite small. I don't know if there are any internals still being made for the pc and rather doubt it but the externals are fine and fast. I don't like dec but some people do and from what I understand, there should soon be a usb dec available although this software driver has been promised for months now. Johnnie Apple Seed -- To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather contact the list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx