I've looked closely at the Juno G (good expander/master keyboard). If I remember well my visit to the shop a few month ago, the sequencer wasn't the best part at all. It is very small on the lcd (the arpegiator seemed easier to program as it looks ok on that small lcd). I mean, for someone who has a pc of course. You will prgram on the pc then upload a midi file on the junoG.
But I haven't used one, and I also remember my ensoniq days (eps 16+R) when I programmed the sequencer with only numerical values for note positions and length on a 40 character display (or was it 26 character, it is unplugged at the moment). It was doable, and been able to come out with very decent tracks (it took me a long time before doing the same on pc, due to the big leap in technicality). Ah, the beauty of 10 individual outputs.... Scope came 10 years late. When I play the EPS through Scope, the sound is nothing but fantastic compared to 10 years ago on small analog mixers.
A good friend just got a Motif XS (a month agao approx), and left any hope of using the internal sequencer over the pc (or the effects on the audio inputs too), as it is too technical, not well documented, not consumer oriented machines.. it kills the concept. I just had a long email from him with most of the pros and cons. Pros for sounds/effects, Cons for user friendliness. the mail is in French unfortunately.
I talk about the motif because, eventhough Yam has a reputation of not being user friendly, it has a big color lcd where everything should be clear and easy to access. well, think twice. the Juno G has a tiny bicolor LCD; you must absolutely see by yourself whether it is fine for you.
I cannot tell if it is the same with the Juno G. I didn't really a look at the doc (available from rolandus.com i think) You must try by yourself. When i tried it, i understood I would use it as a really cool expander/master keyboard with arpegiating features, not as a central workstation. I would use the arpegiator/step sequencer, but not the midi sequencer.
I may go and try it again this week (just for fun, i almost went today, just to hear the sounds again, but got buzy with something in scope).
Try to find a juno G related forum: most complaints from the users would end up in such places (apparently, that's the case for the motif ).
What the sellers in the shops here say about conviviality of the sampling features (of the motif): "oh, they know that users all have computers so they know that they will record/edit on the pc/mac and then upload on the Motif/Fantom"...
Well if that's the truth, i think there is a big misunderstanding and lack of marketing research (or lazyness/cost reduction etc). That's where a Juno G becomes interesting, cause it doesn't pretend to do what the more expensive ones are supposed to do.
The Dream Machine is still not for tomorrow! incredible !
(even though my own Scope setup is kind of sexy
You choice is between the sounds, not the functions (ie roland vs yamaha vs korg). And the roland/yamaha/korg do sound! they were part of my references when building a certain device that makes things sound better... (especially the motif, but i think that a matter of taste/style. for some stuff, a roland or korg texture is needed anyway).
The Korg M3 is pretty fun to play by the way... even though I agree with some commentaries I read here abou the quality of the main filter cutoff (but that's irrellevant for any scope user anyway, especially with blackbox filters/modulars and so on, that you can plug on your hardware inputs...).
If you are thinking of playing on the roland, you must try it, the keyboard doesn't please all keyboardist (it is light, soft and probably very fast, but doesn't have a heavy touch like the yamahas. Korg is in between and for the average players without real piano training it is really cool).
in the SOS article about the Juno G, they don't say if it is usb 1 or 2... depending on what you want to transfer (midi files vs audio files) it may be important.
I hope it helps... eventhough drifted well off topic... and I do not know if you can really compare the workflow of the Motif with the the Roland's. Again i think the decisive criteria is the soundbanks.
So I got another sceond hand pc and reason, and all is fine (your GigaSampler comments begin to make me curious..).
Oh, and for the audio sequencer on the juno G; i have ubnderstood that you may need an extension and that it gives basic features (check the doc, because this point has never been very clear to me).