Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

i'm looking into a XL-7 as a hardware sequencer... and it's neat that it 
has a built in synthesizer ;)

what i'm really looking for is a hot-rod replacement for an MMT8. the XL-7 
has caught my attention, but from the manual it almost seems like each 
track can only use one channel... but the picture on page 86 of the manual 
shows track 3 sending "multiple channels" to an external MIDI output.

so, does 16 tracks mean one channel per track? or could i assign 16 
channels to each of the 16 tracks? ok, i probably wouldn't want to really 
do that... but can i? and can i do it from the front panel (i won't be 
using it with software)?

if it can do that, it leaves me with the impression that it's like an MMT8 
with 16 tracks (instead of 8), 1024 patterns (instead of 100), memory for 
~300K events (instead of ~10K), 2 MIDI outs (instead of 1), and a bunch of 
modes and editing features that the MMT8 will never have. is that right? 
is this really a super MMT8 with a built in synth?

about the editing features... would i notice anything missing if i'm used 
to using an MC-50mk2 to compose?

in pattern play mode, can pattern numbers be entered through something 
other than the data wheel? can i use sysex? or a keypad? are there "next" 
and "previous" buttons?

if i get a used one (i guess they're used, now?), are there any versions 
of hardware or software i should be looking for? or avoiding? how do i 
tell what version it is?

from what i've read so far i guess i should check the data-knob before 
buying... anything else i should know about, or ask about, or check, 
before buying one of these for a hardware-only rig?

thanks...!


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