I'm having second thoughts about my ARP Odyssey system. It does sound fabulous, but there's more to it than that. First, I've realized that 1) my favorite polyphonic synthesizer is the Prophet '08, and 2) my favorite monophonic synthesizer is the Prophet '08. The P'08 checks all the boxes that initiated this long and laborious thread. I like more than I had thought the keyboard-panel unity of a single instrument, which keeps things tidy and organized. I like the P'08's five-octave length. I actually quite like its sound, including the all-important sawtooth solo patch. I like having the bi-timbrality and split keyboard options, as well as the poly-mono options. I miss its multiple LFO's and the ability to delay the vibrato. And because I conceive of my set up as a little electronic orchestra and compose and arrange music accordingly, I really do need its programmability. The P'08 list of virtues goes on, but enough.
I do like the Odyssey very much, but it's not serving my needs as well as I had hoped it would. I find myself frustrated with its limitations, and this has been reflected in the fact that I haven't posted a piece of music on YouTube for six months.
I've preferred to limit my set up to only three keyboards, but having one of those three confined to monophony/duophony is quite awkward. All of this was foreseeable, of course, but when the Odysseys unexpectedly went out of production, I decided to take a chance on them.
I might eventually sell the Odysseys and replace them with a second Prophet '08, but the thought is still depressing. Oh, it would be wonderful to get a Rev2; but jeepers, the price of the instrument has gone up and up. But I may be able to afford a used P'08.
If there's a lesson in this, it's that I should stick with DSI/Sequential. For my interests, they're the best.