I've got the DDR880, but I have to confess it sits on a shelf collecting dust now. I've meticulously programmed a couple of songs, and I find it really frustrating. The menu lay out always seems to put the next thing I need to do always 4 menues away. It's ok for really basic stuff, but try and program something wioith a few parts, like Middle of The Road, and well, that was where I gave up on it. Way faster to just record the two instruments in a DAW. I had originally thought I had a 3-Peice in a Box! Ha, who needs a band? But it's just too cumbersome to get set up for anything beyond basic. imho.
Regardless of all the individual work with timing, I also find it is just different playing with real people. It somehow throws the careful prep out the window. When I practice to a recording, it plays exactly the same thing everytime and people don't. One ear has to always be on the band, ready for someone to forget a verse or passage and be ready to fill, or pick up the verse or whatever. Same goes for the beat. I may occasionally be right, but if everyone else is on the drummer, it does not matter.
...so ever since then, I always hang on to the buckle.
