UI comparison

Couple of days ago I went to a music store for the first time in Canada with one of my friends. I never have been in such a place here. What got my attention was the different look of the following stage pianos from UI perspective. These are two models of Roland and Korg stage pianos, both more or less at same price. See the difference between these two at the pictures.

Korg SV1

If you take a close look to the Korg, the buttons, nubs and ... all looks like vintage electronic devices, super easy to use for everybody. There are no LCD screen or LED and you have all you need to access at the same time in front of yourself. (It somehow reminds me plane dashboards.)

Roland RD 300NX

But if you look at the Roland one, you still need to go through the menus, options and ... to choose or change parameters ... not a convenience method for playing live.

Both instruments have the ability to connect to an external computer via USB and the Roland also has the ability to connect to iPad though USB wireless port, then you can control the keyboard with your iPad or iPhone.

The thing I'm trying to say here is that your device or software will be more useful if the UI component make you feel more natural than sci-fi interfaces.