That sounds rubbish. I was talking to Lonestar on the IRC channel about this - it would be *trivial* to produce a "new" DR55 with perhaps MIDI control and separate outs.
What would you pay for a kit for such a device? You could probably do one with 16 LEDs and a couple of buttons for programming for about 50 quid, sans case. We all know how much circuit benders love making cases ;-)