Scott,

Until last evening, I had never touched the performance assistant button. And, when I play using a midi file, it's me playing--not a fake job. That's not my point. From the standpoint of using device to enhance a song, this is a neat tool that can be used ONLY WITH SONGS CREATED ON THE 1,500, 3.000 and TYROS. In other words, that song is the creation of the performer to begin with. And, if that song is just the bare basics, and that person wishes to provide his audience with a rich, full sound of a string backing, then he or she can play it with or without the Performance Assistant.

One of my favorite songs is from Disney, When You Wish Upon A Star. Sit down in front of your Tyros, don't turn on any accompaniament, select the grand piano and play the song. Though it will sound just fine, no one is going to get all teary-eyed over the performance.

Next, turn on the accompaniament, select Movie Ballad, tempo of 80. Select the 2nd or 3rd intro, first variation, perform the song, stepping through the variations and layering strings with the grand piano, plus a left-hand layer of strings or gospel. When you get to the end of the song, hit the third ending. There will not be a dry eye in the house!

The keyboard just provided you with all the tools to take a song that sounded OK on a piano to an incredible production that was performed live. Granted, there are folks who think the keyboard did it all and you just sat there and pushed a few buttons. Who gives a damned what they thought as long as they were entertained, spelled your name correctly on the check and put in the right dollar amount.

From your responses, you seem to be upset that these features even exist. Keep in mind, however, that if they did not exist, none of us would be able to make a decent living in the entertainment industry. We would be back to the days when the paychecks were split with five to six others, thereby not providing enough income to keep the car running let alone support our families. the tools on todays arranger keyboards are just that, tools. They make us, the OMB performers, sound fantastic. That's why our audiences continue to hire us, year after year.

Gary