I don't make hip hop but I do occasionally like to mess with electronica and techno and related genres. Playing the actual notes isn't the most complicated part of the puzzle for me. A lot of the challenge is in creating the right sound to fit into the right place.

For some aspects, the arranger can help, ( the arranger function itself can simulate looping ) but because painting in the right unique sounds is a big part of it too, an arranger would be low on the list of choices for me. The PA80 ( and maybe the PA1x ) is probably the choice I would make if I had to use an arranger because it allows for deeper patch editing than most of the other arrangers, but it still pales in comparison to working with a dedicated synth or program.

Better for me in this area is a dedicated synth / workstation ( Tritons, Motifs, analog emulators like V synth.. etc ) or a program like Fruity Loops, a loop based program that comes with a few soft synths and can use any midi sound module, any Vsti and DXi softsynth, as well as Buzz machines, and samples.

There are other good programs out there as well that work well for hip hop or for the electronica that I like to work with. Examples are cakewalk Project 5, Reason, Reaktor, Storm, to name a few. I chose Fruity Loops because I liked the interface and because it opens up and works flawlessly from within the SQ01 and Sonar sequencing programs that I have.

AJ