I'm in a duo with a drummer.

We play hotels, ckubs, private functions, whatever.

There are some audiences, especially ballroom (or wannabe ballroom!) who really appreciate a totally live sound where we can react rapidly to the mood swings of the audience (even mid-song) and adjust as required.Therefore this audience get bass pedals, keyboards, drums, vocals.

There are other audiences, usually the younger end (or the older end who've only ever been to discos for the past 20 years) for whom the only option is midi files so that we can approach the sound of the original. Playing uptempo stuff live is just not sufficient, even though we like to think we are pretty good!

I think the "too fluffy" concept may well be true, for certain audiences - but not for others.

As entertainers we have to evaluate our audiences and make our own calls as to what type of music is required, and then how best to fit that need.

In a perfect world I'd like to do it all live, but reality dictates otherwise.