You've going on about this "no robots" thing for a while Dave, but this is still an arranger forum. I had a good experience yesterday at my real estate auction (you were right, it was fun). The arranger came in quite handy. Not only did I do my usual SMF stuff but I programmed the 9k's MultiPads with all kinds of drum rolls/crashes and horn ta-da's. I had to do some improv also - like when the auctioneer said "play something Christmas-sy - at these prices you'd think Santa Claus was coming to town early" and I did the appropriate thing. Often they wanted me to play a minute or less of music while they closed deals immediately after bidding ended so the arranger was the daysaver.

Then my evening gig had a special attendee - the main writer for the local entertainment paper who'd been avoiding me for some time. A former musician, he had a thing for talking up "live music" and panning anyone who didn't live up to that, including me of late. He had never actually seen me play. I did my usual mix of SMF stuff and also did some improv things with the arranger. We had a good talk during my break about why I decided to become an instrumentalist in a sea of vocal performers. He also brought a jazz bassist friend, who remarked that when he listened to music at home, it was usually instrumental. We all talked about arranger technology and whether that qualified as live music - all agreed it did when used creatively.

It was good day for the "robots" all in all, and I didn't fare too badly either.