Listening to these SMF vs, Arranger debates is like watching two one-legged men in a kicking contest.......

Both approaches have their strong and weak points, and with sufficient work, both' weak points can be mitigated. There are as many cheesy Styles out there as there are cheesy SMFs. If you don't involve yourself heavily in editing your Style/SMF (and I don't just mean patches/volumes, but re-RECORD the weaker parts) then you'll never rise above the level of the original file. Period.

All an arranger is is an interactive SMF player (what do you think a Style is?) and holding down a chord with your left hand while the arranger plays 80% of what the audience hears is in no way any more 'legit' than using an SMF and playing two or three of the parts with BOTH hands while the SMF handles bass and drums (and maybe some guitar rhythms if you are a solo). Markers allow for some flexibility of arrangement in the SMF, so the old 'you're stuck with the arrangement' no longer applies.

To be honest, most of the arranger players I've seen (not all, don't get me wrong!) need the arrangers capabilities to overcome their inability to actually play through a song without screwing it up........ at least an arranger will wait for you while you get back on track! But this is hardly a legitimate need for a professional entertainer (or is it?? ;-) )

Let us not delude ourselves. Whether it is an arranger or an SMF, all we are is a cost-effective replacement for a REAL band, and you probably have to sympathize with them while they scratch their heads listening to us split hairs about what is 'legit'!