I have never dismissed arranger keyboards,I did my first ever good and inspired composition with a bottom of the range Yamaha Portatone ,a tube amp for guitar,and my trusty guitar.
I have ALWAYS liked arrangers,because they ,infact,are a lot more instructional (for any musician,beginner or advanced) that a synth.
But after a few years,I have started to believe the crap about 'ah,if you have an arranger you are cheating' or something like that.
After 4 years of making music entirely on Cubase on my own,while studying harmony,I now HATE Cubase,and appreciate a lot more Band in a Box,One Man Band,and a Yamaha QY700 arranger sequencer that I just bought this week second hand.

Ok,even when I had no arranger keyboard,I had my Kurzweil K-2000 or my Roland XP-80,and I liked to tweak synth sounds,but let me tell you,I have always liked more to press a button and listen to a 'style'...that's music,not just the behavioural pattern of one sound.
Nowadays,I am not interested at all in tweaking sounds too much,it's too time consuming,I prefer to pick a sound and it's either there or I'll pick another that gets closer,and start thinking of the music rather than Envelope/ASDR settings etc...life is too short for that.
So I just wanted to say...arranger keyboards are GREAT instruments,now I just enjoy even listening to a style,listen to how all the parts interrelate,and learn from it,and that's even before I start playing something on top.

They are great springing boards for creative input,especially for people like me that tend to compose on their own.
The only thing I moan about arrangers ,is the somewhat excessive cost. I just wrote to Roland (I mention Roland,but also the same applies to Yamaha,Ketron,GEM,etc) to ask them if they would ever make a desktop version of the E-50 or even the E-80,that would allow one to spend about £ 500 for an excellent desktop arranger (well,the E-50 can be bought for about £ 600), rack up a quality controller keyboard of one's own preference, with semi-weighted or weighted keys (the latter can be found even for £ 220 from Fatar...far superior than the keys on even the best arranger keyboards,too plasticky for what they cost),and have a top-notch setup for about than £ 800-1000.
Yet,an E-80 costs about £ 1500-1800 new,or more (don't know the exact price).

That's the only true thing about what the moaners say about Arranger keyboards...all the rest about 'cheating' or 'no professionalism' is unfounded.

I don't see why working with an Arranger is less 'pro' that someone killing himself while trying to write all his music from scratch... it's great to press a button and to listen to the drums and a bassline and start building around it. That's still making music! The only difference are that the person is getting the rhythm section from the arranger rather than from real people...so?
The skill of a musician does not depend on what he uses...an arranger is an instrument. I know I am talking a bit to myself here,I was just saying what other people say here,too

[This message has been edited by santantoni (edited 01-24-2007).]

[This message has been edited by santantoni (edited 01-24-2007).]