Re: santantoni on the views some people have that playing an arranger keyboard is cheating.
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Partial quote: "ah, if you have an arranger you are cheating"

Yes, some people really do think (and say) this.
When I first moved from Piano & Organ onto Arranger keyboards, my own mother said to me "But that's cheating a bit isn't it".
As she is a big fan of Richard Clayderman, I said "Clayderman is only playing the piano. He's not playing the drums, oboe & strings etc. "In the same way, this rhythm unit is my orchestra and it is playing what I tell it to by the chords I choose and the arrangements I have set up, so I am the arranger & conductor besides playing the main solo instrument. I'm sure you wouldn't accuse Clayderman of cheating because he personally, is not playing every sound you hear".

To quote Santantoni again:
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"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)".

I couldn't agree more with his statement. I for one, would buy this arranger module the moment it arrived on the market. You can add a whole new dimension to your playing if you can mix and match sounds & styles from 2 or even 3 different keyboards but who wants to carry 2 or 3 keyboards around with the ever increasing weight of each new model.

Why argue whether Tyros 2 or E80, for instance, is the better keyboard - if you could buy them in module form, you could have both. Arranger modules are the best idea since sliced bread and I hope & pray that the big companies are not going to leave this hole in the market for much longer. Please let's have a module from all the top manufacturers - preferably developed from the flagship keyboards.
Best wishes, Tony from Sheffield