All very good responses here. Although they are worded different, the common theme is that an arranger should be a keyboard that has some type of spontaneous backing track capability.


One way is by having auto accompaniment technology that results in styles. Another way is to have arpts that have intelligent chord recognition.

How they sound is a totally different question and is up the what the manufacturer puts in the keyboard and the user’s ability. But IMO, the quality of the on board styles/arpts does not define whether or not it is an arranger it only says how good of an arranger it is (which is very subjective and depends on the user’s needs/playing ability).

Although onboard styles have been common practice on arrangers, I think as manufacturers try to be innovative, and to capture markets and to be economical, we may have to expand our thinking about what is an arranger.


For example, what if Roland were to create there new “workstation” (lets call it the Prince) and four versions of it. The Prince 61, 76, and 88 would be strictly “workstations” with all the features a workstation should have.

Now, what if they had another version that is 76 keys, has all the features of a workstation but can also double as a traditional “arranger” (lets call it the Prince ar). They would have designed it so that a lot of the buttons would have duel purpose. There will be two modes a “workstation mode and a “arranger mode”.

And what if they did not have any styles onboard (but for 8 demo styles). They would allow users to be able to download/purchase styles from the G70 and other Roland arrangers and other third party styles. And of course you can create your own styles and it would have a lot of other style editing/make up/conversion/transfer features.

Would the Prince ar be considered an arranger? After all, it doesn’t have any styles only the ability to play styles.

I just think that as manufacturers continue to develop new products, our definition of what is and is not and arranger or workstation would have to change.

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MUSIC ONLY SOUNDS AS GOOD AS YOU MAKE IT



[This message has been edited by to the genesys (edited 04-29-2007).]