I definitely agree.... If you are not using both hands, all the time, it IS karaoke....

The problem for me comes from having been a regular keyboard player for MUCH longer than I have been using arrangers, I have built a style up that I can only sum up as 'two right hands'. I spent a long time developing independence to the point that one hand is doing one (or sometimes two if possible) part, the other one is doing another one (or two!) also. Not just 'comp and lead' but comp and lead with either hand, or two leads, whatever the song and band needed. I NEVER jumped on the bass players part (he's getting payed, why double him? I've got other things to do!), and only played LH bass if the bassist was doing something else (had one that doubled a mean sax)....

Now I am coming to grips with playing the arranger mode more and more, my left hand just feels so useless, primarily tied up with inputting the chords. So it feels like back to 'comp and lead' one way only.

That is why i like using SMFs a bit more than some here do... It gives me an opportunity to play keyboards like I used to in bands. I am even busier and more directly in control of what gets heard (my SMFs are stripped down to the point where I have to play a LOT of parts!) than most of the time I play arranger (not so easy to do things one-handed), so I feel, strangely, MORE in charge of the music than when I am in arranger mode.

Add in the new Mark/Jump song position jumps you can now make in SMFs to re-arrange the structure on the fly, and it starts to feel VERY similar to arranger freedom, without the tyranny of tying down my left hand.

Also, it's one of the reasons I want the return of the Chord Sequencer, so I can stay with the freedom of arranger mode, and yet get back BOTH my hands after inputting the chords the first time around. This one feature kind of blurs the whole arranger/SMF picture. (Sorry I'm being tedious again, Ian, but at least is IS kind of 'on-topic', or at least how the topic has evolved! )

But so many different ways to do the same thing, at least we all can find equipment that makes our personal preferences possible.....