In my particular case, nothing could be further from the truth. I started out on organs back in the mid 60's and moved over to synths as they became affordable enough and widely available, somewhere around the very early 1980s. I never played anything close to weighted until I got my Hohner Clavinet and soon after it my Yamaha CP25, which had very heavy action but sounded magnificent.

After giving up playing in live bands somewhere in the late 80's, the early arrangers became a curiosity to me as well as potential tools so that I could continue to practice with something other than a metronome or drum machine in order to keep my timing sharp. I wound up getting an early Technics model in around 1989.

I didn't look at any others again until the late 90's, and I was surprised at how far they had come. I thought the arranger of today might be an excellent tool for composing, and in some ways it has been, giving me a groundwork to start from. I've also used one for doing solo or duet live work. Trying to use one in composing has given me additioanl insight in several areas, that I may not otherwise have had.


Today, I am looking at playing in a real band again, and it appears that a good opportunity has come my way. The guitarist is a life long friend, and also one of the original members of my first band, from way back in the mid 70s. We always played well off one another.

Arrangers did not progress quite in the direction that I had hoped that they might, ( with more emphasis on having real time varied rythyms based somewhat on algorithims like a karma might do, but with more control like an arranger does ). While they are very good tools for some players, in general they do not always fit very well into my style of writing or playing music. I think that maybe I am a little too toward the "avant - garde " in what I do, but that is part of the style I'm most happy playing in. That said, my PA80 will remain here mainly for it's sounds and also if I ever wanted to do something solo again, but after that, I am pretty much done with arangers at this point.

I've learned a good bit from this forum and have come to know a few of the musicians pretty well because of it. In particular, reading about FLR and his computer based system really opened some new doors for me that I otherwise may have never even found. The analog softsynths in particular, along with some other computer based synths and modules, have virtually and even literally in some ways put me back where I wanted to be 20+ years ago when I couldn't afford most of the stuff it emulates.

I've enjoyed some of the stories and things I've read here as well. That said, I don't have a whole lot left to contribute to the arranger realm of keyboards, unless some new technologies and features appear somewhere down the road that might bring me back to the fold, so I'll stop by and read when I can, but at this point, in my life, time has become a rather precious commodity, and with what little that I do seem to have of it, I am going to try to use it as best I can to concentrate on making the music that suits me and the tools that can best help get me there.

I wish all of you and your families well, and I will stop to read here when I can. I hope that music will always be one of the great joys of your lives.


AJ

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 03-02-2004).]