What most people here are perhaps mistaken in thinking is that workstations are for 'professional' users. Trust me, most workstations purchased in the US are NOT bought by working, professional musicians. They are bought by hobbyists and part-timers, as are the arrangers. Yes, the vast majority of professionals use workstations, but their share of the total market is still small.

The difference lies in focus, NOT ability of the keyboard.

Workstations sell well in the US because they market to the young, hip buyer with lots of disposable income, and they achieve it by sounding contemporary. You will not find any loop phrases or arpeggio patterns in a Triton or Motif or FantomX that sound old.......... no waltzes, no fox-trots, no schlager, no bossanovas, no enkas, none of that older stuff.

Only hip-hop, rap, techno, industrial, pop, etc.. The average potential keyboard player wants to play something that sounds like something he just heard on the radio, NOT at his/her grandparents' house.

He/she is going to buy that keyboard, take it home and find out that, once they have heard the built-in loops enough, the damn thing takes great skill to program their own loops to that level, but by then they have already PAID for it! If they had have had the choice of an arranger with the same sounding loops and arpeggios, once they got it home they would be able to manipulate those loops MUCH easier than the workstation, and had a much better musical experience.

There are VERY few features of full workstations that do not appear on high-end arrangers (and most people sequence on computers now, NOT the built-in sequencers of arrangers OR workstations), sampling is standard on most arrangers (and most workstations STILL use USB 1.1 for data transfer, so they are way behind the computer curve too), they have expansion slots, top of the line sounds, and MIDI capabilities. Were it not for the OS, they are close to identical.

But...............

The styles in most arrangers bite in the contemporary music area. Fact.

What the major manufacturers need to do is hire the guys that program the loops for Triton/Motif/FantomXs to make styles for the arrangers. Re-brand the keyboard to distinguish it from it's Mom and Pop brethren (the Roland MosDef? the Korg Blockparty??!) and ONLY have contemporary styles on board.

Of COURSE you can add in the bossanovas afterwards if you are so inclined, but at least no young soul brother is going to head for the door if he accidentally gets into the OLDIES bank while he is trying it out in the store with his homeboys!

The contemporary keyboard divisions of most of the majors have learned this simple lesson. How long will it be before the arranger divisions wise up to the fact that their target audience is dying??