I always liked playing with live musicians and my DX7 (and sometimes a real Fenderpiano), but I was the one who had to do the arrangements - I can do it, but I am not a professional and ik takes me a long time. And then the rehearsing..oh, yeah, we all had jobs so it was difficult to get together.
The fact is that when it became too hard I stopped arranging, stopped rehearsing and stopped playing altogether.
I needed a backingtrack - ok, why not do it on the computer. Well, I did for a while, but it takes a long time to make one.
My main reason to buy an arranger keyboard was ... to play again. It took me a year to get back to the skills I had when I left off about 10 years earlier.

Making a midifile and play with it could work, but I want a certain freedom too when I play; do an extra round of improvising when I feel like it and maybe even change chords. I like that freedom. Playing with breaks and vary the variations.
Point is, I am performing. If you have real live musicians behind you, they are performing too - that doesn't make MY performance any better.
I am even busier performing with an arranger, because when I played with a group I could rest while others, saxophone player or guitarist, took the stage with their improvisations. Now I have to be on my toes the whole song and pressing buttons (on time!) as well.

I could take a rest and fake playing, but that is cheap.
What about this: "And now for something I prepared earlier", start the midifile, leave the keyboard and watch it from the bar I am sure the audience will like that as a joke .... You can ask them while your keyboard "gently weeps"
And maybe ask a few nice girls to dance to your midifile.



[This message has been edited by drdalet (edited 08-15-2006).]