And, of course, there's always the sequencer or audio recorder... (it's on there, so I GUESS it's OK to use it, Ian?! )

Even if you just use it to capture the backing for a song from the arranger section, and go no further, you gain the ability to use the bender when you need it. But add in the ability of Yamaha's to go seamlessly from arranger play to SMFs and back again without interruption, and you can continue to use the arranger mode for most of the song, and simply get the sequencer to play the backing you WOULD have used if you stayed in arranger mode, and gain the use of the bender for the ENTIRE solo, not just the bit the chords let you use.

Then back to arranger mode, no stopping...

Best of BOTH worlds (except for the Chord Sequencer!)

The trick is to not let ANY process railroad you into a style of play. Decide what the MUSIC needs, rather than HOW you want to play it, and your options open dramatically. But the best thing is your Yamaha lets you do BOTH systems with no interruption to the creative flow. Don't ignore this feature, or Yamaha might drop it like Roland dropped my Chord Sequencer (that few understood, either!)

Use it, or lose it!

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 04-29-2008).]