Something that disturbs me deeply, in a lot of what I have seen from professional demonstrators over the last week or two, is the willingness to sit back and let the machines do the entire intro for you. They sit there, twiddle their thumbs, or goof around, or anything BUT play.

For a start off, this IMMEDIATELY clues the audience to the fact that this is little more than karaoke (OK, OK, WE know it isn't, but what about the average punter?), and increases the disbelief factor for a type of keyboard that stretches that belief at the best of times.

But I believe there's a REASON they sit there and twiddle their thumbs... Most of these arrangers have Intros without solos over the top of them, but at present, AFAIK, there is NO arranger that will display the chords for an Intro. So you either have to learn by rote the chords for each Intro of each style (which may be hundreds) or just use the preset Intro with the solo done for you... What MUSICIAN wants to do that?

But.... there IS a solution. Maybe even two. But it will take us demanding it from our manufacturers (mine included).

System one would be a change to the OS, so that the changes for Intros are displayed just like the changes are displayed for SMF's. That's all an Intro is, after all... an unchangeable (other than key or mode) SMF. If the changes are displayed in real time (currently, your display will sit there all dumb as a post, and simply display the FIRST chord you played), blowing a decent solo over an Intro you can't quite remember the changes to will be a snap. No more twiddling your thumbs, or looking like a 'faker'...

The other system would involve a change to the Lyrics display system, so that lyrics (in this case, the changes to the Intro) could be changed if tagged as 'Chords' to the key in which you start playing. This, at least you COULD do yourself (if the OS can change them to the right key), but I still feel it is something the manufacturer should supply with factory styles.

System one would be by FAR the better option (not all arrangers even display lyrics in style mode), IMO...

But if we demand (OK beg, ask, cajole, whine, whatever it takes ) this feature from the manufacturers, the days of twiddling your thumbs like a doofus during the Intro could be a distant memory...

Any thoughts?