Best of luck, Beaky....

Maybe while you are networking, you can find maybe a guitarist songwriter, or a rhythm section writing team, and do some trading off of playing time?

I've done a fair bit of work with pro songwriters (a friend of mine was a house writer for Curb Records, several friends have had big hits at one time or another) and one thing ALL of them put down was arranger based demos. No matter how good, they all have that 'sound'. A simple demo with REAL players on can bring something unique to a song. But pre-canned arranger backing can detract unless used VERY sparingly.

Rather than put up with the expense of getting demos produced with session players, keep an eye out for like-minded writer/players on your rounds. It might go a long way to getting picked up having a few real tracks, even if mixed in with some sequenced. Trade a bit of YOUR time for a bit of theirs...

BTW, there are several ways to get the 'floating' tempo thing going, tapping along with the audio, 'elastic' audio, etc.. But I'd be VERY cautious about it. Little music is getting signed these days with unsteady tempi. It's just the way things are. PERHAPS you can find something really unique that changes everything, but a safer position, especially for a pro songwriter, is to look at what is getting signed NOW, and at least stick to the format...

But best of luck... never give up on your dreams