No offense to anyone here (not that they won't take it anyway!) but can you see the arrogance in gloating that you 'need to know how to play' to use an arranger..?

What makes you think that all the professionals that use WS's can't play..? Or that YOUR chops could cut it on a modern rock track or hiphop mix?

No offense, once again, but I've heard the attempts to make contemporary sounding music on an arranger posted here. Pretty laughable, mostly. Good enough if you have no idea what genre you are even trying to sound like, I suppose, but let's face it. No-one is making modern hits on an arranger not because they don't have the chops! They don't make hits on arrangers, because arrangers don't have the sounds and styles needed.

Most young players that ARE playing keyboards these days professionally DO have chops. OK, they might not be YOUR chops, but on the other hand, they aren't making music for YOUR audience, either. You don't have THEIR chops, either!

No, sorry, but it must be said. The only ones around here without chops are a large percentage of arranger users! The 'Simon Cowell Effect' doesn't come out of nowhere..!

Try this... next time you are in a store with some kids looking at keyboards, demo an arranger for them (play something from their century ). Try not to get mad when they laugh their asses off!

But kidding yourself that the kids use WS's because they don't have the chops to play arrangers is absurd. It is the ARRANGERS that don't have the chops to play THEIR music...