It all depends on the music you are trying to make, Ian. We both know how easy it is to make legacy musics on arrangers. It's what the content is designed for...

But try to make something remotely contemporary, and suddenly you find it is the WS that makes making this much easier. No offense, but studio pros are NOT stupid. They use whatever does the job the best. You don't see pro studios with arrangers in them. But they ALL got WS's. OTOH, they don't spend a lot of time making bossas, rhumbas and cocktail jazz music They make the stuff you hear on the radio tomorrow.

Try using an arranger to play any song off the charts from last year... That's a pretty tall order (if you want to get 'close enough'). But a WS? No problem!

No... we both know the reason we get soaked on arranger prices is basically economics. WS's outsell arrangers what? 100 to 1? 500 to 1? You might know these figures. Economy of scale, on the one hand. And then the demographic... You sell arrangers to generally an older, wealthier customer (or cheap ones to his kids and grandkids!)/ And you charge what the market can bear (manufacturers and dealers are not charities! They are in it for the profit ).

On the whole, we arranger users will STILL buy these things, even when we KNOW we are being charged a LOT more than the kids and their WS's. They won't

You are not paying for ease of use. You are paying for the fact that few get sold, comparatively