I simply think that everybody is making a mistake when they talk about the arranger market and the workstation market... To my mind, it is all one big KEYBOARD market. The only reason it is so balkanized is because the manufacturers have deliberately made it that way.

Sure, you've got BASIC chord following in the MoXs's and M3's. But you have no slash chords, no 'on bass' and few performance controls to quickly change the status of the chord following. You've got BASIC pattern triggering on WS's, but you can't drop into fill patterns any time you want, it's all 'one bar at a time', a fraction of the arranger's flexibility. And, for me, the biggest difference is that the OS for arrangers is designed SPECIFICALLY for playing live. WS's are geared more towards creation and assembly of finished product, but they are tough beasts to take in the field, and make them jump through hoops at the drop of a hat. From patch selection to loop (style) control, the arranger is DESIGNED for performance.

And this is where the arranger has a window of opportunity. WS's are still pigs on stage. And don't kid yourself for one minute that younger players that create music on WS's don't wish they were easier to be spontaneous and creative, live, too... They have the money for a decent arranger (they buy Nord Stages and FantomG's and MoXs's, they can afford it!)...

But squeak is right. Until the loop and arp design teams, and drum sample creators of WS patterns are turned loose on arrangers, no young player is even going to get a CHANCE to realize how easy it is to be creative and spontaneous on stage, simply because they can't get past how hokey most of the styles and sounds are...

But don't kid yourself... the only reason there appears to be two markets is because of the CONTENT of each type. In fact, fifteen years ago, WS's were MUCH better at making the kinds of music that most of us do. No 'gap' back then But they moved on, and the arranger remained frozen in time. And you know what happens to things frozen in time, don't you?

They end up in museums