Most of us have been reading exactly the same thing for the past four years. Many have been TRYING to use the MS live for that long, and it STILL can't do it well. It sits at home, as a VSTi player, and they all have other arrangers. We've been told it is "90%" there since day one... Forgive our skepticism.

And genesys, just in case you are referring to me, I have never shied away from admitting that AT INITIAL PURCHASE, I need an arranger that is good to go out of the box. And THEN, I need an arranger that is capable of being edited to be even better. NOT an arranger that will take months or years before it is ready for the gig, nor an arranger that sounds pretty good the day I buy it, but cannot be advanced easily past that state.

If this concept is difficult for you to understand and sympathize with, perhaps you could start posting examples of your 'all original' styles, and perhaps give us a description of how long you took to create them, whether you play live with your arranger, whether you use SMF's or styles exclusively, and whether you create styles from 'scratch' or use parts of others... let us walk a mile in your shoes, and see if YOUR workflow works for US.

There is a HUGE difference between minor style editing and total style creation. Few have the skills or the time for the latter (at the top ROM style level), but most of us need the former. Perhaps you are right though. How DOES one take this forum seriously? Those that champion the 'open' arrangers and 'rolling your own' and try to put down those of us with a practical approach to what we need in an arranger are also the same people that virtually NEVER demonstrate that they aren't talking theoretically, that what they preach is what they practice. I see a lot of TALK, but little WALK....

IF the MS was a great arranger AS WELL as it's other qualities, I would already have one. And no, I'm afraid that you can't call an empty shell where you do ALL the work an 'arranger', no more than you can call a completely disassembled 'kit car' an actual vehicle. It's a POTENTIAL vehicle. IF.... you have the time and skills to assemble it. I bet you bought YOUR car assembled, didn't you?

And my criticism of the Audya has existed on several levels, but to boil it down, an arranger that is $1500 more expensive than others should AT LEAST have the same editing tools on it that the cheaper ones do. And it's revolutionary features should work fully, not partially.

If you use your arranger as a VSTi WS, then no, perhaps it doesn't NEED to be a good arranger. If you use your arranger as a coffeemaker, it doesn't need to be a good arranger. But if you use your arranger like 99% of ALL people use an arranger, then yes, perhaps it DOES need to be a good arranger

If these don't sound like legitimate points, yes, perhaps this forum IS a joke...