Good topic, Ian.

I switched to using an arranger when I switched trios and exchanged my drummer for a guitar player. We started with using a drum machine and then moved to using SMFs. And arranger would permit me to play the SMFs directly and have a drummer, with styles, available if/when I needed him.

I was never very good at using styles until recently when I decided to go solo. I'm finding that arranger styles permit me to play more and decide exactly how I want to craft a song. Even though I still use a majority of SMFs, I hope to get to a 50-50 split next year and maybe tip the scales in the other direction the year after.