Spalding, I agree with most of what you say and I, too, have a PA1x Pro (which I love and see no reason to change/upgrade), BUT, there is a reason that 99.9% of the world's top working pro keyboardist don't use them, and 99.8% don't even know what an arranger keyboard is. For whatever reason, despite all of it's flexibility and capability, it just doesn't seem to translate into the real world of professional keyboarding. That's not to demean the instrument or it's capabilities. I guess most pro's must think that whatever it's capabilities, for that particular function, surely a dedicated instrument (synth/ws) must be able to do it better.

As far as my being "tunnel visioned", perhaps. I don't think so. On a gig, I just like being the 'organ player'. I like being able to control ALL the music that's coming from my little space on the bandstand (when I say 'control', I mean PLAY - those little pad-triggered brass stabs you mentioned; doesn't the tempo have to be spot on for that to work?). More importantly (to ME), I like for the audience to know that WHAT THEY'RE HEARING IS ME PLAYING, NO IF, ANDS, OR BUTS. Again, that's a personal thing. I don't see it as being tunnel-visioned, just the way that I prefer to approach music when playing for someone else (who is paying to see/hear my performance).

This is so difficult to explain, because arranger players have become so defensive over the years (maybe for good reason), but they tend to divide the world into arranger-haters and arranger-lovers; very little room (or tolerance) for anyone in between. I'm one of those in between. I enjoy playing my PA1x (my Tyros 2, not so much), but have never been inspired to take it on a gig. Part of that is that arrangers are not suited to the type of music I play on a gig. What I normally play is 60/70's style jazz organ trio, in the tradition of Jimmy, Groove, Brother Jack, etc., and the audiences I play for like this kind of stuff (as do I) and would not be happy with an arranger version of 'The Cat'.

I don't know much about NASCAR racing but I'm guessing Jimmy Johnson doesn't require that his racing car have automatic parallel parking (although he might think it's a neat feature in the car he purchased for his mother-in-law - lord knows she needs it). And although the one he purchased for his mother-in-law will top 100mph, he still has no desire to take it on the track. Dumb example, I know, but you get the idea.

Getting back on track. Again, nice video. If my eyes were closed, I would've sworn it was a CD.

chas