i hear you chas and i had to read what you wrote a couple of times before the penny dropped and i think i know what you are getting at. It is just the concept of an arranger that stops some muscians from using one. That same concept encourages others musicians to do the opposite. And it is true that some muscians with perhaps more basic skills are drawn to arrangers.

but for those musicians that dont like the idea of an arranger , (in my view) its simply prejudice born from ignorance. Those same musicians will take the XS or Fantome G with them on a gig and play piano, or organ or synth lead just jamming as you have described. Then take the same instrument home and struggle to reproduce anywhere near the sound of the band they jammed with a few hours earlier.

What makes them think they can do exactly what they did at he club on any other keyboard except an arranger ?

i Jam pretty much every week at church and when friends come and play my instrument (when i need a break) they just see that i am playing a Korg model keyboard with great sounding speakers that they have never seen before . They dont even know its an arranger ...Until i switch on a drum track and a bass track and then they realise its an arranger. But by then the prejudice is over come.

I have made this point numerous times, an arranger is a keyboard just like any other and it will do only what you want it to do. Thats the message that needs to get out there. Noone would be put off the fantom G just because a novice player was playing it so why an arranger ?

If you dont want accompaniment, dont use it at that point. But when i am jamming with my friends and we have no drummer, voila, i provide the drummer. When we dont have a bass player , voila i play bass in the left hand or use a pre programmed style, no guitarist,voila, no latin styled horns , voila (yes i have learned a new french word !! )

I can change split point on my keys in a flash, have dozens of set up instantly at hand without the need for any auto accompaniment .

If any musician demomnstrated an arranger just as a keyboard with great sounding EP, or pianos or guitars like the T3 , or changing sounds and splits on the fly , do you think any sensible musician would not play it just because it also just happened to have the ability should i choose to play auto sounds and accompaniments ?

Put an arranger in the hands of someone like Peter Baartman from yamaha or Ralph Schink from roland or Andreas Gunlach from Korg (all accomplished professionally trained musicians in their own right )and they could make it sound great in arranger mode or straight keyboard mode using all their formal music training and their knowledge of the strenghths of the instrument.


[This message has been edited by Spalding 4 (edited 01-27-2010).]