Sheesh! I had to read through a lot of crap over the last few days to finally find one pearl of wisdom. Don't pick on me, I'm sick (just kidding.....sick people shouldn't throw stuff out there if they can't handle the response ). Now please bear with me; I'm not a huge fan of Rob Thomas but I am a HUGE fan of Santana. I know you've heard this tune a million times and if you don't like it, or don't understand what I'm trying to say, just move on to the next post; this post is not for you. I ask you to listen (and watch) this video in it's ENTIRETY (there's a break before the REAL end and there is some serious percussion going on during that stretch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-y2LUh-9AA&feature=related

I'm saying, listen to what's going on there and ask yourself what ANYbody in that band (much less Chester Thompson) would think about ANY Arranger keyboard, be it red, black, green, 76, 61, 88, 'in your face' drums (ha, ha), SA1/2/3/4/5/6 sounds, or came with a complimentary date with Meagan Fox. These guys are musicians and electrify their audiences (not half-dead seniors) with their MUSICIANSHIP, not pre-programmed styles.

I have lots of fun with my arrangers and really enjoy playing them from time to time at home. I usually only get annoyed (which I really have no right to be - what business is it of mine) when people start acting as though their arranger keyboard (or at least the next model of it) is automatically going to transform them into some kind of legitimate A level musician. I just don't think that people like Rory, for instance, got to their current level of expertise by sitting around waiting on the next latest, greatest feature set or sparkling new styles on their arranger keyboards.

Normally this doesn't bother me until I see over 200 posts dedicated to periodically regurgitated bullsh-t. But, I'm sure the original poster is very happy with the predictably high post count that occurs whenever these stupid conversations appear. The big question; how much is TTG being paid to keep fanning it back to life when it should have died after the second post?

Okay, obviously I'm feeling a little better now .

chas