Bachus... a workstation doesn't do the 'variations and fills' thing, even just for the drums. That's the beauty of arrangers, even if all you use is drums... each style, some Intros (even if it's just a count-off and a pickup), four building variations, fills that go smoothly from one to the other, and some ending patterns. Break/Fills, too.

There isn't a WS out there that can do that, let alone one with enough content already in to do a song in most styles OOTB.

Yes, you get loops in WS, but so far, none of them (AFAIK) allow you to drop in and out of fills at any point in the bar. Everything HAS to be cued up a bar in advance. That's very different to arrangers...

I have asked for the longest time for Roland (or anyone) to make a simple drum machine built on arranger principles. So far, there's a few out there with TWO variations and two fills (or one fill, not sure now) but none with four. None with intros or count-ins, none with ending patterns. Hard to believe they missed this opportunity. There are a lot of bands that would be all over that, particularly with a two footswitch option to go up and down a variation.

Maybe it won't be long before WS loop/arp players allow for entry into a loop at any point in the bar and it remain in sync, and allow for one shot loops to have pre-programmed destinations (or fills, as we call them!) but no luck so far!