When I hear an arranger demo that equals the best live playing, I'll eat my words. Until then...

My playing a G70 with a live band means I am NOT using it in an OMB situation. And if my G70 sounded even slightly as good as the band I play with, well, they'd be out of a job, wouldn't they? LOL

Look, I understand how defensive so many OMB arranger users can get. And, for the life of me, I can only put it down to one thing. Deep in your heart of hearts, you KNOW it is a poor substitute for a good creative band.

We may all START out creative, original, expressive, emotional. THEN we decide we'd rather make money. But take that factor away from us, and anyone with any honesty would tell you they would rather be playing with a great live band. That it may not be convenient, that you prefer not to put up with the baggage that comes from having to deal with other personalities (that may be as strong, and maybe as acidic as our own!) is all well and good. But the results, when played back, make our efforts with an arranger so obviously fake that we have to tap dance as fast as we can to excuse it.

I make no apologies for bringing this up. Sure, maybe on ONE tune, one time, I can make something that equals a good live band (especially if I'm using loops of great live players in the first place! Or a karaoke track...) but the NEXT time I play it, it will sound darn near identical. That arranger isn't going to make the slightest attempt to be creative, and put a different spin on the tune, subtly or grossly. It isn't going to surprise me, it isn't going to push me in a direction I didn't realize I wanted to go, it isn't going to come up with a substitution I hadn't thought of, or an alteration of the groove, a push or a kick here or there.

That is the robotic nature of the beast.

Your rant, Gary, seems a bit off base. I at no point suggest that people PLAYING arrangers aren't talented. Far from it! To achieve what they do, given the handicap of only a soul-less machine to play with, some pretty good stuff has been achieved. All I try to point out is that, FAR better results can be had by playing with the best live players that will play with you. And THAT requires a lot of compromise.

But creative, original, emotional artists are always willing to make that compromise. The rest of us just want to make money!

Be honest for a minute... If money were no object, if great musicians were lining up at your door to play with you, to jam with you, to help you achieve your musical vision, would you turn them away and go switch on your PSR?

Didn't think so.