I am not unaware of the power of VSTi's. Heck, I've been using them for studio production virtually since they came out!

But... Let's be honest here. At one end of the scale are studio producers and musicians, who want the highest sonic results possible, and are not confused or intimidated by considerable complexity. Then, at the other end of the scale, is the vast majority of arranger players, who not only want operational simplicity, but also want to basically hold down a chord with one hand, play a melody with the other, and that's about as far as their musical creativity goes..!

What all this talk about open arrangers fails to really address is how you CAN achieve FAR better results than an arranger IF you can firstly, play your ass off, then have a mastery of the software to bend that to your will. Find me ONE top 40 hit played on an arranger. You can't. The PRIMARY use of an arranger is to give us near-professional sounding backing with next to no effort. The problem really starts when you decide to use gear not really designed to be used in an arranger setting to do the job that gear that is really specialized to do that. IMO, it is just not a good fit.

On the one hand, if you want TRULY pro music, you won't go near an arranger, or at least only use it for the rough. Then you'll replace nearly everything the arranger did (if you even used one in the first place) with real playing and high quality VSTi's. And, after a day or so of programming and playing, you've got ONE tune.

Now, let's look at how the vast majority of people use an arranger. They switch it on, they call up a style, probably hit the OTS, and start playing immediately.

Two more different work-flows cannot be imagined. And the gear that is optimized for each does a terrible job of the other.

Truth is, the only thing I hear that is amazing about some of the Wersi clips is the talent of the presenter. And I am also convinced that, give them a PA3X or a T5, they would amaze equally... Only then they would be amazing on something $20,000 less than the Wersi! I'm sorry, but if you have to pay an extra $15,000+ to sound even slightly better than a TOTL hardware arranger, it is no wonder these things are rarely heard in the hands of talented musicians. They are mostly heard in the untalented hands of extremely rich people with more money than talent, or, if the truth be known, common sense!