Actually, yes, I DO consider ALL organs to be horribly overpriced. But that's only to be expected when the overall size of the market is a tiny, tiny, TINY fraction of what it was in the sixties and seventies. Economy of scale, and all that.

It's why I'm concerned that arrangers aren't really being made to resonate with the needs of the younger (under 30) players nowadays. As the arranger players dwindle and pass on, all that will be left is hugely expensive boutique arrangers, just like that's all that's left of the home organ market, which used to be strong in ALL price ranges back in the day.

The truth is, you could put something together (you can't really call the OAS as a non-OOTB solution if you want to charge that much for it!) that easily equals a TOTL Wersi with a combination of master controller, arranger, WS and software and STILL save about $10,000! If the $20,000+ Wersi still takes a boatload of effort to sound that great, the cheaper alternative doesn't need much more effort, and who exactly is well heeled enough to think that ponying up an extra $10,000 is worth the LITTLE extra it takes to cobble modern kit together to achieve the same thing?

BTW, I don't think my suggestion to Dan is any more likely to help him than my opinion about the completely soft arranger is likely to hurt him! He seems bent on his own path, just as Dom was. If the idea of controlling a software arranger by using a hardware arranger (and its sounds) so that you can play non-native styles OOTB hasn't occurred to him yet, I'm pretty sure he hasn't thought things through..! It would sure be a HECK of a lot less work than a soft standalone version, if he wants to sound as good as a hardware one.

Personally, I think the hybrid method would be optimal. The soft arranger PLAYER gets controlled by the hardware arranger, uses its sounds for the most, but also allows you to substitute SOME of them with a few well chosen VSTi's for particular needs. But doing the entire thing in software is a HUGE undertaking, that even Dom (with his vaster resources) couldn't achieve.

I would like to see Dan go down this road, I think it's the more practical solution, but he has to find his own path. And my opinion, for good or bad, isn't really going to change anything. It certainly didn't with Dom! He found his OWN roadblocks, I didn't create them!