I think arrangers played with-out midi files are tough to work with for some genres & eras of music. As my repertoire begins to add more and more content from the 80's and 90's, it doesn't play to the unit's strengths, which are styles.

Don't get me wrong-I'm not abandoning arrangers anytime soon. No way...they are terrific for many, many useful kinds of musical performance.

As new wave became popular, the construction of a typical pop song was different than it had been prior. Instead of the band chunking along from chord to chord, there emerged the use of "lines" - melodic riffs, that would be built upon by other instruments. Sometimes there's a suitable workaround that sounds fine, sometimes there isn't. If you try and play "Take on Me" without the signature riff, its usually sucks. Stuff from Duran, Duran, the Police, the Talking heads, etc...doesn't seem to translate well.

Sometimes, as I've said, there are creative, well-played modified versions of tunes that work...but its cumbersome to get the arrangers to do it well.

I am moving closer and closer to adding a high end loop machine like a RC 300 Boss RC -300 to some of my performances.

That opens up a world of possibilities that are difficult to attain right now. I'm also thinking of adding an electric/acoustic guitar to the mix that would also be a game changer for me.

Its more expenses, more stuff to carry, and it wouldn't really be suitable for 100% of my shows---but I think in time, it would be. Its as much me trying to think ahead of the game-prepare myself so I stay relevant in the SW Ohio music scene.

Plus, the idea of developing a guitar/loop machine component to my act sounds like a helluva lot of fun.