Arrangers have always been designed for the home market and are basically all the easy play features of organs that have been expanded, and combined in a compact package. (They are designed so it’s easy to just sit down, press a button and play)

That you can do a lot with them is not disputed, just that with their limited programmable real-time controls (And if you want something unique you first have to take off all the effects that the manufacture has added before you can start programming) makes it slower to make something unique. (Which if you’re paying for a studio, time is money)

If you look at 99.9% of arranger owners, if they want to learn a new song, they go onto a forum or club and ask if anybody has got a style for it rather than modify one for themselves. In the UK however this seems to be changing as more and more arranger owners are adding pedals and an extra keyboard to effectively turn them back into an organ, so that they can learn to play the backing without having to rely on a style. (Playing along to someone else’s backing, rather than creating or playing your own is where the lazy sticker comes from)

Bill