"thou doth protest too much". Whenever someone is OVERLY defensive about something, ....well, you know the rest. This thread was never about who was or wasn't a good entertainer, but about two observations/opinions of mine that -

1) most arranger performances (in style mode) sound 'robotic' to me with a 'factory new-car-smell' to them. Going from a Brazilian Samba to a Country tune to a Big Band number all in the space of 10 minutes sounds completely unnatural to me in any public music venue other than probably a Nursing Home. If you think differently, fine - that's just MY opinion.

2) that playing arrangers exclusively COULD have the effect of curbing your desire to improve your playing skills. Why bother when you can just wait for next wave of technology to do it for you. Again, just my opinion.

Because someone is able to make a living in a very limited segment of the music business doesn't automatically mean that they're good at it. Self-proclaiming how good you are (something few true pro-level musicians do) may be true in YOUR mind but may not be rooted in fact. Many so-called musicians and entertainers have an exaggerated sense of their talent and abilities; most true pro's are rather modest (ie. I've never heard Rory Hoffman tell us how good he is).

So, bottom line, even though I own four arrangers and have been tinkering with them for 30 years, if I express the opinion that, despite the great advances in sound and automation technology, they STILL sound 'sort of robotic' to ME, and that I, personally, don't consider them a legitimate TRADITIONAL musical instrument, then I should not post or express an opinion on this forum. Really?

I know that there are some members here who are well liked by some, but that doesn't mean every word out of their mouth is gospel. I happen to totally agree with Mirza's post but because it doesn't represent our version of reality, he's essentially told to 'sit down and shut up'. Oh well, can't teach a old dog new tricks.....or even get them to listen to a new idea. Whaddya gonna do.

chas