Hi Fran:

It's all about perspective but I can certainly see where you are coming from. If I were a performing player like you, Mason, Donnie, Uncle Dave and so many others... I would most likely nod my agreement and move on.

As a highly unsuccessful songwriter (LOL) the Arranger is a Godsend! I use mine at my little home studio just about every day. I settled on Yamaha because my "early days co-writer" had a Tyros and I traded him my old pickup truck for his old PSR-2000 so we could work in the same operating system.

As I progressed and he went back to his day job (real money, LOL) I had to learn to do the whole schmeer in song creation and production including singing. (Don Mason was my model since we both hail from the Southwestern U.S.... (at least that's the way the old history books defined the ArkLaTex.)

Being able to arrange my songs in different genres, using different instruments and to be able to vary the individual volumes, etc. is such a great tool. Multi-Pads add dimension I could never have imagined.

I don't play or sing well but over the years I have improved to a point where I'm not ashamed to "pitch" my songs to real artists, producers or other publishers.

I hope you guys know how much influence you have with me and how much I admire what you do for a living. Just wanted you to understand another point of view. The arranger (no matter what brand) is a fantastic tool for those without much talent, arthritic hands and limited budgets.

All the best, ----Dave Rice