Well first of all, I don't play an arranger keyboard; I play WITH arranger keyboards. I have had quite a few arrangers starting with the Roland G800, but I have never played one on a gig. I FREELY ADMIT that I have never thought of them in the same way as my other keyboards, be they synths, pianos, organs, clavs, or Rhodes. The seperation/dividing line for me was always the auto-accompaniment feature. The other reason I never used one on a gig is that it would have been heresy in the venues I played in. Not only would I have been the laughing stock of the other musicians but the (mostly jazz) audiences we played to wouldn't have accepted it either. Now the reason I have had so many is that I'm a geek by nature, training, and education, and I always thought Arrangers were great for stimulating fresh ideas about new ways to approach a song. I also knew that they would be a really handy tool for songwriters as a musical scratchpad. I just never saw them as producing an 'END PRODUCT'. Despite all the advances in arranger technology, I STILL feel that way. I don't think any arranger will ever create an arrangement EXACTLY as you would want it, or would have done it 'manually'.

One thing to keep in mind; whatever I think about arrangers has NOTHING to do with the business end of music, as I can understand the potential financial benefits of using one in a OMB situation that is substituting for a real band (or not having to put up with psycho drummers or constantly tuning guitar players - geez, get a damn guitar that stays in tune for more than 1 song). For the record though, I haven't touched any of my arrangers for at least 6 months (and I play every day), the exception being my BK7m which I use as a drum machine (yeah, I know, that's 'auto-accompaniment too), and the reason is BOREDOM. I've played organ for 50 years and I still get the same kick out of it that I did the first time I sat down to a B3. For ME, THAT'S the difference. One is me, the other is someone else. Not defending or justifying; just explaining (and trying to answer Gary's question). I could go on but now I'm starting to bore myself .

chas