Fran, I agree with most (or all) of your points and admire your dedication to your instrument of choice; AS I AM TO MINE. But with all due respect, you missed the point of my post; in fact, you pretty much proved my point (about the 'defensive' thing and all). With the "very well said, Fran" comment, apparently so did Eric. I respect your choice of instrument; too bad you can't respect mine. My instrument is more suitable to the type of gigs I play(ed) just as I'm sure the G70 and SMF's is more suited to the type of gigs you play. That doesn't mean I 'hate' arrangers; how could I, having owned so many of them (and still do). My question was, why are people so defensive about playing arrangers? Saying "I play arranger but I don't use styles" IS defensive. Praising it's feature set (sequencer/midifile player/Vocal harmonizer, etc.) is fine but does not answer the question of why some (but not all) seem to be almost embarrassed to embrace this type of instrument (such as emphasizing how they NEVER, EVER use it's most prominent feature...auto-accompaniment). The fact is, if you don't need 'style play', then you probably don't need an arranger keyboard, as most of the other features can be had on a much less expensive workstation.

But in any case, this post was not about WHY you use an arranger (as I said before, WHO CARES?), but why you feel the need to defend that choice at every turn.

BTW Fran, HOW 'BOUT THEM EAGLES'.

chas