We certainly have come a long way as regards arranger keyboards but also as regards the way things are being discussed here on the SZ forum. I vividly recall the days, fortunately in another decade when there were acid exchanges of views as to which brand was the better one or as to whether Tom's keybaord was better than Dick's keyboard so to speak. As I said we have come a long way and seem to be rather spoiled for choice , even if that choice is basically limited to less than 10 keyboards. All three topkeyboards Genos,Korg PA4X and Ketron SD9 offer tremendous quality be it at a price and in fact the same can be said for their middle-of-the-range counterparts, the PSR975, the Korg PA1000 and the Ketron SD7. Odd man out would be the (extremely cheap) Roland EA-7. And of course there is the gamut of cheaper boards such as the lower range PSRs and PA 300/600/700......

Having to make a choice among these the operative words are :
Money, Taste, Gigging and Vocalist.

If money is no issue whatsoever I guess anyone would simply buy all three topmodels or at least two of those. Depending on taste solely one may opt for any of those three or combine a toprange arranger from one brand with a motr arranger from another make.

As it seems to me that most musicians will have to make choices or sacrifices the factors Gigging and Vocalist kick in.

If you are a gigging artist your needs will/might slightly differ from folks like me who only play at home. PA's are to be considered ( another hefty investment) and built in speakers and amplifications become less relevant. Also regards software there are options to be observed. It has been countlessly mentioned how Yamaha players can fall back on an almost unlimited source of thousands of styles, most of them song related. to the gigging artis this may turn out to be a deciding factor. After all the audiences expect to be entertained and often want to recognise the song being performed, being close to the original.

The fact whether you are a singer or not contributes significantly to the choice or arranger keybaord imho. As someone pointed out very recently , being a singer you do not need a lot of fancy sound stuff but excellent basics, that is :
drums and bass ,guitars, piano and for your right hand sounds:
piano,guitars, brass, sax, and a few more. And it should sound as close to a real band as possible, hence one's predilection ( until recently) for either Korg or Ketron. Of course the introcution of the Genos has widened the playing field....
For those who do not sing or prefer instrumentals a wider gamut of (fantasy) sounds is often desirable hence no doubt that many (home) players, at least here in Holland, would go for the Tyros series, rather than Korg or Ketron.

But in a nutshell, I think we are spoiled for choice and that basically all that is currently on offer is absolutely stunning each in his or her own way.

Happy playing,

regards,
John