from my perspective, 99-percent of the arranger keyboard players use less than 10-percent of the built-in features of their keyboards. I'm confident that more than 50-percent of the players never take the user manual out of the Zip-Loc bag it came in.

I am constantly amazed at the number of players that play outside their homes say "My keyboard came UPS this morning. I'll test it out tonight on the job and see how my audience likes it." Are you kidding me? There is enough difference in models, changes in OS, new features, etc..., that even the most technical minded players need at least a week of working intensely with a new keyboard in order to master just a smattering of the new things available. I'm not all that smart, so I always gave myself a couple months before taking on stage.

Now, lets talk about sounds. For me, this is the most important aspect of any arranger keyboard. Some sound pretty darned good right out of the box, but not all. Some will need considerable tuning and tweaking before they are ready for an audience. Some, regardless of how much time you spend tuning them, will never sound great. They may sound OK, but never great. This, of course, is subjective.

Good luck on whatever you decide upon,

Gary