Let’s start off my return here with one of my favorite subjects...

It’s been about six years or so, I think, let’s take a look at what has fundamentally changed in arrangers since then. What is the ‘state of the art’? How much progress have we seen in getting an arranger to fool anyone it’s actually musicians playing rather than a box of conditioned responses?

I know there have been some advances in the raw sound area, six year’s progress has given us more sample ROM, better effects, better master effects etc.. But I’d like to hear from you how you think the state of the art has progressed in USING these sounds, new techniques in having them play realistically, more like a human...

I’ll chime back in a bit later, I’d really like to hear how you feel before I put my ten cents in! But the bottom line is, rather than endlessly debate one piano sound’s realism compared to another or stuff like that, let’s try to think about how the arranger itself plays those sounds.

What innovations are truly making you feel like there is progress in the state of the art?