I'll add, maybe a rather "been there, heard that comment", but as a reminder:

Since 2000, I've been following SynthZone, and I have learned that every player has their own purpose for owning and playing an arranger. When I first joined, Nigel told me this forum was created for all different types of players, pro, semi pro, home, or all of the above.

Many here are pros, and work hard to be the best. Every chord and every note needs to be precise. I say good for you, I admire your dedication to perfection. Other pros are happy that they know just enough to entertain, and are not interested in learning intricate chord inversions, and runs. They just love to entertain. Besides that, the general audience won't even notice. The just want the entertainment.

The same can be said for the "stay at home headphone players". While some are willing to learn to expand their musical knowledge, I believe most are just happy that they can play along with a band, be it a backing band, that they can fantasize playing in front of an audience. They think they sound good, and I find nothing wrong with that. There is a reason why arranger keyboards give left hand chord options. It's my opinion, that 75%, or more are in this "stay at home" category.

And then there is Russ who has his own category. Film scores, advertising commercial songs, jingles and the like. It's awesome that an arranger has in a way helped further his career to the point of a six figure income. BTW, much of that income donated to worthwhile causes. Than you sir for that.

For me, along with others that are somewhere in the middle, we are not full time pros, but do an occasional play out, more like a semi pro? Some of us do it as a favor at family functions, nursing homes, etc. because we like doing that. We are most certainly not looking to rely on "playing out" as a source of income. The last few years I have become an at home player only, and I love it. At 72, I've learned just about everything I need at this stage. But I still like to try new stuff, gotta keep the ol' brain busy.

So for me, I have come to the conclusion that arranger keyboards can, and are played by a wide variety of talented players, including newbies, pro, not so pro, home. Let's call Arrangers the "Melting pot" keyboard.