The only issue I have with software arrangers is firstly, as a live player, this means lugging a laptop around, something I’m opposed to because it sits between you and your audience (I want the audience to focus on me, not my gear!).

Secondly, you really need a sound source close to identical to the brand of styles you are playing or you face a mountain of editing work, and if you’ve got a Yamaha arranger to play them into, might as well load them in the arranger itself! Ditto playing Roland styles etc..

It’s been 30+ years since arranger soundsets (and especially the drums) could easily be used for any style and sound close to the original. Heck, to get the best out of a Roland style on a real Roland with 20 years between them takes considerable editing! That is massively compounded between brands…. We lost 1:1 compatibility the minute we moved past GS mapping.

We saw how all this played out with the Lionstracs software/hardware hybrid. The idea of a software arranger and open soundset is so tempting, but in practice, few aging arranger players have either the time, the skill or the patience to hand edit everything not already edited by the manufacturer, which means you’re back to basically a closed hardware arranger.

20-30 years of divergence from early standard soundsets has turned cross-brand hybrids a pipe dream unless you want basic soundcard quality style playback. Today’s Korg and Yamaha (and the last generation of Roland’s) soundsets sound COMPLETELY different, and their styles incorporate so much patented features, I think the days of putting a Roland style through a Yamaha soundset and it being acceptable have long gone…