My daughter - a 16 yr. old who plays piano also - and has a wide range of tastes from Diana Krall to Garth Brooks to Cranberries and back - had an interesting comment re: my use of an arranger or workstation to recreate other instruments in a live playing situation. She thought it was real strange from a listeners perspective to hear woodwinds and brass being generated from a keyboard. The word she used was 'fake'. Now with her range of taste she really ain't no musical snob - but she does have a perspective in regards to canned sound that can be widely found in people of all levels of musical ability - from none to maximum. I asked her if she felt the same way when she couldn't see what or who was playing - obviously then it didn't matter - only how good she thought the music was at that point. I'm trying to find a point in here - thought I had one somewhere........I guess I feel that while musical taste is very subjective - the quality of musicianship is not. There are definitely different levels of it and it is bound to come out during performance of most any kind - studio or live. Inability to recognize it or describe the differences in words doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Doesn't mean its really important either. The ability to use a workstation or arranger to its capacity - is closely tied with musicianship and time available. Is it possible to be a snob about musicianship without being a snob about music?? I guess one point I'd like to make is that the outcome of discussion over use of arrangers vs. workstations is also awaiting the reaction of the live audience general public and what levels of pre-programmed music they will accept from a performer. It is obviously different for every genre of music.

Interesting discussion - especially since it is clear that preprogammed accompaniment styles are becoming a standard inclusion on workstations, synths, keyboards, and of course the grand-daddy arranger

regards
Mike H