Hey, even the now beloved Hammond organ had a bit of a "stigma' attached to it in its early years.

It was not considered an "organ" by many purists.

The poor old accordion also was on the receiving end of many jokes.

Early "electronic music" had a stigma attached to it as well...it was considered the domain of geeks and/or those unable to play so called "legit" instruments.

Players like Wendy Carlos, Tomita, and Subotnick were among the many that made it popular (or at least, more popular).

Players like our own Telmo showed what could be done with just one arranger, as does Marty Harris here in this nicely played piece on a Tyros.

Arranger keyboard sales are on the slide.
Average buyer is 70+.
Users on avarage only use 2% of the their arrangers capabilities.

Bill

Tell us something we don't know.

Ian

Awesome ... I'm way BELOW average age, and way ABOVE average usage!

...or you could be in that 1% of arranger players that use a Wersi!

Not overhere in Holland, there are arranger players of all ages, both men and woman as well as children.... Some oldfashioned dutch people still consider playing a musicall instrument still part of raising your kids properly...

Tough i must admit that piano is slowly winning more and more people over...

Interesting discussion... but nobody has said what a better option would be for a keyboardist that needs a full band sound, with the flexibility that styles offer. I find backing tracks to restrictive for live performance.

Exactly! And with today's arrangers having such great storage, you can use several styles in one song if you wish, and, of course, you can edit styles to your own liking.

I suppose midi tracks have their place, but, like you, I still find them too restrictive for my needs.

Ian

Backing tracks can be as big sounding as needed. ....just add and record more parts...tracks...etc......for me styles are too restrictive and repetitive with less parts....the sequenceer is there for a reason.

Also let me add to my above reply that I use both styles & tracks depending on the arrangement of the song.....
As a singer who uses these styles and tracks to "back up my vocals" which is the most important part of my act...both have their strengths and weaknesses for different scenarios.
And it's good to have more then one tool in your box on stage to get your song across..to limit yourself to only one way isn't my cup of tea.