Organ players and arranger players should not be compared. Feet going, left hand one thought, right hand another; and they are changing sounds. Before registrations they made all their manually. Wow!

When I first start going to the organ concerts in Orlando, Florida, I fell in love with the organ. I bought a used Wersi Delta 500 organ. This was my dream, it never happened, I was not willing to put in the time to learn --- I had to earn a living.

I bought a Yamaha Psr ???? and added a synth keyboard. The Yamaha was the master.

With all that behind me I am excited to have a arranger keyboard with all the buttons. Those buttons help me select everything I desire/need. I would hate to hear what I would sound like without them; I would have to call up talent which I do not have. (smile)

Just my opinion, John C.

I, like many of us, were organ players before the advent of arrangers. I was never exceptional, but was music minister for several churches for fifteen years, and could hold my own with mostly Rogers organs. I, also played Hammond B-3's in night clubs and restaurants in the 70's.

Then, things seemed to change in the music world. I stopped being a church player, bought the first Rhythm Ace for my B-3, that the restaurants in the area had seen. I saw, eventually, that the organ was slipping, and went to arrangers and vocal.

It is sad, in a way, I had to prostitute myself for public acceptance. I still love the beautiful music of the organ, with the pedals and lower manual playing counter melodies.

I have my SKI and a 13 pedalboard, at least.

Bernie

There’s no reason the choice to use an arranger stops you from playing as much as you did in the organ days... Add a set of pedals and a dummy manual, even a mid price arranger utterly blows away most organs from the 70’s. Push comes to shove, you can do it with pedals and one manual and a boatload of splits!

My goal has always been to play as much as I ever did when playing in real bands with no sequencing... I used to play full organ but always felt, even back in the 70’s that all it was was a way to undercut a real musician out of a job. It is it’s own art form in a way, and the best organists can elevate it to greatness, but I’d always prefer to hear great organists play with a rhythm section rather than solo.

The instrument doesn’t define the player. You can play with two hands and feet on anything... Defining the ‘arranger player’ as someone that CAN’T play like an organist is doing some of us a disservice! 🎹😎