Thanks for that link Abacus. From the responses to the original posters query it is clear that there is an incredible lack of awareness of what can be done on an arranger !

for example "They also have pretty good or even better voices than workstation keyboards these days, albeit generally with more of a focus on acoustic rather than synth sounds, but the editing ability tends to be pretty limited (you're basically restricted to presets, whereas you can create your "own" sounds as limited by the synth engine of a production workstation), and they often lack the expandability of a production workstation (e.g. expansion cards with new samples/voices on them"

I am not trying to disrespect the poster but if he were to go on Irish Acts for example and click on the download section he would see tons of free sounds that can be downloaded for the PAX including some great synth sounds. The editing features on the Pax are just simply vast ! More than most people could use competantly . Editing waves can get pretty deep without using additional external software to shape the sound.Currently you can mix 4 Oscilators (sounds) and edit each individual one to your taste. The PA800 has the ability to use 16 oscillators at any one time and has 128 note polyphony!!! You can create the most sophisticated sounds that you can imagine.

another example "If your focus is writing lyrics and you don't want to write drum parts, bass parts, rhythms, etc... then an arranger is for you.

If you want to write all aspects of the song including all instrument parts, then a workstation is better."

One of the reasons i bought the Pax was because it could do it all. I did not want to have to choose between a work station and an arranger and i dont have to ! The Pax has a comprehensive sequencer that can record in step edit mode, Quick record mode i.e using the arranger functions in a simple single pass recording as i play live and traditional linear sequencing, copying , pasting punching in and out of tracks inserting deleting, quantizing parts of tracks , copying parts of tracks etc etc in and out each individual track and micro editing it afterwards etc. and whats more i can combine all the methods if i so choose within the same song ! For example i might have the bones of a groove and a funk style might suit it best. so i quickly record in a single pass the various chord progressions that suit the idea i have in my head. I now have a scratch pad to work from. Using the same recorded peice i can enter Multitrack sequencer which will allow me over dub parts of tracks that i want to individualise so for for example i could reprograme the base line where ever i felt it needs some extra kick or more complex pattern or reprogramme the drums adding different percusion . Then i could add additioinal tracks like fat piercing brass stabs or oscillating synth pads to add a moving texture to the overall sound. If i really wanted to get deeper still, i could then use event edit to edit the song on a micro basis i.e note by note of each track individually if i so chose changing the note in its entirety , its velocity, its cut off ...you name it.

What i am trying to say (in a very verbose way) is that most people have never dipped any deeper than playing styles on an arranger keybpard but i can only speak for the Pax, if all you are playing is the styles then you will only have scratched the surface on this machine and i suspect on other top endarrangers.

My brother has the Triton Extreme and make no mistake its a deep instrument. But he ofetn "secretly" plays my keyboard when he thinks i am not around. Why ? Because he get immediate gratification musically and almost invariably is inspired to create something on his own keyboard.