Careful, Lucky... That last paragraph has been labeled 'arranger bashing' many a time.

But, primarily, by folks that think it comes a little uncomfortably close to what they admit to themselves they actually do...

You might also consider that SMF's, now they can be tagged with Markers that you can Jump to spontaneously, allow a certain freedom that never used to exist. It's easy to fall into old habits of thought, but technology moves along, whether we follow it or not... Dual, synced sequencers, Mark/Jump points, on the fly Part soloing an muting, synced sequencers AND arranger sections. Many TOTL and lower arrangers allow this flexibility...

'But why would we use this when the arranger section is so capable?' you might ask? Well, as I've been trying to point out for a while, there are almost as many things you CAN'T do in arranger mode, as things you CAN'T do when using an SMF. Both systems have their shortcomings... One of which, as you mentioned the bender, you must have already run into. If you use the lever (only way to bend up AND down, AFAIK) you CANNOT do a bend when you have to play a chord on the same beat. And a LOT of really juicy bend techniques happen ACROSS chord boundaries, not after them or before.

That's just ONE thing. There are many others. This is why I don't go all purist, and play EVERYTHING in one mode. The SONG and the music calls you to do things... Sometimes, only arranger mode gives you the freedom to do it. Sometimes only SMFs gives you the ability. Sometimes a combination of BOTH... Railroad yourself into any one arbitrary system, and you limit your potential.

Let the MUSIC dictate how something gets played, rather than some kind of philosophy...