I doubt it, Ian. Soon enough the generation that grew up on WS's and synths will be the older bunch, and they sure as hell won't be buying arrangers. Not unless the manufacturers wake up and cross pollinate the lines, anyway.

Something has got to change, it seems all too apparent, anyway. Are you trying to tell me that arranger sales are as good as they were ten years ago?

There came a point in the history of home organs that they got too expensive for most people, due to volume drop (more you make, the cheaper you can sell 'em!), arrangers took over for the 'home organ' crowd, and WS's and synths devastated the pro sales. All that is left is a pittance of what the industry used to be. And yes, the TOTL suffered first, but the rest followed after.

But I believe that arrangers won't last forever. It's becoming obvious that the keyboard manufacturers are falling over themselves trying to NOT bring modern WS technology to arrangers, to NOT bring modern styles and synth capabilities to arrangers, and seem happy to just pander to the diminishing numbers that DO want a quality arranger. All that is left is the low end, and the toy gift ones. They'll probably never go away completely, but as soon as the WS generation gets a bit older, you can bet arranger sales at the high end will plummet (I bet they already are).

Unless someone reinvigorate what playing an arranger is all about (Ketron are trying, bless them, but it seems technology needs to gain a step or two), they will be no relevant than a home organ. You can't play 80's music on a home organ and you can't play 21st c. music on an arranger. Not unless they change drastically, anyway...