Steve, what is your goal with your songs, what are you planning to do with them?
I write Christian/Country/Rock Pop.....
Closing in on 100 tunes. The ones I feel strongest about I use my session players in Nashville & L.A. As per my Soundclick page. But financially I just can't swing recording every song this way....
Also, some tunes I feel it would be better for me to play a lot of the parts to keep the original feel. So, I guess I would be making tracks to go into the Studio (I don't have one on purpose) to cut vocals and add other parts.
At the same time I could use my tracks via Keyboard Sequencer "live" and play piano or Acoustic Guitar with it at different Churches, Open Mics Etc.
The tracks I do may end up being re-cut with session players but if I track a REAL good feel for the song, it will be closer to the original.
I plan to release these tunes via CD and Downloads...
A lot of my songs are Acoustic Guitar written, Probably 75%. So I was hoping I could create some interesting Guitar Parts on the Keyboard in addition to my Breedlove American C25 SME Acoustic Guitar.
As I thought, you and I are very similar. This is JMO, but I'll give it to you FWIW.
I don't think you will find a solution in the arranger arena. If it had to be an arranger, I would say Ketron Audya is, by far, the best, since it sounds the most like live instruments. (I owned one.) However, it's expensive and support issues exist.
I think your only real option is a synth sequencer workstation. If you were to get good enough to lay down various tracks on one of those, it would sound most like a commercial release and, it would be more 'original sounding' than an arranger can provide. (I'm not good enough to do that. Yet.)
I am not aware of any arranger that is going to provide a decent alternative to hiring session musicians unless you are content to sell a few cd's here and there or you just want to record your songs for the sake of archiving them. Nothing wrong with that. And if I were buying top of the line, it would be Ketron Audya or Korg PA3x. But to get a sound decent enough for commercial release (in any genre), I doubt an arranger is the answer.
If you want to gig with an arranger, that's another matter. IMO, again, the best for live sound is Audya or PA3x. Roland is worth checking out. Yamaha is awesome for orchestrated pieces and big band stuff but for small combo / band stuff, it's not my choice. And I've owned three Yamaha arrangers.
Good luck!
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