Having the arranger keyboard not only lets me play as a solo act, but, if you want to jam with friends, or play on stage, and, depending on how many want to join in, auto-accompaniment can sub for whoever is missing.

I take my Tyros4 to all the jams we have and it sits on top of the B-3....sometimes I play it as just a source of great sounds, other times I use it in style mode, adding/removing parts as needed.

For me, the arranger is the Swiss Army Knife of keyboards, and today's arrangers sound so good and offer so many great (and realistic) styles and sounds, that it is a real pleasure to play one.

Like Gary and Donny, my first arranger had all of 32 styles, and roughly 64 sounds, with no fingering options other that single and fingered chords and sounds that were barely approximations of the instruments they were named after. Nowadays we have incredible styles and sounds.

Some pros scoffed at our instrument choice (some still do) and laughed at our early efforts, but, we laughed too...all the way to the bank.

I am grateful we have such a versatile tool in our kits.

Ian