It's obvious that we approach the arranger in many different ways.

Donny uses it as his personal band with a certain number of players with him the singer.

Since I play mostly instrumentals, I tend to use the "sky's the limit" approach and use quite a few sounds and styles...it could be a solo guitarist or piano player, full symphony orchestra, jazz trio/quartet, Big Band, rock and roll band, entire composition using synthesizer sounds, country/bluegrass band...it goes on.

Basically, if I can imagine it, the arranger gives me the tools to create it, within the limits of my playing skills, of course.

I am also not a stickler on total authenticity; I just want the music to be pleasant to listen to, and bear repeated listening. So if my guitar emulation or virtual saxophone isn't perfect and won't fool everybody, I'm not too worried, although I will try my best to give the illusion of that particular instrument in context of the music genre I choose to play.

There's really no right or wrong way...it's being able to get the desired result that is important.

Ian