I think that you will find a strong correlation between the downturn in the sales of arranger keyboards and workstations and other luxury items with the downturn in the economy. This is not because those items are less desirous than they were a few years ago. It is simply because the finance to pay for these expensive items isn't there at this moment.

However I visit numerous keyboard forums/communities and almost without exception the talk for the most part concerns the next Korg Kronos or the next Yamaha motif hardware workstation . Even those that use computers and laptops and VST s are still talking about the next hardware instrument and how it can be integrated with their software setup.

I think talk about the death of arranger keyboards is premature.

Chas touched on the fact that there is a stigma attached to arranger keyboards. And this is true. There is a lot of misinformation about arranger keyboards that exists even now. Especially amongst workstation/performance keyboard users.

Most of this misinformation concerns the perceived limitation of an arranger in producing your own customised music, it's gig readiness , it's flexibility and suitability in terms of fitting into a studio setup.

Sadly, some of this misinformation has actually been put out by the companies that sell the product themselves, in order to prevent the cannibalisation of its overall keyboard sales.

But I have no doubt that arrangers have a lot of life left in them yet .