Bill no one has thrown their toys out the pram . It’s an arranger discussion board and we are politely and courteously discussing ideas about the use of (and misunderstandings about arranger keyboards ) in relation to professional use .

I can frame it this way , we know that the automatic styles differentiate arranger keyboards from other workstation or performance keyboards . The automation element means that the pro musician can sound like a full orchestra , or a pop jazz or funk band or a trio and pretty much anything in between immediately without the use of supplementary software or hard ware . Something that only very talented musicians can do with multiple keyboards , not just one . So we are clear , we know that if a pro musician never ever requires to earn a living by supplementing his/her income from this type of functionality then styles may not be essential .

We also know that the vast majority of pro musicians don’t make mega bucks , don’t tour with Jay Z , don’t have roadies and don’t go on world tours . That’s a very small proportion of pro musicians .

But pretty much everyone agrees styles are useful for sketching out quickly ideas and prototype songs which might have income generating benefits . Think tv , radio , promotional musical snippets . I believe at least one member here makes a healthy living doing just this or mostly this .

The question I have asked multiple times and to date have not even heard a plausibly relevant answer is why would a pro musician not use an arranger to play in professional use ?

I would like to know what functions does a pro musician use their instrument for 90% of the time , whether live in a band , on the road , in a pub club or studio ,that they can only do on a non arranger keyboard ?

Is it stacking multiple layers of sounds ? How many layers do most pro’s use , 2,3,4,8 ? When does it start to sound like crap ?


Is it the manipulation of sound ? Filters , sweeps , effects editing , envelope editing and sculpturing ? Is it polyphony or split points ?

Is it controller functionality ?

Is it sampling sounds and manipulating the sample to make your own sound ?

Is it sequencing songs within the keyboard before taking it to the studio to do the full flush production ?

Some one please enlighten me what is it that pro musicians do with their instruments 90% of the time that they could not do on let’s say the korg pa4x keyboard. I have mine set up in the house so I can see if the answers I get “it any “ are plausible.

Not looking for an argument . I am looking for answers . I am not a pro musician but as gospel musician I get to work with pro musicians and I can tell you that ignorance and peer pressure is very real in the gospel semi pro circuits I move within certainly in the uk