Wow! Express ANY opinion that someone perceives as anti-arranger and out comes the knives. All I said or alluded to was that there is perceivable difference in (good) live music and music produced by style playing on an arranger keyboard. Apparently that was enough (although I initially only +1'd Donny's post). But I guess the fact that it was ME was reason enough to rally the troops (through a distortion of what I ACTUALLY said). I guess I should be used to it by now. If I'm not outright praising arranger keyboards, then somehow that translates into 'I'm an arranger hater'. It's really getting kind of tedious, the trotting out of all the reasons why Arrangers are the greatest thing to come along in musical history (maybe they are, for someone without the desire, ability, talent, time, or dedication, to learn an instrument that won't play itself). I have owned at least 6 or 7 arranger keyboards or modules and still have 4 in my studio. Does that sound like someone who 'hates' arrangers? I just don't revere them the way some here do and I freely admit that as I have gotten older, my interest in them has waned considerably. But my feelings about ME PERSONALLY using them professionally has not changed over the years and saying that playing an electronic organ is the same thing is absolutely ludicrous and the person who said it knows that.

What I don't understand is the unusual level of hostility towards anyone who has an opinion that differs from that of the 'forum elite'. Always the same tired arguments; "I love my -------", "this is an arranger forum" - implying 'why are you here?', etc. Arguments that rarely have anything to do with the subject at hand and only meant to stir up animosity against the poster. This forum is like a huge popularity contest with different levels of permissions for what one is allowed to say. Someone can post something and nothing is said; if I, chas, do a +1, then it immediately becomes blasphemy. Oh well, luckily I've learned not to judge society by small subsets of it. I still have several good friends here and even more friendly casual acquaintances. After all these years, it is still interesting, educational, and entertaining to participate in this forum and although you won't find the best musicians here (let's be honest, folks), what you will find is a more realistic microcosm of the society we actually live in (as opposed to the worlds of Julliard and Berkelee). Ok, now back to music.

chas