I don’t honestly think that anyone that simply wants to switch on an arranger, select a style, select a sound (or use the One Touch selections) and start making music needs to crack the manual at all! I am pretty impressed by just how well set up they tend to be, these days. Select a swing style or a bossa, whatever, hit the OTS, you are pretty much good to go..!

The problem comes if you end up wanting to do more, or repeatability. And that’s not all that important for non-performers, which, let’s face it, is the vast majority of arranger buyers.

I have a feeling that Gary’s drop off in people seeking advice is a result of most buyers of arrangers these days coming from one of two places… they either have already owned an arranger before, and have already learned the things they need to, or they are younger buyers, coming from a generation of players far less traumatized by the idea of looking up operational details in a manual or Googling a video.

The younger generations have been dealing with tech for most of their lives. It’s mostly us fossils that grew up with simple gear, things like a Rhodes with a couple of knobs, or home organs where every function had its own dedicated and labeled switch, early synths without a menu system etc. that seem the most resistant to cracking the manual…