Well, firstly, I got to say I agree with Scott (amazing, eh?!) that all of us probably play at home as well as on gigs. I must confess I find the whole 'home' arranger vs. 'pro' arranger debate kinda silly, PLENTY of pros using 'home' arrangers, PLENTY of home players playing 'pro' arrangers, to the point where I just don't see any difference at all in their intended use or target customer.
Just about ANY feature on an arranger is as useful to a pro as a home player... Whether music is played in the living room or the bar-room, it is still music... And a 'home' user can appreciate a fine action as much as a pro can appreciate easy portability.
I agree that a built-in recorder has it's uses, but the convenience of it all 'in the box' is somewhat outweighed, IMO, by the thought that even 'home' users have friends that play, and have relatives that want to sing along, and the built-in nature of arranger recording facilities denies some of the more likely recording scenarios. Unless you ARE playing by yourself (and where's the FUN in that?
NB I'm joking, OK?) there is always the possibility of others to add into the mix. A ZoomH4 (or something similar) is at least as easy to operate as a built in, but with the advantage that you can record off the mixer if others are playing with you, or can simply use the built in mikes to capture an 'acoustic' moment.
Donny, the H4 DOES have some overdubbing and mixing capabilities, probably at least as good as an arranger built-in, but in truth, if you want to do something like this, a laptop or home computer is by FAR the better tool for this, and, to be perfectly honest, no harder to learn than any modern arranger's OS. If the 'home' user (whoever THEY are) can master the OS of an S900 or an E60, a simple audio recording and overdubbing program is a piece of cake...
BTW, once you have filled up the T2's HD, just how long does it take to transfer all that data to a computer to burn a CD? Does it use USB2 or USB1 speeds? Just curious. Hopefully, it's a LOT faster than that glacial sampler load up times...
Anyway, to try and get back on topic (WHAT??!! How DARE anyone hijack one of MY threads!
) anybody else up with the idea of a constant MIDI 'capture' in the background...?