Both have a place in my aresenal. A lot of what has been already said is true. I chose my arranger ( PA80 ) for it's potential as both a live play and compositional tool. It has all the bells and whistles I need to make it work well in either venue. The styles are among the best I've heard and the patern sequencer has more ( useful)functionality than any other arranger I've used. It also allows for detailed voice edits on par with a goodworkstation or synth. In fact, someone here once called it, " a workstation disguised as an arranger ". That was not a term of endearment for him ( but it is for me ) , but once the OS was upgraded, he went back to the PA80 and is still using it.. ( are your ears burnin' UD .lol ? )

I chose my synth / workstation ( Motif ), because it has some excellent cutting edge sounds ( along with beautiful acoustic and Rgodes piano sounds ) and the arpeggio feature is excellent. User arps, made properly, work VERY well, almost like one instrument or track piece of a style that can be changed on the fly. It also has some slider and knobs, ( user assignable included ) so when I want, on the fly I can change that acoustic guitar from a strum to a pick by instantly changing the decay, sustain and cutoff settings.

I added the AN150 plug in and now I don;t miss my old analog gear so much anymore.

As far as the acoustic sound thing mentioned above, I agree to a point, but sometimes the settings I mention above ( along with a host of others ) can make the differnce. Programmers of top end machines tend to use and setup the best of samples. It's up to me to set those sounds up so that they fit what I'm playing. Sometimes I find that easier to do in my synth as opposed to my arranger. ( although the PA80 allows almost unlimited editing too )

AJ

I'm actually starting to "kinda" like the piano in the PA80. I said "kinda". It's very nice in the upper register, but the midrange is still a little weak. Still......I'm not frowning - I just play alot of EP sounds instead of acoustic.

I remember waiting for my first PA80 ... it took forever to hit the streets. This is my third one so far, and I think it's getting closer all the time. A few more additions to the O/S and it might be a "keeper".

I'd love to see the variation buttons act as fill in triggers while the rhythm is running, like the PSR2000 and Farfisa G7. This is a great time saver, and a musical way to ensure that the fill-in matches the rhythm variation. This is a weak spot in the Korg styles - the fill-in's and the break button are WAY off base.

The synth/arranger debate will never end.

To help you decide, you'll have to work out which capabilities are required, say in terms of sounds, backing, playback, and keyboard

SOUNDS

If you want "standard" sounds (pianos, strings, brass, organs, percussions) then a good arranger or synth should be fine. Arrangers contain selections of "synthetic" noises too. If you want to "tweak" sounds a bit (brighter/darker) then arrangers can do this also. If you want to invent from scratch you'll need a synth or a high-end arranger.

BACKING

If you are composing tunes from scratch, then the "backing" capabilities of arrangers and some synths (in terms of hold down a a chord and listen to the band) are also less of a factor in absolute terms - but can be great for ideas.

PLAYBACK

If you want to prerecord arrangements and composition (using a PC?) then the midifile playback capability of arrangers and some synths will be useful, although the constraints of Standard midi files may be limiting. [Some synths and arrangers may let you use more than 16 channels of sound via track assignment to internal / external channels, e.g my Ensoniq SD1 gives me 24 tracks if I'm careful. It may only be possible to do this by editing sequences on the synth/arranger hardware]. I cannot comment on the edit capabilities of various keyboards because I edit my (cover version) midifiles on a PC. (If you dont intend to play live to your public you could go for a quality sound card and "input" keyboard for a PC and do it all using sequencing/ arrangement/ sampling software recording onto CD.)

KEYBOARD

As a classically trained pianist I lust after anything will 88 weighted notes. As a performer of pop cover versions regularly looking at upstairs gigs I use a PRS2000! If you have to have more than 61 notes, or require a decent feel, your choices will become restricted, but portability can suffer.

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These decisions are almost always a compromise somewhere. You could wait for the "perfect" keyboard - that debate rages on this forum at regular intervals!

As I said at the begining, I'm a "starter" in this world of arrangers and sinths.
I'm "listening to" all your preciouses replyings, that have been very useful in my researches.
At the moment, I think tat what I want is an arranger with more than 60 or 70 keys!...
Can U help me somehow in this way?
Tank you to everyone.
José Medeiros

There are essentially three flavours, in what concerns the size of the keyboard: 61 keys, 76 keys and 88 keys. Most arrangers/synths have 61 ou 76, and 88 keys are reserved to instruments with hammer (piano-like) action. So almost everything in the market meet you criteria!

-- José.