It seems like this arranger/home/pro instrument discussion has become a hot topic for many on this forum. I will be the first to admit that talent and ability and proficiency are the most important aspects of being a musician. As Cassp has shown by posting the link to the video of the Casio player, the instrument matters very little.

To all who think that arrangers are home instruments and not professional, perhaps they should remember that pianos are home instruments. Here is a quote from Wikipedia about the Hammond organ, "Hammond intended his invention to be a substitute for pipe organs, a replacement for the piano in middle-class homes, and for use by radio stations."

There you have it, pianos and Hammond organs are home instruments. Go ahead and tell Steve Winwood and Ferrante and Teicher that they are playing "home instruments".

One of the best jazz guitar players in Detroit used to play on a plastic guitar that he purchased from Montgomery Wards, and many played on amps purchased at Sears. I guess that makes them non professional players because Sears marketed their instruments to the "home" user

The last job I played was a trio job, drums, keys and trumpet. I used my G70 and my PK-5 pedals and never once turned on the arranger. I will play solo this Sunday at my mom's nursing home and use the arranger 100% of the time. My "home" keyboard is very versatile and that is the key for most of us.

It's not the tool you use but how you use it.

Tom

I agree wholeheartedly, Tom...there are quite a few on this forum making a living playing "home keyboards".

A talented person playing a home arranger or a talented person playing a concert grand piano is still a talented person.

I've also seen formidably mediocre players hold their audience spellbound, and technically proficient musicians turn an audience off completely...so it's not always musical technique that is working, but just how effective the player is at connecting to the listener.

Ian

Hi Guys - You're so right! I have worked a lot of conventions and from my perspective, what they want is entertainment and atmosphere. I have worked by myself as well as w/balloon twisters and fortune tellers within 100 feet of me. One of the conventions I am doing will have two massage tables and a caricature artist going. Many groups could opt for a DJ, but my experience has been that a live musician tends to enhance the atmosphere.

In the past, many of the folks I worked with in duos and trios either used mini-disks which they created from midi files (reliant on the quality of the sound card used when the mini-disks were recorded), or played midi files directly from a laptop, often with a 'less than optimum' sound card. With the arrangers, we have access to considerably better sounds as well as the ability to make the songs our own and to have complete control over where the song is going to go.

Arrangers have given me an advantage. They make me more marketable and a more versatile musician.

Randy


[This message has been edited by saxxman (edited 04-18-2008).]

Right on Tom!

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

Kudos for arrangers I just finished up 8 jobs in 2 days and landed a monthly $$ booking doing all live arranger playing and singing. The PA800 is nothing short of a PRO keyboard.

Playing current Arrangers gives me much more versatallity then playing synths. With an arranger i have so much more freedom, i can reapeat a chorus as many times as i want. I can do things that a true synthplayer can only do with a full backup band....how about some nice improvisation....

I play in a Duo myselves, with a drummer that follows my Midi drums and whose main purpose is singing and filling up the stage... (most arranger players in Holland play in duo's)

Arrangers, espescially the top of the line products are the most versatile instruments on earth...and i still don't get why Deejay's don't use them on the stage yet....

It's a good general point, but don't forget that many modern sequencers, and especially those in arrangers, have Markers you can drop into SMFs, to allow you to restructure them, on the fly.

Want an extra chorus... no problem. Want a totally different vamp from the tune? no problem... just program the vamp well after the end of the song. Jump to it. Jump back when you want. It is NOT like it used to be....

Oh, and don't get me started about the fact that an arranger FORCES you to use your LH to pay the chords ALL THE TIME.

Kiss using that LH for anything goodbye!

Both systems have their strengths, but don't for one minute think that it is entirely a one way street. You have to give up SOMETHING, no matter which system you use...

Hi Tom
Your definition of home is certainly unique, While there are a few pipe organs in private homes (As I understand the definition of home) 99.9% are in Concert Halls, Theatres, Churches, Colleges etc, and I don’t think these would classed as homes.
Or am I missing something

Bill

Another endless road to nowhere. Seems to me there are two camps; one that feels very defensive about having their expensive toy classified as a 'home' instrument, and another that doesn't really give a cr-p how someone else classifies it. Put me down for the latter.

chas