If a part of the music played on the keyboard is automated by styles or even midi files ( which I try to avoid), it is not too obvious for the audience. But a pre-recorded singer immediately reveals to everybody in the audience that it is no live music but playback. So people will ask why not save the money and play disks instead. Only attentive musicians in the audience would appreciate that the accompaniment is played live, so this idea will have no chance.

In today's high tech world the listening and watching audience is so confused worldwide not only with music, but in film, photography, TV, Etc,Etc,Etc. and has become complacent but still enjoying it. The world still has older people when there wasn't all this stuff mixed in with the younger generation who embraces today's technology from birth. But, Once the elders are gone from the baby boom age I'm afraid it will be an
"All Out" anything goes atmosphere musically,......
most of us wont be around to see it.

The audience accepted to hear a complete Orchestra which was not
there .
A whole Orchestra or a whole Band invisible . The opposite case,
just one person ( the singer ) invisible is just a small step .
People will be happy to see the musicians working on stage , they
will understand how music is made . It was forgotten .
The audience will like it , they will be amused .
For some of them it will be the first time they see a Trombone or an Accordion , a muted Trumpet , a Clarinet or a Keyboard.
You offer them a new view on music !
The audience will accept everything when you show this to them on the right way .
As I said before I have seen it on a Jazz Festival in Vienna.
Gilberto Gil and his band played so good that nobody in the audience had a problem with the invisible female singer .

It might pass in a jazz venue where the emphasis is on the musicians playing & vocals take a back seat,....but I dont see how it could be accepted on most commercial venues.

The audience already accept no performers on stage at all... it's called DJ-ing.

Thing is, at this point, the LAST person on stage the audience is willing to allow to be automated is the singer. Personally, I think you are completely deluded if you think this is a trend.

It is bad enough when you have a singer singing to recorded tracks.Playing arrangers to recorded singer is 10x worse.What is the point?? All of the arrangers now days play mp3s.Just do it dj style and you are off much better.

I'm a singer... My wife is a singer. I program my own tracks because that's what I do. I playback MIDI files that I create and WAV files from MIDI files completed on other keyboards in my studio. I create the tracks I use... Never purchased or built from an arranger. I never use the general MIDI sounds of a workstation... I use the best sounds at the time. I've been doing this for over 20 years. My audience appreciates the mix of song selections, the quality of the music, and the talent of our voices. I work as a solo and duo act.

It takes talent to sing songs from a broad base. So, people don't think any less of our act because we use tracks. I play overtop of most the songs with piano or a solo sound. I also play live piano to prove to the audience I know how to play. We always get positive comments on our voices and our theme.

I could record my wife's vocals when she can't make a gig... But I don't for the reasons stated in this topic. I could build it into the act in a nice way but that doesn't work for me or the audience we built.

Pre recorded vocals don't work for us... but pre recorded files created by me in the studio works for us.

To be honest there is talent in DJ'ing otherwise it wouldn't be so popular and it = record sales off the hook $$$$$ for so many artists music they play their work worldwide.It's just another art form which is on the increase year after year.

Johnathan, but you still sing live.And that is the point here.It's lots of work , but I am sure it sounds great live.One thing that would not work for me is being spontanious.You can only play songs that you preprogrammed And that is what I like about live music.Trust me playing arranger is not better than what you do.But, non of it can compare to live band playing