Personally, sound, editing, & style wise I'm truly satisfied with what is on the market in arranger KB's TOTL/MOTL technology right now, ... Let's face it, how good do you think it's gonna get in the future that you can't already do with any of these models right now? For my needs, I can pretty much play just about any song I need to perform with what I already have, yea a few new FEATURES would make life easier but not essential using some workarounds, or would change what I can do with these amazing instruments as they are now. If they never make another arranger I could live with what is already available.
I think too much emphasis I put upon OTB sound then what can be done if you dig into the OS if needed many don't try or know how which is sad.. IMO no matter how good these instruments sound it's the player that has to make them shine, that's where the emphasis should be always. What do you think?

Arrangers have a long way to go to get up to professional standards, (Workstation, DAWs etc.) however most of the audience are perfectly happy listening to arrangers or keyboards that are 20 years old or more, (Much older in fact) due to the fact that the audience comes to hear the performer not the instrument.

Unfortunately unlike most instruments where it becomes unique to the player, a lot of arranger players sound the same as each other due to having to use a repetitive style system which stifles creative play, however those who get down and dirty with their arrangers (They get out of the habit of pressing a button and having things done for them) really show what can be done with them. (If you add a set of bass pedals and an expression pedal and really learn to use them then you really do have a formidable instrument at your disposal)

On the flip side, each player has their own ideas, so enjoy whatever you play

Bill

I fully agree with Donny. It would take one Hell of a lot of technical work to exceed what we now have to work with. Granted, there are performers out there, and a lot of them right on this forum, that make me look like I don't have any musical skills whatsoever, but as I sit here this afternoon, looking at the deep snow outside my office window and hoping for some manmade global warming to get here before I freeze to death, I'm at the age where I'm confident the keyboard I currently own sounds better than anything I could have dreamed of two decades ago when I was first introduced to arrangers. I'm constantly amazed by the wonderfully realistic sounds that it provides and how easy it makes being an entertainer. On Friday, a lady came up to me and asked if I could play song done by Ray Charles and Willie Nelson - Seven Spanish Angels. I had never performed the song before, but I have heard it while playing a Willie Nelson CD in my van while driving to and from various jobs. I had the lyrics in both my head, and in the laptop, fired up the keyboard, selected a style, hit the intro and did the song. I hit the S-950's USB Recorder button just prior to hitting the style intro, figuring I would listen to what I did and see if it was worthwhile doing again and where I could make some improvements. These alone are incredible tools that now make being an entertainer with an arranger keyboard much more fun and productive.

When I played back the recording, I quickly realized I hit a couple bad chords, but was able to quickly recognize and correct the mistakes before anyone but me noticed. The lady I performed the song for absolutely loved it and gave me a big hug and kiss at the end of the job. Attached is the recording I made on the job.

Seven Spanish Angels

Now, I fully realize my limitations as a musician. On this forum, I'm probably the least musically talented person and not afraid to admit this is likely the case. My musicianship skills are very basic, but as an entertainer who is primarily a singer, that's all I really need to get the job done. For more than a half-century I've been able keep my audiences entertained, and for the past two decades, the arranger keyboard has provided me with some of the most amazing technology that anyone could ask for. So, as Donny said, if they stopped making arranger keyboards today, I have all I need to continue as an entertainer/musician for the rest of my life.

Cheers,

Gary

I hope the manufacturers don't go overboard with the "how much can we make it do" thinking and spoil the original concept of playing songs with very good accompaniments. For me, making the accompaniments realistic and providing true sounding voices is the most important features of arrangers.

Oh yes, keep the OS systems easy to use.

Deane

I'm more than happy with the sounds of today's arrangers. However, after watching KeyBTyros' version of "One Way Ticket to the Blues" on Youtube, I am anxiously awaiting the first KB with electronics that can project (via hologram or otherwise) a set of dancers doing a dance routine on top of my KB while I play. Something like that would keep me going all night!

I agree with you Bill, all keyboards with the exception of the kronos ... And the vsts on Wersi are old technollogy...


Most arranger players dont even realise that the new technollogy has been available for some time now.... Extremely large samples with realistic effects, or virtuall instruments that sound incredibly realistic..


But then, who really cares, as the audience will not even hear the difference... Because the hi quallity output gets drowned and killed by bad soundmanagement and pa systems.

Musicians are more sensitive people then the average Joe, I feel that we are taken advantage of, due to the fact that we are brainwashed to buy the latest and greatest,and this is a sickness that we all have until the end and don't realize it. Now, saying that, I think the companies took small steps in regards to the arrangers,we are in 2014 and we only have 512 megs for sample ram? that should be like 4 gigs, by now,I have said this before, how many times can they re-invent the wheel? how many pianos do they make each year? same thing over and over. Ketron has a good concept,too expensive, but I don't understand, old technology that is not flexible to edit yourself, as far as the audio styles, I don't see anything innovative soon, the only company that is due to WOW! us would be KORG, but YAMAHA is rehashing as usual, although I always likes Roland, it looks that they are out of the game. Lionstracs had alot of features that were strong to a very good arranger, just don't know what exaclty happened with that? so, what would be an arranger in the future? my whish list? lightweight,touch screen, gigs of ram,intelligent features in the styles, audio styles and things that are not found in todays boards, that would get be to hash out so much money for another one.

The vArranger software is adding some more choice for the future

Now we can play 16 VSTi + your own SF2 samples

I am still improving the integration to make things easier, but it is a big step ahead

Sounds great... Are you also adding high quallity soundsets to mimic the sounds used by the orriginal styles...