They’ve all git unique strengths and weaknesses, but there’s one area that all could improve on… control of external gear. Nowadays, whatever types of sounds each one of us need that aren’t fully provided by the standalone arranger can always come from a tablet or small PC/Mac. Need great church organ sounds? Want better lead guitars? Saxes? Strings? Analog synths?
There’s an app for that!
But few arrangers make selecting and controlling external gear easy. All those sliders, buttons etc., few of them can be used to control an external module or sound source. User definable buttons and faders is one of the easiest things to implement, yet seems to be deliberately avoided by arranger design teams. I suppose each of them is utterly convinced that what THEY made is perfect all by itself..! Sadly, none of them are.
Tablets are the perfect way to fill in those little gaps in each arranger’s soundset, but the manufacturers sure aren’t making it easy!
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An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!