Ron, you're putting down virtually every keyboard player currently in existence. Wendy Carlos isn't a real musician? Suzanne Ciani (a classically trained pianist whose synth work is heard in literally hundreds of commercials, songs and computer games since the 1970s) isn't a real musician? Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Keiko Matsui, Joe Zawinul,Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Tony Banks, Robin Lumley, Gary Wright, Daryl Dragon, Jon Lord, Kerry Minnear, etc. are not real musicians, eh? Son, you'd better be able to kick serious ass on your axe to make a statement like that.

A synth is just another instrument to make music with. What sets it apart from other electronic instruments is its astonishingly wide musical vocabulary. In the hands of master musician, it is an awesome thing to hear.

"And it's you who are showing ignorance--I'm surprised you are not up on recent developments-- if you don't think that musicians lose work when arrangers choose to use a synthesizer instead--which is progressively easier as the synthesizers develop more and more fidelity and range-in any number of instruments."

Name a single instance when this has happened. You can't replace a trumpet soloist with a synth in a live situation unless you can mimic one extremely well. That in itself would be an awesome achievement. You can play simple lines. Same with string sections. Background tone coloration is one thing but full orchestration requires a full orchestra. You don't just punch a button and all this prerecorded music spills out. Like any instrument, you have to play it. It would take a huge amount of expertise to imitate a Louis Armstrong trumpet solo with a synth. I don't believe it has ever been done or ever will be.

If synths replaced other musicians that easily, there wouldn't be any. You can make a synth sound like an upright bass--I do it quite a lot (even though I also own and play one) and if you're doing a simple bass line, there's nothing wrong with doing it with a synth but if you think you're going play one like Mingus or Nils Pederson, you clearly have no understanding of how a synth works, and if that is the case, why are talking about them as though you do?

"There are more and more occasions in which management can choose to not have a full stage orchestra or band, due to advances in technology.   And they do. I'm amazed you don't realize this."

Because it never happens. They use a synth when they want to use one. But the vast majority of composers will hire an orchestra when they need an orchestra. Even in the studio, it takes an extraordinary effort to simulate a full orchestra on a synth. Just trying to do a cello concerto would take months or grueling work to simulate it perfectly on a synth and it just can't happen in a live situation. The type of electronic editing required makes that impossible in real time. Believe me, Ron, I've been using synths for a very long time. They have their uses but they have their limitations.

If you say they take work away from musicians, then you might as well say the same thing about DJs. There was a time when the musicians' union went on strike because they said playing recorded music on the radio took away work from musicians. They lost the battle. Those stations that used recorded music couldn't afford to pay real musicians anyway. By the time recorded music became the norm, the entire music industry had changed and those musicians found their services in demand elsewhere--like television and movies.

"You need to do a bit more reading--and perhaps see more stage shows."

Quote me anything you've read that says that musicians are losing their livelihoods to synthesizers. As for stage shows, I don't need to see them--I've been in them.