Actually, in REAL live music, you have no control over the chords. There’s a bass player, a guitarist, maybe a horn section, and unless the chord structure is agreed upon before you play, it’s a train wreck.

And, no offense, but if you are limited to one finger chords, your ability to use complex substitute changes is essentially zero. Look, you either play a song with its actual changes, or you decide to play it differently. Either way, you set yourself a set of changes you want to solo or sing over. And repeat them each verse and chorus. So, whether you are inputting the chords yourself, or playing them in live once then looping them, or programming them in advance in different segments and triggering the segments as needed, you are still getting the same chords.

Does it really matter whether it’s you playing a I-IV-V or the CS playing the I-IV-V? If you want a I-IV-V,that is... Don’t forget, with a CS, at any time you feel like deviating from the song’s ‘normal’ changes, you can switch off the CS and input alternate chords, then switch it back on again. This isn’t an audio backing or an SMF. It’s just an extra LH. That you have full control of.

I realize that if your LH is limited to one finger chords, you may not realize how much your LH can add to a style. But styles are repetitive. There are a myriad things you can do to add alternate voicings, rhythms, comping, counter-melodies with your LH to completely alter the feel of a style backing, to the point where you can turn off just about everything but the bass and drums.

Now, I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel FAR more ‘in control’ of what’s coming out of the speakers than being only in control of what chord the pre-canned backing is playing, and only being able to change those chords at the risk of not actually playing the song you are trying to.

Bottom line, as useful as the feature is, you passed on it because of the complexity of setting it up, having to lug two arrangers around to use it, and the lack of interactivity the way you were doing it. And I don’t blame you! But that’s not how they work when implemented properly. They are an OPTIONAL extra hand when you want to either use the bender a lot, play alternate chords or dissonant chords without freaking out the chord recognition, play another instrument, walk out front and sing, whatever you feel like.

Without giving up on styles.

Personally, I don’t give a rats whether my backing is a style, a style driven by a CS, an SMF or an audio backing. And neither does my audience. But I DO care when decades of practice and experience are reduced to rote boring chord input by one of my hands when it is capable of SO much more! 🎹😎