The unique thing about articulated sounds (as in the case of the SN guitars) is not so much the switch triggered effects (although I am glad they aren’t triggered by velocity like so many other keyboards… I want a harmonic or a mute when I want it, not when the keyboard tells me I must have it!), it’s its ability to tell when you are playing solo lines and when you are playing chords, and on the fly, adjust the legato/monophonic behavior of the sound.

Guitars are unique instruments… each separate string is a monophonic source, only capable of one note at a time, but there’s six of them capable of playing a chord! Roland’s SN guitars can tell when you are playing single note lines, and make sure there’s no overlap between notes, but the minute you finger two or more, it ceases this behavior. So, play a chord, then a line, there’s a distinct difference between them.

There’s also a good hammer-on/off detection, that notices if you play within a whole step a quick grace note, and changes the sample to either a half or whole note hammer-on/off sample. This is different to most other arrangers, where hammer-ons (and usually no hammer-offs exist) are triggered by playing harder. Trouble is, what do you do when you want to play hard with no hammer-on?!

Lastly, although the effect is subtle, if you sustain and play a chord, you get a slight fast strum, and if you hold the sustain down and repeat the chord, you get alternate down an up strums!

Basically, that’s all you need to do some utterly convincing guitar stuff, as long as you know how to voice guitar playing pretty decently. I have played most everything at one time or another (still waiting to see a Genos, though!) and I’ve never played ANYTHING that even comes close to translating my playing into believable guitar articulation..!

Take a listen to my War/George Benson piece and see what you think on this forum for jazz/electric work, and Blackbird for acoustics…

I don’t think I’ve posted anything yet where I run the jazz/electric through a rock amp and effects and rock my brains out… Maybe I’ll go look for some Pink Floyd to demonstrate it. It always brings a huge smile to my face!

Kudos to Roland for including these sounds on their final arranger. I only wish for more! Imagine a really good Strat or Les Paul and those modeled amp sims!