WE SAY

When I read that Casio were introducing two digital guitars (there's a non-MIDI version, the DG-10, at £225) with built-in rhythm accompaniments I mentally relegated them to Dixons and sundry toy departments. Just shows prejudging can be jolly unfair.

As it turns out the DG-20 offers, for the money, a commendably professional approach to accessing keyboard and MIDI sounds via a fretboard. And compared to 'conventional' guitar-MIDI systems, it has a significant advantage but, inevitably, demands sacrifices. One is the inability to be a real guitar as well. The other is this.

The trigger system has two elements. Underneath a rubberised fretboard membrane lie individual pitch contacts. Notes are generated by holding down and plucking equal-gauge black nylon strings attached to vibration-sensitive triggers on a plastic-covered 'bridge' unit. Because each fingerboard contact is dedicated to a specific pitch (plus the sticky combination of pinkies, nylon and rubber) bending is impossible. So forget it.

But the advantage is important. No tracking delay 'cos there's no tracking involved!

It's also a system sensitive enough to allow hammer-ons and pull-offs. Glides are no problem either. If there are occasional glitches, they're usually caused by one's fingers stopping down too close to the 'frets'. This sometimes triggers the adjacent pitch sensor.

The nylon strings feel weird and sloppy at first, and produce a fair bit of acoustic 'clack', but are obliging enough, more so for finger-style.

Selection of sounds is on a side-body panel of membrane switches. Things like Bank Select, Tempo (Mono mode) and Sustain/Reverb have their own little LEDs. The presets themselves don't. Pity.

Oddly, there isn't a Piano. What we do find are a clutch of keyboardy Acoustic/Electric guitars plus a reasonably embracing mixture of different instrument types. The organs (Jazz and Pipe) are convincing, the Glock and Harp pleasing, and the brass/woodwind presets feature delayed modulation. I like that.

There's something called a Shamisen. Translated from Nippospeak, it's like a banjo and great fun: viz, select 'Country' on yer rhythm section, apply appropriate flat-picking, and off we go like a piece of hillbilly self-play talking furniture. Love it!

Transpose can shift the whole caboodle 11 semitones — feasible in mid-flight if you want to avoid the guitar equivalent of black notes — and lends a fair extra dimension to the range of the presets. A bonus would have been the ability to transpose individual strings.

PCM for rhythms means good basic quality. The four manual drum pads, however, come dangerously close to gimmickry. They're sited OK for prodding but if used for overlaying, they faze the preset accompaniment.

Lastly, the Mute button... This serves two functions. It can either stop a sustained sound dead in its tracks (useful at the end of a number) or, if your little finger can hold it down whilst you're picking, will make sounds pizzicato.

DECISION

The DG-20, for all its semi portable keyboard ancestry, is not a toy. With instantaneous triggering it is, in many ways, more player friendly than other guitar-MIDI devices I've tried. And cheaper.

The sounds are every-day usable and OK even through a normal guitar combo. The on-board speaker is fine for rehearsal, and an uncomplicated MIDI spec at least opens the door to all that wonderful sound layering stuff.

CASIO DG-20 DIGITAL GUITAR £279

Casio, (Contact Details)