Those of you who read my recent editorial on the shortcomings of using a sampler to imitate "real" instruments will already be familiar with my thoughts on the subject (see MT, June '91). Briefly, while it's easy to copy the sound of almost any instrument, being able to produce a convincing performance of most instruments ranges from difficult to bloody impossible.

One of the least sampler-friendly instruments around has to be the guitar - apart from the range of guitars around and the variety of sounds they are capable of making, guitarists employ such a range of techniques in the delivery of those sounds that a sampler soon starts to look like a very inadequate alternative to the real thing. But while keyboard players remain keyboard players and guitarists (largely) remain power-crazed animals, there's going to be a demand for guitar sounds which are divorced from their parent instrument.

One fresh source of guitar samples takes the form of HitSounds' Guitar sample CD - a stylishly-presented collection of electric and acoustic guitar sounds.

The disc opens with a couple of demo songs almost exclusively comprised of the sounds to be found on Guitar. They're interesting in their own right and do serve to demonstrate how the sounds might be applied, but I could live without them. Moving on to the real business, tracks three to 12 are the sort of stuff you'd expect to find on a CD of guitar samples. Taken from an unidentified Fender electric (probably a Strat) and a Gibson Les Paul they offer a very useful range of sustained, damped and bent notes, divebombs, harmonics, powerchords and so on. Track 13, however, gives you the first indication that Guitar might be something more than a competent collection of guitar sounds. Here, and in the next two tracks, you're offered a selection of riffs, scales and playing "effects" that underline the difference between a guitar and a sampled substitute.

More "conventional" samples follow, this time from a clean Strat - harmonics, bends, harmonic bends, unison bends, pulloffs, major chords, minor chords, sevenths... You can't say that the HitSound team have been shy of the variety of sounds a guitar will produce.

Nor have they stopped at the sounds of the guitar itself, as tracks 26-28 offer us a bite at that fashionable item, the wah-wah guitar. It's a Strat again, this time playing a variety of "wah-ed" rhythms including a rather effective Motown rhythm. This takes us neatly into some straight rhythm work on tracks 29-34. While it's hardly exhaustive, a useful variety of chords in characteristic inversions are available. Incidentally, the documentation for all the rhythmic samples gives its tempo (in bpm) along with details of the chords.

The pace hots up still further with a large selection of licks and rhythms being found in track 35. If you're into sampling "musical events" as well as straight notes, there's surely something for you here - from C&W to James Brown and a lot of less readily categorised stops in between.

The disc's final ten tracks (excluding the 1kHz slate tone on the last track) are given over to acoustic guitar sounds. Again the conventional approach to sampling is catered for with some rich notes and pulls, and so are the more exotic requirements of the adventurous samplist. If you're looking for something as simple (but effective) as a 12th fret harmonic strike or something as unlikely as a flash of flamenco, you may well find it here. Some of the rhythmic chordal work (again presented in a variety of chord progressions) has to be heard to be appreciated. The clever balance of good-sounding but not musically dominating playing found here is a tribute to the musical insight of the HitSound MD.

That's a general run down of Guitar, but what's it actually like to sample and use? The short answer is "remarkably difficult" - but that's not the bad reflection on the disc that you'd expect. Far from it; it's the thoroughness and sheer variety of guitar sounds that make up Guitar that present the problem. If you simply want to make a high-quality guitar sample or two to add to your sample library (most notes and chords are presented as chromatic series' with anything from 10-20 multisamples to choose from), then the job is comparatively easy. However, to let it rest there would be a grave mistake. There's such a range of sounds, and HitSound have tried so hard to keep your options wide open that it would be a crime not to explore some of the more idiosyncratic material on Guitar. Then there are the possibilities opened up by creative sampling - by accident I had a (seriously out of range) divebomb playing back a synth pad part with devastating results. What's more, it wasn't an effect I could accurately have predicted without trying it. I can't recommend too strongly that there's a lot to be gained by experimenting with the sounds on this disc.

If you're looking for a quick musical return from a sample CD, I'd give Guitar a miss. If, on the other hand, you're serious about guitar samples and the incredible amount of "humanisation" they can bring to a sampled or synthesised piece of music, then Guitar deserves some careful consideration. When I first slotted this disc into my CD player I was expecting to find a professional collection of guitar samples capable of bringing an important instrument further into my music. I wasn't expecting to find a wealth of sounds that stretched so far beyond what can be done with the guitar itself or a useful resource of licks that can bring fresh musical inspiration with them. Handle with care: highly recommended.

Price £35 including VAT.

More from The Advanced Media Group, (Contact Details).