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You may also set the length of the pattern (up to 32 steps) and velocity of the individual steps. Usefully, you can have two sequences per groove patch and these are mapped to different parts of the keyboard, for easy variations.

But as great as the sequencer is, it does have its limitations. One of our main gripes is that, despite having a Swing control, there's no way to apply your own quantisation grid to RG, and it can sound a little 'robotic' as it comes. Some randomisation of timing/velocity would be nice, to add that human factor.

However, what we'd really like to see in future versions is a way of sending MIDI notes into RG and using these as the individual note triggers - enabling the user to define the groove quantise manually - not to mention an 'export groove to MIDI' function.

There are a number of complicating barriers to this suggestion, though, so we can't bring ourselves to criticise the omission of such functionality on the first version of the plug-in.

Amps, effects and more

In addition to all this, there's a no-nonsense Amp panel, a five-band EQ and a Modulation section with two slots for setting up your own modulation routings, which will please more advanced users. There are 33 sources and 22 destinations – you can, for instance, have a row of the sequencer control the Filter LFO Speed, or effects mix, and so on.

Speaking of effects, there are 22 of 'em, and you can use three at once (in series, similar to how you'd connect up guitar stompboxes). Standard offerings include delay (two types), reverb, chorus, flanger, phaser, distortion and compression.

There are some tailored to guitar, too, such as an amp and cabinet simulators and wah-wahs. Most of these processors are good, although tone hounds may prefer to use a separate guitar effects plug-in.

Effects that are not so typical for guitar processing include multimode filtering, ensemble, a bit/sample-rate degrader, waveshaper, 'multidistort' (this offers many types of distortion), stereo widener, autopanner, and – yes! – a trance gate. There's even a dedicated FX mod matrix. You can generate 'guitar-ish' parts that slot neatly into more electronic styles, in a way that real guitar playing generally doesn't.

The irony, of course, is that to get the most convincing results from RG, you need a pretty good grasp of guitar playing to begin with. The same can be said of just about every emulation of a real instrument, though, so it's not fair to judge RG harshly for this.

Of course, Rob Papen might argue that it can do things that you can't do with a guitar and that it adds a new dimension to conventional guitar riffery, but that's probably not going to wash with your average strummer.

Non-guitarists will find some things to criticise too. Sure, it has a variety of presets and you can customise the sequences, but the real value of RG lies in non-guitarists being able to sit down and quickly generate in-key riffs or inspirational loops.

However, the scope for instant and ever-varying satisfaction is, ultimately, limited, as the plug-in does impart a distinct sound and vibe to your productions. You can't load your own sounds into it, either, and there's currently no indication as to whether there will be expansion packs in future.

Summary

We like RG, but be sure to give the downloadable demo a whirl first to see if this really is the product for you. If you don't play guitar and need rhythmic riffing to go, then we think RG is a fantastic idea that sounds great.

And as if to prove this point, within two weeks of installing it, we'd used it on no less than two remixes and two original tracks. After all, making music is what it's all about, right?

Can RG do rhythm guitar? Decide for yourself: