Hi DNJ,
Every buttons and slider of vArranger can be controlled by a wireless PC KEYboard, or by a MIDI KEY, MIDI slider/knob, MIDI pedals... or even a PC wireless Joystick.
I still prefer to gig with a stand alone arranger KB, because my playing is changing sounds and variations 10 times a minute,
but when I gig with vArranger, I feel comfortable after some minutes of playing.
What I really prefer on vArranger, is that :
we can EDIT every thing on a big screen, and save a full registration in a click of a button.
You can create new layered sounds very easily.
In live situation, you then just recall everything by loading your style : The Right hand sound/ LH sound + style mixer + your 10 favorites sounds going well with the style + Displaying JPG score + some chords riff associated to that song that you can ON/OFF at any time.
The layout of the software is better than any hardware arranger
that I tried.
I am usually using a touch screen PC on gigs, so I can change styles directly with my finger on the screen.
The songs management is very easy
There is a nice SEARCH feature. Very cool when you need to find a song or a style in a second.
The SONG CHORDS feature is also amazing to create backing tracks very easily, or if you want to sometimes SOLO with Full Keyboard, while vArranger is changing the chords for you. Here a screenshot
http://www.varranger.fr/vforum/index.php?topic=218.0The MIDIFILE + KARAOKE + MP3 player, is cool too.
vArranger is still NOT perfect, and will not replace Hardware arrangers, but you can GIG with it, enjoy playing music with it, and do some cool things that you can't do with hardware arrangers.