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To answer the above question about the VSC (Virtual Sound Canvas) ...
At home, linked to my desktop Mac, I have an SC55mkII, which I've been using since 1993 when it was new and has never let me down. But since aquiring an iBook and needing to create an easily "mobile" setup so I could work away from home (my fits-in-a-suitcase controller, by the way, is the excellent, versatile 24 key Oxygen 8 from Midiman), I purchased the Virtual Sound Canvas from Edirol, hoping to have the most up-to-date software equivalent of the module I love using so much.
At 50 bucks, not such a gamble, but a big disappointment, nonetheless. First of all, setting up a usable patch list is a bit of a trick, at least in Performer (see MOTU's page on using the VSC and Digital Performer). Second of all, it's really only useful as a playback device. No matter how much I upped memory on it and Performer, I still experienced latency ... a gradually increasing delay between the time I hit the keyboard and the time the sound is produced. The user disorientation at this is bad enough, but worse still, your sequencer program reads those delays as if they're intended rests.
Finally, and as importantly -- the software version just doesn't sound as good. Not even as good as the SC55mk II. Coming off your hard drive, the sounds are made flatter, harsher, and in the case of some drum kit sounds, even cheesy.
I finally broke down and bought a used Edirol SC88 VL module to add to my travel kit, and lo, not only were the problems solved ... but it sounds FANTASTIC. I don't understand the electronic or audiophonic differences between the hardware and software versions in any technical sense ... but I can tell you, you need the hardware module for anything practical. Use the VSC only for reference and convenient playback when the SC88 is not at hand. (And don't forget to change your output assignments when you do ... or create duplicate files cfonfigured to access the VSC.)
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