The Performance patch's default setting is the full four-piece section, in polyphonic mode, i.e. all notes played will each sound all four instruments playing a sustained articulation in unison. This has four velocity-switched dynamic layers, the highest layer being a forte/piano/crescendo articulation, 'FoPiCre', a strongly accented note that subsides very quickly and swells back to a zippy crescendo. This can also be effective for playing very short, accented notes. When held a fraction longer and released just before the crescendo begins, it provides a natural-sounding timbral decay for non-marcato short notes. A number of alternative highest-velocity articulations are selectable from a drop-down menu, with a choice of rips (flurried slurs up to a sustained note); grace notes (short, semitone upward slurs); shakes (energetic, 'jazz hand' trills); staccatissimo (very short stabs); marcato (emphatic notes of around one beat in length); and 'FoPiCre Time', a variation of FoPiCre that syncs the sample length to the host DAW's tempo. These alternative articulations can be disabled, in which case the sustained articulation plays an additional double-forte sustained layer at the highest velocities. However, only one of the high-velocity articulations can be active at a time, since none of SH's drop-down menu choices can be selected via MIDI control. There are plenty of unused keys at the low end of the keyboard layout, so the decision not to make them selectable via keyswitches is an odd one. Doits and falls are also possible, but these are accessed by a different method, discussed later.

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