Chapter 2: A Brief Outline Of Xg, System Exclusive Data, Controllers And What It All Means To The Sw1000Xg - Yamaha SW1000XG Advanced Manualbook

Chapter 2
A brief outline of XG, system exclusive data, controllers and
what it all means to the SW1000XG.
As we discussed in chapter 1, the SW1000XG is a multi function card that is in summary the following.
1: A multi channel digital hardware mixer
2: A multi channel multi effects processor
3: A 48-channel MIDI interface
4: A comprehensive and expandable hardware synthesiser
5: A digital interface adapter
If you think that only a few years ago, buying a multi-channel digital mixer could cost several thousand dollars, and
add to that 6 independent 24 bit effects processors, a synth, a MIDI interface, and everything else the SW1000XG
can do, you begin to realise why it won so many awards including soundcard/hardware product of the year in 1999.
The key to the SW1000XG however is in the software used to control it. Without software it is pretty much just a plain
and simple soundcard. Luckily Yamaha provide almost all the software tools you will ever need free with the card in
the form of XGWorks (Windows 95 only as of time of writing). However we also recognise that many of you have your
own favourite bits of software, and wish to carry on using them. This chapter begins by explaining just how the
SW1000XG is controlled, and covers the basics behind XG, MIDI and all of those mysterious words that you hear
'tech types' come out with.
So what is MIDI?
Many books have covered this subject in far more depth than we will. Needless to say that if you don't understand
MIDI, then why have you bought the most powerful MIDI-card in the World? MIDI is a communications standard that
all musical instrument manufacturers agreed to support in the early part of the 1980s. It defines a way of 2 or more
devices communicating with each other, such as a drum machine and a keyboard for example. There are many
levels to the MIDI standard, needless to say the SW1000XG is conversant with all the good ones including the
General MIDI standard, The GS standard, and the XG standard. XG is Yamaha's approach to the limitations of the
original GM spec.
The Yamaha XG format is basically a set of rules describing how a tone generator will respond to MIDI data. The
current GM (General MIDI) format is a similar concept, allowing GM music data to be reproduced accurately on any
GM tone generator from any manufacturer. GM, however, applies only to a limited set of parameters. XG significantly
expands on the basic GM format, providing many more voices, voice editing capability, effects, external input, and
other features that contribute to enhanced musical expression. And since XG is totally upwardly compatible with GM,
GM data can be accurately reproduced on any XG tone generator.
The whole basis behind the XG system revolves around 3 key concepts
1. Compatibility
XG data will play accurately on any XG tone generator. And, since XG is upward compatible with GM, GM data will
play accurately on any XG tone generator.
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