Specifications

Answer: Yes, but it won’t sound anywhere near as good if you have used XG properly. The
fact is that XG has way more effects and controllable parameters than any of the other GM
synths and GS synths out on the market.
415 Question: Will the files I create on the SW1000XG playback on other XG devices?
Answer: For this please use XGEDIT, which has options to save MIDI files as XG level 1. This
way, you are guaranteed that what you will hear is what the other person with a lower spec XG
unit will hear.
416 Question: How do I edit and save an XG Voice?
Answer: Two easy ways. One is to buy a full copy of XGEDIT or XGworks from the Yamaha
online shop; the other is to learn as much as possible about sysex, using some of our
guidebooks which are free to download from the software pages, and just save the edited voice
in the event list of your sequencer application.
417 Question: Knowing that the SW1000XG is not a games card, what if I wish to use the XG
MIDI sounds in a game whilst using the SoundBlaster I may also have for the wave playback?
Answer: Just assign the MIDI playback in your multimedia properties (win95 games only) to
SW1000XG MIDI/synth and all should be well. But why you want to use an expensive pro card
for games is beyond us!
418 Question: Will Yamaha notify me of updates via the online registration system set up on its
pro audio and Waveforce pages?
Answer: As and when the SW1000XG registration online system comes about, users will be
automatically notified when they have registered. Until this point, your warranty card (if
contained in the package in your country) is the registration document.
419 Question: What is the amount of hard disk space used by a hard disk recording system at
CD quality?
Answer: A good guide for reference is that at 44.1kHz/16-bit resolution, one minute of audio
in stereo takes up approx. 10.5mb of space.
420 Question: What happens if I exceed the 64 voice poly count on the SW1000XG?
Answer: Dynamic voice allocation will kick in and voices with highest priority will play, whilst
those with lower priority will cut off (happens on all synths).
421 Question: Will I benefit from using a SCSI hard disk with the SW1000XG?
Answer: As with anything to do with HDR on the PC, get as fast a system as you can. The
DSP’s on the SW1000XG will handle the audio path and effects side, while the on board CPU
takes the load off your host CPU for many other functions. If your hard drive is old and slow (or
you are committing the cardinal sin of HDR and trying to use your boot drive for audio) then on
your own head be it, as the system performance will drop.
422 Question: Is ULTRA DMA ok then?
Answer: Same as above. Good fast drives are a must for serious HDR work.
423 Question: What are the main benefits of the PCI buss (in a more technical slant)?
Answer: PCI is a buss which is independent of the CPU, giving the ability to cope with more
devices, so it’s more suited to cross-platform work. It is time multiplexed, meaning that address
and data lines share connections. It has its own burst mode that allows one address cycle to be
followed by as many data cycles as system overheads allow. At nearly one word per cycle, the
potential is 264 Mb/sec. It can operate up to 33 MHz, or 66 MHz with PCI 2.1 and can transfer
data at 32 bits per clock cycle so you can get up to 132 Mbytes/sec (264 with 2.1). Each PCI
card can perform up to eight functions, and you can have more than one buss mastering card
on the bus. The PCI chipset handles transactions between cards and the rest of the system,
and allows other buses to be bridged to it Not all of them are equal, though; certain features,