Yamaha SW1000XG and PLG100DX

[Seraphim]

How much did these items cost when they came out in 1998?

What level XG was the SW1000XG? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_MIDI_standards

Also, what file format was used to write songs for the PLG100DX and what DAW software could be used?
Could it playback cmf or sbi files?

Note, the PLG100DX is supposed to match the sound of the DX-7.

 

[frankmusik]

I just found that old thread ...

I sold the SW1000GX new in 1998 for 639 Euros ...

BUT .. it is hard to find a Motherboard and System using this old "card" :-(

YES the 100DX was the DX-7 Sound as daughterbord also sold from me in 1998 for 280.- Euro ..

greetings frank

 

[John Garside]

How much did these items cost when they came out in 1998?

What level XG was the SW1000XG? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_MIDI_standards

Also, what file format was used to write songs for the PLG100DX and what DAW software could be used?
Could it playback cmf or sbi files?

Note, the PLG100DX is supposed to match the sound of the DX-7.

Hmmm! As I recall around 530 dollars, maybe 450 pounds.
I think it was XG level 2, 32 channels across 2 ports.
It and the PLG1000-DX daughter board was played using standard MIDI files or the special XG format files (.xgw) via Yamaha's XGworks software.
The 1000XG came with XGworks version 2.
No, it couldn't play cmf or sbi files. It was programmed by embedding loads of MIDI SysEx messages into the MIDI file.
XGworks had the messages embedded within it. There was a separate XG Editor program.
Yes, the PLG100DX is essentially a DX-7, but much quieter (less hiss) and, as I recall 8 operators and more algorithms.

 

[Seraphim]

Is it possible to set up DOSBox to use a DX-7 keyboard to play back the game music for a Soundblaster soundcard by connecting it to your computer via an M-Audio Uno? Will it work?

 

[Fred Coulter]

Is it possible to set up DOSBox to use a DX-7 keyboard to play back the game music for a Soundblaster soundcard by connecting it to your computer via an M-Audio Uno?

I would hold off on the idea of using a stock DX7 as a controller. The issue is that the DX7 did not send velocity over 100 through MIDI. I think this was addressed with the DX7II, and with the Grey Matter add in card. But a stock DX7, while a wonderful instrument to own, was not the best controller in the world. (Hey, it dates back to the beginning of MIDI. It's impressive it did as much as it did.)

 

[Seraphim]

I don't want to use it as a controller, I want to use it as a playback device.

 

[Fred Coulter]

That's different. The DX7 only played one sound at a time. There are plenty of sound generators available (both as soft synths inside your computer and as external sound modules) which can produce 16 sounds simultaneously.

Do you have a DX7 lying around that you want to use?

 

[Seraphim]

External FM synthesizers for the PC are nonexistent - the only ones ever related to PC audio were the Yamaha DX-7 and the Yamaha DX-21.

 

[Seraphim]

External FM synthesizers for the PC are nonexistent - the only ones ever related to PC audio were the Yamaha DX-7 and the Yamaha DX-21.

I should say there were no external FM synthesizers that were intended for the PC. The only internal ones are the IBM Music Feature card (obsolete ISA bus) and the Yamaha PLG100DX (rare, obsolete drivers). I am thinking that the DX-21 and DX-7 or DX-7II are fine substitutes for these lostech items. Also, I want to see if the DX-7 renders MIDI intended for Soundblaster soundcards correctly using DOSbox and an M-Audio Uno.

 

[happyrat1]

I did once own a Yamaha DX-27S a loooooong loooooong time ago back in the dark ages and I had it hooked up to an Atari 1040ST via the built in MIDI ports on the Atari.

If I recall it was multi timbral and could quite easily play typical MIDI files.

Not sure about the DX-7 though.

Gary

 

[Fred Coulter]

The DX7 was not multitimbral. The DX7II was, sortof. If you got the Grey Matter E! board for the DX7II, you ended up with a fully multitimbral keyboard. Of course, it had serious polyphony limitations. People nowadays complain about the Kronos polyphony. Can you imagine a 16 channel synth with 16 note polyphony?

The DX27 was not a six operator synth, so the sounds would not have been as complex as those created on the DX7. (The DX27 had a tape interface for saving sounds. My Commodore 64 used a tape, too. Ancient technology.)

There were expansion modules available that duplicated the original DX7 sound. First, the TX7, which I saw Emmett Chapman use with his MIDIed Stick. And if you were interested in rack mounts, there was the TX816, which consisted of 8 separate DX7 modules in a rack. (You could buy few modules if you didn't have enough cash on hand, then expand as you got more cash.) I went to a Yamaha demo in which they used one to create a (for the time) killer piano sound. They used one module just to replicate the sound of the hammer hitting the strings, before there was a recognizable note, then each of the strings, etc. You use eight 6 operator synths, and you can create a very realistic sound.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I don't know if you've ever seen "The Adventures of Mark Twain," a Claymation masterpiece from Will Vinton which I heartily recommend. Anyway, I borrowed a scene from it and changed the words a bit:

Huck: "I guess those must be the good ol' days everybody's always talking about!"

Tom: "What's 'the good ol' days'?"

Twain: "A time that everybody wants to talk about but nobody wants to go back to."