Yamaha CS2x - Manual (Page 33)

Many of the new XG voices are
variations of basic GM voices which are
stored in additional banks. Each bank is
associated with a specific type of
variation, so that voices are easy to
locate. When using an external sequencer to control the CS2x,
additional banks are selected by the appropriate Bank Select LSB
(Least Significant Bit) and MSB (Most Significant Bit) values.
The XG format also supports a full SFX bank of extension effects,
which are selected by a Bank Select MSB value of 40H and LSB
0H.
What’s more, the XG format also offers high level effects support,
enabling control of effects types, circuit operation, plus internal
parameter settings for both basic and elaborate effects. This
means you can freely control the parameters of the CS2x’s 12
Reverb, 14 Chorus and 62 Variation types of effects
independently using an external sequencer.
The CS2x also features another play mode — TG300B mode —
which lets you play back commercially available MIDI files in
this format.
For more information about MIDI and MIDI related parameters,
see page 72. Also see the separate “Data List” book.
General MIDI System Level 1 (GM) was
created in order to standardize the voice
assignments for 128 normal voices plus
drums, so that songs created in the GM
format would play back exactly as the
composer intended regardless of the tone generator
manufacturer — as long as the device supported the GM
standard as marked with the GM logo. These days virtually all
electronic musical instruments and software-based music and
game products support the GM standard.
GM is not without its limitations, however, which is why Yamaha
created the XG format which maintains full compatibility with
the basic MIDI and GM standards, while at the same time
significantly increasing the range of expressiveness possible
through much greater control over voice modifications and
effects, plus provides for many more normal and drum voices to
be available for use.
XG Operation
XG represents the current state-of-the-art in multitimbral MIDI
technology. In the early days of MIDI, it was very difficult to take
music data created using one particular sequencer and play it
back on another because the instruments assigned to the different
parts were different for each maker and even individual
composer. This meant that when different musicians came
together with their varied MIDI instruments and music data, it
required literally hours and hours of painstaking MIDI channel
and other reassignment and checking operations before the
music session could even begin! Thankfully those nightmare days
are long gone.
Multi Play In
Performance Mode
While Multi Play mode is ideal for recording and playback of 16-
part compositions using the XG voices, you can also use
Performance mode for multitimbral play (using an external music
sequencer) in order to enjoy the full benefits of the broader
dimension of sound possible by the Preset or User Performances,
plus Scene switching, arpeggiated chords and all of the SOUND
CONTROL knobs.
To demonstrate how you can get the biggest benefits from the
CS2x’s multitimbral capabilities, we show you how to put its
MIDI parameter control features into practical use by describing
a few basic operations when using the CS2x with a computer and
Yamaha’s XGworks music sequencer application, a truly
professional level MIDI music sequencer which features
everything you’d expect from the world’s most popular music
software applications, plus the added benefit of greater ease of
access to and control over XG commands. It even accommodates
and lets you create songs in all popular formats, including as
digital audio data such as WAV files.
When the CS2x is used for Multi Play in Performance mode, the
Performance part is programmed as Part 1, and the 12 available
voice parts are programmed in Parts 5 ~ 16. Which voice is used
for each of the 12 Parts is determined by MIDI bank select,
program change and other messages recorded as data in the
sequencer tracks. (For more information, see pages 35 and 56.)
33
G
e
t
t
in
g
S
t
a
r
t
e
d
cCS2x_Basic 12/10/98 5:26 PM Page 33