I know I don’t understand this ‘multi’ mode on the s90 es; what makes it more difficult is this plug in board that is a pain in the b*** to get the voices off of.
In the multi mode, after the 32 ‘preset’ multis, the other 32 say ‘init multi’. What exactly are these for? And what is the purpose of the names of the first 32, when it seems all the voices change depending on which of the 16 channels it is on?

To complicate the matter, the plg100xg adds another 16 channels to the problem, with seemingly no way to hear the voices (without also hearing the first 16 from the int tone gen) without the tedious task of muting the first 16 channels.

My main question is: what is the BEST use of this plug-in board? It was the first one I got, mainly because thought the whole plug-in ‘another synth in a board’ idea was cool, but also got it because the SFX sound effects could be of some use to me. Is there any way to save the sounds & mute the first 16 & then save them in the ‘init multi’ so I can hear ( or play) just the sounds of the board?

This board seems to be the oldest of the plug-in boards (copyright stuff says 1999) so maybe it is a little outdated. Just wondering if I can get some use from it.  Thanks.

Re: difficulty w/ PLG100-XG & multi mode

There is no VOICE mode on the PLG100-XG. It is a GM/XG compatible board that is 16 part Multi-timbral - and therefore will only be useful in MULTI mode on the S90 ES. It is designed to be used on a separate MIDI port from the internal tone engine. In MIDI each PORT contains 16 MIDI channels - so you can, with an XG board address the S90 ES as a 32-PART multi-timbral tone engine. Port 1 channels 1-16, and Port 2 channels 1-16.

For example, say you are connected to your computer via USB or mLAN. MIDI communication from your DAW software that is transmitted on PORT 1 will trigger the 16 PARTS of the internal S90 ES.

You can set the PLG100-XG to Port 2 and then send tracks from your DAW on PORT 2 and address the XG board as Parts 17-32.

Press [UTILITY]
Press [F6] PLUG
Press [SF2] MIDI
Set the PLG100-XG to PORT 2

Press [STORE] to lock in your UTILITY settings.
The S90 ES will always be PORT 1
The XG board is now on PORT 2.

Hope that helps.

Re: difficulty w/ PLG100-XG & multi mode

The XG board is for those MIDI compositions where 16 voices are just not enough. It gives you an additional Yamaha synth, that is essentially accessible only via a sequencer and your computer.

You can program the board somewhat using software called XGWorks Lite, a copy of which should have come on CD with your PLG150XG.

And yes, it’s outdated, and the software is also, but there is a patch available on yamahasynths.com that will make your copy of XGWorks compatible with Windows XP.

Once you load the patch, and learn how to connect your PC to contact the PLG XG card (Bad Mister can help with this, also), you can setup a “Multi” of 16 voices for the card, and then using XGWorks, dump that data to a SysEx file. This file contains the setup for your XG card, remember, which is conceptually equivalent to a Multi on the S90ES (but is how things were done in the MIDI world in the last century :#)

Then, in your DAW program, ie, Sonar, Cubase, or whatever, you integrate that SysEx into your project and eventually the MIDI file you’re creating.

In a MIDI type 0 file, that SysEx data will be sent to the XG card before the music starts to play. (It’s a good idea to start your music in measure 2 or later to give your synth time to “digest” the sysex data before it begins to receive note data).

Re: difficulty w/ PLG100-XG & multi mode

In response to “what is the BEST use of this plug-in board?”

I think for S90ES only in YAMAHA XG format compability. PLG100XG has a “typical set” voices for XG MIDI files. Quality of sounds on PLG100XG good, except for several insignificant bugs with loops (on my board).

Re: difficulty w/ PLG100-XG & multi mode

That would be great if someone could help with my PC contacting & using the XG board. Just getting my comp running again after dumping Vista. I just got the MIDI drivers installed again so the PC will play MIDI on the S90ES.

Also, supposedly I have 16 more channels on the XG board. Is all I have to do to have 34 channels to work with instead of 16 is switch ports (1 for int tone gen, 2 for board) on the S90?  Thanks

Re: difficulty w/ PLG100-XG & multi mode

You may want to download the following PDF document: PLG100-XG: A Getting Started Guide although written for the original Motif back in 2001 - it will apply to your S90 ES - instead of SONG MIXING or PATTERN MIXING mode the S90 ES has MULTI mode, but the theory of operation is going to be exactly the same. (Unfortunately the links referenced in the article are no longer active - things change in the intervening 7 years)… but the fundamentals of working with GM/XG are outlined in the article.

Being an XG/GM module the PLG100-XG must be addressed by the sequence file where you can program and store the setup information for the board in each song file. The S90 ES will not memorize the settings of the PLG100-XG - the rules of GM will apply.

If you get stuck post back here. The board must be inserted in Slot 3 (by the way).

Re: difficulty w/ PLG100-XG & multi mode

Thank, I will give it a try; 2 more questions though.
1) What is a “SysEx” file, and how is it useful in recording?
2) How can I get the XG lite program to communicate with the XG board?
Maybe that’s 3 questions, sorry! Thanks.

Re: difficulty w/ PLG100-XG & multi mode

1) What is a “SysEx” file, and how is it useful in recording?

SysEx is short for System Exclusive messages - which can be contained in a file. System Exclusive messages are coded MIDI messages that can address a specific portion or function within a target device. A MIDI “Channel” Message, for example, is like a Modulation Wheel command (Control Change message 001) when this messages appears on a MIDI channel all receiving devices are told to respond with whatever parameter is assigned to cc001. In most cases this is typically used for musical vibrato - by changing the DEPTH of the Low Frequency Oscillator assigned to Pitch Modulation. That is a Channel Message.

A “System Exclusive Message” is much more specific. It is used to target a specific manufacturer’s product, in a very specific way. Each manufacturer can have their own set of System messages (thus the exclusivity of it).

GM and XG protocol do not have storable Voices. This is one key difference between a GM synth engine and others. For example, if you edit a Voice in the S90 ES you can STORE it to a USER bank location and recall it anytime you want. This is expensive dollar-wise when building a product.

GM modules are usually much less expensive because they do not have to include the type of memory used to store/recall User Voices. This is how come GM and XG protocol is ideal for when a small sound set is required. At one point in the 1990’s Yamaha had well over 50 million XG tone engines in the marketplace (I’m sure that number is even much, much larger now) - because these soundsets found their way into computer soundcards and small keyboards world-wide.

The way you work with GM and XG sound engines is there are PRESET sounds - which are editable via System Exclusive messages. You can address things like tuning, envelopes, filter settings, Effect selection, etc., etc., as well as using Channel messages (like mentioned above) to set things like send levels, volumes, pan position, etc., etc. etc. All of this information is typically sent from the sequencer in a setup measure placed out in front of the musical content.

Although many look down their noses at GM and XG as “non-professional” nothing is farther from the truth. It is actually quite a bit more advanced in terms of degree of difficulty than so called “professional” synthesizers. You have to begin to speak in coded messages - hexadecimal becomes your friend.

2) How can I get the XG lite program to communicate with the XG board?

Quite frankly I will have to do some research to find out if today’s computers even run XGworks… it was a Windows only program that was the basis on which Studio Manager was built. It did allow context sensitive Editors to run within it - allowing you to edit and program your hardware.

XGworks dates back to early and mid 1990’s (Windows 95) I’ll have to do some research and get back to you on whether or not it can be incorporated into anything that is still workable today. XGworks used to be provided with each PLG100-XG board - but it has been many years since I have even seen it.

I’ll let you know…

Re: difficulty w/ PLG100-XG & multi mode

I use sometimes XG Works for PLG100XG on my notebook with Windows XP. How much I remember it is necessary to update that original XG Works has earned on OS WinXP. Look at attachment…

Re: difficulty w/ PLG100-XG & multi mode

Yes, thanks. Indeed XGworks does run on Windows XP (it has been quite sometime since I have run it).