I bought a PC from Millennium to write music on (933MHz, 256Mb RAM) with Emagic's Logic and the ES1 and EXS24 plug‑in instruments. It works well, apart from the fact that I had a Yamaha SW1000XG soundcard with it as well, so that I wouldn't need an external sound module, and Millennium didn't configure the 1000XG's sounds in Logic. Consequently, I'm stuck with the 128 bog‑standard GM sounds. I did ring them to ask, and they tried to help but said specific knowlege of the XG card in conjunction with Logic was needed. They gave me the Yamaha and Emagic support line numbers (which were fairly useless).
Could you explain how I can access all the sounds available on the soundcard (and even use the XGEdit software?) so that it was worth me spending £400 on the SW1000XG rather than £200 on a more basic card?
Stephen Wright
Peter Peck, Yamaha‑Kemble's Marketing Manager, Music Production, replies: To help you get the most from the SW1000XG, we have created a dedicated web site at www.xgfactory.com. Here you will find the latest drivers, along with lots of hints, tips and FAQs.
There are also step‑by‑step details covering how to set up the SW1000XG within various applications. Probably the most useful area to you will be the downloads section, where you will find the Advanced User Guide. This should help you through your situation. I'll briefly point you in the right direction, but please take a look at the site for more specific detail. Basically, the best way to access the extra sounds and voices on the SW1000XG from within Logic is the XGEdit software and the latest multi‑client SW1000XG driver. This will allow you to not only play back and record using the additional sounds, but also to access all the effects processors and synth editing parameters. I hope that this information helps you get the most from your SW1000XG — and thank you for your interest in Yamaha Music Production equipment.