A question about YAMAHA XG

[Captain]

Dear MIDI Experts,

I don't know much about soundcards so forgive my ignorant questions. What I am is a musician who is dearly in love with the sounds generated by the one particular Yamaha card. The card in question was, I believe, simly called an XG card. The letters OPL3 might have been associated with it, but I think - judging by the MIDI samples on your site - that the card dated from a later time than the one you have emulated so beautifully.

This card produced - among other things - the nicest bass sound and sweetest piano keyboard sounds I've heard. I've downloaded and bought lots of synths and soundfonts - none do I like so much as the one this Yamaha card producted.

The sad thing is that the card won't fit in my current computer, nor will it fit in any other newer computer. The slot sizes have changed.

What I'm wondering is has anyone produced:

1. A cable that would allow me to patch the card to my current machine. (I"ve been told NO by computer stores, but what do they know about hobbiests????)

2. A soundfont of those wonderful sounds? (I haven't been able to locate one.)

3. A software or firmware recreation of that card.

Any help or info would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks,

The Captain

[TK.]

Hi,

I guess that you mean the DB50XG card from Yamaha, this was a nice XG synth with some extra gimmicks, like a QS300 mode (gives you access to a huge sound library).

I built a MIDI + PSU extension cable for this card some years ago, based on schematics from the Elektor magazine. This extension allows me to use the card without PC.

I'm not able to find the (simple schematic) in the net, but this page gives the required informations: http://www.pan.no/ymahauk/html/xg_faq.htm

Pin out assignments for DB50XG/conforming to waveblaster specifications:


    * 24 - left out
    * 20 - right out
    * 1,3,5,7,9,11 - digital ground
    * 15,17,19,21,23,25 - analog ground
    * 6,10,14 - +5v
    * 18 - +12v
    * 22 - -12v
    * 4 - midi in
    * 8 - midi out
[/code]
So, you need a PSU which delivers +5V and +/- 12V
There are a lot of ground pins, two audio outputs and finally the MIDI In/Out pair, which can be handled like the MIDI In/Out of the MBHP_CORE module (6N138 optocoupler circuit at MIDI In)
Best Regards, Thorsten.

[raphael]

There was a article in the german computer magazine some years ago.

I've posted a link to this article: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=5014.msg31289#msg31289

[airmailed]

i think doepfer used the db in one of their keyboards,

i remember there was also a standalone version (in a box with midi ports etc) produced by yamaha at the time, i think it was the mu80 or something like that, mu rings a bell anyway, it might be worth hunting one down second hand for cheap..

[maniac]

'Hidden' QS300 mode works on db50XG, SW60XG (db50XG on ISA soundcard - very noisy) and MU10 (standalone module - hard to find, noisy when you use audio input).

IMHO db50xg is the best option - it offers better sound quality then sw60xg/mu10 and it's easy to make it 'standalone' ;)

db50XG does not have audio input.

Unfortunetly it's impossible to recreate QS300 sounds on MU50/80/90/100 :(