Maximum Polyphony

The SW1000XG can play a maximum of 64 notes polyphony at once. However, the actual number of notes that will play at any given time is determined by the number of elements in use across the 32 Parts.

For example, if you use only one-element Voices, you can achieve the full 64 notes maximum polyphony. If you use one or more two-element Voices, however, maximum polyphony will be reduced accordingly.

The SW1000XG is a last-note-priority tone generator, which means that if it receives more than 64 notes of MIDI Note data at any time, earlier (first) notes will automatically cut off to accommodate the most recent (last) incoming notes.

Part Priority

Each of the SW1000XG’s 32 Parts corresponds to each of the 32 MIDI channels. If incoming Note data exceeds the maximum polyphony, the SW1000XG will prioritize which Parts are played first, in the following order, from higher priority to lower:

Channel 10 (Drum Part), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 26 (Drum Part), 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32

Therefore, if you are creating your own music data using sequencer software, you should assign your most important Parts (such as melody and bass) to higher priority MIDI channels (i.e., lower MIDI channel numbers) in order to preserve the integrity of your composition. Note that with the GM System Level 1, the Drum Part is always assigned to MIDI channel 10.

Selecting Voices

The SW1000XG not only contains the 128 basic GM Voices and GM drum set, but many variation Voices as well—to give you access to a total of 1,267 Normal Voices and 46 Drum Voices.

In XG mode, the basic 128 GM Voices can be accessed by selecting Program numbers 1 – 128. Other Voices can be accessed by selecting both bank numbers and Program numbers. The Voice bank can be selected via MIDI Control Change Bank Select (MSB and LSB) messages. In XG mode, the MSB value determines the Voice type (Normal, Drum), while the LSB value actually selects the bank (excluding the SFX bank).

When the SW1000XG is in TG300B mode, the Voice banks can be selected with appropriate MSB numbers, as LSB is fixed.

Lists of all available Voices along with bank and program numbers are provided on the Voice Lists of the “Data_E.pdf” file contained in the supplied CD-ROM’s “Document” folder.

Note that the 128 MIDI Program Change numbers consist of 0 through 127, whereas the 128 SW1000XG program numbers consist of 1 through 128. Depending on the sequencing hardware and software you use, you may have to convert the SW1000XG program numbers to the appropriate Program Change numbers.

Effect Types

The SW1000XG features dozens of extremely versatile digital effects generated by Yamaha’s advanced Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology—which add a completely new dimension to your SW1000XG’s sound.

These effects are configured, or routed, in one of two ways—to be either a System Effect or an Insertion Effect. The difference is as follows:

SYSTEM EFFECT Applies the designated effect to all 32 Parts.

INSERTION EFFECT Applies the designated effect to only one specific Part.

Reverb and Chorus are “System Effects”, and Insertion 1 and 2 are “Insertion Effects”. The Variation effect can be configured as either a “System Effect” or an “Insertion Effect”.

* Effects can be applied to Audio Parts as well as the internal AWM2 voices of the SW1000XG.

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