It's NOT a motorcycle!--It's the Yamaha SW1000XG sound card.
Written: Apr 24 '01 (Updated Aug 16 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Realistic instrumentals, tweaking is easy and compatible with most all applications.
Cons: Some MIDI sounds are choppy at times but only for a second or two.
The Bottom Line: A great sound card for the MIDI composer. All controls are fully tweakable and installation is fairly simple.
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| bluehawq's Full Review: Yamaha SW1000XG |
I was as surprised about this as the guy was that sent it to me. "The guy" being my computer doctor. How on earth anyone could make such a goof up is beyond my comprehension and now is beyond his as well.
As I have stated in previous reviews, I am into putting my own computers together. Taking a generic shell, if you will, and installing what "I" want into it. With that said, I was deciding what to write about next, just about 2 days ago, and decided to write about my sound card. I dug out my box that the card came in and all it's information. What did I see? A Yamaha box. As my eyebrow raised and my idea of how smart I must be felt intruded, I picked up the telephone and called my friend, the computer doctor.
I asked him, What kind of sound card did you send to me last March? He says, I sent a Creative Sound Blaster Live Value for $80 bucks. I told him that he may have made a mistake and sent the Yamaha SW1000XG. He did not say anything for a few seconds and then he sounded sort of sick. He told me that there was one gone from his inventory, but he had not figured out what happened to it. As I explained to him about the box and the fact that I removed the card and looked it over, he told me to forget it and not worry about it. It was his mistake and he would just "take me" on something else! Just a joke, of course. But still a major mistake. But being used, he could not very well take it back.
Enough about how I came about getting the Yamaha SW1000XG sound card. On with the review. I will attempt to do it justice.
How does it sound?
The Yamaha SW1000XG is the Rolls Royce of sound cards. Of course that quality of your speakers will have a lot to do with it. If you aren't careful, and have cheap speakers, you'll blow them. Having said that, the sounds are impressive. Individual sounds and emphasis on synth leads and acoustics. If you love acoustics, then you'll love what this card can deliver for you in clarity. You can adjust the sounds to suit yourself and most sound very real. Some do not. I would say that the lesser ones would be aimed toward flutes and brass. There is the advantage of having layered sound and you can tweak them to suit yourself for an overall "realistic" effect. Most all sounds can be tweaked and if you are experienced in what you are doing, you can amaze your ears with delightful realistic tunes and individual instrumentals. The range of effects are great but not all sound as nice as I would think that they should. I believe that could be inexperience on my part though with adjusting them. You who know more about dealing with MIDI files.
What sort of features does the Yamaha have?
This guy has a lot more features than what is for me to be able to comprehend. I am not into all that nor do I understand it but I can tell you about what I do understand and some of the features that I don't but you might.
First off, this is not a regular sound card. You can not play games on your pc with it. You have to understand that you will need a regular card installed in your system as well for regular Windows sound support. You have the ability to expand with add-on cards. One's such as a vocal harmonizer. I don't have any of the cards that are available and I probably won't. After all, this is not the card that I originally wanted. It really is a waste for me to have it. And a shame.
There is 20 MB of ROM. Digital audio playback, 12 mono and 6 stereo tracks, and four tracks for recording. 24 bit resolution processors-7 independent effects blocks. 70 variation, 14 chorus, 12 different reverbs, 5 band equalizer and four types of vocal effects. There are more and they can be used at the same time for the wavetable synth and the digital audio. There are 2 A/D inputs that lets the digital effects be applied to the sound source. There is synthesis capabilities that allows you to control the drum kit instruments. There are 46 drum kits.
There are multiple effect busses, as I mentioned above with 7 independent processors on the multi digital hard disc. Any application can be controlled with this through MIDI, which includes mixing and effects.
There are many more features but you would get bored reading all that here. In a nutshell, and if I understood them all, I could really convey to you just how powerful the Yamaha SW1000XG really is. I just hope that those of you that can relate to this can find some sort of justification in this review from a novice.
A note on software. Included with the Yamaha SW1000XG card is a special edition of XGworks, MIDI/audio sequencer, and a tone generator editor. The 1000 is compatible and completely functional with most leading software programs.
How easy is it to use?
Installation was fairly easy. If I could fully understand it's capabilities, I could relate to you more with emphasis on it's functional capacity. It does have flash bios that are easy to update. Driver updates are easy and I feel that if you just follow the instructions that are included there should be no problem with set up or learning to tweak any of the sounds. I am slowly but surely learning myself. It isn't easy for someone who is not familiar with this sort of card. That would be me!
What do you need?
Basically all you will need is Win95/Win98/Win2000/WinME/WinNT4 (SP3 or higher),(Mac users: OS 7.61 or higher), plug and play compatible. 166MHz or higher. At least 32MB of hard drive space. Recommended Pentium 1,2, or 3. CD ROM drive. Most everything is done with the mouse, so of course you will need that. You will need a free pci expansion slot. This card was first released in 1995 but is compatible (obviously) with all Window applications.
Included with your card will be the software, 1-MIDI adapter cable, 1-plug-in board connection cable, and 4-spacers for your plug-in board. You will also have your owners manual. There are some sample 16x MU100R files and 3x Text files that that are available for download in a zip file.
I know that there is much more to be said about the Yamaha SW1000XG sound card but there is too little room. And considering my lack of knowledge in this area, I just hope that I have managed to convey some of it's fantastic features and capabilities. The card costs around $450 to $525 depending on where, of course. I paid $80 but only due to a goof up. My luck. I should hope that you could stumble onto a deal like this. I don't use this card often but when listening to music, this one can't be beat.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 80-costs 500
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bluehawq
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Member: Audrey
Location: Arkansas
Reviews written: 257
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Jitterz on WoW Anub'arak server. For the Alliance
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