The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

From: <tomfinegan@...>


> --- In AN1x-list@egroups.com, "Peter Korsten" <peterk@i...> wrote:
>
> > Well, substractive synthesis is what AMW2 is all about...
> >
> > But are you sure the CS2x has the AWM2 engine? I thought it was all
> > XG, plus
> > one nice voice.
> Hm...AFAIK is XG not an engine it\ufffds a MIDI-file format, like GM or GS
> is. Yes the CS2x has AWM2 engine, like CS1x, MUxxx, DB50XG, SW1000,
> S80, EX5(partly) and so forth. It uses samples as basic material. I
> don\ufffdt know how exactly it works, but IIUR does the engine takes at
> minimum one sample part, at most four sample parts and mixes them
> together, using ADSR, LFOs, FX and other XG-extratricks to produce a
> sound. When you have used XGedit by Gary, you know what i mean.

There's no way you can compare the DB50XG, or any of the MU series, to the
EX5 (or S80 and CS6x, as far as I'm aware).

The thing with these XG tone generators is that they aren't programmable.
You have voices, and you can play a bit with filter cut-off and resonance,
plus the amplitude EG, but that's it. Voice #1 will always be a piano.

The AN1x is far superior to XG tone generators, and the envelopes and
filters in my EX5 kick the AN1x's butt major big time. The big difference is
the dual oscillators, which give the AN1x its distinctive analogue
characteristics.

> I don\ufffdt know if you can set AWM2 and substractive synthesis equal.
> But i know that AWM2 needs samples. Oh and Yamaha uses compressed
> samples. So if e.g. the DB50xg has 4MB Sample-Rom it is in reality
> 8MB and so on. Correct me, if i am wrong.

I'm not sure if this is the case. The Rolands compress their samples for
sure - something I'm not in favour of. I'm positive that the samples in the
EX5 are uncompressed.

Substractive synthesis is taking bits from the signal from the oscillators
away, and you do this with a filter. Since both (virtual) analogue synths
and S&S (sample and synthesis) synths work with oscillators - whether this
is a sample or something generated is irrelevant - they are essentially the
same.

This sheds another light on 'romplers', as many a zealot scoffs at. :)

- Peter