On Jan 8 2008, Carol Beigel wrote:
>You are correct that many soundcards have XG voice sets. My question to you is are all XG voice sets equal? Do the XG voices sound better coming from a DB50 tone generator than on a cheap soundcard from wherever? Do professional soundcards sound better than cheap ones? I do know that MIDI tone generated XG sounds definitely DO sound better coming through VST instruments, but they are very expensive.
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>Carol Beigel
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Technically, all XG voice sets are the same. XG is and expansion of GM (General MIDI), which was created to provide an industry standard voice and command set for MIDI. XG merely specifies specific MIDI parameters, such as the bank number and program change messages for specific voices, control change numbers, as well as system exlusive messages.
However, XG does not indicate the quality of those voices. Since it's inception, XG tone generator ICs have constantly evolved, so the voices on the original XG sound card (YAMAHA SW50XG) would be nowhere near as good as the latest generation of high end soundcards. Most cheap cards use(d) the original DB50XG tone generator, but specialist cards, as well as the latest synths, etc. use much more advanced tone generators even for XG voices, so they will sound better. That said, the DSR-1 and Mark IIXG Disklaviers still used the DB50XG tone generator, so for everyday use, there is not much to chose between them and your everyday computer as far as the sound is concerned.