Since the Roland EXR-3/5 have XG voices, does that mean that we have:
1. A larger voice set. Yes
2. Voice editing capability.
3. Effects
4. External Inputs. http://www.yamahaclavinova.com/download/freesong/wxg.htm
Can we use XG Works or XG edit to edit the voices on the Roland keyboards?
Starkeeper

Theoretically you have always been able to use XG Works to edit data for any midi keyboard. The problem is that XG Works is heavily biased to XG and Yamaha and so makes assumptions about the keyboards abilities (especially with SysEx parameters, effects controls, available voices) that might well be untrue for non-XG / Yamaha systems. If the Roland now behaves in a more Yamaha-like fashion then the results may be more predictable.

2: No.
3: Yes. Uhm well, that is, the 47 MFX settings. As you can on all the sounds.
4: No.

The EXR3/5 is XG-LITE compatible. This means you can playback MIDIfiles that use XG sounds, but you can't select the sounds from the panel yourself. The EXR3/5 is NOT an XG-device like a Yamaha.

Bart

P.S; I just sent an e-mail to Roland about this XG-Lite thing. Maybe the always helpful Kristof of Roland Benelux will help out again :-) I'll keep you informed!

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Roland EXR-5 user - http://www.exr5.tk

[This message has been edited by Burkels (edited 03-04-2004).]

Thanks for clarifying Bart.
How many effects can you apply to a voice?
Starkeeper

[This message has been edited by Starkeeper (edited 03-04-2004).]

So, I understand that it means you can't make midifiles using XG sounds to be played in a Yamaha kb. XG-lite is only to play XG files.
Is it ok?

And, is it the same with GM2 sounds? that is, only to play midifiles made using GM2?


[This message has been edited by Bluebird (edited 03-04-2004).]

"So, I understand that it means you can't make midifiles using XG sounds to be played in a Yamaha kb. XG-lite is only to play XG files."

Bluebird, I fail to see how you can gain that specific conclusion from the information posted here. Any midifile containing XG will play on a Yamaha keyboard that is itself XG compatible.

On the other hand, if what you meant was "So .... You cant make a midifile ON A XG-LITE KEYBOARD SUCH AS THIS ROLAND that will use the XG voices on a Yamaha XG Keyboard" I would tend to agree that this seems to be the case if you cannot select the XG-Lite voices from the front panel. You might be able to edit the voice parameters in the recorded song file, however - would this give access to the XG-Lite voices?

I downloaded XG-Edit yesterday and tried out what the EXR-5 would do if I told XG-Edit I had a XG-Level 1 device. And I found out that the EXR-5 "listens" to XG-Edit where it comes to selecting sounds. The display of the EXR-5 will then say for example "932 - XG TONE" (Remember: Sound number 932 is NOT EVER selectable on the EXR-5 itself!)

Conclusion: you can use the XG-sounds inside the EXR-5, only by using external sequencers or editors.

As for Bluebird's question: I haven't got the slightest idea what you mean. Sorry.

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Roland EXR-5 user - http://www.exr5.tk

You can add one effect to the mainpart. Apart from the usual Reverbs and Chorusses, The MFX engine has another 47 settings, of which 16 are stacked (combined) effects (Chorus/TapDelay, Distortion/Enhancer).

Bart

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Roland EXR-5 user - http://www.exr5.tk

What I am trying to say is:

If you are trying to make a midi file to play on a Yamaha XG system, but the keyboard you were using could not select its own XG-Lite voices using the control panel of the keyboard (and this seems to be the situation on the EXR3-5) then the midi file you create would not use XG-Lite voices and therefore would not use the XG voices on the Yamaha keyboard.

However I wonder whether you can then edit the midi file on the keyboard to adjust the patches within the sequencer so that it then will select XG-Lite voices. Depends on the capabilities of the on-board sequencer.

I hope that makes more sense!

Bzzzzz! Wrong. :-) You can't make a XG-compatible MIDIfile on the EXR-5 using the built-in sequencer, but you can use the bankselect instructions according to XG-standard in for instance Cubase. The EXR-5 will playback such a file correctly, as if it were a Yamaha XG-device. Therefor you can make XG-files, using the EXR's capabilities to playback XG-files. That, and only that, is why Roland calls the EXR-5 "XG compatible".

Today I received an e-mail from Roland about this. They told me the "XG-voices" are in fact the normal Roland sounds, only assigned to program-change and bank-selects that follow the XG-standard.


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Roland EXR-5 user - http://www.exr5.tk