XGWorks dead ?

[beykock]

My favourite midi editing program : YAMAHA XGWORKS

Yamaha bought Cubase ( Steinberg / Germany ) in 2002.
In 2002 Yamaha stopped all XGW updates.

From 2002 up to 2014 our friend Bill Grosse made all the XGW voice lists for most pro Yamaha arranger keyboards, FREE OF CHARGE.

Thanks to members like Bill G, it was possible to work with this great editing win prog.
I would be very grateful if Yamaha should decide to create an XGW upgrade.

Several times many XGW freaks have asked Yamaha to make an upgrade.

Up to now we ( XGW users ) never received any reaction from Yamaha.
We need this upgrade so bad.

It looks like XGW is no longer Yamaha's priority since 2002.

YAMAHA ... please HELP ! DO NOT LET US DOWN.🙏🙏🙏

Thanks, Babette

[SeaGtGruff]

Unfortunately, as you suggest, any further development of XGWorks has been abandoned for going on 20 years now. I doubt Yamaha are going to revive it at this late date.

[Fred Smith]

Another casualty of those who want everything for free.

Cheers,
Fred

[beykock]

I would love to " buy " an XGW Upgrade.
I honestly believe most and many XGW freaks would like to " buy " this great prog and order it immediately.

Regards,

Babette, The Dreamer

[Janus]

there is a update only for Japan
There is a cracked translated to english Japan version,  not compleet
Search on the internet for download
Now it is posible to transpose the chordtrack

Gr.Jan

[SeaGtGruff]

Another casualty of those who want everything for free.

Actually, the dates mentioned by Babette suggest that Yamaha's decision to drop further development of XGWorks had nothing to do with anyone wanting everything for free:

Yamaha bought Cubase ( Steinberg / Germany ) in 2002.
In 2002 Yamaha stopped all XGW updates.

But, yeah, most people do like to get free stuff if it's available, which I guess Yamaha well knows, since they keep posting free Voice & Style Expansions from time to time.

Sometimes free editions of commercial software programs are available, although these are usually either limited-feature lite versions which are intended to give you just enough of a taste to encourage you to buy one of the more feature-rich paid versions, or else they are so rife with annoyingly-placed ads that you want to get rid of the ads by buying the paid versions.

Best regards!

[pieterpan]

Hi,

As far as I remember I bought a copy about 20 years ago, no free program and well designed. I use this very good proggie every day.

Regards <> Piet

[Fred Smith]

Actually, the dates mentioned by Babette suggest that Yamaha's decision to drop further development of XGWorks had nothing to do with anyone wanting everything for free.

It has everything to do with people wanting software for free these days.

The point is that developers can't charge enough to make purchased software worthwhile. These days, everything is either advertiser supported (eg, Google) or it's a way of selling hardware (Apple, Microsoft, Yamaha, etc. etc.). And companies have gone to this model because they weren't able to sell their software for a price that would recoup the development costs. And if the software couldn't be converted to work in today's environment, development ceased (eg, XGWorks).

Free is great, but it has a price.

Cheers,
Fred

[SeaGtGruff]

Okay, so it was purely coincidental that Yamaha stopped any additional development of XGWorks the very same year that they acquired Steinberg and Cubase.

[beykock]

Hi Piet,

Thanks for your reply.
Like you I also use XGW almost daily.

Most XGW owners are still working with this great tool but an upgrade is absolutely needed/wanted though.

Apparently Yamaha have no intention at all to create an XGW successor so modern styles and SFF2 voices would no longer be a problem.

There must be a reason why Yamaha never continued to update/upgrade XGW, a real winner.

Up to now Yamaha never announced officially they should end XGW, as far as I know. Am I right or wrong ?

Some XGW users told me XGW was originally made by a third party and not by Yamaha.
I do not know if this information is correct or not.
We will never know, I guess.😱

I am afraid an XGW successor will never come. 😯

It would be wonderful if Steinberg should decide to create a prog like XGW, a real commercial success, no doubt.

I am sure many modern Yamaha arranger keyboard owners would love to order this prog.
XGW was the best ( still is ? ) midi editing program for Yamaha arrangers ever.


Regards,

Babette

[Janus]

Xgworks is still very useful
It is better and faster than the software in a keyboard
And with the extra ini files useful for all tyros models and genos
Realtime mixing, drop effecten on tracks with the mouse and chance all parameters
You can also start a track with waves, Video, mp3,  with mci commands

Gr.Jan

[beykock]

Hi Jan,

Very interesting information. Thank you.
How do you handle modern SSF2 styles in XGW ?
Do you convert them to make them usable ?
What about the SFF2 voices ?
How do you convert them ?

Plse advise. Many thanks, Babette.

[Janus]

You can edit and save styles only in midi format
Change the yamaha style files extenci in mid to load and save them
To make them work in your keyboard you need a yamaha style maker
You can't use Yamaha sample format files in xgworks

Gr.Jan

[pieterpan]

Hi,

I use XGW to prepare midis to get a style out of it. Stylemaking I do with One Man Band (also an oldie). To finish the style I use Style Magic Yamaha wich alows you to convert SFF1 to SFF2. I'm very satisfied with the result(s). Of course a style need some tweaking (depends on your keyboard model)

Regards <> Piet

[Janus]

Hi Piet

You can also use yamaha styles in the xgworks songmaker
Go to hd of your pc search for the xgworks prg
Copy the style files in the style dir in xgworks
You can make sub dirs in the style dir like rock,wals, and so on
It works not with all Yamaha styles files
It is try and errror
I've already more than 1000 style files in xgworks working

[beykock]

Hi Jan,

Are these 1000 styles saved in your own XGW prog ?

Babette

[Janus]

yes in the style dir of the prg. on the H.D.
Not all yamaha styles working
Perhaps convert them down in older versions with a stylemaker will work
Home made song styles can also be used

Gr.Jan

[pieterpan]

Janus - Thanks for the tip I will try this one out.

Regards <> Piet

[pjd]

Hi Piet,
There must be a reason why Yamaha never continued to update/upgrade XGW, a real winner.

Yep -- money. Yamaha does not have infinite resources. Please consider the number of other demands posted on this Forum. Yamaha developers can only do so much.

Second reason -- XGWorks and it's user interface is waaaaay behind Windows 10. It would take a lot of effort to bring XGWorks into the modern age. Thus, we're back to reason #1 -- money.

I know this sounds rather cold, but having worked many years in commercial software development, old software gets deprecated and cut (end of life) at some point in time. Companies just cannot afford to bring everything forward.

All the best -- pj

[ckobu]

No matter what XGWorks is an old man, I'm happy to handle MIDI and Style for it on my Win10. XGWorks is an irreplaceable tool for manipulating sy*** Yamaha data. 

https://youtu.be/GBqWNQEIPIY?t=93

https://youtu.be/xK1pCUyJg8o?t=135

[Joe H]

XGWorks still has a lot of value and much easier to work in than most DAWs, but for drum editing, which can ONLY be edited in the Sint Section of the style file, I prefer StyleMagic, it is far superior and a modern interface to boot.

Joe H

[ckobu]

XGWorks also records all changes in Style within the Sint Section.

Joe H, I agree. Magic Style is a great program, I use it for some things like chord switching. Magic Style magic is well resolved and she does not delete CASM data. To process Style with XGWorks you need to use the MixMaster and the GoTo function.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[beykock]

Hi,

I am so happy to see many members of this forum like XGW so much and still use it frequently.

It has been  " shot " in 2002 but it has been kept alive
( 2019 ! )
by " devoted Believers ".

On the other hand I am very sad an Upgrade will never come ... despite all ( many ) XGW freaks need it so bad and are ready to pay, IMHO.

It confirms once again XGW deserves an upgrade, right ?

📢 📢 📢 📢

Yamaha ... please HELP !

Babette

[Joe H]

ckobu,

Did you know that if we have StyleMagic listed in the Go To Menu of MixMaster we can edit Multi Pads using StyleMagic's Voice and Drum editors?

This is really cool! Then when we pass the file back to MixMaster we can then save our edits to disk. I have all my expansion pack Voice lists in both MixMaster and StyleMagic. These were created using YEM Content Explorer.

Thanks to our Forum Member Programmers editing our Yamaha files has become so much easier!



Joe H

[Joe H]

Question... How do I set the correct fonts for music notations to display in XGWorks?  This was working correctly on my XP machine but not on my Win7 machine. When I open the notation screen I'm getting the wrong symbols.

Joe H

[pieterpan]

Joe,

To my best knowledge you can put the attached file into your XGW directory to solve this problem.

Hope it will help you - regards <> Piet

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Janus]

you need to install the xgmusic.ttf in windows
the pad is
windows/fonts
for windows 10
windows/boot/fonts
another trick is
copy xgworks  dir on your hd on a usb drive
it wil start from the usb drive
or you can copy the xgworks dir on another computer

gr.Jan

[ckobu]

XGW version 3.07 shows well the note track.
The font issue has XGW version 4.00. This can be solved by installing a font, as recommended by @pieterpan.

@Joe H - I did not process the Multipad so I mostly use the factory presets. I tried your suggestion and see that StyleMagic can be very useful in that. The GoTo feature in the MixMaster is a great idea and gives this software extra power.
Once again, we need to thank all the good people on our free software. Especially I mean Michael P. Bedesem and Jørgen Sørensen who regularly update their programs and make it easy for us to work with our Yamaha keyboards.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Joe H]

Joe,

To my best knowledge you can put the attached file into your XGW directory to solve this problem.

Hope it will help you - regards <> Piet

Do you mean in the same folder where XGWorks.exe is located?

Joe H

[Joe H]

Piet,

OK, I found the answer to my question.  I put the XG Fonts file in the Windows Font folder and it works just fine.

Thank you very much!

Joe H