SW1000XG Drivers for Macintosh Announced

January 28, 1999 -- Yamaha Corporation of America, Pro Audio and Combo Division, announces software drivers that will allow the company's SW1000XG audio and MIDI production card to be used with all Apple Power Macintosh computers that feature PCI-format card slots. This announcement comes as a great relief to musicians looking to purchase Apple's newest G3 Power Macintoshs which feature PCI slots but no serial ports, making them incompatible with all previous Mac-supporting MIDI interfaces. In addition, a multi-channel audio driver in Steinberg's ASIO-format will also be available to provide complete support for the SW1000XG's extensive digital audio capabilities in all major sequencers. Drivers are scheduled to become available for free download from Yamaha's web site in the first quarter of 1999.

MIDI support on Macintosh computers will be provided by a software driver incorporated into Opcode System's freely-available OMS (Open Music System). OMS is a system-level software application which allows all major sequencers to access a comprehensive selection of both internal and external musical devices.

The SW1000XG provides a full music production toolkit for both Macintosh and PC users. The card's features include: 4 tracks of simultaneous digital audio recording, 12 tracks of audio playback, seven 24-bit effects processors and the full synthesis and expansion capabilities of the critically acclaimed MU100 Tone Generator.

Three different plug-in boards are also available to expand the sonic capabilities of the SW1000XG even further. Any one of these boards can be installed in the SW1000XG's expansion slot at a time. These include the PLG100-VL Virtual Acoustic board which provides the same physical modeling technology found in Yamaha's VL70m professional synthesizer module. Other available boards include the PL100-VH Vocal Harmony board which can add up to three MIDI-controllable harmony parts to any input signal. The PLG100-DX FM Synthesis board delivers a 16-voice polyphonic FM synthesizer which is completely compatibility with the entire DX7 sound library. To help get users up and running right away, the card comes complete with over 800 high-quality onboard sounds.

For more information, visit Yamaha's web site at www.xgfactory.com.