I'm sceptical about wavetables with such filesizes. Bigger isn't always better. The S-YXG50 was already pretty balanced and very close to the MU50 and MU80, even with just a 4MB wavetable.

Sadly you cannot stuff more effects into the engine, it's at its limit. Same with polyphony, even though I think 128 voices is pretty decent.

Either way, about the YMF HiEnd engine: It's the S-YXG50 with its limits removed (what we have now) plus a few calculation glitches and the SSE path removed. That's its "magic". It doesn't sound any better and it also doesn't improve any of the MU wavetables if you combine them with it.

Bigger is better, like when S-YXG50 uses 16-bit samples but they come out noisy and ringy anyway? (the sine wave is particularly bad. How do you mess up a sine wave?)

I think it has some defects beyond just the memory limitations. It's mostly just a soft MU50, but I don't think it got the same level of polish

The thing about the larger roms is they tend to contain more stuff too, and I doubt anyone would complain about that

As i said in the past, i think some compromises were made for minimum latency so it would be reasonable for a DAW, and this introduced some bugs not present before.

The synthesizers also use linear interpolation instead of a resampler that would actually reduce aliasing at higher sample rates.

I've always been okay with the XG50 being what it is, but if the XG-defined samples can be replaced/expanded with the superior ones from the MU1K/2K/SW1000XG and augmented with the additional sounds from the PLG cards, I'd be 100% happy and it would be a great solution for today's PCs. I just want something that works for MIDI file playback and creation, as well as gaming. We're at the point where we could see a big boom in "new retro games", with great MIDI soundtracks being unburdened by the hardware/software limits that were present in the late 90's and early 2000's.

I guess things are looking good regarding that...

More samples can ndeed be put into s-yxg50 NOW.

the issue is that the engine doesn't support all features of the newer devices, and doesn't provide a way to read all the data of the newer drum banks.

For example it would be possible to add all the voice presets form the dx7 plg card into the area they show up at, and then write midi files that use them.

i'd like to see the tgb300b banks replaced with actual roland samples, so gs midis will sound much more like a sound canvas

Well, the XG100 is a bit more advanced and similar to the MU1K/MU2K, but I don't know enough about the p/q's between them. There's a bit of other XG-related stuff going on right now, like this Monster-Mash attempt at bringing back PVL and attaching it to the older XG50 code, to sort of replace the XG100 in a new VST2 form.

https://github.com/OnjLouis/syxg100-hybrid

I think if "The XG Community" could work together, who knows what crazy code will come of it, now that so much has been (finally) reverse-engineered.

Trelokk wrote on 2026-09-28, 17:10:

The S-MU2000 is definitely overkill for gaming purposes the way it is now, mostly because of its high CPU load (even though it got better lately). Since today there's even OnjLouis' MU2026-Hybrid which adds more overhead on top of everything.

So yeah, a lightweight gamer edition would definitely be appreciated. I would however need a VST2 version to use with Falcosoft's VST MIDI Driver.

Higher CPU (DSP) load will always be the side-effect of MAME-derived projects like S-MU2000 and locked to the voice engine being emulated, although S-MU2000 does have the --native firmware and fx bypass now because firmware chip emulation is about 55% of CPU demand for MAME, 35% voice chip emulation and the rest is FX and processing emulation. The way the MU hardware works is every midi part is being processed continually regardless of being played or not, same with the FX. Where SYXG50 differs from e.g. S-MU2000 is obviously CPU only processes the actual voices played and its AVM2 engine is highly optimised. MUXG2K differs in that it doesn't use MAME or chip emulation there's no Yamaha firmware or ROM used it has its own AVM2 interpretation in pure C++ similar to SYXG50's. This was intentional, because once MUXG2K is hardware-equivalent a more optimised XG Level 1 / General Midi standalone stereo output version should be possible. Here's the DSP load of standard modes for all three for comparison playing a single voice.

Debug VST3 Build

hockinsk wrote on 2026-10-04, 08:14:

Higher CPU (DSP) load will always be the side-effect of MAME-derived projects like S-MU2000 and locked to the voice engine being […]
Show full quote

Trelokk wrote on 2026-09-28, 17:10:

The S-MU2000 is definitely overkill for gaming purposes the way it is now, mostly because of its high CPU load (even though it got better lately). Since today there's even OnjLouis' MU2026-Hybrid which adds more overhead on top of everything.

So yeah, a lightweight gamer edition would definitely be appreciated. I would however need a VST2 version to use with Falcosoft's VST MIDI Driver.

Higher CPU (DSP) load will always be the side-effect of MAME-derived projects like S-MU2000 and locked to the voice engine being emulated, although S-MU2000 does have the --native firmware and fx bypass now because firmware chip emulation is about 55% of CPU demand for MAME, 35% voice chip emulation and the rest is FX and processing emulation. The way the MU hardware works is every midi part is being processed continually regardless of being played or not, same with the FX. Where SYXG50 differs from e.g. S-MU2000 is obviously CPU only processes the actual voices played and its AVM2 engine is highly optimised. MUXG2K differs in that it doesn't use MAME or chip emulation there's no Yamaha firmware or ROM used it has its own AVM2 interpretation in pure C++ similar to SYXG50's. This was intentional, because once MUXG2K is hardware-equivalent a more optimised XG Level 1 / General Midi standalone stereo output version should be possible. Here's the DSP load of standard modes for all three for comparison playing a single voice.

Debug VST3 Build

Can we try MUXG2K somewhere/somehow?

I'll open beta testing again when the next beta build is released. Currently closed because I just get swamped otherwise. Hopefully if I can nail a couple of bugs today it will release tonight UK time. Beta is requested from the website. Be sure to include your real name as anonymous beta requests go to spam, I don't see them.
https://www.demix.me/muxg2k

The updated version of the SXG-Create script has been released. It was compared against the S-MU2000, which should provide a much more reliable and faithful source than the S-YXG50.

Most of the changes seem to be rather interesting for those who are listening to MIDI files intensively (GS/XG enthusiasts). For gamers (like me), I think the most relevant change is the way hall effects are handled. It's now as loud as on hardware and immediately kicks in after a reset.

I would classify the usefulness of these plugins as follows:

Authenticity for 90s games: MU50/MU80
The MU50 delivers the sound of the DB50XG, SW60XG and, surprise, the S-YXG50. The conversion is practically identical to Yamaha's own S-YXG50 table, but uses the MU50's original samples. A direct upgrade of syxg50.dll as we all know it, if you want. (Whether or not the differences between a 4.1 and 7.1 MB wavetable can be noticed are up for discussion, though.) The MU80 is basically the "bling-bling" version of this.

Best all-rounders: MU90/MU100
Significantly higher quality than the MU50, but still close to its balance and voicing. The MU100 sounds like the SW1000XG and is a good standard for later XG music; switching to MU Basic keeps the characteristic classic DOS gaming sound.

Max quality: MU128/MU1000
Best samples and most voices, but also the heaviest (87+ MB). Some basic sounds, such as the pianos, have been retuned, so older GM music may sound differently weighted. With MU Basic you get the MU90-compatible voice mapping, which is usually the better choice for older content.

Personally I'd go for
- MU90: Slightly beefed MU80 which still maintains the original sound and keeps file size small (13 MB); use with Falcosoft VST MIDI Driver etc for gaming
- MU1000: No need to make compromises when listening to MIDIs; use with Falcosoft MIDI Player etc

The future is very bright for XG at the moment.

1) S-MU2000 is great, and giving back to MAME. it's darn near nuked levels of accuracy, and stays squarely on the legal side of emulation, and avoids possible charge of contributing to infringement by outlining a 100% legal path for people to get the roms from theri own devices and official sources. That makes it a little inconvenient, but respects Yamaha.
2) sgX-create beefs up the classic s-yxg50, which is still one of the best xg level 1 compatible softsynths for low end systems. with the rom extraction and conversion, it now sounds much better. it passes the final fantasy seven soundtrack test.
3) the demixed project is still in progress, and will be a high performance solution when it releases.
4) the s-mu2000 native-fx feature makes a fine reference for people implementing XG. Currently Spessasynth is gaining XG support, with variation/insertion effects. ALL OF THEM. Delay LCR (as heard in Children.mid) is now implemented, and more will follow.

Stuff I hope to see in the future.

1) SFE format extended to store enough data to perform lossless conversions of roland and yamaha instruments from control and sample roms, so a softsynth that implements proper XG or GS can load them and playback midis and sound like the real hardware.
2) Solid firmware-free native implementations of the sound canvas and xg engines. bring your own instruments. Together with the above, we can then make an ultimate GS/XG/GM2 softsynth.

zaphod77 wrote on 2026-10-07, 00:03:

The future is very bright for XG at the moment. […]
Show full quote

The future is very bright for XG at the moment.

1) S-MU2000 is great, and giving back to MAME. it's darn near nuked levels of accuracy, and stays squarely on the legal side of emulation, and avoids possible charge of contributing to infringement by outlining a 100% legal path for people to get the roms from theri own devices and official sources. That makes it a little inconvenient, but respects Yamaha.
2) sgX-create beefs up the classic s-yxg50, which is still one of the best xg level 1 compatible softsynths for low end systems. with the rom extraction and conversion, it now sounds much better. it passes the final fantasy seven soundtrack test.
3) the demixed project tis still in progress, and will be a high persforamnce solution when it releases.
4) the s-mu2000 native-fx feature makes a fine reference for people implementing XG. Currently Spessasynth is gaining XG support, with variation/insertion effects. ALL OF THEM. Delay LCR (as heard in Children.mid) is now implemented, and more will follow.

Stuff I hope to see in the future.

1) SFE format extended to store enough data to perform lossless conversions of roland and yamaha instruments from control and sample roms, so a softsynth that implements proper XG or GS can load them and playback midis and sound like the real hardware.
2) Solid firmware-free native implementations of the sound canvas and xg engines. bring your own instruments. Together with the above, we can then make an ultimate GS/XG/GM2 softsynth.

I AGREE! I finally got S-MU2000 working! No more having to spend $600 to get one from Japan!

Not user friendly, tried using script but CRC not matching files..

Got s-mu2000 working using clear instructions from a website

This SXG-Create thing keeps getting better. 256-voice polyphony with the S-YXG50/MU50-1000 plugins now. The age of wonders.

Trelokk wrote on 2026-10-13, 09:10:

This SXG-Create thing keeps getting better. 256-voice polyphony with the S-YXG50/MU50-1000 plugins now. The age of wonders.

Surely all the 3 and 4 element voices are missing. syxg50 is only 2 element avm2? Luckily theres only a few voices above 2 elements though.

They are converted with various degrees of fidelity, but there aren't many of them. Stuff has to be flattened.

The DLL itself comes with certain limitations which cannot be bypassed. A true emulator will always be superior to this, but will also be a lot heavier on your CPU. These can run polyphony with 256 voices without making your rig explode. For normal gaming and casual MIDI listening, the SXG-Create plugins do the job just fine. For gaming I actually wouldn't even go past the MU90, as none of the higher models provide you with any sort of benefit. Even the MU50 can be recommended, for it is pretty much the S-YXG50, but with properly converted MU50 banks, uncompressed and clean. All of that at a cost of merely 2.3 MB bigger file size.