Yamaha SW1000XG Advanced Manualbook page 44

PLG100-VL – The Virtual Acoustic card
Trying to simulate the sound of an orchestral wind instrument with any sample playback device is difficult. Anyone
who has wrestled for hours on end trying to create an accurate flute or clarinet with a synth will tell you this. In the
early part of the 1990's Yamaha again broke totally new ground with the introduction of the Worlds first physical
modeling synth, the VL1. This very expensive keyboard based instrument didn't rely on sample playback like so
many keyboards at the time, but again like the DX series, on some highly complex mathematics. The principle of VL
comes from the fact that pipe-based instruments like flutes, sax and clarinet can be 'described' by a series of
mathematical equations. These equations, unlike samples, which can be just static snapshots of an instrument at a
given pitch and time, can react and move in the same way that a real instrument does. For instance, if you 'over-
blow' a sax you can get strange harmonic effects, almost like a 'squealing' noise. With VL technology this is also
possible to simulate using real time changes in the model used. At the time of its launch, the VL was a highly sought
after instrument, the only problem with it was the cost, which ran into several thousand dollars. This was due to the
enormous R&D behind it, and the cost of what at that time were very high speed and expensive DSP processors.
The technology eventually though (as they all do) trickled down to more affordable versions until at last the PLG100-
VL became a reality.
The PLG100-VL offers full hardware physical modeling so again your CPU power is intact. It uses a single oscillator
modeling system which was first seen on our VL70m module using our VLR Algorithm Synthesis Technology to
simulate the complex vibrations, resonances, reflections and other acoustic phenomena that occur in a real wind or
string instruments.
But it is not just for acoustic sounds.
It also gives you the ability via software editing to design 'hybrid' sounds such as powerful new analogue style
instruments that do not exist in reality. In other words... YOU GET TO BUILD YOUR OWN SYNTH!
To get at the cards power, Yamaha provide a free VL Visual Editor package for Windows and Macintosh, and which
also exists as a software Plug-in module for Yamaha's XGWorks MIDI/audio sequencer. This allows you to control
the huge potential of the VL sound. The Synthesis screen displays available driver and pipe/strings selections. After
selecting the driver and pipe/string, the screen returns a number of selectable variations. Then proceed to the Edit
screen, where a number of parameters can be controlled with intuitive faders. Macintosh users are also able to
download from our website, any one of Yamaha's extensive range of editors. These include our expert editor or the
unique Analogue editor. These were originally designed to support the VL70m module, but work just as well with the
PLG100-VL.
Again much has been written about VL and the Internet is full of newsgroups and websites dedicated to this type of
instrument technology, so if you want to know more, just get yourself online.
PLG150-AN – The Analogue modeling card
Whilst the PLG100-VL is great at simulating acoustic instruments and mono synth sounds, creating the big and warm
sounds of classic analogue keyboards is a little bit out of its spectrum of capabilities.
44