Starkeeper, I don't want this to get into a disagreement with you on what sounds good or not. I have given you my view and if you disagree then you need to find a system (hardware or software) that satisfies your needs as closely as possible.

I believe what OMB does is take the XG Drumkit instrument arrangement (instruments by note numbers) and realigns them as closely as possible to those of a GM Drumkit. So when you play a midi file or style you do not get hand claps or dogs howling in the wrong places.

So what you can do is convert the midi part of the Yamaha style to GM compatible drumkits and use any other GM Wavetable of your choosing, e.g., HQ Hyper Canvas or some other soundfont wavetable. This makes your software based system very flexible.

Another area that can be useful for improving the sound of virtual acoustic instruments is to add effects such as equalizers, reverbs and chorus. I believe the sYnerGi GS wavetable comes with effects that can be loaded into your SBLive card. The author also provides advice on how much effect to add. For example reverb will tend to make the sound more mellow whereas chorus will add some harmonics and improve the richness/fullness of the sound.

Also, I believe you indicated you have the SBLive soundcard. This card can only load a 32mb or smaller wavetable. I believe the author of sYnerGi GS provides you with a smaller version. The main version weighs in at 44mb. I don't know what happens when you try to load this wavetable into your SBLive. I have seen soundfont managers on the internet that will let you load more than 32mb into your soundcard. A search of the internet may be worthwhile. Otherwise you would need to take the software route - host-LiveSynth Pro - sYnerGi GS.

Now Starkeeper, if I were you I would not waste to much time on all these options. Let your ears be your guide as many before me have said so eloquently. If you want to exactly duplicate the Yamaha sounds you will likely not succeed with a software approach. You will waste your time and money which I would not want to see anybody do. I have stated my views on this subject and I stick by them after 2 or more years of operating a fully software based system. My system is effective and efficient. It works reliabily and sounds so, so, so good!!!

I hope this helps.

[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 09-27-2004).]