Are XGworks and Power Tracks Pro essential the same, except that you can edit the XGvoices and send the sysex msgs to the keyboard (in XGworks)?
Starkeeper

They are both essentially the same in that they are both sequencers.

XGworks will not run in Windows XP, but PowerTracks will.

Graham UK

Yamaha has a patch for XGWorks that allows it to work in XP. (For version 3.0 and 3.0 lite)

You can get it here(at the bottom): http://www.yamaha.co.uk/xg/html/midplug/m_mid10.htm

DudeManCentral

XGworks is much more powerful than PowerTracks. It's more like Cakewalk with similar windows - piano roll, staff, track, master track, event list, mixer etc. Also has graphical control over velocity, pitch bend, and a lot of other stuff which PowerTracks doesn't have. PowerTracks will only do notation in 4 time and the drum window is very limited. The XGworks drum window is much more versatile. If you're an XG user there's no contest. Provided you have all the proper instrument definitions, it's the best XG editor out there. Takes all the drudgery out of sysex. You can do your own definitions with a bit of effort. I've done them for a number of instruments and once you've done the first one the rest are much easier. XGworks will also do styles. You can enter chords as in PowerTracks but XGworks will generate styles from the chords. All you need is the melody to go along with it and you've got yourself a good arrangement. Just key it all in straight out of the fake book. Useful if you can't get the hang of the tune. Who needs Band-in-a-Box? I still use PowerTracks occasionally but since I've moved to XGworks I've given up on all the other sequencers.

Bryan


[This message has been edited by Pilot (edited 05-30-2003).]

Hello.........I have both XGworks and PowerTracks. I still use PowerTracks with Band in a Box, but use XGworks for everything else. Since getting into Yamaha's XG voices having a CS2x and recently buying the PSR2000, I find XGworks easier to edit the XG stuff than the onboard instrument editors. Both programs allow me to edit the PSR style files, but XGworks allows changing XG parameters without having to switch between programs. I run Windows2000 and had to download a patch from Yamaha to get XGworks to run on this machine. Good luck!

Hi,
I just received my XG Works a couple of days ago. One great feature that XG Works has that Power Tracks doesn't , is that you can create songs from inbuilt styles. Works a bit like Band in a Box. Type in a chord progression, then pick a style block ie 16 beat , 8 beat etc intro's main parts fills endings. Very quick way of creating a backing track. From there the arrangement can be exploded into individual midi tracks for extra editing and saving as a midifile.
One thing that the manual doesn't appear to mention ( I've only worked my way through 20% of it to date) is that it also has the ability to use the psr .sty files in the same way as it does it's 100 or so inbuilt styles.

I wrote the following to one of the user groups

The reason I got it was to create backing tracks ( I think that's the right term for songs without melody lines?) I have a 9000 pro I don't like the sequencer for steptime use , so I was hoping XG Works would solve my hassles. The way I used it was_____
I transferred a 9000pro style
into xg works, typed in the chord progression, picked the ( 9000pro)
style blocks I wanted Intro , main parts, fills and ending. I had a
backing track within 5 minutes. I probably could have even mix n matched parts from differing styles ( I haven't tried that yet).
From there I was able to explode the sequence into individual midi
tracks to perform editing ( tweaking)if required and to save it as a
midifile.
I had my 9000pro connected to my computer at the time, so that I
could hear what I was doing as I went.
-------------------------------
To me, being able to use a style as a basis for a song is a great way to start. There's far more control over your song style parts in xg works than in Band in a Box. You get to pick and choose the parts you want whereas in BIAB the program generates it's own style parts.
There's 1000's of psr styles available through the user group,( though I'm not sure all would work) and an xg sound source, all I can say is wow! I wish I'd discovered the program a couple of years ago when I first bought my 9000 pro.


Best thing to do is download the [url=demohttp://www.yamaha.co.uk/xg/html/midplug/m_mid10.htm#Downloads][url=demohttp://www.yamaha.co.uk/xg/html/midplug/m_mid10.htm#Downloads][url=demohttp://www.yamaha.co.uk/xg/html/midplug/m_mid10.htm#Downloads]demohttp://www.yamaha.co.uk/xg/html/midplug/m_mid10.htm#Downloads[/url][/url][/url]

If you decide to and I can be of any help on how I used the .sty files just ask.

If you don't have access to a XG sound source, Yamaha has a soft synth demo , also.

best wishes
Rikki

I use XGWorks to write all my XG midi stuff. Its the only sequencer that has the ability to control ALL XG parameters (without any plugins or 3rd party software). I don't care for its audio, so after Ive written all the midi stuff, I open the midi up in Cakewalk and finish all the audio there. works great... If you don't have version 3, I highly recommend it as it has alot of added functionality. If you do have version 3, make sure you get the 3.05 update at the Yamaha site.

DudeManCentral