This is the last entry of my diary. Thank you very much to all of you who have stuck with me to the very end. I hope that even if only in a small way, my experiences can help you out. Most of the trials that I went through here are probably pretty routine to more experienced producers. Some of you are probably saying, "this stuff is pretty basic", and you are right. There are still many things that I need to learn about the XG environment. But for beginners like me, I think that the most important thing is to experiment and try.

To achieve this goal, I would appreciate a few more orders from Yamaha. Thank you in advance.

I've told my story for XG beginners. You might have noticed throughout the entries that I feel very comfortable with GS. It's gotten to the point that I instinctively know how to predict the behavior of GS. This has really made switching over to XG a real challenge for me. Compared to GS, my work in XG is very touch and go. But I am noticing that the more I work with XG, the more familiar it is becoming to me. I think that the most important thing is to not be afraid and to just keep on going.

When creating files to be compatible to a certain standard such as GM, GS or XG, you might be unsure of what reference device to use. If it's GS, the reference should be the original SC-55. MU50 works as the reference for XG. But what about GM? The problem is that these machines are out of production. If it becomes more difficult to find these machines, manufacturers might have to provide some kind of support for developers. If you are a new developer, I recommend that you check the availability of reference machines on the market regularly.

No matter how sufficient the documentation might be, developers need to check the quality by auditioning the product before it goes out. Since newer products tend to have bugs, it is a good idea to ask the manufacturer which version is most stable (although there's no guarantee you'll get a straight answer).

If you have no luck in finding a reference machine, you could use an upper-compatible machine. If you go this route, there are a number of things that you need to look out for like voices, polyphony and the drum kit. But in my opinion, nothing replaces a good reference machine. If you can, I definitely recommended that you find an MU50.

Although physical modeling was quite new to me, there was one important fact that I learned. It's essential to know how real instruments sound and work in order to get the most of physical modeling synthesis. This is especially true for wind instruments in order to achieve vocabulary through phrasing and performance styles. To do this, you must physically learn the characteristics of wind instruments.

With the trumpet for example, you need to know how to glide using the second valve, shake high notes and how to create vibrato (in relation to notes and dynamics). Harmonics (Fourier's spectrum) varies depending on techniques.

Major techniques include over blow, high tones using harmonics as well as alternate fingering (often used by John Coltrane, Michael Brecker and, with trumpet, Freddie Hubert) and subtone (Jerry Mulligan)

As mentioned in the previous sections, my first impression of VL was not favorable. I thought that the voices were too straight. But the voices are only materials that are to be processed through parameters. VL presents its real power through the parameter controls.

I hope these six sections will be helpful to you. Manufacturers are committed to making good instruments. Their engineers and product specialists spend hundreds of hours developing these tools that allow us to create our music. I would like to be able to work in collaboration with these people to help make quality products. In the future, I hope that more developers contribute to this process as well.

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