The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

--- In AN1x-list@yahoogroups.com, Mark Pipher <mpipher@m...> 
wrote:
> There are standalone editors for AN200 and DX200 from 
Yamaha for Mac (OS 9).
> That's all we have on the Mac platform. No XG Works to speak 
of - it was
> only released in Japan I believe.
> 
> The PLG Boards have standalone device-specific editors as 
well, and are very
> similar to the AN200/DX200 editors.
> 
> Remember, this isn't a Windows world. A couple of us use 
Macs. :)
> 
> Mark
> 

Today I downloaded a copy of AnExpertEditor (Mac) and spent 
some time with it. For the most part, it worked just fine with my 
AN1x - I assume the same would be true for the AN200?

Obviously the Variation FX section is limited to only the Amp Sim 
effect - and the occasional PLG voice that made use of the PEG 
Attack parameter would not translate correctly to the AN1x. 
Furthermore, any PLG voice that referenced the Multisaw 
translated to the valu of 'Mix' for the AN1x Osc1/2 Wave 
parameter.

The AN Bulk Dump Receive command worked fine - but you do 
have to initiate the Bulk Dump manually from the AN1x front 
panel. The AN Bulk Dump Transmit command would NOT work 
for me :-( Loading PLG voices to the AN1x was a one by one 
affair.

The major problem I experienced was in regards to Opening and 
Exporting .ANS files between AN1xEdit and AnExpertEditor. 
Specifically:

I made a little bank of sounds in AN1xEdit and saved three 
copies - one each as .AN1, .ANP, and .ANS. AnExpertEditor 
would not open the .ANS version - the program issues error 
message "Error occured. Forces the application to quit." and 
that's exactly what happens next. AnExpertEditor is not capable of 
'seeing' the .ANP format so I then opened the .AN1 voice bank 
without incident. 

I saved a small bank of sounds in AnExpertEditor as .ANS but 
AN1xEdit woul not open this bank - the program simply issues 
error message "Wrong File Version." 

I used the freeware app TechTool Lite to examine the file types 
and found the following:

.ANS files created in AnExpertEditor have a Creator and Type of 
'YANX' and 'ANS_' where as .ANS files created in AN1xEditor 
have a Creator and Type of 'AN1x' and 'ANS'. I experimented with 
altering the Creator and Type of my .ANS file but with no success 
(I'm sure there are more variables to attempt then I've tried so 
far...)

So I guess the moral of the story is you might be able to use 
AnExpertEditor with an AN200 but sharing files with this app is 
likely to be unproductive - stick to AN1xEdit. Wonder if Yamaha is 
considering an OS X compatible version of AnExpertEditor?

regards,

Jon