Yamaha Announces Low Cost Gaming Sound Card

The Yamaha WAVEFORCE WF-192XG is a breakthrough in games playing technology. An XG PCI sound card designed to add a powerful new dimension to your PC's sonic range and performance. Providing the increased audio quality of the AC '97 standard and the faster delivery of large volumes of sound data through the PCI bus, the WAVEFORCE WF192 brings dramatically improved sound to internet, games, multimedia applications and more.

The WAVEFORCE brings a full range of quality musical instrument sounds and game sound effects together with maximum compatibility and unprecedented flexibility - in a way that no other card can.

True Plug And Play! Simply snap it into your PCI slot, then treat yourself to the most satisfying sonic games experience your PC can possibly deliver. Get ready for games that sound more dramatic and vivid. Music that sounds more full and dynamic. And get ready for XG MIDI capabilities that open the door to a wider world of audio creation, music education and recording and performance potential. The WAVEFORCE gives you all this and much more - including a bundle of powerful software to get you started in style.

All for an unbelievably low price. So if your PC is ready for a forceful dimension in sound, get ready for the next generation of sound, don't just follow the 'dark side' of sound card technology, search your feelings - and go with the Yamaha WAVEFORCE.

On board the WAVEFORCE is powerful XG hardware Wavetable Synthesizer with maximum 64 notes polyphony. Filled with the full range of 676 musical instrument voices and other sounds and 21 drum kits, this multi-timbral synth can play up to 64 voices simultaneously faithfully in order to faithfully play MIDI data of everything from the most complex orchestral symphony to the detailed machinations of modern dance music. Also on board is a separate S-VA (Software Virtual Acoustic) Synthesizer based on SONDIUS-XG™ technology, with 256 mono voices for solo and lead performances, featuring the breathtakingly realistic quality of acoustic wind instruments like saxophone, trumpet and much more.

You can spice up the sonic characteristics of the voices with three different effects. The WAVEFORCE's powerful multi-effects processors feature 8 types of Reverbs, 8 types of Chorus effects, and 36 types of Variation effects which include additional reverb and chorus effects plus a selection of delays, echoes, distortion effects, and much more. There's also an input echo effect for the microphone input.

Digital Audio Quality & Handy Interface Features

Since the WAVEFORCE sound card conforms to the AC '97 design specification, it delivers vastly improved sound quality. Indeed, you can expect rich and dynamic CD quality sound in living stereo thanks to 16-bit resolution Analog-to-Digital/Digital-to-Analog conversion. A host of handy internal and external connectors provide for maximum convenience and flexibility. Internal connectors which can be accessed via software include CD input, Video input, stereo AUX input, and TAD (I/O). External connectors include mic-in and stereo line-in, line-out and stereo speaker-out, plus a 15-pin MIDI UART-compatible Joystick/MIDI interface.

An optional Yamaha MDC-01 MIDI joystick cable lets you use both the joystick and MIDI cables simultaneously. The WAVEFORCE's Full Duplex recording and playback capability lets you record sounds from a connected microphone and internal XG voices at the same time. A selection of sampling rates are provided, from 5 Hz to 48KHz.

XG MIDI Means Quality, Compatibility & Performance

The WAVEFORCE incorporates literally the highest sound generation technology available, boasting the same professional quality sounds, effects and other uncompromising features that have made Yamaha the world's largest manufacturer* and World leader in electronic music technology. *not some idle boast, WE ARE THE BIGGEST!

The XG MIDI format delivers it all with optimum sonic performance and flexibility, and full compatibility with GM, TG300B and other popular formats. The WAVEFORCE is compatible with Sound Blaster Pro (Windows DOS Box) and Microsoft DirectSound and DirectSound 3D Games (Windows95/NT).

There are two sound synthesizers and three multi-effects processors built right into the WAVEFORCE. The XG format ensures full access to all voices and effect and easy manipulation of numerous parameters, via MIDI program change, control change, and system exclusive messages.

Packaged With Powerful Software

The WAVEFORCE comes bundled with a CD-ROM loaded with an assortment of powerful Yamaha MIDI software and internet tools which will let you get started enjoying the benefits of better sound right away. These include...

• XGworks Lite

  A full-featured 100-track music sequencer with Piano Roll and other editing, plus comprehensive XG editing features.

• CLASSIC 100

  A selection of 100 classical music MIDI files for playback, which automatically displays beautiful images on screen as the music plays.

• YSTATION 32

  A high quality multimedia player.

• S-YXG50 Softsynthesizer

  A powerful 16-part multi-timbral synth with hundreds of high quality PCM and Wavetable sounds, multi-effects and easy MIDI song file play functions.

• MIDPLUG & Sound VQ

  Powerful internet and multimedia plug-in tools.

• TINY WAVE EDITOR (TWE)

  An easy-to-use sound editor which lets you record, edit and play WAV files.

• MIDPLUG

System Requirements

• Windows95/NT4.0 or later
• CPU: Intel or AMD Pentium 120 MHz or greater (Pentium II 233/MHz or greater needed for S-VA Synthesizer). Please note that the SVA softsynth system will not work on Cyrix 686 P+ machines.
• System Memory: 32 MB or more
• Hardware: PCI bus slot, CD-ROM required for software installation
• Software: >Direct X5 or later