Kenton Plugstation User Manual

The illustrations depicting the LED displa y in this manual may differ from the appearance on your
LED display, and are for instructional purposes only.

Please always turn the power off when the unit is not in use.
The operating system of PLUGSTATION is flashrom upgradeable, and thus may have enhancements

or minor modifications no t listed in this manual. Please v isit the KENT ON website f or the v ery latest
information relating to PLUGSTATION.

http://www.kenton.co.uk

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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Contents

Introduction
Special notes
Package contents and other items
Familiarising yourself with the PLUGSTATION
Installation and setup of PLG cards
Installation of the X, Y and Z boards.
Front Panel editing
Use with the SW1000XG
Using as a stand alone Modular synth hosting system
Notes on MSB, LSB and SYSEX
Technical support and contact info.
Troubleshooting and FAQ
Useful controller numbers
MIDI Specification
Performance Table
Product Specification
Quick Reference Chart
Index of Plugstation Commands

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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Introduction

Thank you very much for purchasing the KENTON PLUGSTATION.
In this package you will find a f antastic h ardware solu tion for s upporting up to four of Yamaha's PLG s eries

Modular Synthesis Plug in system (MSPS) cards (PLG100 and 150 series) both as a stand-alone module
(with the optional Y - boar d fitted) and also with the Yam aha SW1000XG. W ith the optional Y and Z boards
fitted, the PLUGSTATIO N also acts as a stunning m ultic hanne l 24-bit aud io out put expans ion s ystem for the
SW1000XG, with ADAT and high quality analogue audio output interf acing, as well as being a host for 4
Yamaha PLG cards.

To help you take utmost advantage of the advanced features of the KENTON PLUGSTATION we have
provided a complete s et of useful tips a nd instruction s to help you get go ing, and provide l inks to impor tant
information which you may find useful in conjunction with the KENTON PLUGSTATION and Yamaha's
MSPS cards.

NOTE: PLG AND MSPS M AY BE USED THROUGHOUT THIS M ANUAL. THE TERMINOLOGY IS THE
SAME IN THE CASE OF PLUGST ATION. PLG IS HOW THE CARDS ARE COMMONLY KNOWN, BUT
YAMAHA PROM OTE THE SYSTEM AS MSPS.

The KENTON PLUGST ATION is a one-unit high 19- inc h rack m ount box, with a 4 char acter 7-s egment LED
display. This disp lay provides visual information for the c urrent parameters of not only the PLUGSTAT ION
itself, but also a variety of us er edi tab le of f s et parameters of the ins erted PLG cards. Up to 4 boards c an ru n
at the same time, and these c an be a mix and match of any of Yamaha’s current PLG100 or 1 50 series
cards. (Multiple instances of Yamaha PLG100VH cards are (as with many Yamaha PLG hosting

devices) not allowed)

If you are intending to use the KENTON PLUGSTATION in conjunction with the SW1000XG card then
please first familiar ise yourself with your SW1000XG owners manual, a nd if you have Internet access please
access the latest firmware and drivers for the SW1000XG from the Yamaha SW1000XG0XG website at

http://www.xgfactory.com

for information regarding firmware and driver updates.
The latest firmware will be required to allow connection of individual audio parts when used in conj unction

with the optional KENT ON Z board, whic h prov ides dis crete aud io ch annel o utput s f rom the PLUG ST ATIO N
via the SO (Serial Outp ut) c onnector f oun d on th e SW 1000XG c ard. This is a lso tr ue if you ar e runni ng your
SW1000XG with the DS2416 card.

Some sections of this manual will appear to cover similar subjects. This is to ensure that even if you skip a
section, which you think may not be relevant to the type of operation you plan for PLUGSTATION, you will
have all of the appropriate facts at your disposal.

. If you do not have Internet access please contact you r local Yamaha subsidiar y

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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Special Notes

• The KENTON PLUGSTATION hardware and this owner's m anual are exclusive copyrights of KENTON
Electronics. KENTON acknowledge all third party product copyrights.

• Copying or reproduc tion o f this m anual in wh ole or i n par t b y any m eans is expr essl y forbidden witho ut th e
written consent of the manufacturer.

• KENTON makes no repres entations or warranties with regard to the use of thir d party software, hard ware
and documentation and cannot be held responsible for the results of the use of this manual and the
hardware.

• The company names and product names in this Owner's Manual are the trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective companies.

• The screen displa ys as illustrated in this Owner' s Manual are for instructio nal purposes, and ma y appear
somewhat different from the display of the KENTON PLUGSTATION.

• Future firmware upgrades of system software and any changes in specifications and functions will be
announced via the KENTON Electronics website at http://www.kenton.co.uk.

Windows or Macintosh Operation

Where optional third par ty software is used, KENT ON expect that you are fam iliar with the operation of the
operating system environment and soft ware used. KENTON c annot be held responsible for the oper ational
functionality or any errors resulting from the use of third party editing or sequencing software used in
conjunction with the PLUGST ATION unit.

Precautions

Do not expose the PLUGS TATION or the includ ed power suppl y unit to direct sunli ght, excessive hum idity,
high temperatures, excessive dust or strong vibrations.

Before handling the SW 1000XG for connecting the K ENTON X board, be sure to touc h a metal surface to
discharge any static electricity, which may be in your body.

When holding the SW 1000XG or the KENTON X board, do not touch the inside area of the circuit board or
apply excessive pressure to the card, and be sure to protect the card from contact with water or other
liquids.

Before installing the SW 1000XG with the KENT ON X board in the com puter, unplug t he po wer connector of
your computer.

Before connecting the computer to other devices, turn off the power switches of all devices.
It is possible that computer malfunctions or o perator actions might destro y data that you may create with

optional software applications We recommend that you back up all important data onto suitable backup
media. KENTON is not responsible for loss of data through computer malfunctions or operator actions.

The KENTON PLUGSTATION contains no user-serviceable parts, so never touch the inside area of the
circuit board or tamper wit h the electronic circuitry in any way. Doing so m ay result in electrical s hock or
damage to the unit.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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KENTON ELECTRONICS CANNOT BE HELD RESP ONSIBLE FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY IMPROPER
CARE AND USE OF THE PLUGSTATION SYSTEM.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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Package Contents and Other Items

Before using your ne w PLUGSTATION, check that all the it ems below are included in the pack age. In the
rare case that som e item is m issing, contact the s tore where you pur chased your PLUGST ATION as soon
as possible. (Opti onal boar ds list ed belo w may not be part of your pack age if you wish to upgrade to Y or Z
board specifications please contact KENTON electronics or your local KENTON dealer)

KENTON PLUGSTATION 19-INCH RACK MOUNT UNIT
POWER SUPPLY UNIT WITH SEPARATE MAINS CABLE SUITABLE FOR YOUR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
OWNERS MANUAL (THIS GUIDE)

OPTIONAL ITEMS:

KENTON X BOARD PLG EXPANSION CARD (OPTIONAL CARD FOR SW1000XG CONNECTION)
SW1000XG D SUB CONNECTOR BRACKET (OPTIONAL BACKPLATE FOR CONNECTION OF X

BOARD TO PLUGSTATION)

1.2M x 44 WAY CABLE (OPTIONAL SW1000XG TO PLUGSTATION CONNECTION)
SERIAL THRU CONNECTOR CABLE (OPTIONAL FOR USE WITH Y AND Z BOARD CONNECTION

THRU TO DS2416)
Y BOARD (OPTIONAL INDIVIDUAL OUTPUT BOARD FOR SYNTH PARTS FROM SW1000XG OR

FITTED PLG CARDS)
Z BOARD (OPTIONAL DSP CARD FOR SW1000XG AUDIO CHANNEL PASS T HROUGH TO Y BOARD

OUTPUTS)
The beauty of the PLUGSTATION concept is that it can grow with your needs. So you do not have to

purchase all of the options at first, but can do so at a later date, should your needs require it. This also
applies to PLG cards, you don’t have to have all 4 s lots loaded at once, but can add one card at a time,
making in the end, an incredibly powerful modular digital synth, with up to 4 different synthesis engines,
multiple 24-bit analogue audio and ADAT outputs . T his is s om ething, whic h no ot her rackmount tone module
in the world offers. Make no mistake, PLUGSTATION offers immense possibilities.

ITEMS YOU MAY NEED WHICH ARE NOT INCLUDED

To use your KENTON PLUGST ATION with the SW 1000XG (this does not app ly to use as stand alon e tone
module host) you will also need the following hardware and software:

Computer: CPU/Mem ory An IBM compatible personal computer running Windows ( 9.x/ME/XP/2000) with a
166 MHz or higher Pentium CPU, and at leas t 32 M B o f m emory or Apple Macintosh Power PC/G3 or h igh er
with 166 MHz processor, O S 8.6 or higher and at least 32 MB of m emory. You will also need a Hard D isk
with sufficient free spac e to use the software included with SW1000X G, the software and drivers must be
installed.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

7

To install and us e the software that accom panies your SW1000XG package, at least 20 MB of hard disk
space is required.

CD-ROM Drive: All the software that c ame with your sound card is includ ed on the supplied CD-ROM that
accompanies the SW1000XG card.

PCI Expansion Slot: To install the sound card, an empty PCI slot is required. Please also ensure that
sufficient space is lef t between adj ace nt cards to accom modate the K ENTO N X board PLG card, a nd ri bbon
cable connection to the D-SUB front plate. You will also need a free backplate slot on your computer to
accommodate the D-SUB connector if connecting PLUGSTATION to the SW1000XG.

Please ensure that whe n re - f itting your SW1000XG an d KE NT O N X boar d insid e your PC or Macintosh, that
sufficient space is left between adjacent c ards, and do not let an y component part of the SW1000XG or the
KENTON X board come into contact with other components inside your PC.

For stand alone use, you will require a minimum 8 channel analogue mixer to utilise all of the individual
output capabilities of the Y board, plus if you wish to use the ADAT output, you will require an ADAT
compatible audio device, such as a digital mixer, ADAT tape unit, or ADAT -ANALOGUE conversion unit.
ADAT is a form at t ype d ev elo ped b y A LE SI S, a nd is n ot res tr icted solely to the A DAT tape machine, bu t c an
be found on a wide range of digital a udi o de vic es. It is an 8- c hann el d igital tr a ns f er system, which offers very
high quality signal capabilities down a single optical cable.

NOTE: THE OPTICAL LINK PROVIDED BY THE ADAT OUTPUT IS ADAT FORM AT ONLY AND IS NOT
COMPATIBLE WITH THE 2-CHANNEL TOSLINK SYSTEM USED BY MANY MINI DISC RECORDERS
AND LOW COST DIGITAL DEVICES.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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Familiarising yourself with the PLUGSTATION.

This section will provide a brief overview of the KENTON PLUGSTATION front and rear panels and facilities.

THE FRONT PANEL OF THE KENTON PLUGSTATION

DIAGRAM 1: THE FRONT PANEL OF THE KENTON PLUGSTATION

The front panel of the KENTON PLUGSTATION is relatively simple. It features the main
rotary control knob, which work s also as a pus h button c ontrol for s witching bet ween menu optio ns, and for
entering deeper levels of editing within the unit. A short push (short press of under 1 second) for many
operations will take you through t he m enu options , and do wn to deeper leve ls of editin g. A long p ush on this
control (hold down for approx 1-2 s econds) will r eturn you t o the prev ious menu, and if held down f or longer
to the top level of menu editing T he LED displ ay will give you an accurate view of wher e you are in term s of
editing parameters , and le v el of ed iti ng. The top of the display features the 4 m ain s ub- sec tions of ed iti ng f or
the PLUGSTATION. The 4 main sections (which we will refer to as

STATUS, CARD, PARA

read through the installat ion and setup up section of this guide then please do s o, if you are unsure about
connecting or powering your PLUGSTATION at this stage.

The front panel po wer swit ch is loc ated on t he left h and si de of the unit. Pr essed do wn is f or power on , and
up for power off. If you power on, ar e using t he PLUG ST AT ION in conj unction with your SW 1000X G and do
not have the PLUGSTAT ION correctly connected to the SW1000XG, you may see the message

FOR COMPUTER PRESS FOR STAND ALONE

PLUGSTATION as stand alone system, just press the DAT A entry knob, and it will go into sta nd a lon e mode
This is a kind of fail safe system to avoid wordclock problems at a later stage. This is a default fail-safe
mode, which can be turned off if required (s ee later in this manual). If you do ha ve the SW1000X G D-SUB
connecter attached, and th e SW1000XG /PC is powered up, and you stil l see this, it m ay be that the mast er
wordclock from the SW1000XG connection cable (which attaches the PLUGSTATION to the 44-WAY D­SUB connector backplate) is not correctly fitted or is faulty.

If you are using PLUGSTAT ION with the SW1000XG, and it is powered up after the PC has been po wered
up, and this message repeatedly appears, please power down your computer and PLUGSTATION,
disconnect the 44-W AY D-SUB cable from the back of PLUGSTATIO N and from the D-SUB back plate on
your computer, and then re attach it, making sure it fits well.

If the wordclock is correctly detected on restart, PLUGSTATION will then go through an initialisation
sequence lasting approximately 5 seconds. At this stage the PLUGSTATION is checking its internal
operating system , and scanning for any inst alled PLG cards and optiona l boards, this is covered in more
detail in the section on Installati on and se tup of PLG car ds .

If you turn on PLUGSTATION and you have yet to ins tal l any PLG cards, after the first stage boot sequence ,
the error message
installation of PLG cards to stop this message appe aring. PLUGSTATION will func tion without a Yamaha
PLG card installed, but on l y if you have the opt ion al Y and Z boar ds f itte d, and t he n only as a multiple output

NO PLG CARDS FOUND

and

VAL

. Below is a brief introduction to each of the sections. If you wish to first

scroll across this screen. If you are using the

will scroll acr oss the screen, please refer to the sectio n on

LABELS

later in this manual) are

DATA ENTRY

WAITING

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

9

expander when used with the SW1000XG. If PLG cards are found, the display will then attempt to auto
detect any optional boards that may be fitted, such as the Y-BOARD, or Z-BOARD. The letters
corresponding to each board that is fitted or connected will flash on screen whilst this process is taking
place. Once the boot sequence is complete then you can begin to start to use PLUGSTATION.

To explain what is happeni ng duri ng the bo ot s equ ence, we will now take you through the proc e dure on s tart
up. PLUGSTATION is in effect “an empty box” until you add either Yamaha PLG cards, or any of the
optional boards. W hen you have don e this, it needs to k now what it has inside, so it r uns a chec k routin e to
find out what you have fitt ed to it. Part of this rout ine is to detect the wordclock source for the s ystem (see
notes later on wordclock, and why it is impor tant).

If PLUGSTATION boots up, and is running stand-alone then the word clock will be INTERNAL. The first
letter that will flas h will be I ( if the clock is external, i.e. it is connected to the SW1000X G, the firs t letter will
be E). Once it has established this, it wil l th en s can for any fitted boar ds . T hen if you ha ve t he Y board fitted,
character 3 in the LED displa y, will show a Y, and if the Z -Board is fitted a Z (look s like a 2) will flash up. If
neither board is fitted or is fitted incorrectly, then nothing will show up in LED segments 3 and 4 on start.

NOTE: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO INSTALL THE KENTON X-BOARD INSIDE PLUGSTATION...OBVIOUSLY

NOW LETS TAKE A TOUR OF THE DISPLAY.

The main
these are as follows.

STATUS

DOT (this dot indicates which level of editing you are at) in the LED display is underneath th is menu, then
you are in the STATUS indicator section. The STATUS indicator section will display which card slots
currently have PLG cards inserted in them (shown by lines highlighted at the bottom of each of the 4
segments parallel to where the text says
present in slot one, likewise for slots 2,3 and 4. If no line indication is present, then either no card is
installed, or the car ds you have installed may not be fitted correctly. Please refer t o the ins ta llati on s ec t ion of
this guide for how to install PLG cards correctly.

A correct display for cards in slots 1,3 and 4 for example would appear as in diagram 2.

LABELS

: This is the MIDI data m onitoring section and main status area f or Plugstation. If the small LED

at the top of the 4-segment LED indicat e which level of editing you are working with,

CARD ACTIVE).

A line in segment one in dicates that a card is

DIAGRAM 2: CARD SLOT ACTIVITY MONITOR

The MIDI receive text li ne indicates whet her or not a spec ific PLG card as signed to a spec ific MIDI chann el
is receiving MIDI data of any form. If the PLUGSTATION is receiving data over MIDI either from the

SW1000XG D-SUB connector

display will lig ht up the cen tral segm ent of the ap propriate board. For example, if a PLG c ard in slo t 1 were
receiving MIDI data on the MIDI channel to which it is assigned (by default this will be channel 1), the display
would appear as in diagram 3.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

or from the

MIDI IN

port located on the rear of the PLUGSTAT ION, then the

10

DIAGRAM 3: MIDI DATA ACTIVITY MONITOR

If you have MIDI devices connected to the PLUGST AT ION or the SW 1000XG c ard correctl y connected a nd
are sending MIDI data, t he MIDI RECEIVE se gment should light u p. If not please ensur e your connections
are correct (outlined in the section relating to installation), and that your cables (MIDI or SW1000XG
connector) are firmly attached.

NOTE: BY DEFAULT THE 4 PLG SLOT S ARE ASSIGNED TO MIDI CH ANNELS 1-4 (CORRESPOND ING
TO THE SLOT NUMBER) RESPECTIVELY

Pressing the DATA ENTRY button for a
Throughout this m anual we will refer to “short press” and “long press” actio ns. The DATA ENT RY knob on

the front of PLUGSTAT IO N is als o a pus h button control. A short press is a br ief push, last ing no lo nger th an
1 second, a long press is a longer “ push a nd hold” which is around 1-2 s econds. Once you have got us ed to
this, getting around the various Plugstation menus becomes very easy.

CARD –

mentioned, if you press the DATA ENTRY button once for a short pr ess, you will be taken to a top-level
menu option, which displays the card attached to slot 1 (this is covered in m ore detail in the front panel
editing section of this guide). If you have a PLG series card fitted in slot one (for this exam ple a Yamaha
PLG150DX) the display will appear like diagram 4

This section covers the card specific and GLOBAL editing menu options. As we have just

SHORT PRESS

will take you to the next level of editing.

DIAGRAM 4: SLOT ONE FITTED WITH A PLG150DX CARD

You can at this sta ge us e the r otar y encod er to s croll thr ough th e 4 s lots, an d che ck that a ny i nstalle d car ds
(PLG100 or 150 series) are bein g cor rectl y ident ified. T he displa y will read in seg m ent one, the sl ot num ber,
and in segments 3 and 4 the nam e of the bo ard (2 char acter versio n for ex ample VL or An). If a s lot has no
board attached then segments 3 and 4 will just show lines in the central portion, as in diagram 5.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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DIAGRAM 5: NO PLG CARD FOUND IN SLOT 2

NOTE: THE MAIN DIFFERENCE B ETWEEN PLG100 AND 150 SERIES C ARDS IS MEMORY BUFFER
LOCATIONS ON THE 150 SERIES, WHICH ARE DESIGNED TO BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH
SOME OF TH E YAMAHA PROF ESSION AL SYNTHESIS ERS SUCH AS THE C S6X AND M OTIF. THESE
DIFFERENCES DO NOT APPLY WH EN USING WI TH PLUGST ATION, SO IF YO U HAVE A 100 SERIES
CARD, AND THINK THAT YOU NEED T O UPDATE IT TO A 150 SERIES TO GET IT T O WORK, THEN
YOU ARE MISTAKEN. ANY 100 SERIES CARD WILL WORK FINE WITH PLUGSTATION.

After scrolling throu gh the 4 car d slots, th e m enu will t hen s witch to th e vario us GLO BAL op tions, Y-BO ARD
(if fitted) output options, Z board (if fitted) output options, and finally to the master program selection mode.

NOTE: THE MENU OPTIONS FOR THE Y AND Z BOARD WILL APPEAR EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT
FITTED. THIS IS NORM AL. IF THE BOARDS ARE NOT FITTED TO YOUR PLUGST ATION, THEN YOU
SHOULD DISREGARD THE MENU ITEMS RELATING TO THE Y AND Z BOARDS, AS THEY WILL
HAVE NO EFFECT

PARA –

or the GLOBAL options. P ressing the DATA ENTRY button again with a short press, will take you to this
mode (indicated by the white dot being underneath the PAR A line). The text shown in screen at t his point
will correspond to the CAR D section menu you in. For ex ample, if we show the CARD 1 slot ident ification
option in CARD menu ( as sho wn th e in dia gram 4), and press the DAT A ENT RY button quickl y it will tak e us
to the BANK SELECT option. This is shown in diagram 6.

This option is wher e you can view the PARA METERS assoc iated with either the individual b oards,

DIAGRAM 6: PLG BANK SELECT MSB SELECTION

NOTE: THAT THE LED DOT IS NOW LOCATED UNDERNE ATH THE PARA TEXT LINE. THE LED DOT
WILL ALWAYS INDICATE AT WHICH LEVEL OF EDITING YOU ARE. IT IS ALWAYS WORTH
CHECKING ITS LOCATION TO SEE IF YOU ARE IN THE CORRECT LEVEL.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

12

VAL –

you are editing. If we press the DAT A ENTRY button quickl y again, we drop to thi s leve l, and th e whit e dot is
now shown underneath the VAL line. Val ues c an be num eric al or som etimes tex t (suc h as ON or OFF in the
memory SHLD menu) . Values can range f rom 0-127 or lower (f or example MIDI c hannel range is 1-16) . If
you have pressed the bu tton quickly from the BANK MSB m enu option (as shown in diagram 6) , you will
then see a program number in the value menu similar to that shown in diagram 7.

This is the valu e s ect ion . It is h ere wh ere you e nter dat a v al ues tha t c or res pond to th e par ameter that

DIAGRAM 7: PROGRAM NO. 40 IS DISPLAYED

Here we see program 40 is being disp la yed. This m eans that the c urre nt bank MSB valu e fo r the car d is 40 .
The number you see may be different, but should be between 0 and 127

NOTE: SOME V ALUE STATUS DISPL AYS MAY ALSO HAVE A TEXT VALUE ( MAYBE TO INDICATE
AN OFF STATUS IF YOU WANT A FUNCTION SWITCHING OFF COMPLETELY BELOW 0)

THE REAR PANEL OF THE KENTON PLUGSTATION

DIAGRAM 8: PLUGSTATION REAR PANEL

Diagram 8 shows the rear panel v ie w of the PLUGSTATION when fitte d with t he optional Y board. The holes
to accommodate the indi vidual outputs and 24bi t ADAT output are pre-drill ed into the casing to allo w easy
fitting and alignm ent of the board. The PLG slot bla nking plate in this inst ance is attached. T o remove it for
fitting PLG cards please u ndo the s crews l ocated on th e lef t and right han d side of the plate. T his is covered
in more detail in the sec tion on installation and set up of PLG cards. The ADAT output is an optical output
conforming to the ALESIS ADAT standard. It can transm it up to 8 discrete channels of audio data (from
SYNTH or AUDIO channels on the SW1000XG (with the optional Z-BOARD also fitted) or SYNTH parts
from the PLG cards (4 cards giving 2 channels each = 8)) at up to 24bit resolution.

The ADAT port does not m ean that you hav e to use it onl y with an actua l ALE SIS ADAT tape m ac hine. This
interface port all ows you to use the PLUGSTATIO N with any ADAT c ompatible device, s uch as a Yam aha
01V, 03D or 02R d igital m ixer with appropr iate ADAT -YGDAI interfac e cards. T he i nterface whilst an optica l
type is not the same as the TOSLINK 2-channel optical interface (similar to those found on MINIDISC
recorders or DAT machines). It is a 44.1K/16-24 bit ADAT only output port.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

13

NOTE: THE 44.1K LIMIT IS A RESTRICTION OF THE SW1000XG WORDCLOCK ST ANDARD, WHICH
HAS TO BE FED T O THE FITTED PLG C ARDS. SW1000XG OW NERS WILL ALREADY BE FAMILIAR
WITH THI S .

The Y-BOARD enables you to s end discrete PLG card outputs ( or SW1000XG audio and MIDI parts if you
also have the Z-BOARD f itted) to an ex tern al mixer, with a signal to no ise r ati o in exc es s of 112dB > this a ls o
means that with the opt ion a l Z- board, au dio par ts th at i n the past wo uld ha ve re qui r ed the used of a DS2416
mixing card, and Yamaha AX16AT ADAT interface card or AX44 drive bay, can be sent to individual
analogue or ADAT output c hann els without the n eed for a DS2416/ AX16 AT option, ide al for people who just
want to mix with the SW1000XG, or get ultra clean, noise free multiple digital or analogue outputs. 24-bit
ALESIS 1401 DA converters with ¼ inch line level outputs provide the analogue outputs.

The SW1000XG 44-W AY D-SUB connector is for connecti on via the option al SW1000XG connection cable
to the SW1000XG X board and break out bracket only. Whilst the X board can be fitted to other Yamaha
PLG hosting devices suc h as an MU100R/MU128 or MOTIF s ynthesiser, this is not recommended, as the
architecture and operating systems of these devices are not designed to work correctly with
PLUGSTATION, in so much as they will be unable to detect cards fitted to slots 2,3 and 4 of
PLUGSTATION. Devic es of this k ind, whic h also have stand ard M IDI por ts, sh ould be attac hed via th e MIDI
connectors of PLUGSTATION, and PLUGSTATION treated as a tone module (modular hosting system)
(Please see the section on using PLUGSTATION as a stand alone system).

The MIDI ports allow connection of PLUGSTATION to other MIDI devices such as MIDI controller
keyboards. The MIDI IN norm ally runs in parallel with the SW1000X G connector, and thus can r eceive data
from both if requir ed. This makes it p ossible to c onnect a con troller k eyboard dir ectly to PLUG STATION f or
playing the PLG c ards as a stand-alone, whilst perhaps connec ting another keyboard at the same time to
play the SW1000X G sounds via the SW1000XG MIDI IN. Using th e SW1000XG MIDI in also all ows control
and playback of the PLG cards f itted to PLUGST ATION, when appr opriate seque ncer or control s oftware is
used to correctly set up the various options (for example, which channel and port is playing which PLG
device)

The DC inlet is for connecting to the s upplied DC power adapter. Please note that you shoul d only use the
supplied power suppl y, and KENTON nor Yamaha can be held res ponsible for any damage to either the
PLUGSTATION or any fitted PLG cards should you use an alternative DC adapter. You may find that the DC
adapter supplied gets warm over a period of time; this is normal and nothing to wor ry about. The DC adapter
has a “figure of 8” input on one end, this is for c onnecting to the p ower cable suitable f or use in your country.
The KENTON PLUGST ATION can operate in any country voltage (11 0/220/240 etc), using an appropriat e
power cable connected to the DC adapter. So if you purchase PLUGSTATION in on e country and wish to
move it to another, you only need to change your “figure of 8” connecting cable.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

14

Installation and Setup of Yamaha PLG (also known as MSPS)
cards.

Yamaha PLG100 and 150 series cards feature a unique Yamaha interface system. These systems offer
powerful expansion and upgrade capabilities for not only the KENTON PLUGSTATION but also a wide
range of Yamaha synthesizers and tone modules. The Yamaha PLG (also known as Modular Synthesis
Plug in System or MSPS) interface enables you to equip the PLUGSTATION with the latest and most
sophisticated techn olog y, ensuring that you keep pac e with the r apid and m ulti-fac eted advanc es in moder n
music production.

Yamaha Tone gener ator s, synthesizers and t he K ENT O N PL UG ST ATION, which are a ll compatible with the
PLG system, f eature spec ial co nnect ors f or c onnectin g PLG boards . T he m ain re ason f or th e intro ducti on of
PLUGSTATION was to expand on the num ber of PLG c ards that any one unit could work with at any time.
The SW1000XG for example only features one PLG expansion slot, and with several boards available it
seemed logical t o build an ex pansion c has sis to a llo w extra bo ards to be use d. W ith tra ditio nal P LG de vices
from Yamaha, the num ber of connectors availab le differs depending o n which Yamaha s ynth, tone module
or other product you ha ve . The PLG interface system used by Yam aha is a d ig ita l in ter f ac e, whic h un like the
older “Wave Blaster” connector found on some older daughter boards (such as the Yamaha DB50XG),
transmits ultra clean 2 channel digital a udio information and MIDI data over its c onnection. Each PLG 100
and 150 series card from Yamaha features the same connector, and all of them transmit a total of 2
channels of mixed digi tal audio over the connecting plug. The int erface is a proprietary design, a nd is not
currently used by any other manufacturer.

This digital interface mechanism can be likened to the outputs of a synth, which although it may be
multitimbral and m ulti-note polyphonic , still only sends its outp uts to a stereo pair. Hig h speed and reliable
data buffering for MIDI als o means that the PLG car ds can accept rapid a nd fast bulk dumps for setup data
from reliable and g ood MIDI interf aces over the PL UGSTAT ION MIDI ports. As the 4 bo ards are wired in a
parallel array, data ca n be sent to all f our at the same tim e, so com plex multipart s etups which m ay exist in
songs, can be fed to up to 4 PLG cards at once with no data loss.

Yamaha PLG100 and 150 cards installed i n PLUG STAT ION c an support ever y SYSEX and MIDI of fs et data
parameter found in t he app ropriat e PLG card m anua l, however as with the SW 1000XG c ard a nd PLG c ard s
fitted to many Yamaha PLG hosting devices, many of the editing parameters that you may send from
software such as XGWORKS or XGPAD to edit the PLG cards is NOT stored on power down.
PLUGSTATION offers a limited amount of offset editing for each PLG card, based on controller data
messages. If you create complex edits from a software application, be sure to save the edits in your
software application, as PL UG STATION will not store them on power down. (T his is als o the cas e wit h many
Yamaha PLG hosting tone m odules) You can then resend your edi ts from your software when you res ume
your session with PLUG STAT ION. For live us e, a suitabl e MIDI data f iler or La ptop com puter would pro vide
the ideal companion f or PLUGSTATION, as you could load entire setups into the unit bef ore each song or
gig.

DIAGRAM 9: THE REAR OF THE PLUGSTATION OPEN, WITH THE CARD SLOTS VISIBLE.

The PLUGSTATIO N allows you install up to four Plug-in boar ds and use all of them simultaneous ly. This
makes it currentl y the mos t flexible hosti ng device f or Yam aha PLG cards in exist ence. It is also at th is time

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

15

the only PLG hosting devic e that sup ports up to 8 disc rete digita l audio c hannels over the industr y standar d
ADAT format. Fitting PLG cards is a relatively easy operation, which we will discuss now.

To begin fitting a PLG ser ies card t o the PL UGSTAT ION, firs t we recomm end that you turn of f the po wer to
PLUGSTATION and remove all connecting plugs (such as ADAT, audio and power cable). Using a
screwdriver, rem ove the backplate f ound on the re ar of the PLUGST ATION undoing th e two scre ws, which
hold it in place. Pleas e DO NOT attem pt or undo an y of the oth er sc rews on t he P LUGST AT ION unless you
are also fitting the optio nal Y or Z boards. The four internal conn ecting cables each have a Yamaha PLG
series connector socket attached to the end of the cable runs, and you will find are numbered 1-4. The
cables should not be pull ed or tugged at excessively. As with fitting a PLG card to the SW1000XG or any
other PLG compatib le dev ice, car e should be tak en to avoid s tatic el ectricit y build up, and you should m ak e
sure that you are s uitably e arthed before proceeding. Now, connect the PLG car d or cards to each of the 4
labelled connector plu gs (in numerical order is th e most sensible approach, s o your first card will attac h to
the cable mark ed ONE, se cond card to cable m ark ed TWO etc. (see note on spe cific PLG cards ord ering)) ,
and slide them in to th e brackets, which hold them in place. (See Diagram 10 for connec tor information).
Make sure to insert eac h card slowly and gently, keeping th e edges of the board inside the proper guide
rails. With the bo ard in pl ace, plug in one of the f our cable connectors to th e c on n ec tor on th e Pl ug-i n b oar d.
Any one of the cable co nnectors can be used, however we recomm end the logical board assignment f or
PLUGSTATION (slots 1 - 4) is in the following order

NOTE: IF YOU HAVE A PLG100V H CARD THEN SL OT 1 SHOULD HAVE T HIS CARD INSERT ED IN IT,
AND SLOT 2-4 ANY OF THE FOLLOWING
PLG100/150 – VL, AN, PF, DX, XG (S EE NOTE ON XG CARD LATER IN THIS GUIDE), IF Y OU HAVE
NO VH CARD, THEN ANY SLOT IS FINE FOR ANY SYNT H BASED YAMAHA CARD ALTHOUGH WE
DO RECOMMEND PUTTING THEM IN FROM SLOT 1 ONWARDS. A TYPICAL EXAMPLE WOULD BE

SLOT 1 – PLG150DX
SLOT 2 – PLG150VL
SLOT 3 – PLG150PF
SLOT 4 – PLG150AN

DIAGRAM 10: PLG CONNECTOR CABLE CLOSE UP

Certain anomalies do ex ist with the PLG100VH card in that the SW 1000XG will set up an INSERT effect
channel if it detects this b oard, which may affect the operation of other PLG c ards if it is not detected on
startup or not fitted to s lot 1 . PLUG STAT ION is optim ized to be used as a s ynthes izer- hosting d evice f or the
Yamaha PLG synth t ype cards ( VL, AN, DX , PF etc). If you fin d you are ex perien cing probl ems with the VH
card, please ensure that it i s in sl ot 1 a nd that the PLUG ST ATIO N is powere d up soon af ter t he com puter is
turned on. This will allo w th e SW1000XG to correc tl y identify and set up the PLG100 VH. T his c ondi tio n do es
not apply to other Yamaha PLG cards.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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The brackets are ar ranged to allo w t wo cards at each leve l, one towar ds the f ront and one towar ds the r ear.
Correctly fitting the car ds is quite a delicate o peration, but onc e installed, you should not ha ve to remove or
tamper with cards again. (See diagram 11)

DIAGRAM 11: FITTING PLG CARDS

When you have attach ed a nd f itted eac h card correctly, you m a y replac e the back cover with the at tac hment
screws, and reconnect a ll power and audio cabl es to the PLUGSTAT ION. Please remem ber to fit the back
plate back on securely as this is also an EM (electro magnetic) interference shield which will stop EM
leakage from the inside of the unit.

To check that you have correct ly installed the c ards into the slots , you have intended, turn o n the power to
PLUGSTATION, and allo w it to run thr ough its init ializa tion seq uence ( rem ember to press the DAT A ENT RY
knob if you wish it to go in to stand a lone m ode the first tim e you turn it on) . Durin g the sequence it will sc an
the 4 card slots for ne w boards. If it detects a PLG c ard in a slot it will briefl y flash the SLOT number up
before dropping to the C ARD ACTIVE led display, whic h also indicates the presence of a card in a specif ic
slot (see diagram 2). If no card is found, please repeat the installat ion process carefully checking th at the
PLG connector cabl es are s ecurely in place, and that the cards ar e correctl y inserted into the brack ets. For
example is you have c orr ec tl y fitt ed car ds in to s lots 1 ,2 and 3 but not 4 you will se e a dis p lay flash up similar
to diagram 12.

DIAGRAM 12: SLOTS 1,2 AND 3 HAVE CARDS FITTED, AND DISPLAYED DURING POWER UP

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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This display will onl y flash for a brief tim e before the displa y will drop the one s imilar to diagram 2. (With the
appropriate LED lines lit up for the inserted PLG card slots)

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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Installation of the X, Y and Z boards

This is an operat ion, which requires som e le vel of tech nical k nowledge espec iall y in t he cas e of the Y a nd Z
boards. If you are at all unsure about fitting the optional Y and Z boards to PLUGSTATION then please
contact KENTON Electr onics or a qualified servic e engineer to assist you. You c an find the contact details
for KENTON towards the bac k of this manual. To fit the boards you will need a Phill ips (cross) head type
screwdriver to ope n up your PC case and also the PLUGSTAT ION itself, an d we advis e som e form of anti­static protection. Before proceeding you must ensure that PLUGSTATION is d isconnected from all audio,
MIDI and power connect ions . Failure to c om ply m ay res ult in pers onal inj ur y or da m age to the uni t for which
KENTON cannot be held r es ponsible. Pleas e do not open u p PLUGST AT ION unl ess you are going t o f it the
Y or Z boards yourself, as there are no user serviceable parts inside.

FITTING THE Y-BOARD TO PLUGSTATION

The Y-BOARD is the m ultiple out put expans ion car d for PLUG STAT ION. If f eatures a total of 8 ind ividua l ¼
inch unbalanced jack outputs running at line level. To hear the outputs from these jacks you will need to
have a suitable powered amplifier or powered speakers, and/or a suitable mixing desk. The other output
connector is an opt ical AD AT type int erfac e connecto r. T his is an OUT PUT onl y connector , and is designed
to allow 8 discrete cha nnels of audio to be sent from the PLUGST ATION cards (2 per card) to any other
ADAT compatible de vice. If the optional Z-board is also fitted then SW1000X G audio and MIDI parts can
also be sent over the individual outputs. (This requires suitable software such as XGEDIT, XGWorks or
XGPAD to configure).

To fit the Y-BOARD, p lease first remove the 7 screws on the top pane l of PLUGSTAT ION, followed by the
three screws towards the fr om edge of the bottom of PLUGST ATION. Caref ully remove the felt washer and
the rotary control DATA ENT RY knob from the f ront panel, an d slide the c over gentl y off. Carefull y remove
the Y-BOARD and 34 way r ibbon cable connector from the anti-s tatic bag in which they are supp lied, and
(being careful not to touch any of the components ), place it on the right hand side of the PLUGSTAT ION
with the output sockets passing through the correct connector holes on the back plate. The analogue
outputs come with ret ainer attachments, which hold them in place on the back of PLUGSTATION. These
should be now sc rewed int o p lac e. The Y-Board shoul d b e lin ed up with the pre fitted spacers on the bott om
of the PLUGSTAT ION, and you shou ld now firm ly screw in place the Y-BOARD usin g the supplied s crews
and washers. When fitted the Y-BOARD should appear as shown in DIAGRAM 13.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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DIAGRAM 13: A FITTED Y-BOARD

The 34-way ribbon cab le supplied s hould now be c onnected (check ing that you have it correct ly orientated)
between the 34-way connector on the Y-BOARD and the 34-way connector on the main PCB of
PLUGSTATION, found on the right side (as you are looking down on the unit with the front of
PLUGSTATION f ac ing to wards you) The connectors ar e marked as K1 and K 2 r e spec tiv ely. (The Y-BOARD
connector has a black plastic surround; the other 36- way connector, which is d esigned for interfacing with
the Z-BOARD, does not). Please make sure that the ribbon ca ble is firmly connected to the correct por ts,
and that the cable itse lf is lying flat aga ins t t he t op of the P LG c ard c has s is h ol de r (t he lar ge s te el housing in
the middle)

If you are at all unsure about fitting the Y-BOARD please consult a qualified service engineer.
Once fitted, if you are not f ittin g the Z- BOARD then you shou ld re-att ache d the to p case with the sc rews, r e-

fit the DATA entry knob, and after checking all is secure, re-connect all of your audio/power and MIDI
cables.

FITTING THE Z-BOARD TO PLUGSTATION

This is a much easier operation tha n fitting the Y-BO ARD. The Z-BO ARD allows the SW1000XG audio and
MIDI channels to be passed to the individ ual outputs alongside t he PLG cards. It has a Motorola M56364
DSP (the same type used on many expensive open architecture DSP cards!), for mixing and routing the
digital audio s treams from the Serial O ut conn ector on the SW 1000XG. T he boar d itself s hould be rem oved
from the anti-static packaging in which it comes , and then held so as not to touch the c omponents with t he
36way edge connector f acing down, and on your left as you look at it (the writing at the top of the board
should appear as norm al, not upside down). Now without us ing excessive f orce, fit the Z-BO ARD to the 36­way edge connector on th e Y-BOA RD (l oc ated to ward s the f r ont l ef t side of the Y- BOARD ( t o wards th e f ront
of PLUGSTATION) ). The two-spacer screw holes sh ould now line up with the holes in th e Z-BOARD, and
you should now (using the screws supplied) fit the Z-BOARD in place.

When fitted it should appear similar to diagram 14

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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DIAGRAM 14: Z AND Y BOARDS FITTED TO PLUGSTATION

Once fitted, you sho uld re-attache d the top cas e with the scr ews, re-fit the DATA entr y knob (ensuring that
you also replace the felt washer), and after checking all is s ecure, re-connect all of your audio/po wer and
MIDI cables. This s hould be the last time you e ver need to open up the P LUGSTATION (except the b ack
plate to fit PLG cards if you have not already done so)

FITTING THE X BOARD TO THE SW1000XG

Once you have fitted t he appropriate PLG cards to the PLUGSTAT ION (see section on f itting PLG cards),
you may then (if you are using the PLUGSTAT ION in conjunction with the SW 1000XG) need to fit the X­BOARD. If you have fitted a PLG series card to the SW1000XG in the past, then this is a relat ively easy
task, as the X-BOARD is almost identical.

NOTE: THE X-BOARD IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR USE CONNECTED TO THE SW1000XG. IT SHOULD NOT
BE USED IN ANY OTHER DEVICE.

First you should rem ove the cover from your PC, being caref ul to avoid any static electricity building up on
your hands or clothes, which may discharge on the SW1000XG or on other components inside your
computer.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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DIAGRAM 15: INSERTING THE SW1000XG WITH X BOARD

DIAGRAM 16: THE X-BOARD IN CLOSE UP

Using the plastic spacer s supplie d with your PLG cards , carefull y attach the KENT ON X-BO ARD to the side
of the SW1000XG , and then attach the PLG interface c able from the SW 1000XG PLG interf ace slot to the
interface connector on the KENTON X-BOARD.

DIAGRAM 17: X-BOARD FITTED TO SW1000XG

Now, being careful to check the orientation, connect the KENTON D-SUB plate connector to the D-SUB
connector on the KENTON X-BOARD. The plate should then be facing in the same direction as the
SW1000XG plate (b y plate we m ean the front of the SW 1000XG where the audio connections ar e), in ot her
words, the 44-WAY connector should be facing the same way as the AUDIO and MIDI ports on the
SW1000XG. (See DIAGRAM 18)

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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DIAGRAM 18: RIBBON CABLE AND BACKPLATE IN PLACE FOR X-BOARD

If you do not have the Y-BO ARD or Z-BOARD o ptions f itted to your PLUGST ATIO N then this is bas ically all
you need to do. (Unless you have the Z-board fitted to PLUGSTATION).

Refit your SW1000X G to your PC, and a ttached the D-SUB back plate to a free backplate slot on your PC,
making sure you scre w it firmly in place. W hat is now lef t for you to connect is th e 1.2 metre 44-W ay cable
between the PLUGSTATION and the D-SUB connector on the KENTON X-Board.

NOTE: IF YOU FIND THAT THE CABLE SUPPLIED IS TOO SHORT FOR YOUR REQUIREMENTS,
KENTON HAVE AVAILABLE AT A SMALL CHARGE AND EXTENSION CABLE SYSTEM. PLEASE
CONTACT KENTON ELECTRONICS OR YOUR LOCAL DEALER FOR MORE INFORMATION.

If you have the Z board fitted to your PLUGSTATION, then you need to connect up the serial interface
connectors on the KENT ON X-BOARD as shown in Diagr am 19. This as in the case with t he SW1000XG
connecting to the DS2416 all ows multiple MIDI and Audio data channe ls (Audio & MIDI from SW1000XG
only works with the Z board fitted) to be sent from the SW1000XG to the individual outputs on
PLUGSTATION. T he Aud io s ent o ver th is c on nec tor is s ent i n para ll el to b oth the Ana lo gue out put p or ts an d
also to the ADAT output port.

A maximum of 8 disc rete channels can be sent f rom a combination of PLG cards, Audio from SW1000XG,
and SW1000XG MIDI p arts to the PLUG STATION Y- BOARD outputs. T he ADAT and an alogue output s do
allow multiple channels to run to each output though, so you can send for example 32 channels of
SW1000XG MIDI, 100’s of channels of Audio (depen ding on your sequ encer software), and all 4 PLG car d
outputs to any of the individual outputs. T he routing options on PLUGSTATION are highl y flexible; so feel
free to experiment with sending data to different ports.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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DIAGRAM 19: CONNECTING THE SERIAL PORT FROM SW1000XG TO THE X-BOARD SERIAL INPUT

If you are also using the SW1000XG in conjuncti on with the Yamaha DS2416 ( DSP FACTORY) card, and
wish to continue using the interconnect between the SW1000XG and DS2416 card, then you should connect
the S THRU connector (Serial thru) to the Ser ial input connector on th e DS2416 as below. Your s equencer
software will stil l detect th e SW 1000XG is conn ected to th e DS2416, a nd you wil l still nee d to set up the SI
input on your sequencer software as the default wordclock.

NOTE: USING A SPECIAL AX16AT MODE ON PLUGSTATION (IN THE ZSOP MENU SET MUTE TO
ON), WHICH DISABLES AUDIO AND MIDI FROM THE SW1000XG BEING SENT OVER TO THE
PLUGSTATION AUDIO PORTS, BUT ENABLES IT TO BE SENT TO THE DS2416 AND AX16AT
CONNECTOR, UP TO 16 CHANNELS C AN BE TRANSMITTED. 8 FROM THE SW1000XG AUDIO AND
SYNTH PARTS (TO THE DS2416 INTERNAL CONNECTOR ONLY), AND 8 FROM THE PLG CARDS
FITTED TO PLUGSTATION. THIS MODE REALLY WORKS BEST IF YOU HAVE THE DS2416 AND
AX16AT CARDS FITT ED, AND IS SHOWN IN MO RE DETAIL IN THE SECT ION COVERING USE WI TH
THE SW1000XG. THIS MODE SHOULD NOT BE USED IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A DS2416 CARD
FITTED.

NOTES ON WORDCLOCK:

between the SW 1000XG and the DS241 6 cards or between t he SW1000XG, a nd the KENTON X -board is
capable of carr ying up to 8 discrete digital channels or either MID I or audio to 8 discrete channels of the
DS2416 card or PLUGST ATION (If you have the optional Y & Z board fitted). The DS2416 card has the
ability to bring i n au di o f r om many sources, suc h as t he AX 44 a nd AX 16 AT expansion ba ys or its o wn dig it al
inputs or analogue inputs, however, one of its cleverest functions is this SI option.

The SI connector c an als o c arry wordclock information between t he 2 car ds or b etween the SW1000XG and
the PLUGSTATION to m aintain s ynchronization . It would no w be a good point t o discuss wha t wordclock is,
and why it is essential.

Unlike analogue audio equipment, digital audio equipment must be synchronized when digital audio is
transferred from one devic e to another, otherwise, the dig ital audio might not be read c orrectly and audible
noise, glitches, or clicking may occur.

Synchronization is ac hieved using what’s calle d a
the digital audio words in an audi o system . Note that word clock s are not the sa me as SMPT E or MIDI time
code, which are used to synchronize audio recorders, MIDI sequencers, and so on. Wordclock
synchronization refer s to the s ynchroni zatio n of th e dig ital a udio pr oces sing c ircuit s ins ide eac h dig ital a udio
device.

The internal connector, which we shall refer to as SI (Serial Interconnect)

wordclock

, which is a clock signal for synchronizing all

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

24

In a typical digital audio system, one device acts as the wordclock master and the other devices act as
wordclock slaves, s ynchronizing to the wordc lock master. If the SW 1000XG is the only digit al audio device
in your system, no special wordclock settings are required, as the SW1000XG synchronizes to its own
internal wordclock. The SW1000XG card not having a digital input port will always act as a wordclock master
running from its internal clock source.
If you connect the SW 1000XG to the DS2416 or to PLUGSTAT ION, then PLUGSTATIO N will slave to the
SW1000XG wordclock. However the DS2416 wi ll h a v e s ever al o pti ons as to whe re its wordc loc k information
is coming from . Our interest lies in the SI optio n, for as we s aid, the SI conn ector can also c arry wordclock
info.

Wordclock runs at the same f requency as the samplin g rate. The SW1000XG gener ates its own wordclock
at 44.1 kHz (the industry-standard sampling rate for music CDs). As any DS2416 will have seen, the
DS2416 can be used as a wordclock slave synchronized to an exter nal wordclock of the SW1000XG (or
indeed to other devices s uch as DAT recorders) between 30.08 k Hz and 50.88 kHz (32 kHz –6%, 48 kHz
+6%).

Converting the sampling rate of digital audio is a complicated process, so it’s best to use the 44.1 kHz
sampling rate (this is the fixed rate for PLUGSTATION and the SW1000XG), especially if your work is
destined for CD distributio n. The PLUGSTATION can also run from its own internal wordclock also set to

44.1khz if no SW1000XG is present. If on startup the PLUGST ATION finds the SW1000X G is connected it
will slave to the wordcloc k data being sen t over the D-SUB c onnect or port ( the S W 1000XG als o sends word
clock information o ver the PLG connector to synchronize an y PLG cards connected). W ordclock sent over
the SO (Serial Output) connector to the K ENTON X-board is also sent thru to t he DS2416 card to m aintain
accurate sync, so that you can simultaneously use the SW1000XG, PLUGSTATION (ADAT or analogue
outputs also!), and the DS 2416 with any of its opt ional output units (s uch as the AX16AT ADAT card). This
has the added benefit of providing 8 discrete digital streams from the SW1000XG, which can now run
separately to an y disc r ete dig ita l or ana logue streams c oming from the DS2416 ( pr eviously impossible if you
wanted to run 16 channels out of the AX16AT from one DS2416, you had to com bine or sacrif ice channels
to allow SW1000XG discrete audio outs)

Before commencing with a recording session, mak e sure that all wordclock slaves ar e synchronized to the
master, which in the case off a system comprising of the SW1000XG and DS2416/PLUGSTATION will
always be the SW1000XG.

Some devices have f ront panel indicators to show when t hey are wordclock synchronized and th is is the
case with the soft ware support for th e DS2416/SW 1000XG linkup. (For Ex ample Cubase VST ). Wordclock
is also sent out fr om the SPDIF output of th e SW1000XG, at the sam e time as being sent f rom the ADAT
output of PLUGSTAT ION. As the wordclock is c oming from the same source, it makes it easy to connect
both the ADAT out of for example a connected DS2416 system with the AX16AT, and the ADAT out of
PLUGSTATION up to the same digital mixer with the SW 1000XG acting as the wordclock m aster source.
For example on a Yamaha 02R series digital mixer, you would select the ADAT input coming from the
PLUGSTATION as the wordclock master source.

Once connected to gether, the SW1000X G will be passing its wordclock inform ation to the PLUGST ATION
and if fitted the DS2416 at 44.1 k Hz. For the actual audio to be passed over ho wever to the DS2416 SUB
input channels you need to mak e sure that the DS2 416 wor dclock is set to SI or serial i nput. T his is covered
in detail in mos t application software, which works with the DS 2416, and in greater detail in the Yam aha
SW1000XG Advanced Users guidebook, which is free from Yamaha or from www.xgfactory.com

NOTE: THE WORDCLOCK SOURCE FOR PLUGSTATION DISPLAY OPTION IS COVERED IN THE
FRONT PANEL EDITING SECTION OF THIS MANUAL. THIS MENU ALLOWS YOU TO EASILY SEE
WHERE THE MASTER WORDCLOCK SOURCE IS COMING FROM. ONCE LOCKED TO THE
SW1000XG IT IS NOT POSSIBLE T O SWITCH PLUGSTATION TO INTERNAL WORDCLOCK W HILST
THE SW1000XG IS CONN ECTED. TO DO SO WOULD RESULT IN LOSS OF SYNC BETWEEN THE 2,
AND PRODUCE UNDESIRABLE AUDIO EFFECTS.

Aside from the PLUGST ATION and the KENT ON X-BOARD bein g in the middle, the way of interf acing and
connecting the DS24 16 (or 2) and an y other ex pansion c ards f or DS2416 ( such as the AX44 or AX16 AT) is
exactly the same as in your DS2416 manual.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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DIAGRAM 20: CONNECTING THE SERIAL THRU TO THE DS2416 CARD

The following dia gram shows the routing, which a t ypical system will provide. The routing diagram below
features the PLUGSTATION, SW1000XG and DS2416 card.

DIAGRAM 21: A TYPICAL CONNECTION FLOWCHART

The routing shown here in diagram 21 is only the signal routing OUT of the SW1000XG, and to the
PLUGSTATION and DS2 416. It does not show the back channel digital audio inform ation coming back to
the SW1000XG f rom any fitted PLG cards in PLUG STATION, nor does it sho w the optional Y and Z boar d
outputs from the PLUG STATION to a separate m ixer. This is to avoid confus ion at this stage, and just t o
give a connection r outing indic ator. A c learer set of routing p ossibiliti es and infor mation can be found in the

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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USE WITH THE SW1000XG section. However below is just an example of a typical setup with the
SW1000XG card.

Additional routing options and diagrams are to be found in the “Use with t he SW1000XG” chapter, which
also covers extra and more complex set-ups with the Yamaha AX16-AT card.

NOTE: PLUGSTATION IS INTENDED AS AN EXPANSION UNIT FOR THE SW1000XG, IT IS NOT
INTENDED FOR USE WITH DS2416 ON ITS OWN. YAMAHA PROVIDE SEVERAL SOLUTIONS FOR
INDIVIDUAL OUTPUTS FROM THE DS2416 CARD, SUCH AS THE AX44 AND THE AX16-AT CARD.
INFORMATION ON THESE CAN BE FOUND ON THE VARIOUS YAMAHA PRO AUDIO WEBSITES.

DIAGRAM 22: CONNECTING PLUGSTATION TO THE SW1000XG (MIDI ROUTING)

NOTE: THE MIDI OUT ON SW1000XG CAN ALWAYS BE CONNECTED TO THE MIDI IN ON
PLUGSTATION. AS SW1000XG CAN SEND MIDI DATA FROM THE SW1000 MIDI OUT PORT
SEPARATE TO THE INTERN AL SYNTH PORTS. THE MIDI THRU ON PLUGST ATION CAN THEN BE
USED TO CONNECT TO OTHER MIDI DEVICES IN YOUR STUDIO (SUCH AS TONE MODULES OR
DRUM MACHINES FOR EXAMPLE). CONNECTING THE MIDI OUT ON SW1000XG IN THIS WAY
ALLOWS YOU TO PERFORM OPERATING SYSTEM DUMPS EASILY TO PLUGSTATION WITHOUT
THE NEED TO CHANGE CABLES OR RECONNECT EVERY TIME, AS THE OS UPDATE ONLY WORKS
FROM THE MIDI IN OF PLUGST ATION, AND NOT FROM THE 44-WAY D-SUB PORT . THE MIDI OUT
ON THE PLUGSTATION IS FOR DUMPING SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE DATA ONLY, AND IS NOT
REQUIRED TO BE CONNECTED FOR DAY TO DAY OPERATION.

Once you are happ y that you have the cards ins talled, connect back your audio cables, and start pla ying.
The next section will c over editing from the front panel. You may wish to refer to the sections relat ing to
connecting up your keyboard or SW1000XG before looking into the editing facilities of PLUGSTATION.

IMPOR TANT NOTE
YAMAHA’S SW1000XG CARD WAS MODIFIED TO ACCOMMODATE THE PLG150AN SERIES OF

BOARD’S EXTRA CURRENT REQUIREM ENTS. THIS MODIFICATION INVOLVED THE FITTING OF A

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

27

HEAT SINK TO THE SW1000 XG ON TOP OF A REGULATOR LOC ATED TOWARDS T HE TOP EDGE
OF THE CARD. THE LETTER P APPEARING DENOTED YAMAHA’S MODIFICATION ON THE
PRODUCT BOX, AND ALSO ON THE BACK PLATE OF THE CARD (SW1000XG /P). THIS
MODIFICATION IS NOT ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED FOR YOU TO USE THE SW1000XG WITH THE
KENTON PLUGSTATION BUT IS ADVISABLE ANYWAY. THE HEAT SINK I S AVAILABLE (IF YOU DO
NOT HAVE IT ALREADY) FREE OF CHARGE FROM ANY YAMAHA SUBSIDI ARY. PLEASE DO NOT
CONTACT KENTON REGARDING THIS. THIS MODIFICATION DOES NOT AFFECT THE OPERATION
OF PLUGSTATION IN ANY WAY, AND IS ONLY APPLICABLE T O SW1000XG OW NERS WISHING TO
USE PLUGSTATION VIA THE X-BOARD CONNECTION. FOR MORE INFORM ATION ON THIS HEAT
SINK UPDATE KIT VISIT HTTP://WWW.XGFACTORY.COM

PLUGSTATION IS DESIG NED TO HOST UP TO 4 YAM AHA PLG CARDS. SOM E PLG CARDS H AVE A
HIGHER CURRENT REQUIREMENT THAN OTHERS. PLUGSTATION HAS BEEN TESTED WITH
MULTIPLE COMBINATIONS OF CARDS, AND IS CAPABLE OF SUPPORTING ANY 4 OF THE RANGE
AT THE SAME TIME. (BARRING THE PLG100VH FOR OTHER UNRELATED TECHNICAL REASONS)

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

28

Front panel editing

The original concept behind the PLUG STAT ION was one of a “f aceless box” . Designe d initiall y only for use
with the SW1000XG it qui ckly became apparent that offering a limited am ount of front panel control, and
editing would greatly enhance its appeal. Now, setups could be made and stored in the 64 memory
locations, and used for example in a live situation with a keyboard sending program changes out to
PLUGSTATION, and c al lin g up v ario us s etups. Whilst the front pan el ed iti ng doe s not offer complete ac c ess
to all of the PLG card param eters (nor do most Yamaha hosting pro ducts), it does offer enough co ntrol to
make subtle changes to the sounds, alter output routings to the optional Y and Z boards a nd a few other
“housekeeping functions”

The other beauty of PLUG STAT ION is that its interna l micr oprocess ors are FLASH updat eable. T his means
that just by sending a spec i al KENT ON OS UP DAT E MIDI file to th e unit f rom any sequ encer can make any
changes, bug fixes , or add itions to s upport f uture Yam aha pr oduc ts quic k ly and eas ily. T his spec ial m ode of
operation is covered in the troubleshooting and FAQ section of this manual.

Each of the many editing windows covered in this section will have a short description of what they are (what
the 4 character abbreviat ions stand f or), ho w they wor k , what they do, and the r ange of values that the y can
address). In certain cases a brief technical overview may also apply to a specific parameter.

The editing levels will also be covere d, an d a pref ix f or each param eter or displa y indicati ng wh ich le vel the y
are found at ma y be shown before the descript ion. The levels ar e STATUS,CARD & PARA. VAL will sho w
the range of values, which apply to each parameter.

FRONT PANEL EDITS

Once you are fam iliar with the overall f unctionalit y of PLUGST ATION it m ay be tim e to start gettin g into the
front panel control. Whilst the front panel does offer a limited amount of control over the individual PLG
cards parameters, we do recommend that if you wish to get into the deeper editing a nd functionalit y of the
PLG series cards, that you use appropriate software.

Yamaha’s XGW ORKS V2 and above offers support f or editing of each of the PLG cards , and normally th e
plug in software editor f or each board is pro vided free with th e PLG card you wish to edit. XGW ORKS LITE
a cut-down version of the Yam aha sequencer also s upports editin g of PLG card param eters using th e plug
in menu option. However this software is not aware of PLUGST ATION and as of time of writing will onl y
support 3 cards at once. It is recommended that you obtain soft ware such as XGPAD, which has specif ic
support for PLUGSTATION from www.xgpad.com

The PLUGSTATION only has one rotary DATA ENTRY control knob, which also doubles up as a push
button knob. Once you hav e powered up your PLUGS TATION and found no error s reported (see notes on
possible errors that c an occur), and you have insta lled between 1 and 4 Yamah a PLG cards, it is time to
start editing.

On power up, after the bo ards and system are scanned and PLUGSTATION has set its wordcl ock mode,
PLUGSTATION then defaults to the STATUS level, and the MIDI STATUS screen, which indicates MIDI
activity. This leve l also shows wordc lock source, perf ormance number and which slots have a b oard in (as
shown in diagram 3). This is a useful way to check that each card is work ing okay, and that MIDI on any 4 of
the 16 possible reception channels is getting through. PLUGSTATION has 64 Performance memory
locations acces sible at this le vel, which al low you to e asily recall se tups, which you have previous ly saved,
including volume levels, routing to outputs, and controller data for each of the 4 PLG cards.

These performanc es can be stored over MIDI SYSEX using the DUNP –(MIDI BULK DUMP) command to
enable you to store even more set-ups should you so wish (the MIDI bulk dump requires a suitable MIDI

.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

29

DATA FILER or computer to record the SYSEX data being sent ou t). This option is in a diff erent level and
will be covered later in this section.

The STATUS leve l as we say, quickl y allows you to see som e other main parameter s for PLUGSTATION,
For example, to view the perf ormance memory location (one of 64 mem ory locations where you can store
your PLG card offs et parameters, routing and output levels),just use the DATA ENT RY knob clockwise to
scroll to the nex t page from MIDI STATUS m enu. This will show a perform ance number as shown in the
following diagram .

The numeric value m ay differ, but it will be in the range 1- 64. To change perfor mance just press the k nob
once (short press) and continue to s croll the DATA en try knob. This wil l then scroll thro ugh each of the 6 4
performance locations , and load them as each num ber comes up by pressing down on the DAT A ENTRY
knob for recall. The s c reen wil l bri ef l y flash, an d r etur n to the Performance selecti o n opt ion. (Please allow up
to a second for eac h performance to load). When s electing a performance in this way the LED DOT will
move to the VALUE (VAL) section showing that you are entering a value.

Once you have entered the performance you wish to recall, you can scroll back anti-clockwise to MIDI
STATUS view.

Once back in the MIDI STATUS view, you can drop to the main editing modes. If you wish (and you have set
up the PLUGSTAT IO N MASTER MIDI CHANNEL correctly (see later in this c h apt er ), you can als o use MIDI
program changes to call u p Performance memor y locations. (This only works from the MIDI IN PORT , not
from the SW1000X G D-SUB connector, as it s eemed more sensible to isolate Performance c hanges from
the main bulk of data and program changes being sent from the SW1000XG D-SUB port).

NOTE: SENDING A PERFORM ANCE CHANGE OVER MIDI W ILL CAUSE THE SCREEN T O FLASH UP
THE PERFORMANCE YOU HAVE SELECTED BRIEFLY THEN RETURN YOU TO THE EDITING
LOCATION YOU WERE IN.

These Performanc e changes are standard program messages, which require no BANK SELECT MSB or
LSB data, just a s imple progr am number . The performanc e changes will occur f rom MIDI progr am changes
sent on the MASTER MIDI control channel, which is covered later in this section.

NOTE: PERFORMANCE CHANGES WILL NOT WORK FROM THE SW1000XG 44 WAY D-SUB
CONNECTOR, YOU NEED T O CONNECT THE SW1000XG M IDI OUT TO THE PLUGSTATION MIDI IN
FOR THIS TO WORK. THIS IS T O AVOID PROBLEMS WITH PARTS BEING SENT FROM SW1000XG
EDITING SOFTWARE SUCH AS XGEDIT OR XGWORKS, W HICH MAY REFRESH ALL CHANNEL S ON
STARTUP, SENDING A PROGRAM CHANGE TO THE PERFORM ANCE CHANNEL, WHICH MAY NOT
BE DESIRED. IF YOU WISH T O RECALL PERFORMANCES STORED ON PL UGSTATION FROM THE
SW1000XG, YOUR SOFTWARE NEEDS TO HAVE THE PLUGSTATION RECOGNISED ON THE
SW1000 MIDI OUT PORT. XGPAD FROM MICHAEL BRAY IS THE APPLICATION RECOMMENDED
FOR USE WITH THE PLUGSTATION.

So for example, if you have the MASTER MIDI channel on PLUGSTATION set to 16, then your MIDI
keyboard or SW 1000XG MIDI OUT port needs to send an appropri ate program change o n CHANN EL 16 to
select a new performance.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

30

As we said, scrolli ng the D ATA ENTRY knob anti-c l oc k wise f r om the performance data e ntr y LE D menu, will
take us back to the MIDI STATUS screen.

However, if we no w scroll clockwise p ast the PERFORMANCE DATA ENTRY m enu, we can then see the
WORDCLOCK source menu. If the optional X-BOARD is fitted to the SW1000XG , and the SW1000XG is
working properly, then the wordc lock master source will read EX T (External Wordc lock). This means that the
SW1000XG is providing the master clock for the system, and any SW1000XG related functions for
PLUGSTATION should work okay. If the wordclock is reading INT (Internal), then the PLUGSTATION is
running either in s tand-alone m ode, or the SW 1000XG wordclock is not be ing received cor rectly. If it is the
latter, please shut down your PC, turn off the power o n PLUGSTAT ION, re-power your PC, and then a f ew
seconds after re-powering your PC (around 2 seconds), re power PLUGSTATION. This will allow
PLUGSTATION to be interrogated by the SW1000XG on startup, and correctly configure the clock settings.

THE ABOVE DIAGRAM SHOWS EXTERNAL WORDCLOCK IS THE MASTER CLOCK FOR THE SYSTEM

NOTE: PLUGSTATION ON POWER UP WILL WAIT FOR A WORDCLOCK SIGNAL FROM THE
SW1000XG INPUT BY DEFAULT. THIS CAN BE TURNED OFF IN THE GLOBAL MENU OPTION
(SHLD). THIS IS TO ENSURE T HAT THE MASTER WO RDCLOCK FOR THE SYSTEM IS CORRECTLY
IDENTIFIED. IT IS ADVISABLE TO TURN THE “SHLD” FUNCTION TO OFF IF YOU PLAN TO USE
PLUGSTATION IN STAND ALONE MODE EXCLUSIVELY (OR WILL NOT HAVE IT CONNECTED TO
SW1000XG VIA THE D-SUB CONNECTOR). IF YOU FIND THAT PLUGSTATION IS STILL MAKING
PERIOD “CLICKING” NOISES EV EN WH EN THE WORDCLOCK IS DET ECT ED FROM THE SW1000XG,
THEN PLEASE SAVE ALL DATA ON YOUR COMPUTER, SHUT IT DOWN, POWER IT DOWN, POW ER
DOWN PLUGSTATION, THEN REST ART, WIT H THE PC TURNED ON FI RST, AND 2 SECONDS L ATER
SWITCH ON PLUGSTATION.

Scrolling back anti-clockwise or clockwise will take us back to the MIDI STATUS screen.
Now once back in the MIDI STATUS sc reen (diagram 3), if we press the DAT A ENTRY knob once quic kly,

we enter the main editing modes. These are the CARD and PARA levels
Once in editing mode, the screen should switch to a display, which indicates which card slot, you are

currently looking at. For example if you have a Yam aha PLG100 or 150DX card in slot 1, you will see the
following display.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

31

Note that the small
by using a short press on the DAT A ENT RY k nob, the
we are now at

NOTE: REPEATED PRESSES (SHORT PRESS) ON THE DATA ENTRY KNOB WILL TAKE YOU
THROUGH THE VARIOUS PARAMETER OPT IONS, ALT ERN ATING BET W EEN THE PARAMETER AND
THE VALUE IN STEP SEQUENCE ORDER. TO RET URN AT ANY POINT TO THE T OP-LEVEL MENU,
JUST PRESS DOWN TH E DATA ENTRY KNOB FOR 2 SECONDS. T HIS WILL TAKE YOU BACK TO
THE TOP LEVEL FOR THE MENU YOU ARE IN. HOLDING DOWN THE DATA ENTRY KNOB TO
LONGER WILL TAKE YOU TO THE VERY TOP MENU (STATUS LABEL)

BANK MSB

diagram below
a method of adding man y hundreds of banks was r equired. This is the Bank select method. Here 2 dat a
bytes (an MSB or MOST significant byte, and an LSB or LEAST significant byte) are used to select the many
banks available. T he wide range of banks, which eac h PLG card sup ports, can be found in the appropri ate
PLG card reference m anual. T he VAL range f or this par ameter is
Yamaha PLG card req uires both the MSB and LSB m essages to be sent followed by a program change
message.

– This is the

DOT LED

PARAMETER

bntH

). Program change m ess ages onl y go up to a va lue of 127 in standard M IDI dev ices, s o

is now underneath the

level. The editing commands for each PLG card at

BANK SELECT “MOST SIGNIFICANT BYTE”

CARD

label. If we now go into the editing f or this card

DOT LED

will move to the

parameter (appears as s ee n i n th e

0-127.

To correctly call up a sound f rom a

PARA

PARA

label, indicatin g that

level are as follows.

BANK LSB

diagram below
card reference manual. The VAL range for this parameter is

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

– This is the

bntL

BANK SELECT LEAST SIGNIFICANT BYTE

). Again the banks , which each P L G c ard s upports , c an be f o und i n the appro pr ia te P LG

parameter (appears as seen in the

0-127

32

PROG –

the DATA ENTRY knob when this is on screen brings you to the value ( VAL) level indicated by the DOT
LED moving to be locat ed underneath the VAL label. The value range for this option is
standard MIDI range for program change m essages . This mode acc esses the program s in s pecific bank s as
defined by the factor y voice lists found in the Yamaha PLG card m anuals. You m ust ensure that you are in
the correct BANK (sho wn above) to call up an appro priate voice. Some program locations on certain PLG
cards may not exist ( f or example there ma y be no vo i c e 34 i n B AN K M SB = 62, LS B = 81 f or some cards). If
you find that you hear no s ound from the PLG card, t hen it is probabl y because the so und for that program
location does not ex ist. If this is the case , please tr y another program number or differ ent BANK to c all up a
voice. The voice bank s and program numbers , which are valid for each card, ar e detailed in the PLG card
manual, which ac companie s your P LG100 or 150 ser ies card. PLUGST ATIO N is intelli gentl y set out so that
on a cold start, it will int er ro gate the 4 slots, and assig n an ap pr opr iate pr ogr am, which will mak e a s ound f or
each installed PLG synth board. This is a good way to check that each PLG card is working correctly.

This indicates

PROGRAM CHANGE

. As with all param eters in this section, pr essing o nce m or e on

0-127.

This is the

If you have a specific voice in m ind that you wish to call up, find the MSB, LSB and PROG RAM num ber for
it, and then recal l it usin g the above m ethod. Onc e you hav e set a v alue using the D ATA ENT R Y knob for a
program number you should be able to hear the correct sound corresponding to that BANK/PROGRAM
location.

NOTE: THE PLG100VH CARD DOESN’T USE PROGRAM MESSAGES IN THIS WAY, AS IT IS AN
EFFECT PROCESSING DEVICE RATHER THAN A TONE MODULE. THE PLG100VH CARD ONLY
WORKS IN SYSTEMS, WHICH ARE CONNECTED TO THE SW1000XG, AND EVEN IN THIS CASE
MUST BE CONTROLLED FROM APPROPRI ATE SOFTWARE AND NOT FROM THE FRONT PANEL OF
PLUGSTATION. PLEASE REFER TO THE SW1000XG CHAPTER FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
RELATING TO THE VH CARD, AND ALSO TO YOUR APPROPRIATE SOFTWARE MANUAL (FOR
EXAMPLE THE XGWORKS VH EFFECT EDITOR GUIDE SECTION IN YOUR XGWORKS PDF USER
MANUAL) FOR FURTHER INFO ON THE PLG100VH CARD.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

33

PLUGSTATION H AS NO ANALOGU E INPUT STAGE AS THIS W OULD CONF LICT WIT H THE M ASTER
WORDCLOCK BEING SENT FROM THE SW1000XG, AND IN STAND ALONE MODE WOULD BE
DIFFICULT TO CONTROL FROM THE FRONT PANEL.

SVOL

– This is the
level being sent back via the 44-WAY D-SU B connector to the SW 1000XG). This param eter only applies if
you are connecting the PLUGSTATION to the SW1000XG via the 44-way D-SUB connector and the X­BOARD. The return channel volume leve l is the level that each board se nds bac k to the SW1000XG card, to
pass through the SW 1000XG onboard mixer and DSP ch ips, and thence to the SW1000X G analogue or
digital outputs. If you are not using appropri ate contro l sof tware with the SW 1000XG , then this param eter is
useful for mixing the relat ive levels of r eturn between m ultiple PLG cards that you m ay have installed.

parameter has a range of 0-127

volume). This par ameter does not affect the output l evel to the individual ou ts (if fitted) on the back of the
PLUGSTATION unit. It c an thus be used to c reate b etter m ix levels if you are using PLUG STAT ION and an
external mixer (such as a Yamaha 01V) between the PLG cards and the SW1000XG main outputs, by
removing all signal c oming back through the SW 1000X G fr om the PLG c ar ds , and ju st leav ing s i gna l co ming
from the Y-BOARD out puts). Care should be taken to a void sending the signal in an y great amount both
back through the SW 1000X G f rom the PLG cards , an d fr om the ind ivid ual output s of PLUGST AT ION (if you
have the Y-BOARD fitted), as you may hear undesirable phasing effects from the 2 signals.

INDIVIDUAL PLG CARD B ACK TO SW1000XG R ETURN PATH VOLUM E

(0 being off or no vo lum e f or an indiv idual bo ard r eturn, an d 127 be in g full

(PLG card

This

SBAL

level. This controls the PAN setting of the PLG card back to the SW1000X G. As with the volume control
above, this parameter does not af fect the output bal anc e from the individua l outputs of the Y board ( if fitted).
The value range is again f rom 0-127, however the default value is 64, which indicates an equal Left and
Right balance level.

NOTE: THESE 2 PARAMETERS SVOL AND SBAL ARE THE ONLY WAY (ALONG WITH
APPROPRIATE CONTROL SOFTWARE SUCH AS XGPAD) OF CONTROLLING INDIVIDUAL VOLUM E
LEVELS OF PLG CARDS BACK THROUGH T HE SW1000XG (SOFTWARE SUCH AS XGWORKS OR
XGEDIT CANNOT DO THIS FOR REASONS DISCUSSED LATER IN THE SW1000XG CHAPTER).

– This is the

INDIVIDUAL PLG C ARD BACK TO SW 1000XG RETURN P ATH BALANCE

0 = FULL LEFT, 127 = FULL RIGHT, 64 = CENTRE PANNING.

(or PAN)

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

34

THESE COMM ANDS CAN BE SYSEX CONTROLLED, WITH THE SYSEX FOR EACH LEVEL LISTED
(ALONG WITH SYSEX FOR ALL OTHER PLUGSTATION PARAMETERS) AT THE BACK OF THIS
MANUAL. SPECIFIC PLUGST ATION SUPPORT SOFTWARE SUCH AS XGPAD (WWW.XGPAD.COM
CAN SUPPORT THESE PARAMETERS, AND IT IS STRONGLY ADVISED THAT YOU DOWNLOAD
THIS SOFTWARE (OR OTHER SUITABLE APPLICAT IONS ON RELE ASE) TO SUPPORT CONT ROL OF
PLG CARD VOLUMES IN PL UGSTATION. IF YOU ARE HAPPY WITH STATIC VOLUME LEVELS, T H EN
FRONT PANEL CONTROL AND SETUP WILL BE OKAY, HOWEVER IF YOU WISH TO ADJUST
VOLUMES OF BOARDS DYNAMICALLY (FOR EXAMPLE IN A SONG ON YOUR SEQUENCER) THEN
SOFTWARE SUPPORT OR AN APPROPRIATE MEANS OF CONTROL (SUCH AS THE KENTON
CONTROL FREAK) IS REQUIRED.

YVOL – THIS IS THE Y-BOARD INDIVIDUAL PLG CARD OUTPUT VOLUME.

effective if you have the optional Y-BOARD fitted to your PLUGST ATION. It controls the output level for
each PLG card to the respective i nd iv idu al o utpu t you may have assigned them to. It is in effect an individual
output level control f or the PLG cards. The value r ange for this is 0-127
worth also checking that if you have the individual outputs (ADAT or Analogue) connected to your mixing
desk, that the channels on your mixing des k are switched on, a nd that you remem ber if you have both th e
ADAT and the analogue outputs connected at the same time that this YVOL control, controls the levels
being sent for each board to both (The ADAT and analogue outputs are b eing fed from the sam e primary
DSP and wired in parallel).

(0 is off, 127 is full volume).

This parameter is only

)

It is

YBAL – THIS IS THE Y-BO ARD INDIVIDUAL PLG CARD BALANCE CONT ROL.

effective if you ha ve the optional Y- BOARD fitted to your PLUGSTAT ION. It controls the outp ut balance for
each PLG card to the respective individual output you may have assigned them to. It is an individual panning
control to the Y-BOARD outputs from each of the PLG cards.

default value of 64 (0 is full left, 127 is full right, 6 4 is center panning).

you have the individual out puts (ADAT or Analogue) connected to your mixing desk, that the channels on
your mixing desk ar e panned accor dingly as well, as if the inpu ts on your mixer ar e panned center then you
may not hear an y effect from this control. Als o remem ber that if you have both the ADAT and the analo gue
outputs connected at the s ame time that this controls the pa nning levels bei ng sent for each bo ard to both.
This control allows you to set boards which you may only wish t o hear in MONO to discrete outputs. For
example, if you set the P LG150VL card to pan hard lef t (value 0) in slot 1, and have it set t o output to Y­BOARD outputs 1&2, you will only actually hear it from output 1 (1,3,5 and 7 are treated as L EFT – 2,4,6
and 8 as right)

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

The value range for this is 0- 127, with a

It is worth also checking that if

This parameter is only

35

YOPS – THIS IS T HE Y-BOARD INDIVIDU AL OUTPUT SELECT OPTION.

effective if you have the optional Y-BOARD fitted to the PLUGSTATION. The parameter allows you to
assign each PLG card to a pair of individual outputs on the bac k of PLUGSTATION. This is usef ul if you
wish to combine the soun ds of 2 P LG car ds thr ough your m ixer, and treat them with the sam e EQ or ef fec ts
settings on your exter nal mixer. To set 2 PLG cards to the same outputs, use this m enu whilst editing 2
different PLG cards, and s et the outputs to the sam e value. For exam ple, if you had a PLG100 VL in slot 1 ,
and a PLG100DX in s lot 2, the default ou tput settings for the VL would be 1-2, an d for the DX would b e 3-4
(this indicates outputs 1&2 and outputs 3&4 respectively). If you wished to have the sound of both PLG
cards coming out of the s a me outputs, you could s et t he YO PS valu e for the DX card to 1-2 , th us f or cing th e
sound for this PLG car d to be fed to the 1&2 outputs on the back of PLUGSTAT ION. This is useful if you
have a smaller m ixer whic h m ay not have 8 indi vidual inputs, or that you may on ly have a fe w inputs lef t on
your larger mixer. It is also useful if you wish t o separate the outputs fr om the SW1000XG audio ( if the Z­board is fitted) or s ynth parts from the outp uts of the PLG cards for appl ying different ef fects or EQ settings
with your external m ixer. The values f or this param eter ar e

= OUTPUTS 5&6 and 7-8 = OUTPUTS 7&8.

1-2 = OUTPUTS 1&2, 3- 4 = OUT PUT S 3&4, 5-6

This parameter is again only

EXAMPLE OF OUTPUT 1&2 SELECTION

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

36

PART –

primarily a part assignm ent function for the SW1000XG part that is being replaced by a PLG card. It can
also be used to ass ign two of the sam e card to diff erent part numbers (f or example 2 PLG15 0AN cards) to
send different data to each. T his c an be a c onf us ing conc ept to und er stand, but for every day use, the PART
number will default and s houl d corr espo nd to the MI DI c hanne l va lue if you set them to f ront p anel use. T he
SYSEX section of the manuals for ma ny Yamaha PLG car ds, has PART specif ic SYSEX comm ands listed,
which are used with this setting.

Here the part number (which normally corresponds to the MIDI channel) can be set. This is

The value range for this is 1-16

CHAN – PLG CARD MIDI CH ANNEL.

MIDI channel.
such as XGEDIT or XGWORKS can override this, and caution should be taken if you are running
PLUGSTATION with s oftware, as the sc reen displa y for each chann el may not updat e with earlier versions
of certain software applications such as XGEDIT to show the correct channel assignment (this is true of
many parameters on PLU GSTATION unless you are using it with sof tware which intelligently understands
the status of PLUGST ATION itse lf). T his control is ideal for when you are us ing PLUG STATIO N in a live or
controlled by a ke yboard only situation, as i t enables you to set u p correct MIDI channe l response for eac h
PLG card, or indeed, layer up to 4 cards together on the same MIDI channel to create a more com plex
sound.

For example, if you have a PLG 15 0PF car d in s l ot 1, a nd a PLG 15 0AN card ins lot 2, you cou ld as si gn th em
both to the same MIDI channel (s ay channel 1), and pla y a layered PF Piano and AN analogue modeled
string sound from the one channel on your controller keyboard. Please also note that if you do assign
multiple boards to the sam e MIDI c hann el th at any controller messages that you send to the c ards , wil l ap ply
across all board that ar e set to the same channel. S o for example if you send contr oller 74 for filter cutoff
adjustments over MIDI f rom a controlling device (suc h as a KENTON control Freak ), then if more than one
board is assigned to the same MIDI channel, then they will all respond to the filter parameter being sent.

This will override any sett in gs you may have made for the board prior to moving it to the same MIDI c hannel.
A better way of la yering sounds is t o use the facilit ies of your con troller keyboar d if it has them to send the
same key range out o n more than one c hannel, and then se nd controller dat a to each board o n a discrete
channel if requir ed. This o ption however of bein g able to assign m ultip le boards to the s ame c hannel, som e
people may find ver y usef ul if the y have la yered so un ds wh ich t he y wish t o resp ond in the s am e wa y durin g
the course of a song.

The value range for t his p ara met er i s 1-16,

This parameter as signs the PLG card o n each slot an appropriat e

indicating channe ls 1 thru 16 for MIDI. Software

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

37

NOTE: SETTING UP PARAMETERS SUCH AS POLY OVERFLOW MODE FOR THE VL CARD CAN
ONLY BE DONE FROM SOFTWARE SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE COMMANDS. FUTURE SOFTWARE
EDITORS FOR PLUGSTATION AND PLG CARDS MAY SUPPORT THIS FEATURE. THE PLG150AN
CARD SUPPORTS A DIFFERE NT METHOD OF VOICE MORPHING TO THE AN1X SY NT HESIZ ER , AND
AS SUCH TWO PLG150 AN C ARDS CANNOT BE SET UP TO MORPH BETWEEN EACH OT HER USI N G
PLUGSTATION OR INDEED ANY YAMAHA PLG HOSTING DEVICE.

P_ID – PLG CARD ID.

This feature is ac tually not possible with the PLG c ards f rom Yamaha as such, a nd the wa y in which th is is
implemented is uniq ue to PLUGST ATIO N. If more than one b oard of the sam e type is inse rted (f or example
2 PLG150AN cards to create a bi-timbral setup), then (with appropriate software), the 2 cards can be
uniquely addressed. This is achieved by redirecting incoming sysex for the second card (which may be
identical in terms of byte type to the f irst) to the s econd s lot only. T his allo ws for complex edit ing of 2 boards
of the same type, which wo uld other wise be imposs ible for all except the PART specific param eters define d
in the PLG SYSEX spec. T his parameter should only be adjusted from its default if you are trying to run
multiple instances of the s ame PLG card on the PLUGSTATION, and wish to send individual p ar ameter data
to each board.
PLG card. As we mention, s pecific sof tware, which unders tands this param eter, is required to m ake full use
of it.

The data value r ange is 0-4

This parameter sets each board to a SYS EX (system exclusive d ata) slot number.

. The default val ues correspond to the d efault values of each

CCNO – CONTROLLER NUMBER.

PLG cards allo win g limited editing of var ious par ameters such as f ilter cutoff, r esonanc e and AMP EG le vel s
for each card with out th e need f or computer software. T his is m os t usef ul for simple and qu ick edits in a live
or stage environm ent if you are using PLUG ST ATION as a m odular synth hos ting ton e modul e. The def ault
value for this is 7 4, corr esp onding to c ontroller 74, wh ich in the c ase of Yamaha XG and PLG de vices is th e
filter cutoff param eter. Please refer to the appendix relating to U SEFUL CONTROLLER NUM BERS, which
lists some of the more commonly used controllers with Yamaha devices. This parameter again may be
overridden by dat a sent from the MIDI in port on PLUGST ATION or from controlling software o ver the 44­WAY D-SUB connect or. T o av oid c onf us ion wit h th e v olume levels, contr o ll er 7 i n this menu is disabled f r om
the front panel, thus you ca nnot adjus t volum e leve l using this contr oller number f rom the f ront panel m enu,

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

This parameter sends c ontro ller n umber assignment data t o eac h of the

38

nor does it respond over MIDI to avo id confusion with the YVOL or SVOL com mands.

range is from 0-127

unwanted bank select messages being accidentally sent from here.

. Also to avoid confus ion controllers 32 and 0 are disabled f rom this menu, th is avoids

The controller value

CVAL – CONTROLLER VALUE.

example, if you have s elected controller 74, you can adjus t the brightness of a PLG instrum ent sound.

range of each controller is from 0-127

This is all of the board spe cific par ameters, no w we shall pr oceed onto t he
get back to the board sele ction menu hold down the button for 2 s econds, the DOT LED should now be
below the CARD lab el. If you acc identall y ha ve gone back as far as the ST AT US labe l, jus t pres s th e DAT A
ENTRY knob briefly once, and this will take you to the CARD label. Once there we can proceed

Using the data entry knob to sc roll through the sett ings for the firs t 4 card slots, the next option you will see
is the GLOBAL PARAMETER settings.

This is denoted on screen by the following display

This is the value of the controller data you have just selected. For

GLOBAL

The

menu parameters . To

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

39

This is the GLOBAL param eter menu. Pressing t he data entry knob for a short pr ess on this item will take
you to the main GLOBAL parameters for PLUGSTATION.

SVOL – THIS IS THE GLOBAL SW1000XG RETURN P ATH VOLUME.

return level volum e for the SW1000X G connector (this only app lies if you are using t he PLUGSTATIO N in
conjunction with the SW 1000XG and X- BOARD). This s etting will overr ide all indivi dual board setti ngs, as it
controls the master PLUGSTATION DSP feed send back to the SW1000XG.

parameter is 0-1 27

through the SW1000XG ports, mainly if you don’t have the Y-BOARD fitted), and 127 is m aximum volume.
This is useful in th at it stop s the audio f or PLG car ds being f ed back to the SW 1000XG at all, which is go od
if you wish to just hear the individual PLG cards from the Y-BOARD individual outputs (if fitted). This
parameter is usef ul for doi ng gl obal m ix downs where a volum e f ade of al l 4 boar ds m a y be required ( sa y at
the end of a song). It is especially useful if you don’t have the Y-BOARD fitted in this case.

, where 0 is of f (so try to avoid this setting if you want to avoid hearing not hing back

Here we can control the master

The value range for this

D_NO – DEVICE NUMBER.

useful for instances where m ultiple PLUGST AT ION units are in us e, and you wish to s end co ntrol c omm and
parameters via SYSEX to only 1 device. It has a value range of 0-16

MCH – MASTER MIDI CHANNEL.

itself. If you wish to send PERFORMANCE changes to PLUGSTATION over MIDI to call up the 64
performance mem ory locations, or adjus t master param eters, then this CHANNEL is the controlling channe l
for the unit. It will default to 16, to avo id conflict ing with any of the inst alled PLG car ds, which by defau lt will
be assigned to channels 1-4 for all PLG cards barrin g the PLG150XG card (which is the o nly multitimbral
Yamaha PLG series card). It is advisable not to set the MASTER channel for PLUGSTATION to any channel
that may be in use by PLG ser ies cards that you have installed if pos sible.

1-16 and OFF

(OFF will disable performance selection over MIDI)

This sets the GLOBAL DEV ICE NUM BER for the PLUG ST ATION itself. T his is

This is used to determine the MASTER MIDI channel for PLUGSTATION

The range of values for this is

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40

SHLD – SW1000XG HOL D.

wordclock signals if connected on power up. Basically to help PLUGSTAT ION correctly set its wordclock
before startup. If th is optio n is enabled/O N (as it is by def ault) it wil l wait on p ower up un til you eith er press
the DATA ENTRY knob to b ypass the wordc lock wait s tate and dro p to s tand al one m ode, or will wait unti l it
receives a sync signal from the SW1000XG.

This menu option allo ws you to set the PLUGSTATIO N to wait for SW 1000XG

The value range for this is ON or OFF.

Pressing the DATA ENTRY k nob for 2 sec onds ag ain now will take you back to the CARD l evel. (DOT LED
under the CARD label). Scrolling clockwise will then take you to the next set of parameters.

YOPL – Y- BOARD M ASTER OUTPUT LEVEL .

levels for each outp ut of th e Y-BO ARD (if fitted). T his param eter c an add ex tra ga in scal ing to t he m aster Y­BOARD individual outputs. The reason for this is that by default the master output levels for the
PLUGSTATION ar e set to a value of 70-73 (out of 127). This is due to the f act that multiple PLG boards
feeding to the sam e digital output can sometim es overload the output gain, and cause distortion ( which in
some cases may be a desired ef f ec t) . The gain overr id e all o ws you to b ypass this for each port, and in effec t
get a higher output level f or each of the 8 individual outputs .

127 being full).

display. Please exer cise ca ution when increasi ng the leve l beyond its default, as you m ay find that you m ay
distort the outputs if you have several boards in place.

Each output is also selectable in turn, shown by OUT 1-8 being displayed on the LED

This param eter allows gain scaling to the mast er output

The value range for this is 0- 127 (0 b eing of f,

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41

ZSOP – Z BOARD SW1000XG OUT PUT LEVEL MENU

from the Z-BOARD which defaults to outp ut 1-2 within this menu set. B y default the SW 1000XG with the Z­BOARD fitted will send all of its audio and MIDI parts to the stereo output on th e front of SW1000XG, and
also to the serial output 1&2 ports on the Serial out connector found on SW1000XG. This when connected to
the PLUGSTAT ION will correspond to th e 1&2 outputs found on th e Y-BOARD. This menu item gives you
the option to override th is, and attenuate or complet ely mute the volume level of SW parts being sent by
default to the 1&2 outputs of the Y-BOARD. The comm ands in this menu (accessed by click ing the DATA
ENTRY knob are as follows)

SVOL

– The SW1000XG output volume as detailed above. The value range is 0-127.

This controls the SW1000XG main output level

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42

SOPS – SW1000XG O utput Select

main SW1000XG par ts (audio and MIDI) default to. This can be o verridden or reset using suitable e diting
software such as XGPAD, XGEDIT or XGWORKS. Software such as XGEDIT allows you to set up the
routing for indivi dual par ts (Audio or SW 1000 SYNT H) easil y by select ing the in dividu al output o ptions (T his
is covered in great detail in the SW 1000X G Advance d Owner s Guide which is f ree f rom x gfactor y.com or in
hard copy from man y Yamaha dist ributors ). B y default the SW1000XG s ynth parts and aud io parts will route
to the main stereo outputs (the an alogue outs on the c ard, and also c hannels 1 &2 of the SO (Seria l Output)
connector. This ZSOP m enu allows you to stop t he audio and MIDI bei ng sent from the SW 1000XG to the
SO being replicated at t he 1&2 outputs of PLUGST ATION. (In effec t doubling up the sound, which m ay be
an undesired effect) The parameter range for this is

. IF the Z-board i s fitted this will enable you to select which output the

MUT- SW1000XG M UT E TO Y - OUT PUT S

in turn is connected to the AX16AT ADAT card for example, you may want to send 8 channels of
SW1000XG audio and s ynth parts to the DS2416 SU B inputs 1-8 for processing or mixing. You may then
also wish to send 8 cha nnels f rom the 4 P LG ca rds you ha ve f itted to PLUGST AT ION, ou t of th e ADAT port
of the PLUGSTAT ION to the ADAT input of the AX16AT, and m ix a further 8 channels on the DS2416 of
PLG cards with DS2 416 EQ, effects etc using the IOA/B inputs on the DS2416 mixer . This MUTE option
allows you to do th is, b y effectivel y routing the SW 1000XG parts that wou ld normall y go to the DS241 6 and
the Y-OUTPUTS, just to the DS2416. It is a very specific requirement, but one which man y people due to
the popularity of the DS24 16/AX16AT and SW 1000XG com bination may require .

is ON or OFF (off by default, which means that it is NOT MUTED)

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

. If you have the SW1000XG attac hed to a DS2 416 c ard, a nd tha t

The value range for this

43

Pressing the DATA ENTRY button for 2 seconds again will return you to the CARD parameter level.
Scrolling clockwise on the DATA ENTRY knob will then take you to the final CARD level menu option.

PRGS – PROGR AM STORAGE –

dumps its performance/global memory data.

NOTE: YOU CAN SELECT PERFORMANCE MEMORIES FROM THE TOP LEVEL MENU OPTION OR
VIA MIDI. TO DO IT FROM THE FRONT PANEL, GO TO THE ST ATUS MENU SCREEN (SCRE EN YOU
FIRST SEE AT BOOT UP, AND SCROLL THE DATA ENTRY KNOB CLOC KWISE. THIS IS COVER ED
EARLIER IN THE USER MANUAL)

This parameter m enu option is wher e PLUGSTAT ION stores loads and

A performance mem ory is any parameter you have adjusted and program s selected for the 4 boards you
may have installed. T he P RGS menu is global, s o it does not store indivi dual board s ettings; r ather it s tores
the current for all of th e bo ards f itted i n one of 64 m em ory loca tions. T his is i deal f or th e live perf orm er, who
may wish to store multiple board setups for a gig. The options within this menu are

LOAD

– Loads in a GLOB AL setup only. The top-le vel STATUS menu opti on for Performanc e selection is
where you can recall your stored performances. The value range for this is
includes all non- board spec ific param eters such as ZSOP, YOP L and other g lobal leve l param eter settings .
The reason for this is to restor e a previous ly saved G LOBAL s etup that you ma y have inad vertentl y altered.
It is a kind of fail-safe “get me back to my previous global settings” option.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

only GLOBAL

. GLOBAL

44

DUNP – SYSTEM EXCLU SIV E DUMP

computer with a suita ble MIDI interface fitted all of the settings for each progr am or GLOBAL parameters .
For this to function you s hould connect a s uitable MIDI cable to the MIDI OUT on PLUGST ATION and then
to the MIDI IN of the device you are bulking to, as the data cannot be sent back over the SW1000XG
44WAY-DSUB connector. You can connect the MIDI out of PLUGSTATION to the MIDI in on the
SW1000XG however f or this operation.
performance in that range.
memories, and all global settings.

You cannot send dum p inform ation back to your com puter over the 44- way D-SUB connec tor for a reason.
This is because the SW 1000XG driver doesn’t suppo rt the PLG interface as a disc rete input port, and not
everyone will be using PLUGSTATION with the SW1000XG/X-BOARD combination anyway.

As the
to your software or MIDI DATA filer, this can take some time, so be patient.

ALL

will send the entire c o nte nts of the P LUGSTATION memory, performance and GLOBAL settings

ALL

– Stores to external MI DI r ecor d ers s uch as the Yamaha MDF 3 , or a

(VALUE RANGE 1-64, ALL & GLOBAL

will dump everything from PLUGSTATION, being all performance

GLOBAL

will dump all of the global settings only.

).

1-64

corresponds to one

MAP

– Allows you to Map a single performance voice being sent back into PLUGSTATION to another
location other than t hat from which it cam e. For example. If you ha ve dumped performanc e 1 to your PC,
and then at a later date wish to recall it, without overwriting a new performance 1, which you may have
made, then you must use the MAP function.
performance back into any remapped location.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

Map has a range of 1-64

, and allows you to reload a

45

NOTE 1: SENDING SYSEX SETUPS BACK TO PLUGSTATION IS AS SIMPLE AS JUST LOADING A
STORED BULK DUMP MIDI FILE INTO AN APPROPRIATE SEQUENCER, (REMEMBERING TO RUN
QUANTISE AND ANY OTHER COMMAND THAT MAY AFFECT THE MIDI STREAM TO OFF), AND
PRESSING PLAY. WHEN PLUGSTATION ST ARTS TO RECEIVE A SYSEX DUM P, THE SCREEN WILL
FLICKER INDICATING THAT A BULK DUMP IS COMING IN. WHILST THIS IS HAPPENING YOU
SHOULD NOT TOUCH NOR MAKE ANY OTHER ADJUSTMENTS TO PLUGSTATION.

NOTE 2: SENDING A PLG SP ECIF IC BULK DUMP (FOR EXAMPL E A VOICE SETUP FRO M AN1X EDIT
FOR EXAMPLE) WILL NOT CAUSE THE SCREEN TO FLASH IN THIS WAY, BUT WILL INTERRUPT
THE MIDI DATA STREAM (AS WOULD BE THE CASE WITH MOST PLG DEVICES) TO OTHER
PORTIONS OF PLUG STATION. WHILST LARGE SYSEX DUMPS ARE BEING RECEIVED, D ATA MAY
BE INTERRUPTED TO OTHER CARDS (UNLESS THE DATA IS ALSO FOR OTHER CARDS). IT IS
RECOMMENDED THAT BULK DUMPS FOR E ACH OF THE 4 BOARDS BE SENT SEQUENTI ALLY TO
ALLOW EACH BOARD TO CORRECTLY RECEIVE A DATA DUMP, AND CORRECTLY SET UP A
VOICE. PLEASE FOLLOW THE XG FORMAT GUIDELINES REGARDING SYSEX TIMING AND
SEPARATION BETWEEN EVENTS. FAILURE TO ADHERE TO THIS (MOST SOFTWARE
APPLICATIONS DESIGNED TO SUPPORT PLG CARDS WILL FOLLOW THIS PROTOCOL) WILL
RESULT IN INCORRECT VOICE SETT INGS ON THE RESPECT IVE CARDS. THIS IS NOT A FAULT OF
PLUGSTATION, AS PLUGSTATION HAS VERY SIZEABLE MIDI BUFFERS FOR DATA RECEPTION.
PLEASE DO NOT MIX AND M ATCH DATA BYTES FOR DIFFERENT BOARDS IN THE SAME SINGLE
STREAM OF DATA, BUT ALLOW 4 DISCRETE BLOCKS OF SETUPS TO BE SENT FOR EACH
BOARD.

REMEMBER: POWERING OFF PLUGSTATION WILL RESULT IN THE LOSS OF PLG BOARD
SPECIFIC LOW LEVEL PARAM ETERS. YOU M UST ( AS IS ALSO THE C ASE WIT H SW1000XG) USE A
SUITABLE EDITOR TO STORE ANY SOUNDS AS YOU WOULD WITH THE SW1000XG.

NOTE 3: IT HAS BEEN NOTED ON MANY INTERNET FORUMS AND ALSO IN TESTING BY
ENGINEERS TH AT USB BASED MIDI DEVIC ES CAN SOMETIMES NOT SEND D ATA ACCURATELY.
THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE OF M ANY LOW COST USB MIDI INTERFACES WHEN SENDING LARGE
AMOUNTS OF DATA SUCH AS SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE BULK DUMPS. IF YOU FIND THAT CERTAIN
SOFTWARE EDITORS DO NOT SEND THE VOICE OR PLUGSTATION SPECIFIC SYSEX CORRECTLY,
TRY ADJUSTING THE BUFFER SIZE FOR SYSEX TRANSMISSION IN YOUR SOFTWARE TO A
LARGER VALUE. THIS IS RE ALLY ONLY APPLICABLE T O STAND ALONE MODE, AS IS THE C ASE
OF THE SW1000XG, VO ICE SETUPS WOULD BE NORM ALLY BE SENT VIA THE MIDI O UT OF THE
SW1000XG WHICH DOES NOT SUFFER FROM THIS PROBLEM WITH ANY YAMAHA PLG C ARD. YOU
MAY HOWEVER FIND THAT EXTREMELY LARGE AMOUNTS OF SYSEX BEING SENT OVER THE
SW1000XG PLG CONNECTOR (VIA THE D-SUB) MAY RESULT IN SOME DATA NOT GETTING
THROUGH (THIS ONLY APPLIES TO VERY LARGE BULK DUMPS), AND NOT VOICE SENDS TO
INDIVIDUAL BOARDS. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU USE (IF RUNNING WITH INDIVIDUAL
EDITORS, NOT FUL L SOFTWARE SUPPORT SUCH AS XGP AD) THAT YOU SET TH E EDITOR MIDI
OUT TO SW1000 MIDI OUT (UNLESS Y OU ARE RUNNING MORE TH AN ONE EDITOR AT A TIME, IN
WHICH CASE YOU CANNOT AS THE SW1000 MIDI OUT IS NOT MULTICLIENT).

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46

STOR

(such as YOPL levels for example)

global settings for the unit.

– Stores a global or perf ormance setup to one of 64 locations or stores t he GLOBAL settings made

(VALUE RANGE 1-64 & GLOBAL). Global will store the current

NOTE: HOLDING DOWN THE DATA ENTRY BUTTON IN THIS MENU FOR 2 SECONDS WILL DROP
THE SCREEN T O THE MAIN ST ATUS PAGE, BE C AREFUL NO T T O PRESS F OR TOO LONG ON THE
STORE PAGE AS THIS WILL HAPPEN AND MAY BE CONFUSING.

NOTE: PERFORMANCE MEMORY LOCATIONS WILL NOT (AS IS THE CASE WITH SOME OTHER
YAMAHA PLG HOSTING DEVICES) STORE EDITS MADE USING COMPUTER SOFTWARE. THESE
MUST BE LOADED B ACK IN FROM T HE SOFTWARE YOU C HOSE TO USE. F OR EXAMPLE, IF YOU
USE XGWORKS PLUG IN EDITORS FOR PLG100 OR 150 SERIES CARDS SUCH AS THE PLG150DX
WITH THE DX SIMULATOR, ANY EDITS YOU SEND TO THE PLG150DX CARD FITTED TO
PLUGSTATION WILL BE LOST ON POWER DOWN.

PARAMETER EDITING MODE NOTES AND TIPS.

As the PLUGSTATION has limited screen space, it can sometimes get confusing navigating around the
various menu opti ons. If you at an y point ge t lost or s tuc k, then th e las t va lue you have enter ed will b e safe,
and you can always (except in PRG S mode) es cape back to the top lev el menu by holding d own the DATA
ENTRY knob for a f ew seconds until th e DOT LED is in eit her the C ARD leve l, or the ST ATUS lev el (where
the boards fitted are show n b y a line for each c ards lot in the lo wer por tion of the LED. In f uture f ull sof tware
support such as XGPAD will support not only the PLG card editing, but also control of all of
PLUGSTATION’s own functionality.

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48

Use with the SW1000XG

Using PLUGSTATION with the SW1000XG offers unprecedented possibilities and routing configurations,
and also offer s unpara llele d audi o qua lit y for t he SW1000XG card when us ed wit h the Z bo ard. T his sec tion
of the manual will cover some of the possibilities.

At the time of writing the first edition of the PLUGSTATION manual, specific software support for
PLUGSTATION (www.xgpad.com) was under development. Please check back to the KENTON website and
also the Yamaha XGFACTORY.COM website for news on the software support for PLUGSTATION.

PLUGSTATION off ers a wide range of possibilities f or use with SW1000XG, thes e can be summarised as
follows

A:

It can be used with the SW 1000XG without the op tional X board j ust as a stand-alone t one module. For
this, the optional Y-BOARD must be fitted, and in this case just treat the PLUGSTATION with any PLG cards
as you would any other s ynthesiser tone modul e. In this case, no MIDI or audio parts f rom the SW1000XG
onboard synth or mixer can be passed to PLUGSTATION.

NOTE: IF YOU ARE GOING TO USE PLUGSTATION IN THIS WAY, AND THIS WAY ALONE, THEN
THERE IS NO REASON TO INST ALL THE OPTIONAL X-BOARD TO YOUR SW1000XG, AS IT WILL
NOT REALLY GIVE YOU ANY ADVANTAGES. THE X-BOARD IS BEST USED WHEN THE
PLUGSTATION IS ALSO FITTED WITH THE OPT IONAL Z-BO ARD. IN THIS CASE, T HE X BO ARD CAN
PASS MULTICHANNEL AUDIO AND MIDI PARTS FROM THE SW1000XG TO THE PLUGSTATION
INDIVIDUAL OUTPUTS

B:

With the optional Z & Y boards, PLUGSTATION becomes a multichannel 24-bit ADAT, and analogue
output expander for the SW1000XG audio and MIDI parts, alongside all of its existing functionality with
regards to PLG card hosting as a tone module device.

The fitting of th e Z board, allows u p to 8 discrete SW1000XG aud io channels ( which can be selec ted from
any of the SW1000X G’s 12 busses ), to be pass ed via the s erial output connector ( usually connec ted to the
DS2416) out to the Y-BOARD optional outputs.

This also applies t o SW1000XG s ynth MIDI data, whic h with the above com bination of boar ds can also be
sent out to PLUGSTATION via the “thru” s eria l p ort o n the K ENT O N X - CARD, a n d als o i n p ar alle l b e sent to
the DS2416 serial inputs (if a DS2416 card is fitted).

This means that if you have a multi-channel mixer (For exam ple a Yamaha 01V fitted with the MY-AD AT
card), you could sen d 8 channe ls of audio t o th e ADAT por t, the sam e 8 chann els to the ana logue inputs o n
the desk, from the ana logue outputs of PLUGSTAT ION, a 2 channel SPDIF output from the SW1000XG,
and also, any audio be ing sent to the DS2416 from any opti onal output expanders that are fitt ed to it (for
example the AX44)

All of this may be confusing, so we will try here to make it a bit clearer by splitting the PLUGSTATION into its
options when used with SW 1000XG.

Option 1

If you have purchased the PLUGSTATION as a stand-alone tone module host, with just the optional Y­BOARD fitted, and a selection of PLG cards, th en you can treat PLUGSTAT ION in the same way as the
following chapter (Us ing as a stand alo ne modular synth hos ting system ). The connection for th is would be
that the MIDI in on t he SW1000X G wou ld be co nnec t ed t o your MIDI controll er k e yboard, an d t he MIDI O U T
of SW1000XG would be connected to your PLUGSTATION MIDI IN.

: Just connected to the SW1000XG over MIDI. (No X BOARD and no Z board)

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

49

In this diagram we see that the ADAT output of PLUG STATION is connected to the ADAT input of a digital
mixer, the analogue outputs are also c onnecte d to the analogue inputs of the m ixer (the sam e au dio is se nt
from both the ADAT and the analogu e ports of PLUG STATION). T he MIDI out of SW 1000XG is connecte d
to the MIDI input of the PL UGSTATION, whilst the S PDIF or analogue outputs of the SW1000XG ar e then
also connected to either an SPD IF input or analogue inputs of the same m ixer (on different channels). A
good example would be to put channe ls 1&2 on your m ixer to be fed fr om the SW 1000XG, and c hannels 3­10 coming from the analogue or AD AT outputs of the PLUGST ATION (if you wa nt to connect up both then
channels 11-18 could also be c onnect ed up to one or the other , but bear i n m ind that both wil l be getting the
same data). W e ass ume that a suitab le MIDI k e yboard is conn ected to the M IDI in of the SW1000XG in this
case, if you wish to be able to play the SW1000XG sounds, and also the PLUGSTATION sounds.

If you wished to contr o l t he vo ic e s el ec tio n f r om software, then sof twar e app lic at io ns (m os t s equenc ers s uc h
as XGWORKS) would allow you to configure the SW1000XG MIDI OUT as a MIDI THRU, and thus if
required, play the SW1000XG voices if you have selected SW1000XG SYNTH(1) or SYNTH(2) as your
outputs, and then the PLG cards found in PLUGSTA TION if you select SW1000X G MIDI OUT (as long as
the MIDI OUT on the SW1000XG is connected to the MIDI IN of PLUGSTATION.

For example, if you had a PLG15 0DX car d on slot 1 ( s et to MIDI chan nel 1) , and a PLG1 50VL o n slot 2 ( set
to MIDI channel 2) card fitted, and wanted to call up the voices on separate channels from a suitable
sequencer, whilst using for example SW1000XG voices as well, then you would select as follows.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

50

CHANNEL 1 (TRACK 1) in your sequencer – SW1000XG MIDI OUT (This is being sent to the
PLUGSTATION slot 1 if the channel is still set to MIDI channel 1 on PLUGSTATION) – Then select
appropriate SYSEX and BANK select MSB & LSB messages to call up a PLG150DX part

CHANNEL 2 (TRACK2) in your sequencer - SW1000XG MIDI OUT (This is being sent to the
PLUGSTATION slot 2 if set to channel 2 on PLUGST ATION) – Then s elect appropriate S YSEX, and BANK
select MSB & LSB messages to select a PLG150VL part

CHANNEL 3(TRACK 3) in your sequencer – SW1000XG SYNTHESISER 1 (this is now talking to the
SW1000XG sounds

It is of course also possible to just call up the voices using the front panel control of PLUGSTATION to select
an appropriate bank select MSB/LSB and program change, however these voic es will not be reflected in
your software displa y (for example you would have no r ecord of which sound in your sequenc er track you
had selected).

NOTE: YOU SHOULD ALSO JUST USE THE M IDI IN O N PLUGSTATION TO C ALL UP PE RF OR MANCE
MEMORIES ON A CHANNEL TH AT IS NOT IN USE BY ANY PLG CARD (F OR EXAMPLE YOU M AY
HAVE PLG150DX IN SLOT 1 ON CHANNEL 1, PLG150VL ON SLOT 2 CHANNEL 2, PLG150AN ON
SLOT 3 CHANNEL 3, AND PLG150OPF ON SLOT 4 CHANNEL 4. IN THIS CASE, ANY CHANNEL
FROM 5-16 COULD BE USED AND SET UP ON PLUGSTATION AS A MASTER CONTROL CHANNEL
FOR THE PERFORM ANCE MODE OF PLUGST ATION). IN THE CASE WHERE A PLG150XG CARD IS
FITTED, THEN ANY PROGR AM CHANGES BEING SENT T O ANY CHANNEL COULD ALSO BE SENT
TO THE SAME CHANNEL O N THE PLG150XG. IF THIS OCCURS Y OU MAY WISH TO MUTE OR SET
THE VOLUME ON THAT CHANNEL (PLG150XG) TO ZERO USING SOFTWARE. PLUGSTATION
CANNOT CONTROL PLG150XG FUNCTIONS AND CHANNEL SETTINGS

Option 2:

If you have purchased th e PLUGSTATION just to expand th e number of PLG cards that your SW 1000XG
can host, and don’t want any individual output control over them, then this is the option for you. The
limitations of th is option ar e that, whilst us ing the P LUGSTAT ION volume c ontrols for each PLG c ard audio
return level is poss ible, you still are only send ing in fact 2 channels of audio data back to the SW1000XG .
This is a limitati on of the SW 1000XG PLG r eturn path. W hy is this lim iting you m ay ask? W ell this is due t o
the fact that indiv idual eff ects proc essing for the retur n path is im possible (th is is the c ase for all vers ions of
PLUGSTATION, but with the individual outputs, you c an at least apply effects to any PLG c ard from your
outboard effects processors or mixing desk). On the SW1000XG, you have a set of chorus reverb and
variation (and poss ib ly insertion effects) which can be app lie d t o the PLG return p ath, and whatever board is
coming back (or multiple b oards) will h ave the sam e eff ect applied to them. It al so means that you are no w
not only mixing the SW1000XG audio and MIDI parts from just a stereo pair output on the back of the
SW1000XG, but now a lso up to 4 PLG cards. W e would rather be honest and point out these limitations
(which are not limits of PLUGSTATION) than attempt to hide them.

Using specific so f tware ( s u c h as X G P AD f rom WWW.XGPAD.COM) however, fle xible c ontrol over the aud io
return levels is pos sible. Applications that n ormally control the le vels of PLG cards bac k to the SW1000XG
(such as XGW orks or XGEDIT) are not suita ble as they have no c ontrol over the s ysex of PLUGSTAT ION,
which is controlling the DSP mixer return volumes from within the PLUGSTATION itself.

NOTE: THE PLUGSTATION HAS AN ONBOARD MOTOROLA M56364 DSP. THIS DSP TAKES THE 8
CHANNELS BEING FED BACK TO IT BY UP TO 4 PLG CARDS (2 CHANNELS PER CARD = 8) AND
MIXES THEM BACK T O A STEREO RETURN THAT THE SW1000XG IS ABL E TO HANDLE. THINK OF IT
AS AN EXTERNAL MIXER FOR THE PLG CARDS. ALSO NOTE THAT TO AVOID PROBLEMS
CONTROLLING GAIN SCALING VIA MIDI CONTROLLER 7 (VOLUME CONTROL) FOR THE PLG
CARDS, THE PLUGSTATION WILL ACTIVELY FILTER THIS OUT. THIS IS TO PREVENT
ACCIDENTALLY CHANGI NG PLG CARD VOLUME LEVEL S, AND HAVE NO ON SCR EEN DISPLAY TO
SHOW THAT THE VALUE IS CHANGED. FROM A SEQUENCER YOU MUST SEND THE SPECIFIC
SYSEX FOR EACH PLG CARD VOLUME RETURN LEVEL TO CONTROL THE VOLUMES OF THE
CARDS.

Connected to SW1000XG with X-BOARD (no Y BOARD or Z Board)

.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

51

In other respects th e control is similar t o the stand-a lone mode c ontrol in option 1 (a part from the individua l
outputs on the PLUGST ATION). In this case, the SW1000XG audio outputs are also (as they would if just
one PLG card was fitted) output ting the P LG cards mixed b y PLUGSTAT ION. T he only other point of note is
that control of the PLG cards (in terms of MIDI program changes and parameter changes) can be done
either via the D-SUB connector or from the MIDI IN port.

NOTE: OPERATING SYSTEM UPDATES TO PLUGSTATION, WHICH ARE IN THE FORM OF A MIDI
FILE, SHOULD ONLY BE SENT TO THE MIDI IN ON PLUGSTATION NOT FROM THE D-SUB
CONNECTOR. YOUR SOFTWARE SHOULD BE SET TO TRANSMIT THE OS MIDI FILE OVER THE
SW1000 MIDI OUT (OR ANY OTHER MIDI OUT INTERF ACE PORT ON YOUR COMPUTER) AND THE
PORT CONNECTED TO THE MIDI IN ON PLUGSTATION. PLEASE SEE THE SECTION ON OS
UPDATING IN THE TROUBLESHOOTING PART OF THIS MANUAL.

Here we can see the SW 1000XG audio outputs (SP DIF and/or analogue) being f ed to a suitable mixer or
power amplifier. T he SW 1000XG is fitted with th e KEN T ON X-BO ARD, which is i n turn c onnecte d via the D­SUB output to PLUGSTAT ION, and feeding data in both directions. MIDI inf ormation being passed to the
PLG cards fitted in PLUGS TATION, and audio inform ation coming back from the c ards through the D-SUB
connector, through the PL G connector on SW 1000XG, via t he onboard DS P of SW1000X G, and then on to
the analogue or digital out on the SW1000XG.

In the case of fitting the PL G100VH card to slot 1 of the PLUGST ATION, then tr eat this in exac tly the sam e
way, but also include audio data being sent from the PLG soc ket on the SW1000XG (as an insert ef fect
path) to the VH card fitted t o PLUGSTAT ION, and then back to the SW1000X G. It should be not ed that the
VH card unless corr ect ly ini tia lis ed ca n s ometimes stop any cards i n s lots 2, 3 an d 4 from sending audio data
over the D-SUB connec tor, s o m ak e s ure that the PLUGSTAT ION is s etup and po wer ed o n cor r ectl y. This is
more critical for PLG100VH than any other card.

Option 3:

A far more flexible system in that you now get the individual outputs as well as the SW1000XG return
channels (the feed back over the D-SUB co nnector back to the SW1000X G is known as the SW1000X G
return channel). This m eans that any board can be r outed back through the SW1000XG shou ld you wish to
use the SW1000XG eff ects (this can be m ore than one board, but as we have pr evious l y discus sed, this will
result in the same eff ects being applied to each board). T he bonus here is that you can route either wa y.
The SW1000XG retur n p at h v ia t he D- SU B c on nec tor is s til l a n o pti on f or any or all boards, but you can also

Connected to SW1000XG with X-BOARD (and Y BOARD but no Z Board)

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

52

send the PLG cards ou t of individual an alogue or ADAT optical output ports to a suitable mix ing desk. It is
good practice not to try and send to both at the same time, as you can get undesired effects such as
doubling of sounds, or phasing (the phase offset is minimal but m easurable) as you will be sending the
same board both out of an ultra clean 24-bit analogue or ADAT port on PLUGSTATION, and also back
through the SW1000X G mixer and DSP, and then out of its outputs (analogue or SPDIF). P lease refer to
your appropriate sof t ware ( s uc h as X G PAD f r om www.xgpad.com
avoid routing the PLG cards back to the SW1000XG (each card has control for the level being sent to
individual outputs or the SW1000XG as detailed in the section on “Front Panel Editing”

You begin to see now though, just how powerful PLUGST ATION really is, as a very flexible DSP based
mixer, routing system.

) or to the section on f ront pan el ed iti ng, to

Here we can see the SW1000XG audio outs into channels 1&2 on a suitable mixer, channels 3-10 are
coming from the analogue outs of the Y-BOARD on PLUGST ATION. (If you want to be really flash, you
could also take the same 8 outs to the ADAT port on a suitable mixer (say channels 11-18), and apply
different effec ts or EQ treat ments to the PLG c ards at the sam e time as those being a pplied o n channe ls 3-

10)

NOTE: THE SVOL COMMAND FOR EACH BOARD CONTROLS THE RETURN VOLUME LEVEL TO
SW1000XG FOR EACH BOARD. IF YOU WANT NO SIGNAL PASSING BACK FROM THE BOARDS TO
THE SW1000XG SET THIS OR THE GLOBAL SVOL LEVEL TO ZERO.

MORE NOTES ON EFFE CTS AND LEVEL CONTROL W ITH THE SW1000XG: The SW 1000XG was only
technically desig ned to be the hos t for 1 PLG card at any one time . The inherent des ign limitation of this is
that you only have a 2 channe l return path coming back into the car d. The way that PLUGSTATION gets
around this is by incorpor a ti ng ad vanced DSP processing int o the main circuits of PLUG STATION which mix
and multiplex the 4 cards into a single phas e locked, synchronised 2 c hannel feed, which then g oes back
down the 44-WAY D-SUB to the SW1000XG.

The SW1000XG ho wever, still on ly thi nks it has on e card c onnec ted, and thus is fine with the i ncom ing f eed
and other data lines. T he problem with this is that only having a 2-c hannel feed means that you only have
control in terms of effects processing through the SW1000XG for 2 channels. This is why the
PLUGSTATION has individual output options, to a llow (as would be the case wit h many devices) you add

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

53

your own effects pr oc ess ing or EQ vi a a s uit abl e mixing desk (or by routing it t o the DS2416 and AX16AT as
shown later).

The net result of not fittin g t he Y-BO ARD is that, sig na l s c om ing back to the SW1000XG fr om the PLG car ds
that you may wish to add eff ects to will result in ef f ects appl ied to an y one bo ard, bei ng appl ied to al l boards
and with the same send amounts. This may be okay for some applications, as suitable effects such as
Chorus and Reverb ca n work well on m ultiple instrum ents. But we do advis e, treat other eff ects types with
caution as you may not want to apply an AMP SIM to your carefully crafted VL flute sound.

We have found th at boar ds lik e th e PLG 100/ 150VL need eff ects proces sing m ore than a ny of the others, as
the sounds can appear dry without. A good configuration thus, is to have the PLG150VL coming back
through the SW 1000XG card, and an y other PLG cards f eeding to the indi vidual outputs on th e Y-BOARD.
As the PLG150DX is a DX 7 (the or i gin al had no ef f ec ts ), but with a far cleaner out put, more synthesis power
(resonant filters f or example), this b oard is fine com ing from the Y-OUT PUTS. The PLG150PF h as effects
processing of its o wn, and as such as very suited to com ing out of the indi vidual outputs of P LUGST ATIO N.
The PLG150AN again is b ased on analogue classic synths or yester year, and as such, sounds excellent
even with no eff ects (many people liken the so und of this board to that of the Prophet 5 from Sequentia l
Circuits). So you can see, whi lst this SW 1000X G lim itatio n m ay initial l y be som e cause f or c oncern, i n fac t it
isn’t really. Soft ware such as XGPAD will r eflect t his, ho wever cautio n should b e tak en when using X GEDIT
or XGWorks as they have no idea of the PLUGSTATION existence, and consequently may lead to confusion
with effects return lev els. This obviously is not a pro blem in any way if you have the Y-BO ARD fitted and
outboard effects and a suitable mixer. (Or a DS2416 card and AX16AT or 2 AX44’s)

Option 4:

Putting it sim ply, this is the optio n that you r eally sho uld aspire to, aside from the fact that it gives you an 8
channel 24-bit output expander for the SW 1000XG (even withou t any PLG cards f itted), the routing as you
will see, is just phenomenal, especially when you combine it with a DS2416 card.

As we say, this is where it gets really exciting. Now not only do you have all the options listed in option 3, but
you also can send v ia the s ec ond DS P fitted t o t he Z- BOARD an y SW1000XG audio or MIDI parts to an y of
the individual outputs as well. This m eans that withou t the need for a DS 2416 and AX16AT ADAT car d you
can route individ ual ou tputs from the SW1000XG to your mixer. This alongside the fact that th is will g iv e you
the cleanest output you will ever hear f rom an SW1000XG or indeed any PLG card courtesy of the ultra
quiet and clean 24-BIT DACs on the PLUG STATION Y-BOARD, and t he fact that the SW 1000XG’s output
stage (which has a sm all amount of EQ applied to it, and which many peopl e have found can very slight ly
colour the sound) is bypassed. This means that you hear the full range of SW1000XG ef fects, and synth
sounds like never before.

The additional headroom offered by these converters on PLUGSTATION will offer a marked difference in the
audio output qualit y of what already is an except ional soundcard. N ot only can you route SW 1000XG MIDI
parts, but as we say, usin g app licat ions sof t ware lik e XG PAD, you can als o route SW 1000X G audio p arts to
individual ports, gi ving you for the first time the real f lexibility (without the need f or the DS2416) to apply
channel based EQ ( using t he EQ o n your mixing desk) or extra c hannel spec if ic ef fec ts on top of thos e fr om
the SW1000XG (again the effects would come from your outboard equipment).

NOTE: MANY APPLICATIONS SUPPORT THE DS2416 ROUTING OPTIONS ON THE SW1000XG,
XGPAD IS NOT ESSENTIAL TO CONTROL THIS.

Even if you have t he DS2 416, you can r oute a ll of the abo ve to P LUGST AT ION and sti ll se nd the a udio a nd
MIDI parts in parallel to the DS2416, and any additional expansion units you may have attached to it. For the
ultimate in routing and flexibility however, you can also use the Yamaha AX16AT card connected to the
DS2416 running in tandem with PLUGSTATION, whereby the AD AT out of the PLUGSTATION is feeding
the ADAT input of the AX16AT . This means that not only can you apply effects to an y SW1000XG audio
parts or synth par ts b y routing t o t he DS 2416 via t he in ternal c onnector , but als o b y settin g up your D S2416
software, muting t he SW1000XG feeds t o the Z-BOARD (ZSOP MUTE OPTIONS, This is a special mode
case purely for us e with the DS2416/AX16AT (or Ax44 x 2) as we are showing i n the diagram below, an d
should not really be use d in oth er circ um stanc es as it wil l defeat th e obj ect of the Z- BOARD) you can s et up
a further 8 channels of the DS2416 to come from the AX16AT ADAT input, which is being fed by the

Connected to SW1000XG with X-BOARD (and Y BOARD and Z Board)

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

54

PLUGSTATION. T his m eans that you can have 16 d is c r ete chann els c oming in to the DS2416 mixer (8 from
SW1000XG MIDI and Audio on SUB 1-8 of your DS2416 mixer software, and 8 from the PLUGSTATIO N
coming in to your IOA or B inputs from the AX16AT)

Pretty amazing isn’t it?
You can then still sen d what ever you wish out of which ever b uss of the DS2 416 to recor d your m ix of cards ,

and also send that out via the AX16AT ADAT outs to further mixing or processing on your mixing desk.
Hopefully you now unders tand how powerful the whole DS P Factory concept is, and with PLUGSTATION

that power is increased even m ore.

Here we see an incredible system setup. What we have here is as follows
1: The SW1000XG is connected to the PLUGSTATION via the MIDI OUT and also via the D-SUB

connector. The D-SUB actually in this insta nce isn’t neede d apart from the wordcloc k source ( which for this
entire system is the SW1000XG), as MIDI control of the 4 PLG cards is coming from the MIDI In of

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

55

PLUGSTATION (In this c ase the control software you us e for SW1000XG would have one of the ports set
up to SW1000 MIDI OUT to control the PLUGST ATION parts). The D- SUB would however be required if a
PLG100VH was part of this system.

2: The ADAT out of PLUGST ATION (8 c hannels) is being sen t to the AX 16AT c ard ADAT in put A, whic h is
then being fed to 8 channels of the DS2416 (set up using appropriate software). These are then in turn
being fed to the AX 16AT ADAT outs (8 ch annels of PLUGSTAT ION plus 8 cha nnels of anything e lse (such
as DS2416 tracks or SW1000XG synth or audio parts via the DS2416 internal connector) to the ADAT
inputs of a suitable digital mixer

3: The SW1000XG is s erial connected to t he DS241 6 and SW 1000X G Audio and s ynth parts are be ing sent
via the internal connec tor to a further 8 channels of the Ds241 6. These are again in turn being fed to the
ADAT outs or the analogue outputs of the DS2416

4: The SW1000XG audio outs ( not requ ir ed i n this c ase, but we added them because we could!) can als o be
sent to 2 channels of the mixer

5: The SW1000XG audio and MIDI s ynth parts are not in this case being sent to PLUG STATION, as they
would then be doubling up with the parts being sent over the CN connector

6: It is also possibl e to feed the 8 analogue out puts from PLUGSTAT ION to a further 8 ch annels of a m ixer
to process the PLG c ards with diff erent EQ and ef fects treatm ents to t hose being provided by the f eed fr om
the ADAT ports of the AX16/DS2416 combination (although this may be overkill!)

So what we have is a standard DS 2416 connected to SW1000XG and AX 16AT setup, but with the added
bonus of a further 8 discrete output channels from the PLG cards fitted to PLUGSTATION.

Mind blowing power and flexibility we think you’ll agree.
Of course with this s etup you don’t actuall y need the Z-BOARD unles s you also want to send SW 1000XG

parts out of the PLUGSTATION. However we do recommend it as if you wish to work just with the
SW1000XG in certain cases, this is the only way you can do so and get discrete audio parts.

Even without the DS2416 involved you could have 8 channels of SW1000XG AUDIO/MIDI and PLG cards
(to a maximum of 8 channels ), plus the 2 c hanne ls f rom the SW 1000XG main outputs giving a tot al of up 1 0
discrete channels coming out to your mixer.

NOTE: FOR DS2416 OPERATION CONFIGURATION OF BUSSES, AND ROUTING YOU SHOULD
REFER TO YOUR DS2416 APPLICATION MANUAL AND ALSO TO THE AX16AT/AX44 USER MANUAL
FOR SETTINGS IF AP PLICABLE. KENT ON ARE NOT RESPO NSIBL E FOR TE CHNICAL SU PPORT FO R
DS2416/AX16AT AND ANY SUPPORT SOFTWARE. PLUGSTATION IS AN EXPANDER FOR THE
SW1000XG AND CANNOT BE USED WITH JUST A DS2416 AS AN OUTPUT EXPANDER SYSTEM.
YAMAHA’S AX44, AX16AT AND THE ADB AX88 ARE 3 EXPANDER SYSTEMS SUITABLE FOR USE
WITH THE DS2416.

Now, take into consider ation applications lik e software synths. With the Z -BOARD option you can turn t he
SW1000XG into an im mensely powerf ul effects proc essing multi output s oftware synth pla yer. Applications
such as Cubase VST for example with its software synth hosting system (or
SONAR/LOGIC/GIGASAMPLER..…the list goes on), now take on a whole new lease of life, as the
SW1000XG will not use any CPU power for adding effects or mixing or routing these to the Y-BOARD
outputs.

You could in fact mix and match combinations of PLG s ounds, SW1000XG sounds, and using the Z - BO ARD
ability to send SW1000X G audio parts, software s ynth or sam pler parts down the same outputs , or differ ent
outputs. PLUGSTATION with applications like Gigasampler is like having a real multi output hardware
sampler, with the added bonus of some of the cleanest 24-bit outputs you will ever hear.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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Using as a stand alone modular synth hosting system

Now that you have be en bl own away by the incred ible routing and fl exib ilit y of what the P LUGST AT ION can
offer in terms of an expander for the SW1000XG, it is time to move on to what it can of fer as a unique
modular digital synth hosting device.

PLUGSTATION is also one of the first devices, which can act as a modular digital synthesiser. The PLG
card system f rom Yamaha is unique in that rather than just adding ne w samples via plug in cards (as for
example occurs with other plu g in card s ystems) , entirely ne w synthesiser technologies can be a dded. This
means that PLUGSTATION can become a really powerful tone module, and as the PLG cards are a
relatively low cost in vestm ent, on e that can be ex pand ed withou t a huge de nt in your pock et. If you consider
that most Yamaha PLG cards cost around the s am e as a software s ynth, yet tak e no CPU resourc e to work,
don’t crash and can be played with zero latenc y in any enviro nment, be it live, or in the studio, you begin to
see why it is such a powerful concept.

To use PLUGSTAT ION as a stand-alone tone module host, you will need to have the o ptional Y-BOARD
(Individual output b oard) f itted, a nd at least 1 Yam aha PLG card f itted t o it. Also uniq uel y to PLUG ST AT ION
for a rack mount tone m odule, is that aside from the 8 indi vidual outputs offered, it als o has ADAT optical
outputs. This m eans that PLG cards can c ome out with an ultra clean sound, not coloured b y any digital to
analogue converter ( not that the ones on PL UGSTATION colour t he sound at all an yway). This m eans that
you can connect, using one simple optical cable, all of the 8 outputs up to a suitably equipped ADAT
compatible device (such as a Yamaha 0 1V digital m ixer with t he Yamaha ADAT m ini YGDAI car d fitted). In
stand-alone mode th e menu op tions f or Z-BOAR D and SW 1000X G return are not r equired f or oper ation, so
these menu items (shown in the front panel editing section) can largely be ignored.

To use with a controller keyboard, the following setup connection should be made

Of course if you have other tone m odule dev ices that you wish to c onnect to PLU GST AT ION you m ay do so
from the MIDI THRU port on the back of the unit. T his diagram just shows a simple controller setup. One
needs to proceed with caution when sending patch select messages to the PLUGSTATION individual
boards, as some keyboards may not send out correct bank select messages when performing a patch
change over MIDI, and this could result in the sound from the particular board in use being muted (this
would be due to no sound being prese nt at the bank location you have selec ted). To selec t differ ent sounds
from your PLG card, j ust go to the PROG menu option b y selecting the board from the CARD menu (for
example slot 1 may have a Yamaha PLG150AN card installed, in slot 1, in which case the display will read.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

57

Now press the DATA ENTR Y button again to enter the PLG editing mode, and the sc reen will display, in
order, the MSB, LSB and PROGRAM change needed to correctly call up a sound.

To select sounds in a sp eci fic bank , you mu st send a BAN K SELECT MSB AND LSB m es sage to th e boar d
of your choice f irst. This is done b y going into the PARA m enu section, and s electing first the BANK MSB
message shown as

Pressing the DATA E NTRY knob again here allows you to enter a v alue, then pressing t he DATA ENTRY
knob again after adjusting the value, will take you to the BANK SELECT LSB message entry, shown below

Pressing the DATA ENT RY knob again here allows you to enter a value. Once you hav e sent the BANK
select message MSB and L SB and t hen a pr ogram c hange you s hould be abl e to hear th e corr ect s ound for
that location.

Pressing the DATA E NTRY button again will no w allow you to enter a va lue for a Program, if you wish to
select program 40, rotate the knob until the disp lay reads as below. For exam ple, when we have set our
BANK MSB and LSB (as shown above) we then drop move to the Program select menu.

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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You should now be able to hear the sound that is in location 40 of the board you have selected (m ake sure
that a sound exists in the bank MSB, LSB and program location or you will hear nothing!)

But how do you get to know which s ound is in which locatio n? T his is covered in greater de tail in th e sect ion
entitled “Notes on MSB and LSB messages, and how to read the MIDI spec of Yamaha PLG cards” It
requires a certain le vel of understanding of bank messages, as PLUGSTATION is tr ying to do something
which no other dev ice can really achiev e, and that is accept a nd interrogate an y and up to 4 of Yamaha’s
PLG cards. From controlling software this is not so m uch of an issue, as the controlling sof tware will only
contain bank select and pro gr am m es sages for loc atio ns , whic h DO c ontai n a s ou nd. T he f r ont panel dis p lay
is to give some flexibility in using PLUGSTATION in a live situation, where a computer may not be present.

Once you have selec ted an appropriate voice you ma y now wish to set its volume output lev el, and output
routing (which of the 8 i nd ividu al out puts t he s o und c o mes from). Volum e setup for each card is ac hi eved by
selecting the YVOL option in the PARA menu as below.

This sets the output vol ume le ve l of each of the indivi dual bo ards . The c urrent b oard you are work ing on wi ll
be the volume level adjusted. This YVOL output level control has a maximum value of 127. If you are

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

59

assigning more than one b oard to the same output, it is advisable not t o set the level to full, as this may
result in distort io n as the outputs from more than 1 board “ summates” and incre ases the overall outp ut level.
The next menu item that is displayed is YBAL, this is the P ANNING from Left to Right on the output s you
have selected. 0 bei ng hard lef t (so for exam ple if out puts 1&2 are s elected, then the value 0 will send AL L
of the signal to output 1, 127 will send al l of the s ignal to out put 2, a v alue of 64 will set th e balanc e equall y
between outputs 1&2). W hen you are happ y with the output volum e and balance, then you can pr oceed to
the OUTPUT SELECT menu item (YOPS). This selects whic h stereo pair of outputs each of the P LG cards
will come out of. The card you currentl y are working on being the one who’s output select ion you will now
make. The options are 1- 2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 (T hese correspond logically to the indi vidual analo gue outputs 1-8
in stereo pairs ). For the ADAT output, again th is will send to ADAT outs 1-8, which your ADAT compatible
device should reco gnise as 8 discrete inputs (again in stereo pa irs). Panning (YBAL) control again for the
ADAT outs will send audio to individual ports if you set the panning hard left or right.

NOTE: IN THE CARD LABEL MENU YOU W ILL FUND THE GLOBAL OUTPUTS LEV EL CONTROL FOR
THE Y-BOARD, FOR EACH OUTPUT. THIS CAN BE USED TO GAIN SCALE THE MASTER OUTPUT
LEVEL FOR EACH OF T HE 8 INDIVIDUAL OUTPUTS (TO AVOID O VERLOADING FROM AUDIO AND
MIDI SIGNALS). THIS IS THE YOPL MENU IT EM AN D APPEARS AS BELOW.

On entering this m enu, you shoul d check that the output le vels f or each of the 8 outputs are s et accor dingly
to what you require, as e ven if the YVOL level is set to maximum for each PLG card, this YOPL l evel may
attenuate it (think of it as a m aster TRIM contro l for each bo ard). Each out put will flash u p in turn, fol lowed
by the level (on short pres ses of the DATA ENT RY knob). So for exam ple if you have PLG car ds in slots 1
and 2, you should set the YOPL level for OUT1 and OUT2 to be a relatively high value (127 being
maximum). These settings are stored on ly if you do a GLOBAL store in the PRG S (STOR) menu item . They
are not retained on power down unless you have s tored them first using the G LOBAL store option. (This
applies to an y edits in GLOBAL, YOPL & ZSOP, you m ust store GLOBAL settings in PRGS (STOR). T his
has one memory locat ion for your global settings ( however using the DUNP – Bulk Dump option, you can
store multiple set-ups over MIDI).

The next menu item is PART, which for stand-alone mode you can ignore. The menu item after this is
channel (CHAN). Her e you can select whic h MIDI channel the PLG card responds to. As all excepting th e
Yamaha PLG150XG are MO NO TIMBRAL cards (they only respond on one MIDI c hannel at a time), you
should have no diff iculty assigning this value to an ything between 1 and 16 (try not to ass ign them to the
same channel as your MASTER MIDI CHANNEL is set to for performance voices). If you wish to layer
sounds from multiple boards (for example layering a PLG150AN string sound with a PLG150PF Piano
sound, the easiest way to do t his is to as sign them both to the s ame MIDI ch annel. B y default boards fitted
to slots 1-4 will be set t o res pond on MI DI cha nnels 1-4. You can easil y adjust th is us ing the CH AN m enu to
set for example BOARD 4, in SLOT 4, to MIDI channel 1, which woul d mean that whatever boar d was in slot
1, would sound at t he sam e time as the board i n S LO T4 so long as MIDI not e da ta was r ec ei ved o n cha nnel

1.
Adjusting controll er data if you have assign ed more than 1 board to the s ame MIDI channel will result in all

of the boards on that chan nel reacting to the controller change in the same way. For exam ple if you have

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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layered a PLG150 AN, an d PLG 150PF car d bot h on c hanne l 1, and you adjus t c ontrol ler 74 for e ither board,
you will find that the controller va lue will adjust the bri ghtness of both c ards at the same time. If you wish to
avoid this, then the way to layer sounds will depend on your co ntroller ke yboard. Most co ntroller ke yboards
allow zoning and layering of m ultiple parts. W hat you would hav e to do is set up your control ler ke yboard to
transmit the sam e keyboard reg ion to 2 dif ferent MIDI channels at the sam e time, and creat e a layer in this
way. That way you will sti ll retain indivi dual control ov er 2 boards, as control ler data will be sen t to discrete
MIDI channels. Furtherm ore, layering sounds on the same MIDI c hannel from PLUGSTATION can lead to
other problems such as incorrect bank select or pr ogram change m essages which m ay work for one board
being sent to both boards , and one board automaticall y cutting out. It is best to leav e the boards on their
default MIDI channels, or on discrete MIDI channels from each other, to avoid this happening. Using optional
editing software this problem is avoided, as the program change mess ages for each boar d can be sent via
SYSEX, thus avoiding a conflict of bank messages being received.

IMPORTANT NOTE 1: IN ST AND-ALONE MODE, YOU CANNOT USE THE PLG100VH CARD. THIS I S
DUE TO PLUGST ATION NOT HAVING AN ANALOGUE INPUT. T HE REASON FOR T HIS IS TH AT THE
PLG100VH CARD REQUIRES A SPECIFIC WORD CLOCK AND DIGITAL INPUT SIGN AL (NORMALLY
FROM A PLG HOSTING DEVICE SUCH AS THE SW1000XG OR MU128 FOR EXAMPLE). IF THIS
WORDCLOCK AND DIGITAL INPUT ARE NOT PRESENT, THEN THE BO ARD WILL NOT FUNCTION,
AND TO AVOID PROBLEMS WITH MULTIPLE WORDCLOCK SOURCES CONFLICTING BETWEEN
THE AD INPUT SIGN AL FEEDING FRO M THE SW1000 XG, AND ALSO FRO M A POSSIBLE AD INPUT
ON PLUGSTATION IT WAS DEEMED T HAT NO AD INPUT WO ULD BY PRESENT ON PLUGSTATION,
AND THUS THE PLG100VH WILL NOT WORK IN STAND ALONE MODE.

IMPORTANT NOTE 2: THE YAMAHA PLG150XG CARD IS CURRENT LY THE ONLY MULTI-TIMBRAL
PLG CARD FROM YAMAHA. THIS C ARD IF INSERTED INTO PLUGST ATION WILL IN EFFECT TURN
PLUGSTATION INTO A YAMAHA XG COMPATIBLE TONE MODULE. HOWEVER, DUE TO THE
LIMITATIONS OF THE FRONT PANEL CONTROL, EDITING OF THIS PLG CARD WILL BE
IMPOSSIBLE FOR ALL 16 CHANNEL S, AS PLUGSTATIO N SUP PORT S ONLY 1 CH ANNEL PER SLOT .
TO EDIT THE PLG150XG CARD INSIDE PLUGSTATION, PLEASE USE APPROPRIATE SOFTWARE
SUCH AS XGPAD OR XGWORKS. PLEASE ALSO BEAR IN MIND THAT THE PLG150XG CARD
UNLESS TOLD NOT TO, WILL RESPOND ON ALL 16 CHANNELS. THIS MAY AFFECT CARDS IN
OTHER SLOTS FROM SOUNDING WITHOUT HEARING THE PLG150 XG CARD AT THE SAME TIME.
TO DISABLE A SPECIFIC PLG150XG CHANNEL, PLEASE REFER TO THE SYSEX COMMAND
(FOUND IN THE MIDI DAT A LIST OF THE PLG150XG MANUAL) APPROPRIATE TO THE CH ANNEL
OR CHANNELS THAT YOU WISH T O DISABLE EON THIS CARD TO ENABLE PL AYBACK ON THAT
CHANNEL OF OTHER PLG CARDS INSTALLED IN THE PLUGSTATION. THIS IS THE CASE WITH
MANY YAMAHA PLG HOSTING DEVICES, AND IS SPECIFICALLY NOT A LIMITATION OF
PLUGSTATION

Once you have the vo ices setup f or the ind ividual P LG car ds you have f itted to PLUG STAT ION, you shou ld
now be able to hear them play on their respec tive MIDI channels and out puts. As PLUGSTATIO N has no
headphone sock et, you will require a mixer and am plifier to be abl e to hear the o utput. Please ens ure that
your mixer inputs are correctly connected to the analogue outputs (or if you have an ADAT compatible
mixer, to the appropriate ADAT port) on PLUGSTATION, as shown in the diagram below.

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Or connection via analogue outputs to the analogue inputs on your mixer

These connection diagrams are equally as valid for audio connectivity when using PLUGSTATION in
conjunction with the SW1000XG. (P lease refer to the “Use with the SW 1000XG” section of this manual f or
more information.

Regarding the use of effects. Yam aha hosting devices have differ ent effects f or different units (for ex ample
the Motif synthesiser effects are differ ent to those found o n the MU100R). KENT ON feel that it is eas ier to
add effects from your m ixer or from external eff ects processors. You can either add effects using the AUX
sends of your m ixer, which may be connected to rack m ount ef fec ts process ors, or you ca n als o add eff ects
in-line to the outp uts of PL UGST AT ION if you so wish . A s uitab le di gital m ixer s uch as t he Yam aha 0 ser ies
mixers, can add effec ts, eq, and dynamics processing to each of the ou tputs (up to 2 effects) using either
the analogue outputs conn ected to the analogue inputs on the 0 series mixer, or via the ADAT connector,
sending 8 discrete channels (suitable ADAT card is required on the 0 series).

The ADAT output on the P LUG ST ATION will support 24b it au di o da ta a t 44.1khz only. This is a res triction of
the wordclock requirements of the PLG series cards (PLG100 & 150). The ADAT output sends data in
parallel to the analog ue outputs, and not independent of them. (This can be used to good ef fect to apply
different EQ or effec ts treatments to the same devic e across 4 c hannels, for example, c onnecting the AD AT
and analogue outputs to your m ixer, will res ult in a tot al of 16 chan nels coming f rom the PLUGST ATION (2
banks of the same 8 channels). If you have the PLG150AN for example coming out of outputs 1-2, on
analogue, they wil l also be coming out of outputs 1-2 of the ADAT port. If you have channels 1-8 o n your
mixer connected as analogue, and channels 9-16 connected as ADAT, then the signal will appear
simultaneously on ch annel s 1-2, an d 9-1 0. This woul d al low you to ad d for ex ample one s et of ef fec ts to the

KENTON PLUGSTATION USERS MANUAL

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1-2 channels, and perhaps leave channels 9-10 relatively dr y, and perhaps if your mixer allows, a dela y
offset to thicken up the sound.

USE WITH A HARDWARE SEQUENCER OR CONTROLLER DEVICE (SUCH AS THE KENTON
CONTROL FREAK)

PLUGSTATION as stand alone tone module host, may also be used with hardware (or indeed software)
sequencer applicati ons. You do not have to own a n SW1000X G for this to work. For exam ple you could
connect the MIDI out of your hard ware or software sequencer de vice to the MIDI input on PLUG STATION,
and control all of the boards from the sequencer. T his type of use, with for ex ample a Yamaha QY series
hardware sequencer pr ovides an ideal solut ion for the live gi gging guy. Yamaha’s Q Y700 for example ca n
store setup information as part of a MIDI file. So using appropriate software such as XGWorks, you could set
up the editing param eters for the PLG cards you have installed, as well as the s ong information, and XG
information require d by the QY unit. As with all Yamaha PLG h osting devices , which support X G, you must
be careful to send t he PLG card setup inf ormation AFT ER the XG RESET comm and, or the PLG cards in
PLUGSTATION will all be reset and will not sound.

An example setup is shown below.

Obviously your har dware sequencer ma y not have the abilit y to control the PLG c ards in PLUGSTATION,
but as long as it can load and transmit MIDI file data, then setup information can be sent to correctly
configure the PLG c ar d s. If you have already setup voices , and do not r equ ire any extensive of f s et edit ing of
the sounds, then just sending a pr ogram change to the perform ance memory that you wish to use will be
enough to recall your set-up.

NOTE: IF YOU HAVE INSTALLED A PLG150XG, THE PERFORMANCE MODE WILL NOT RECALL
SETTINGS FOR ALL 16 PARTS. IN THIS CASE A MIDI FILE WITH APPROPRIATE SETUP
INFORMATION AND SONG DATA FOR PLG150XG AND OTHER BOARDS INSTALLED WILL BE
REQUIRED.

CONNECTING TO THE KENTON CONTROL FREAK

The KENTON Control Freak offers a range of pres ets available for down load from the KENT ON website for
controlling the functi onality of PLUGST ATION. It can r emotely control the output leve ls for each of the 8 Y­BOARD outputs; assign MIDI channels for PLG cards, and many other great functions. To connect a
controller keyboard a nd the CONT ROL FREA K up to PLUGST ATION at the s ame tim e, one shou ld use t he
fact that the CONTROL FREAK MIDI OUT is als o a soft MIDI THRU. This means that note dat a for ex ample
being sent from the ke yboard, is pass ed along with an y controller or SYS EX data you ma y be sending f rom
the CONTROL FREAK onwards to the PLUGSTATION. This again is very useful for live situations, or
indeed for the home, where it provides a superb tactile control system for many of PLUGSTATION’s
functions.

An example of a typical set-up can be seen in the diagram below.

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Breath control of the PLG100 and 150VL cards: Whilst the PLUGSTATION lik e many of the Yamaha P LG
hosting devices has no d edicated breath contr ol input, any keyboard that does have a breath contr ol input
can act perfectly wel l with PLUGST ATION over MIDI. For example, t he Yamaha CS6X synthesiser when a
Yamaha BC type contro ller is f ed into the Brea th Cont rol i nput on t he bac k of the CS6X, a nd the MI DI o ut of
the CS6X fed to the MIDI in of the PLUGST ATION, as soon as breath control is applied to the in put, the
PLG150 or 100VL cards will switch to BREATH CONTROL mode. This is useful to add greater expression to
sounds for wind players, and a useful way if multiple breath controller units are used of creating a BRASS
ensemble. Using PLUG STAT IO N with a MI DI MERG E box, up to 4 separ ate Breath c ontro ller devic es co uld
feed in on 4 disc rete MIDI channels, and if 4 PLG100 or 1 50VL units were us ed, this would pro vide a low
cost alternative to purchasing 4 actual VL synthesisers.

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Notes on MSB, LSB and SYSEX

The mysteries surround ing MIDI in general norm ally put people of f getting into the hear t of what their synth
is capable of. In these days of simple to use computer software, we sometimes forget that under the hood so
to speak there is a lot going on , and this sect ion aims to s how you that it is not all techno “mum bo jumbo”,
and that once you get used to it, MIDI programming and understanding the data can be very rewarding.

So what are MSB and LSB? MSB or “most significant b yte” in the context we are discus sing here relates
primarily to bank selection messages. Yamaha PLG series devices don’t just have the standard 128
programs; they can have literall y thousands of programs stored in each card. T he problem is “how to get at
them?” The way that beca me standardised for m any MIDI manufacturers was to us e a combination of two
standard controller numbers, they being contr oller 0 for the BAN K SELECT MSB and c ontroller 32 for the
BANK SELECT LS B. T hes e t wo controllers followed b y the progr am change information and the actual bank
numbers will access any of the several th ousand vo ices, wh ich could be ava ilabl e on any Yam aha PLG 100
or 150 cards. This is how they work.

Say you wanted to call up a sound o n the PLG150DX s uch as
first program locations, it is in a much higher bank. The way to select it from the PLUGSTATION or via
software would be as follows

BANK SELECT MSB – 99
BANK SELECT LAB – 0
PROGRAM CHANGE – 21

Or if you are using a sequencer to enter data

CONTROLLER 0 (MSB) – VALUE 99
CONTROLLER 32 (LSB) – VALUE 0
PROGRAM CHANGE – 21

It really is that simple. Now how do you extract this information from the Yamaha PLG series owner’s
manuals, which can at times appear a little cryptic? Well this is how you do it

On page 67 we see a typical p age from the Yam aha PLG15 0DX owner’s manua l MIDI sec tion. W e can s ee
the voice list information, and the BANK MESSAGE information at the top.

PufOrgn1

. This sound is not in the basic 12 8

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And as you can see Pu gOrgn1 is in bank Select MSB 99, LSB 0 and program location 21. So using this
information you sh ould be able to access any vo ice from any PLG card with ea se. To be honest though,
using a suitable software application such as XGWORKS or XGEDIT may prove to be easier when getting at
the sounds. (XGEDIT and XGWORKS do not know about PLUGSTATION at time of writing, this will
hopefully be updated in the case of XGEDIT in the near future)

So taking another example from the PLG150PF manual, how would we select the voice Harpsi3?

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Okay to do this we would send

BANK SELECT MSB = 80
BANK SELECT LSB = 65
Program Change = 7

Very simple when you know how! So now armed with this you shoul d be able to enter a nd select an y voice
on any PLG card f rom the front panel of PLUGSTATION with ease. It is worth while keeping your Yamaha
PLG manuals to hand to remember which voices are i n whic h loc a tio n, an d als o us ing th e performance table
in the back of this manual to note down the voices, and board types in each slot.

Okay, now moving on to more difficult stuff… SYSEX.
Known to reduce grown men, and hardened MIDI programmers to jel ly, SYSEX is a powerf ul friend when

mastered. It forms the heart of all devices and is the one set of parameters that when a device is sent
SYSEX, no other device (unless programmed to do so) will understand. This is why SYSEX is such a
powerful weapon.

As we have mention ed elsewhere in this m anual, all Yam aha PLG cards have unique SYSEX recognition,
which means that SYSEX sent to o ne b oar d wil l not co nflict with another. T his makes editing multip le b oards
possible.

Every manufacturer has a SYSEX ID number. The MIDI Man ufacturers Association sets these out, and as
system exclusive works in the Hexadecimal f orm (Base 16 for counting as opposed to your standard base

10), we will use HEX values for all SYSEX notations.
Yamaha’s value is 43H, (The KENT ON one is 00H 20H 13H, as more recent members of the MMA are

given 3 byte SYSEX Manufacturer ID num bers) and as you will see. This is o ne of a few SYSEX n umbers
that you will see a lot more of. (43H = 43 Hex)

NOTE: A VALUE FOLLOWED BY H (I.E. 20H) USUALLY INDICATES A HEX VALUE.

The world of SYSEX is very daunting at first, but once you have grasped the main concepts it is a very
rewarding way of working.

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Before we go into some typed examples we will try to explain the fundamentals of SYSEX data.

SYSEX is a wa y of ta lking to a PLG card or ind eed an y MI DI de v ic e at one of its most basic levels . T he PLG
cards and PLUGSTATIO N are computer s, and to talk to a com puter you need to learn ho w to program it. As
with computers, application packages are designed to help make things easier to use, and the excellent
XGEDIT by Gary Gregson, is one such program that makes things very much easier.

SYSEX is com prised of a series of data b ytes, they have a specific or der and mean specific things when
typed in that order. W hen typed in incorrectly they will either do nothi ng at all or will give an unexpected
result. If you think as we said, of the SW1000XG as a computer, then as any programmer will know,
computers work based upon the op erating system code that they have embedded or loaded into them. A
computer will have an am ount of memory dedic ated to this function, an d the locations with in this are k nown
as memory addresses. S YSEX allows you to feed data into t hese memory address s lots by giving you the
memory areas (that complex bit in the back of the user manual of all MIDI devices) that each parameter lives
in. This is a simplified way of thinking about it, but it works!

The following data bytes are as we mentioned in what is known as Hexadecimal. This is a 2 byte
alphanumeric f ormat, which basically is a number anywhere bet ween 0 and 255 (e.g. 00 = 00 OA=10 7F=

127). To manuall y edit a param eter us ing SYSEX you should f am iliarize yours elf with t he wa y in which your
sequencer of choice or applicat ion allows you to do this . It is then just a c ase of typing by hand the da ta in.
PLUGSTATION itself whilst supporting SYSEX data throughput, does not allow you to edit SYSEX data from
the front panel, this we felt would be jus t too much for most peopl e, so to follow this s ection you will nee d
appropriate software. If you are using an application suc h as XGWORKS or XGEDIT then you reall y don’t
need to know any of this, but it is very useful for the general understanding of how MIDI works.

The way in which data is entered using the SYSEX editor or event list editor in your sequencer (m ore of
which is discussed later) can be shown by the following example.

F0H,43H,10H,4cH,02H,01H,00H,7fH,f7H
NOTE: SOME SOFT WARE APPLICATION EDITO RS REQUIRE A ‘COMM A’ BETWEEN HEX VALUES,

SOME DO NOT. SOME REQUIRE YOU TO ENTER WITH THE LETTER ‘H’ AFTER THE VALUE
DENOTING A HEX V ALUE, SO ME DO NOT. IT IS UP T O Y OU TO INVESTIGATE HO W YO UR SP ECIFIC
SOFTWARE WORKS.

Anyway, a breakdown of the above string is as follows.

The H following each byte ind icates that it is a HEX value, this is not essential when en tering the
data in many software applications.

The first data byte (F0H) is known as the start of SYSEX, all SYSEX will begin with F0
Byte 2 (43H) is the Yamaha ID code (KENTON ID CODE IS 00H 20H 13H)
Byte 3 (10H) is the device number of whatever you may be trying to edit (this can be changed if
required)
Byte 4 (4CH) is the XG native control parameter (other devices attached to the SW1000XG by the
PLG socket
may have a different control byte, for example the PLG150-AN responds to 5CH for its control byte)
The last byte (F7H) is always F7H. This indicates the end of the SYSEX stream

The center 4 data bytes (it can be s ometim es more than this) will corres pond to the c omm and specif ic data.
If you imagine th ese data bytes are s aying 'OK now I want to c a ll up a par ameter such as an ef f ec t or a filter
envelope for example, then the complete data stream would be as follows:

F0 43 10 4C

(Room

F7

2)

(end of SYSEX)

(We have dropped the H after each byte here as by now we hope you get the picture!!)

(This is required by all XG units)

02 01 00

(Address indicating a Reverb effect parameter)

02 01

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So when you go plugging throug h the DATA LIST manual f or the PLG car ds and start to go c ross eyed with
the barrage of numbers being thrown at you, it’s ok.

If you remember the key points th at almost every Yam aha PLG unit res ponds to F0 43 10 ……… ..ended b y
F7, and that the bits in the m iddle can be found in the user m anual for ever y parameter, then your life with
SYSEX will be so much more fulfilling.

Yamaha have a free guide to XG in general and have also published their XG specification sheets, and
earlier guides online at www.yamaha.co.uk/xg
know even more about SYSEX.

Now let’s look at a re al wor ld exam ple f rom one of the PLG m anuals, t his m ay hel p you u ndersta nd ho w the
MIDI FORMAT data works, and how to read the manuals more clearly.

The example is from the PLG150VL user manual.

and www.xgfactory.com Well worth looking into if you want to

Now to interpret this we lo ok first at the Address H section , and see that the address is 09 00 17, and the
value range is 00-7f ( 0-127), so we can construct a SYS EX string for this parameter ( AMP LEVEL SCALE
BREAK POINT) as

F0,43,10,4C,09,00,17,3C,F7

F0 – START OF SYSEX
43 – YAMAHA ID
10 – DEVICE ID
4C – BEGIN DATA ENTRY
09,00,17 – THE ADDRESS OF THE PARAMETER IN THE PLG150VL WE WISH TO EDIT
3C – THE VALUE WE WISH TO CHANGE (THE DEFAULT IS 3C BUT THIS COULD BE ANYTHING
FROM 00 – 7F IN THIS FIELD IF WE SO WISHED
F7 – END OF SYSEX

See it isn’t that difficult when you know how. There are other wa ys of finding ou t what SYSEX m essage is
being sent, which are c overed in detail in the Yamaha SW 1000XG Advanced Us ers Guide, which is a free
booklet from Yamaha, and also av ailab le to do wnlo ad f or fr ee from www.xgfactory.com
in this guide inc lu de co nnecting up applic at ions lik e X G EDIT to MIDI data monitoring software suc h as MIDI­OX (www.MIDIox.com
covered in detail in the Yamaha booklet also).

There are man y other comprehensiv e guidebooks available online f rom Yamaha which c over the basics of
MIDI, and the possibilities offered by SYSEX, it is worth investigating if you feel the need to know more
about the mysteries of what goes on “under the hood”

), using virtual cable application s such as Hubis L oopback or MIDI YOK E (These are

. The methods shown

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Technical Support and contact info.

Technical support of the KENTON PLUGSTATION is via KENTON Electronics. If you have any questions
relating to the firmware, operating system or operation of this product, please contact KENTON via the
following methods. KENTON Electronics website will also provide all firmware updates for the
PLUGSTATION unit. Firmware updates come in the form of a MIDI file. The method for updating your
PLUGSTATION detec ting firmware re vision number a nd restoring the f actory default sett ings can be found
in the troubleshooting and FAQ section of this guidebook.

KENTON contact details
EMAIL: [e-mail]
PHONE: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
POST: KENTON Electronics, Brookfarm House, Station Road, South Wimbledon, London SW19 2LP

For technical support of the Yam aha SW1000XG card or any Yam aha PLG car ds, please cont act your loc al
Yamaha subsidiary or visit

www.xgfactory.com
www.yamahasynth.com

(For the SW1000XG and PLG cards)

(For Yamaha synthesiser products and PLGCARDS)

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Troubleshooting and faq

This section is intend ed to answer the mos t common questions about PLUGSTATION, and als o to provide
some important information relating to its master settings, how to run diagnostics, and updating the
operating system. Users should proceed with caution on the master settings menu, as this menu is not
intended for every day use, but to help KENTON with technical support and troubleshooting.

COMMON FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q. I can hear no sound from the PLG card, what is wrong?
A. There is a range of possible answers here; the most likely is that the PLG card in question is trying to play

a sound from a bank or program location that is not supported. If you have sent accidentally a program
change over MIDI from a ke yboard for example that c orresponds to an em pty location on the PLG card, as
PLUGSTATION has no FALLBACK m ode (this is found on m any Yamaha X G devices, where a PLG v oice,
if not present an d selec ted will F ALLBA CK to a su itabl e XG s ound which is s im ilar to th e one you have trie d
to choose. If this is th e case, just send a correct pro gram change or bank select MSB , LSB and program
change message suitable for the PLG card you have fitted.

The second possible answer to this is that you have the YOPL or YVOL level for the board you have
selected set too LOW (this on ly applies if you have the Y b oard fitted). If this is the case, s elect the YOPL
and YVOL levels for the board, and set them to a suitable level

The third possible answer is that the card is receiving no MIDI data. This may be due to a faulty cable
connection between the keyboard and your PLUGSTATION MIDI port, or between the D-SUB connector
and the X-BOARD (if used with t he SW1000XG). If this is the cas e, ple as e re attach the cable (remembering
to power off first in the case of the D-SUB cable), and check your cable again. It may also be that the PLG
card you are trying to send MIDI data to, is s et to a different MIDI chan nel or PART number. If this is the
case use the front panel control to adjust the PART and CHANNE L number back to one that is bei ng sent
from the controlling keyboard.

The fourth possible ans wer is that you h ave the PLUGST ATION c onnected via the ADAT output to a digital
mixer or ADAT devic e, and the wordclock is incorrectl y set or not be ing detected by the recept ion device. If
this is the case, please r efe r to th e sect ion in this m anual on wordcl ock s, and c heck with t he user m anual of
your ADAT device that the wordclock c an be s et to sl a ve t o an other d ev ice o ver the ADAT port, and th at th is
is set-up correctly

The fifth possible reason is that you have loaded a new setup into the PLUGSTATION, which has
overwritten your prev ious s etti ngs , which may include output le ve ls or MIDI c hann els . If s o, pleas e adjus t the
levels, and program numbers accordingly or load in another set-up, which is correc t. To view the current
performance that you have lo aded go t o the top le vel (MIDI STATUS LE VEL), an d scroll the DATA ENT RY
SLIDER to the right to see the current Performance value. This will be shown as P-XX (where XX is a
number between 1 and 64)

Q. Why does MIDI controller 7 not work from the CCNO menu option for volume adjustments?
A. This along with c ontrollers 0 and 32 are de liberately ignored to avo id confusion with volum e level data

from YVOL and YOPL menu commands. PLG cards fitted to PLUGSTATION do however respond to all
other controllers listed in the controller sheet at the end of this manual

Q. Why is the PLG output dry from PLUGSTATION and wet (with effects) when coming back thru the
SW1000XG?

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The PLG cards as mentioned in many cases do not have effects processing on board. This means that
standard XG effects busses such as Chorus, Reverb and Variation, do not work with PLG card outputs
coming from the PLUG STATION Y-BOARD outs. The lim itation of the PLG standard, and the SW1000XG
interface (being on ly 2 channels) m eans that all boards c oming back through th e SW1000XG will ha ve the
same effects applie d to th e m , with the sam e am ount o f effect. T he y are also all c ontrol led (bac k thr ough t he
SW1000XG) b y the same master volume, s o if you adjust the volum e on one card, the volum e on all will
drop. This is why it is far better to upgrade to the Y and Z boards, and treat each PLG card uniquely.
PLG150DX for example is based on a DX7, which had no effects; the PLG150PF has onboard effects,
which will still work on the individual outputs of PLUGSTATION us ing SYSEX control software t o set them
up. The PLG150XG has its own on-board ef fects processing, which DOES confirm to the X G spec, whilst
the PLG VL series (100 and 150) ha ve no effects, so the best way to treat them is either with an external
mixer and effects, or to isolate this board coming back thru the SW1000XG, and leave the other boards
feeding to the individual outputs.

Q. I connect my ADAT mixer or device to the PLUGSTATION ADAT port, and I hear crackles, what is this?
This is due to lack of wordcloc k sync, please ref er to your ADAT device m anual for info on ho w to sync to

slave your ADAT compatibl e device
Q. The PLG cards output from the PLUG STATION sounds very slightl y different than pas sed back through

the SW1000XG, why is this?
A. This is due to the fact that the SW1000XG has a very subtle EQ smile (EQ curve) across the audio

outputs (both digital a nd analogue) caused by setting s made on the flashrom processor on the card. This
can be compensated f or by applying EQ s ettings (master EQ) to the SW1000X G from software. You will
also find that the outp ut from the PLUGSTAT ION Y board individua l outputs sounds muc h more clear and
defined than the output from the SW1000XG main outputs. This is due to the increased fidelity and
headroom offered by the 24-BIT DA converters found on PLUG STATION. You will also find tha t the output
gain is better from PLUGSTATION than from the SW1000XG.

Q. Can I connect a PLG card to PLUGSTATION whilst it is switched on?
A. No, this may cause irreparable damage to your PLG card or to PLUGSTATION. You should turn off

PLUGSTATION before making any connections of any sort.
Q. What version of the SW1000XG flashrom will I need to run with PLUGSTATION?
A. Any version from 1.066 or higher is fine. These can be found on www.xgfactory.com
Q. Will PLUGSTATION work with the SW1000XG under Windows 2000 and Windows XP?
A. Yes, PLUGSTATION is O.S independent. You need to ensure that you have the correct SW1000XG

drivers for it to work properly with the SW1000XG.
Q. I set up a perf ormance on PLUGSTATION using the front Panel controls, why doesn’t XGEDIT or m y

editing software know what I have done?
A. The current ran ge of com monly use d editin g sof tw are (as of Jun e 2001) you m ay be usi ng has no wa y of

interrogating the status of the PLG cards . The PLUGS TATION c an report via SY SEX its curr ent settings, s o
in future software (X GPAD bei ng o ne c as e) will be a bl e to r ea d bac k what is going on. If you are wor king the
PLUGSTATION with the SW1000XG it is best to only do program changes, and voice set-ups from software,
and set the outputs and routings from the front panel, until applications exist that support both options.

Q. Can I use a KENTON Control Freak to setup routings and output levels for the PLUGSTATION?
A. Yes indeed you can, and a full set of profiles exist to allow you to do just this very thing.

www.KENTON.co.uk

Q. I have installed several PLG cards of the same type, how can I edit them individually?

for more info.

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A. This is a function, which is only possible via software control. You can adjust programs and basic
controllers for each board individually from the front panel, but SYSEX level editing requires specialist
software. You will also need to adjust the product ID for each unit if you want to have discrete editing, this is
covered in the PLG user manuals, and also can be set from the front panel of PLUGSTATION.

Q. Why does performance change take a few seconds to work?
A. This is due to the l arge amount of data be ing s ent to the micro controllers on PL UG ST ATION, configuring

alternate routings, and also sending offset parameter data to each of the 4 boards.

Q. Do I need the heatsink update for SW1000XG to run PLUGSTATION?
A. No, but Yamaha recom mend this upd ate (which is free anywa y so you ma y as well) as well as the latest

flashrom update for SW1000XG (f rom xgfac tory.com) for all SW 1000XG owner s. It is not 10 0% required b y
PLUGSTATION.

TROUBLESHOOTING

The following inf ormation is intended to assist with Troub leshooting and updati ng the PLUGSTAT ION. You
may need this inform ation and familiarity with the master menu oper ation prior to contacting KENTON for
technical support, so please read this section carefully.

MASTER SETTINGS MENU.
Being the nice guys that we are, KE NTON have decided to of fer a range of diagnos tic tools, and res tore to

factory default opt ions , s ho uld you e ver feel the need t o r est ore e verything to how it was t he day you bought
PLUGSTATION. T hese options ar e not for da y-to-da y use, as we sa y, and also will k nock out all of the main
functions of PLUGST AT IO N whi lst you ar e in th is mode. It is almost im pos s ible t o caus e ir rep ar ab le d amage
to PLUGSTATION’s operation in this m ode, but you s hould onl y enter this m ode if you have to (for example
an OS update posted on the KENTON website!)

To enter master setup mode turn on the po wer whi lst hold ing d o wn the DATA ENTRY knob. You will th en be
presented with a screen named the EXIT screen

If you press the button again on this screen it will r eset PLUGSTATION and c arry on as normal. Scrollin g
along in this menu mode takes you first to the RESTORE DEFAULTS menu (RDEF)

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If you press the DATA ENTRY button on this screen it will restore the factory default settings of
PLUGSTATION and clear all PRGS (performance mode) memories. So as we say PROCEED WITH
CAUTION. If you wish to restore the defau lts , maybe you should f irs t bac k up any settings to a sui tab le MIDI
data filer or SYSEX rec order/computer. This is cover ed in the front panel editing section. O n pressing the
RDEF option the screen will display 4 horizont al lines in the cen ter of the LED displa y for approximatel y 10
seconds, after which it will report DONE, if all is okay. You should then re power on your PLUGSTATION.

If this screen does not appear you may wish to p ower the unit back up aga in, and go back into t he RDEF
menu to try again. O nce D ONE is disp la yed, you ca n then pres s the DAT A ENTR Y button a ga in to retur n t o
the EXIT menu option.

Scrolling again across takes you to the
screen as it reports the op erating system version. It is useful to know the current version, which you have
installed which will show up as a 4- digit number. T his is helpful in t hat you can track any new OS revis ions
on the KENTON W ebsite, or when contacting techn ical support, they can asc ertain if you have the lates t
version of the OS in case any bugs have crept in to earlier versions.

DRNO (Device Revision Number)

menu item. This is a useful

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Pressing the DATA ENT RY button on this page, will as we h ave said show a 4-digit num ber which is your
software revision.

The next menu item is
revision update MIDI files which wil l be posted on the KENTO N website, or will be avai lable on request fr om
KENTON for people without Internet access. This menu will put the PLUGSTATION into a RECEIVE
READY mode until the OS dump is sent from an appropriate MIDI DATA filer or Computer.

LDOS (Load Operating System).

This option is to be used with the special OS

On pressing the DATA EN TRY button on this page, you wi ll be then taken to a screen that sa ys SEND. At
this point you shou ld transm it the operating system from the MIDI OUT of your computer , or the MIDI OUT
of the SW1000XG (not ov er the D-SUB CONNECTOR), until the m essage screen then flashes DONE. At
this point you ca n power down and reboot PLUG STATION. To check that the OS re vision you have just
loaded is installed, go bac k to the master menu, and check the device re vision num ber screen again. If the
bulk dump was not successful, then the SEND screen will just stay on the dis play. Do not worry, as the
operating system will not update unless a complete and correct OS dump is sent, and the unit has
performed a check sum operation t o detect that a ll is ok ay. You cannot wipe your OS or dam age it using t he
LDOS option.

The Final menu opt ion in this secti on is the ANYL menu item (MIDI DATA AN ALYSIS). This allo ws you to
check that PLUGSTAT ION is recei ving MIDI d ata cor rec tly either o ver th e D-SUB connec tor, or via the M IDI
ports.

This menu will displ ay incoming data from a wide vari ety of sources, such as NOTE data, Co ntroller data
and more. To check what Data is coming in, place the PLUG STATION in this mode, and pres s the DATA
ENTRY knob. This will then confirm if NOTE or other MIDI data is being receive d by PLUGSTAT ION. This
menu is useful for KENTON and also for you as a diagnostics tool for testing that cables and MIDI are
working okay.

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Useful controllers

Below is a useful list of controllers which can be a pplied to the PLG series s ynthesiser cards ( PLG150DX,
AN, VL, PF, XG and PLG100V L,DX) T hese controller s can be entere d from the fr ont panel, and a llow som e
control over the sounds being produced by each PLG card.

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n

The MIDI specification is d esign ed to ass ist end us ers who wish to write s upport sof tware, m ixer m aps, VST
scripts, Logic Environment pages and SONAR panels for PLUGSTATION. Please feel free to use the data in
this section to assist you.

This MIDI spec is subject to change over time, as new features or adjustments may be made to
PLUGSTATION to improve functionality. Newer versions of the spec will be posted to the KENTON website.

PLUGSTATION sysex spec 27/06/2001

The following six bytes apply to all messages (except o/s update)

Sysex Header

Byte valid range description

F0h start sysex
00h KE ID byte #1
20h KE ID byte #2
13h KE ID byte #3
0Ah product ID
dev_num 00h-0Fh device number

The following bytes apply to some messages where:-

Change parameter message the speci fi ed parameter is updated with the supplied data byte

00h-03h plg card 1-4 parameters pl g_para_num plg parameter number
08h global parameters glob_para_num global parameter number
09h Y board parameters y_para_num Y board parameter number
0Ah Z board parameters z_para_num Z board parameter number

Request parameter message the value of the specified parameter is returned by PLUGSTATION i
all parameters are sent

70h edit buffer para request 00h-03h plg card 1-4 parameters
70h edit buffer para request 08h global parameters
70h edit buffer para request 09h Y board parameters
70h edit buffer para request 0Ah Z board param et ers

71h prog dump request prg_num program num ber
79h global + y + z dump request 00h global + y + z parameters

Program dump message

10h program dump prg_num program number
18h global + y + z 00h dummy byte

adr_hi (byte#7) description

adr_hi (byte#7) description

adr_hi (byte#7) description

adr_lo (byte #8) description

adr_lo (byte #8) description

adr_lo (byte #8) description

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Operating system update message

Byte valid range description

F0h start sysex
00h KE ID byte #1
20h KE ID byte #2
13h KE ID byte #3
0Ah product ID
dev_num 7Fh - ONLY device number

adr_hi 7Fh o/s update
adr_lo 7Fh o/s update

len_lsb 00-7Fh varies
len_isb 00-7Fh varies
len_msb 00-03h varies

data
… packed so 7 x 8bit bytes sent as 8 x 7bit bytes
data first byte (of a group of 8) contains msbs of the following 7 bytes

c_sum cal culated on packed data only - addition of c_sum produces zero
F7h end of sysex

The update is loaded into temporary memory and the checksum validated
before the original o/s is overwritten

DATA TABLE

;--------------------------------------------------------------------------­;BYTES STORED IN EEPROM

EEPTAB ;NB CARD PRG/BNKL/BNKH DEFAULTS NOW IN SUPLG0
BYTE BNKH_1+0 ;plg1 bank high
BYTE 000 ;default (overwritten)
BYTE BNKH_1+1 ;2
BYTE 000 ;default (overwritten)
BYTE BNKH_1+2 ;3
BYTE 000 ;default (overwritten)
BYTE BNKH_1+3 ;4
BYTE 000 ;default (overwritten)

BYTE BNKL_1+0 ;plg1 bank low
BYTE 000 ;default (overwritten)
BYTE BNKL_1+1 ;2
BYTE 000 ;default (overwritten)
BYTE BNKL_1+2 ;3
BYTE 000 ;default (overwritten)
BYTE BNKL_1+3 ;4
BYTE 000 ;default (overwritten)

BYTE PROG_1+0 ;plg1 prog number
BYTE 000 ;default (overwritten)
BYTE PROG_1+1 ;2
BYTE 000 ;default (overwritten)

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BYTE PROG_1+2 ;3
BYTE 000 ;default (overwritten)
BYTE PROG_1+3 ;4
BYTE 000 ;default (overwritten)

BYTE SVOL_1+0 ;plg1 vol t o sw1k
BYTE 127 ;default
BYTE SVOL_1+1 ;2
BYTE 127 ;default
BYTE SVOL_1+2 ;3
BYTE 127 ;default
BYTE SVOL_1+3 ;4
BYTE 127 ;default

BYTE SBAL_1+0 ;plg1 balance to sw1k
BYTE 064 ;default
BYTE SBAL_1+1 ;2
BYTE 064 ;default
BYTE SBAL_1+2 ;3
BYTE 064 ;default
BYTE SBAL_1+3 ;4
BYTE 064 ;default

BYTE YVOL_1+0 ;plg1 vol to y board
BYTE 127
BYTE YVOL_1+1 ;2
BYTE 127
BYTE YVOL_1+2 ;3
BYTE 127
BYTE YVOL_1+3 ;4
BYTE 127

BYTE YBAL_1+0 ;plg1 balance to y board
BYTE 064
BYTE YBAL_1+1 ;2
BYTE 064
BYTE YBAL_1+2 ;3
BYTE 064
BYTE YBAL_1+3 ;4
BYTE 064

BYTE YOPS_1+0 ;plg1 route to y board
BYTE 0 ;y op route
BYTE YOPS_1+1 ;2
BYTE 1
BYTE YOPS_1+2 ;3
BYTE 2
BYTE YOPS_1+3 ;4
BYTE 3

BYTE PART_1+0 ;plg1 part number
BYTE 0
BYTE PART_1+1 ;2
BYTE 0
BYTE PART_1+2 ;3
BYTE 0
BYTE PART_1+3 ;4
BYTE 0

BYTE CHAN_1+0 ;plg1 midi channel

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BYTE 0
BYTE CHAN_1+1 ;2
BYTE 1
BYTE CHAN_1+2 ;3
BYTE 2
BYTE CHAN_1+3 ;4
BYTE 3

BYTE CRDI_1+0 ;plg1 card id
BYTE 0
BYTE CRDI_1+1 ;2
BYTE 0
BYTE CRDI_1+2 ;3
BYTE 0
BYTE CRDI_1+3 ;4
BYTE 0

BYTE CNTN_1+0 ;plg1 controller number
BYTE 074
BYTE CNTN_1+1 ;2
BYTE 074
BYTE CNTN_1+2 ;3
BYTE 074
BYTE CNTN_1+3 ;4
BYTE 074

BYTE CNTV_1+0 ;plg1 controller value
BYTE 100
BYTE CNTV_1+1 ;2
BYTE 100
BYTE CNTV_1+2 ;3
BYTE 100
BYTE CNTV_1+3 ;4
BYTE 100
EEPTBX ;END ADDRESS

;52 ITEMS ABOVE = 13 x 4
;the above are stored 64 times over for progs 1-64
;--------------------------------------------------------------------------­;the below are stored only once
;15 ITEMS BELOW

EEGTAB
BYTE MVLDAT ;global plugcards mix to sw1000
BYTE 127 ;default
BYTE DEVNUM ;global device number
BYTE 0 ;default
BYTE MMCHAN ;master midi channel
BYTE 15 ;default
BYTE GLBITS ;BM - b0=patch PC ; b1=patch skt - storage of bits
BYTE 00000010b ;default
EEYTAB
BYTE YOPL_1+0 ;y level for o/p 1
BYTE 127 ;default
BYTE YOPL_1+1 ;2
BYTE 127
BYTE YOPL_1+2 ;3
BYTE 127
BYTE YOPL_1+3 ;4
BYTE 127

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BYTE YOPL_1+4 ;5
BYTE 127
BYTE YOPL_1+5 ;6
BYTE 127
BYTE YOPL_1+6 ;7
BYTE 127
BYTE YOPL_1+7 ;8
BYTE 127
EEZTAB
BYTE ZSFVOL ;sw1000 stereo retn from dspf conn volume
BYTE 0 ;default
BYTE ZSFBAL ;sw1000 stereo retn from dspf conn balance
BYTE 64
BYTE ZSFRTG ;sw1000 stereo retn from dspf conn rt to grp
BYTE 0
EEGTBX ;END ADDRESS

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Here is a handy perf ormanc e mem ory table, please use it t o log do wn your sett ings f or each board and f eel
free to photocopy it for your own use.

To use it, fill in the board type in the SLOT X (Slot Number) column (for example next to SLOT 1 write DX for
the PLG150DX) and then for each row with a performance number fill in the program MSB, LSB, PROG
NUMBER and OUTPUT. So for example

Slot 1 has a DX board, with performance 1 having bank select MSB = 48, LSB = 99, Program Number
= 104, and coming out of outputs 1&2

So feel free to use the table below.

PERFORMANCE

SLOT 1 ( ) SLOT 2 ( ) SLOT 3 ( ) SLOT 4 ( )
NUMBER/SLOT
NUMBER

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

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15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43

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44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64

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Basic Specification
PLUGSTATION Main Unit

Dimensions: 483mm x 44mm x 200mm
Weight (Unloaded): 3KG
Display: 4 way 7 segment LED display
Motorola M56364 DSP
4 Yamaha PLG specification interface connectors with ferrite core shielding.
Power Supply 7V, 2.1A (Universal Figure of 8 adapter, cable as per your country of origin)
Operating Temperature: 0C to +35C

Front Panel Controls

Power ON/OFF, DATA ENTRY ROTARY ENCODER with push response

Rear Panel

SW1000XG 44-WAY D-SUB inter connector
7V DC Input 2.1A (Universal power supply included)
MIDI IN OUT THRU

Optional Y-BOARD Panel (multiple output panel)

8 x 24-bit analogue outputs ¼inch unbalanced jack sockets
DA Converters – Alesis 1401
1x 24-bit ADAT (TM) compatible optical output
ADAT output sampling rate - 44.1khz (Fixed)

Optional Z-Board (DS2416 routing connector support for Serial output of SW1000XG)

Primary DSP – Motorola M56364

Optional X-BOARD (SW1000XG PLG hosting and accelerator card)

Yamaha PLG/MSPS connector type board
Dimensions 138.5 x 89 x 8.5mm
Weight 47g

Cable – 1.2Metre 44-way D-SUB cable

Included accessories

Owners Manual (This document)
Power Supply Unit

Optional Accessories

D-SUB cable extension system

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Recommended website links
KENTON are not responsible for the links to sites other than the actual KENTON website, these are

links that we suggest you may find useful when using this product.

www.KENTON.co.uk
www.xgfactory.com
www.yamahasynth.com
www.xgpad.com
www.yme.co.uk/yme

- KENTON Electronics website

- Official Yamaha SW1000XG support website

- Official Yamaha website for PLG and MSPS cards

- Editor suitable and recommended for use with PLUGSTATION

- Gary Gregsons website. Author of XGEDIT

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QUICK GUIDE TO PLUGSTATION COMMANDS:

STATUS LEVEL

P-XX – (XX is a number between 1-64) : This indicates a Performance value for the Plugstation

Performance memory selector

EXT – Indicates that Plugstation is running from an external wordclock

INT – Indicates that Plugstation is running from an internal wordclock

CARD EDIT LEVEL

BNTH– Bank select MSB. Allows you to select a Bank MSB message for a specific PLG card

BNTL– Bank Select LSB. Allows you to select a Bank LSB message for a specific PLG card

PROG – Program change message. Allows a specific program for each PLg card to be recalled

SVOL – Controls the amount of PLG board level is being fed back to the SW1000XG

SBAL – Controls the balance of the PLG card signal being fed back to the SW1000XG

YVOL – Controls the amount of signal being sent to the Y-BOARD outputs from each PLG card

YBAL – Controls the balance of the PLG card signal being sent to the Y-BOARD outputs for each

PLG card

YOPS – Selects which output the PLG card signal is being fed to on the Y-BOARD

PART – Selects the Part number that a specific PLG card part can be set to

CHAN – Selects the MIDI channel that a specific PLG card responds on

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P-ID – Selects the PLG ID number for cards (should only be used if multiple cards of the same type

are used)

CCNO – Selects the controller number being edited for each PLG card

CVAL – Sets the amount of the previously selected controller number

GLOBAL LEVEL

SVOL – Sets the Global SW1000XG return volume for all 4 cards

D-NO – Sets the Global Plugstation device number

MCH- Sets the Global Midi channel for control of Plugstation

SHLD – Sets the SW1000XG wordclock detection “Hold” mechanism on startup

YOPL LEVEL

OUT 1-8 – Sets the Y OUTPUT level Gain control and trim control for each output

ZSOP LEVEL

SVOL – Sets the SW1000XG output through the Z-BOARD level (to Y-BOARD output)

SBAL- Sets the SW1000XG output through the Z-BOAR D level (to Y-BOARD output)

SOPS – Sets the SW1000XG output select for the main Serial output feed through the Z-Board to the

Y-BOARD outputs

MUT – Stops all SW1000XG audio and MIDI synth parts being sent to the Y-OUTPUTS, but allows

them still to be sent to a DS2416 SUB input set if connected

PRGS LEVEL

LOAD – Loads a Global setting (P-XX allows you to load up individual performances in the STATUS

LEVEL)

STORE – Allows you to store Performances or Global setups

DUNP – Bulk Dump menu option fotr backup of performance and Global data

MAP – Allows you to remap an incoming performance dump to a new performance location

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