Best way of getting XG for games?

[kreatorb]

I've been pondering what is the best way to get Yamaha XG for the games (and music MIDIs) that support it.

The DB50XG is the most common card, so complete compatibility with this is probably the most important thing. I'd really want all the sounds and features to be identical.

However, running inside my 486 this card runs very hot, and is rarely used and therefore I'd prefer to have it in an external module.

AFAIK, the options are:

MU10 (wasn't a big fan of the form factor & I prefer having a LCD)
MU80 (I think?? is this completely compatible?)
Korg NS5R (I'm getting one of these, but am unsure exactly how it handles the daughterboard when installed inside it - BTW: how does this handle non XG daughterboards?)

I think the MU50 is disqualified because it does not support all of the DB50XG features? I vaguely remember reading this somewhere.

Anyone have any other thoughts? How about the higher MU models such as MU90 or 100?  Are these disqualified also?

I also have a similar question RE the FB-01 and the TX-7 module.. are these effectively the same?

[Great Hierophant]

The DB50XG is only 100% compatible with the MU10XG and SW60XG.  (Actually the latter two allow you to also apply effects to analog audio signals through their audio input jacks.)  The MU50XG offers more sounds than the DB50XG, but all the LCD modules miss the unique QS300 mode of the DB50XG, MU10XG & SW60XG.  I sincerely doubt games ever used it, however. 

[kreatorb]

The DB50XG is only 100% compatible with the MU10XG and SW60XG.

I've tried to find this out.. but have only come across hearsay. Is there anywhere authoritative that says this?

[kreatorb]

OK, got the NS5R but the daughterboard doesn't seem to respond correctly to SYSEX over MIDI. The manual seems to imply the only way to use it correctly is over serial port. So not as great as I'd hoped really (unless anyone who owns one has some advice?)

What it does have though, is a massive amount of sounds and parameters to alter. Much more versatile than a sound canvas!

[Great Hierophant]

The DB50XG is only 100% compatible with the MU10XG and SW60XG.

I've tried to find this out.. but have only come across hearsay. Is there anywhere authoritative that says this?

The Yamaha manuals for the DB50XG and MU10XG have been PDFed and OCRed.  Search them for QS300.  If you search other XG manuals, you will not come across any mention of the QS300.  I'm not why there is no midi implementation in the SW60XGs manual, but that does have the mode. 

[kreatorb]

OK, what you say seems about right (The XG gold webpage only mentions the sw60xg,db50xg and mu10).

But that brings up another question.. if QS300 compatibility is the main feature of these modules - how about the QS300 itself then?

[Great Hierophant]

The QS300 is not XG compatible.