MUXG2K — Support & User Manual

1. What is MUXG2K?

MUXG2K is a modern recreation of the classic XG-era tone generator — a 64-part multitimbral rompler (four 16-channel MIDI ports) with 1,608 voices, 114 drum kits and 200 performances, GM- and XG-compatible, so General MIDI and XG arrangements play back in that unmistakable style. Run it as a plug-in on an instrument track, or as the Standalone app driven from a MIDI keyboard.

MUXG2K recreates the classic XG tone-generator experience. It is:

• 64-part multitimbral — four 16-channel MIDI ports (A = parts 1–16, B = 17–32, C = 33–48, D = 49–64), one part per channel, like the MU2000 over USB, so a standard GM/XG multi-channel sequence plays back with the right instrument on every track.
• XG / GM / GM2 / TG300B compatible — a full XG-compatible voice, drum-kit and performance library (1,608 voices, 114 drum kits, 200 performances), addressable by bank-select and program-change just like the classic hardware.
• Effect-complete — XG-style system reverb and chorus plus the large variation/insertion effect catalogue.
• Editable — every part's mixer, filter, tuning, EQ, controllers, envelopes and drum setup can be shaped, and multi-voice performances (combis) built and saved.

It reads and responds to standard MIDI; you supply the notes (from a sequence, a controller, or the on-screen keyboard) and MUXG2K makes the sound.

2. Installation & licensing

Run the installer for your platform and follow the prompts. On Windows the installer is signed; a brand-new release may show a Microsoft SmartScreen “unrecognised app” notice until the download reputation builds — this is normal for a newly-signed installer.

Formats: VST3, AU (macOS), LV2 (Linux), AAX, CLAP and a Standalone application, on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Licensing. MUXG2K uses the same licensing as the rest of the demix.me family:

• Both tiers perform a periodic online licence check; extended offline use may prompt a re-check.
• Activating a fourth machine automatically releases the oldest device to make room, and MUXG2K tells you when that happens.

While unlicensed, MUXG2K shows a full-window activation panel and produces no audio. Enter the email and activation key from your purchase and click Activate.

3. Setting up — plug-in & Standalone

MUXG2K accepts MIDI and produces audio. It makes sound only while it is receiving MIDI and the host is passing audio — in a DAW, keep the track selected/armed and the transport running when you expect to hear it.

As a plug-in (VST3 / AU / AAX / CLAP / LV2)

1. Add MUXG2K to an instrument / MIDI track in your DAW.
2. Arm the track for MIDI input, or draw notes in a clip.
3. Choose a voice (see §5) and play.

For a multi-part GM/XG sequence, route the whole sequence to one MUXG2K instance; it responds across all 64 parts over four MIDI ports (A = parts 1–16, B = 17–32, C = 33–48, D = 49–64), one per channel (see §7).

As the Standalone app

1. Launch MUXG2K.
2. Open the audio/MIDI settings and choose your output device and MIDI input.
3. Select a voice and play from your controller or the on-screen keyboard.

The Standalone starts from a fresh XG reset (Grand Piano on channel 1) each launch — it does not restore the previous session. To keep a setup, use Save Synth (§11).

Multi-output routing (paid plug-in)

The paid MUXG2K exposes, alongside the main stereo mix, 32 stereo “Part N” direct-out buses — one for each of Parts 1–32 (Ports A/B) — so 64 direct-out channels (66 including the main mix). Assign a part to its own bus with the MIXER → OUTPUT control (Part 1 → outputs 3/4, Part 2 → 5/6, and so on), then route that bus to a track/channel in your host. Direct outs cover Parts 1–32; Parts 33–64 (Ports C/D) always play to the main mix. Per-part direct outs are a paid-plug-in feature; the free Standalone plays the main stereo mix.

4. The interface at a glance

The window is a fixed size. From top to bottom:

• Header / filter row — the MU-generation dropdown, the bank toggles (GM · GM2 · GS), the type toggles (VOICE · PERF · USER), the MUXG2K logo, and a RESET button.
• Family bar — instrument-family buttons (Piano, Organ, Guitar, Bass, Strings, Brass, Synth Lead/Pad, … plus Model Exclusive and Drums); clicking one narrows the browser and opens a nested family → sub-family → voice picker.
• Search box — type to filter voices and kits by name, live.
• Voice readout & browser — a large LCD-style readout of the active voice, and a scrolling voice list with prev/next arrows; a metadata line beneath shows the selected voice's bank, family and details.
• Part selector (1–64, four port pages) — Port A (parts 1–16), B (17–32), C (33–48), D (49–64); picks which part the editor shows and which port/channel the on-screen keyboard and wheels play.
• Edit area — a strip of parameter tabs (Mixer, Filter, Tune, EQ, controllers, Effects, System, Performance…), each a panel of clickable value “chips,” plus the envelope editors (AEG/PEG/iPEG/iPTG/iFEG) and one large master value slider bound to whichever chip is active.
• Keyboard & wheels — an on-screen keyboard with performance wheels on the left (PB · MW · CAT · PAT · AC1 · AC2) and live per-part sliders on the right (VOL · CUT · RES · REV · CHO · VAR).
• Help bar — the strip along the bottom. Hover any control and it shows that control's name and what it does. Help is always in one place — MUXG2K uses this instead of floating tooltips.
• Status line — a short line at the very bottom (voices loaded, current selection).

Click the MUXG2K logo at any time to open the in-plug-in quick manual.

Settings

The manual overlay (opened from the logo) has a Settings tab with engine and workflow options:

• Play MIDI file — the button beside the logo opens a Standard MIDI File and plays the whole song through the engine (all parts, honouring program/bank changes, controllers and XG SysEx), so you can audition the engine without a controller. A confirmation dialog appears first; the button becomes STOP, and the song loops until you press it.
• Voice map (MU basic / MU100 Native) — switches the core voice set between the MU-basic map and the MU100-Native map.
• Group by MSB — groups the voice/kit browser by MSB bank, mirroring the hardware order (on by default). Turn it off for a plain alphabetical list by name.
• Max polyphony — caps how many voices sound at once; lower it if the CPU struggles on dense material (the oldest voice is stolen when the cap is reached).
• Lift (release velocity) — when on, note-off (release) velocity scales the release time — lifting a key quickly vs slowly shortens vs lengthens the fade.
• Future Stereo — a mono-compatible per-voice stereo widener (Schroeder all-pass decorrelation); pure pan is the baseline when it's off.
• Future Warmth — an optional, mono-safe master “warmth” (a gentle analogue-style saturation); off by default.
• MIDI In / MIDI Out, and the second port's MIDI In B / MIDI Out B — choose the input and output MIDI devices for the two live ports (each with a None option), and forward incoming and on-screen MIDI (including bank/program changes) to an external device. (Ports C and D — parts 33–64 — are addressed by MIDI files and SysEx, not a live device menu.)

Beta builds add developer diagnostics here too — a debug-log pane, a raw-MIDI dump, per-element Sample Bands on the keyboard, and a Send debug report button — to help us track down issues during the beta.

5. Voices, banks & families

Browsing and filtering

The voice browser lists every voice, drum kit and performance. Narrow it with:

• MU-generation dropdown — filters the core XG voices by the MU model they debuted on: All, XG Level 1, MU80, MU90, MU100, MU128 or MU(1)2000 (the MU1000/2000/2000EX share one voice set).
• Bank toggles — XG voices are always listed (narrowed by the MU dropdown); these add or hide the other banks: GM (General MIDI Level 1), GM2 (General MIDI 2), and GS — the MU2000's Roland-GS-compatible TG300B mode, which shows the TG300B drum kits and is off by default (their upper range is imperfectly captured). SFX voices are part of XG and appear alongside the XG voices — there's no separate SFX toggle.
• Type toggles — VOICE (melodic voices), PERF (the 200 factory performances/combis), and USER (your saved content). Shift-click combines them; a plain click is exclusive.
• Family buttons — click a family (Piano, Organ, … plus Model Exclusive and Drums) to show only that group; click it again for “all”; shift-click to multi-select. Clicking a family also opens a nested picker (family → sub-family by program → voices, each with its MSB/LSB/PGM). Drums and Model Exclusive voices are reached this way — the Model Exclusive bank (MSB 48) is a set of ~100 experimental voices indexed by program number for MIDI addressing only, so they sit under their own family rather than being scattered through the instrument families.
• Search — type any part of a name, or a number query (msb=, lsb=, pc=, or an MSB/LSB/PC triplet).

The library holds 1,608 voices, 114 drum kits and 200 performances (1,922 in all).

Selecting a voice

Click a row to load that voice on the current part. An incoming MIDI program-change (with bank select) also selects the matching voice and scrolls the browser to it, clearing filters if needed so you can see what's playing.

6. Performances (combis)

A performance is a multi-part combi patch: up to four layers, each a voice over a key/velocity split with its own transpose, detune, level, pan and effect sends, all played by the same incoming MIDI. Performances are ideal for splits (bass left / piano right) and layers (piano + strings).

• Two factory banks of 100 each — Preset and Internal — plus a User bank, each with a category and a short description.
• Browse them with the PERF type filter; the USER filter isolates your own.
• Build and edit one in the PERFORMANCE tab: pick each layer's voice, set its note/velocity split, transpose, detune, level, pan and FX sends, then Save it to the User bank.

7. Working multitimbrally

MUXG2K is always 64-part multitimbral across four MIDI ports (A = parts 1–16, B = 17–32, C = 33–48, D = 49–64), like the MU2000 over USB. On each port, MIDI channel N plays that port's part N, whatever part the editor is showing. The part selector (1–64, four port pages) only changes:

• which part the parameter tabs edit, and
• which channel the on-screen keyboard and wheels send on.

So a General MIDI or XG file with drums on channel 10 and instruments across the other channels plays back correctly with no setup — select each part to tweak its voice, level, pan or effects. Songs that use several ports are handled automatically: a loaded Standard MIDI File routes each track to its port (A–D) from its MIDI-Port meta events or A…–D… track names, so parts such as drums on A10 and B10 stay separate.

8. Editing a part

Each parameter tab is a panel of value chips; click a chip to make it the target of the big master slider, then drag to set the value. Hover any chip for a plain-language description (with the MIDI CC it corresponds to) in the help bar. The main per-part tabs:

• Mixer — volume, pan, reverb / chorus / variation sends, and the Output bus (main mix vs a Part-N direct out).
• Filter — cutoff, resonance, HPF, and filter-envelope depth.
• Tune — coarse (semitone) and fine (cent) tuning.
• Part EQ — a 2-band shelving EQ (gain / frequency / Q).
• Vibrato — rate, depth, delay.
• Pitch Bend / Portamento — bend range and routing; portamento on/off and time.
• Limits — note and velocity ranges, mono/poly, same-note handling.
• Controllers — Mod Wheel, Aftertouch, Poly Touch, and two Assign controllers, each routable to pitch, filter, amplitude or modulation.
• Scale Tune — per-note microtuning in cents.
• Receive — which incoming MIDI message types this part responds to.
• Drum Setup — for a drum kit, per-drum-note pitch, level, pan, alternate group and effect sends (pick the note with the NOTE chip).

Global tabs: Effects (§10), Multi EQ (a master 5-band EQ with Flat/Jazz/Pops/Rock/Concert presets), and System (master volume, tune, transpose, plus Save/Load Synth).

Velocity response. Like the original hardware, voices react to how hard you play: velocity opens the filter, so soft notes sound mellower and harder notes brighter — tuned per voice from the real tone-generator behaviour. It's automatic (no control to set), and it's a good thing to A/B against an MU unit.

9. Envelopes

The envelope editors sit in the edit area, each drawn as points on a timeline that scrubs with the notes you play. Editors whose names start with i (“internal”) show the tone generator’s own baked-in behaviour and are read-only — they let you see what a voice does under the hood, alongside the parameters you can edit:

• AEG — amplitude envelope (attack / decay / release). Editable.
• PEG — the user pitch envelope (XG Pitch EG). Editable — bends the voice’s pitch over time; the dotted centre line means no change.
• iPEG — internal pitch envelope: the chip’s own per-voice factory pitch shape (many voices have a subtle scoop or drop baked in). Read-only; the tab appears only when the current voice has one.
• iPTG — internal pitch timeline: a view of the tone generator’s own built-in pitch modulation for the handful of SFX voices (Bird Tweet, Cicada, Random Walk…) that move their pitch internally. Read-only; the tab appears only when the current voice has one, so it doubles as a “this voice modulates pitch” indicator.
• iFEG — filter envelope, with a per-element view (iFEG1–iFEG4 for multi-element voices). Editable — draw your own cutoff curve in the held / release zones, or hit STOCK to revert.

Drag a point on an editable envelope (AEG / PEG / iFEG) to shape the sound; the change maps to the corresponding XG parameter. The read-only i views (iPEG / iPTG) are there for reference and A/B comparison against the original hardware.

10. Effects

MUXG2K carries the XG effect structure of the original hardware, in three blocks plus insertion effects:

• System Reverb (send, CC#91) — halls, rooms, stages, plate, and specials (white room, tunnel, canyon, basement…).
• System Chorus (send, CC#93) — choruses, celestes, flangers, symphonic, phaser, ensemble detune.
• Variation / Insertion (send, CC#94, or patched into one part) — a large catalogue (~110 types): delays and echoes, gated/early reflections, rotary speakers, distortion/overdrive/amp-sim and combo effects, auto/touch wah, EQs, enhancer, compressor, noise gate, multi-band comp, pitch change, ring modulator, slicer, isolator, lo-fi, turntable/scratch, talking modulation, ambience and more.

The reverb, chorus, variation and insertion effects run a hardware-matched engine modelled on the original's DSP and A/B-matched to it, so the effect types, parameters and send/return levels track the classic XG behaviour closely.

Editing an effect

Click a TYPE chip in the Effects tab to open its type list; clicking a type (or the current one) selects it and opens its parameter editor — reverb time, diffusion, initial delay, HPF/LPF, dry/wet, feedback, etc. The panel dims the editor; the keyboard stays playable underneath; click outside or press Escape to close. Routing chips (Return, To Reverb, To Chorus, Conn for system-vs-insertion, Part for the insertion target) control how each block is wired.

Audio input (A/D)

Like the MU-series hardware's A/D INPUT, MUXG2K can take an external stereo audio signal and run it through the tone generator's output stage and effects — process a guitar, vocal or any line source through the same reverb, chorus and variation effects as the synth parts. The A/D input is a paid-plug-in feature.

• In a DAW (VST3): MUXG2K provides a sidechain audio input — route any track or bus into it with your host's sidechain input selector (in Bitwig, the device's chain-input chooser; in Cubase/Nuendo, the plug-in's side-chain enable; in Pro Tools, the key-input menu).
• Standalone: pick the audio input in Audio Settings and un-tick Mute audio input.

Open the A/D INPUT tab to treat the input as a part: Volume, Dry Level (how much dry reaches the mix, independent of the sends — lower it to run fully wet), Pan, and Reverb / Chorus / Variation send levels. The sends start at 0 (dry) — raise them to route the audio through the effects; in Variation Insertion mode the input is passed through the insertion effect. Like the hardware's A/D part, the input feeds the main stereo mix (with its effects) rather than the individual part outputs. A/D settings are saved with your project and with whole-synth presets.

11. Saving & recall

• With your DAW project — the full state of all 64 parts, the system settings and the current performance is saved and restored with the host project automatically.
• Save / Load Synth — from the System tab, save the whole synth (all 64 parts + system) to a named preset file on disk, and load it back later. This is how you keep a setup in the Standalone (which otherwise starts fresh each launch).
• User performances — save the current combi to a named User slot; it then appears under the USER filter.
• RESET — sends XG System On, returning every part to XG/GM defaults.

12. MIDI reference

MUXG2K implements the XG MIDI set:

• Channels & ports — 16 per port across four MIDI ports (A = parts 1–16, B = 17–32, C = 33–48, D = 49–64), one part each.
• Program & bank — program-change with bank-select MSB/LSB (CC#0 / CC#32), committed on the program-change, as on the hardware.
• Continuous controllers — the XG sound-shaping set (brightness/cutoff #74, resonance #71, attack #73, decay #75, release #72, and others), volume #7, pan #10, expression #11, effect sends #91/#93/#94, portamento #5/#65/#84, and pedals (sustain #64, sostenuto #66, soft #67).
• RPN / NRPN — tuning, pitch-bend range and scale tuning.
• Channel & poly aftertouch, pitch bend, mod wheel.
• Per-part Receive switches — ignore chosen message types on a given part.
• Release velocity (Lift) — off by default; enable for controllers that send note-off velocity.

The on-screen keyboard and wheels generate the same MIDI on the selected part's channel.

Host automation

MUXG2K exposes the musical controls of all 64 parts (ports A–D) as automatable parameters, named P1 … P64 (the host labels carry each part's A/B/C/D port letter): Volume, Pan, Expression, Cutoff, Resonance, Reverb, Chorus, Variation, Mod, Attack, Decay, Release and Vibrato Rate / Depth / Delay, plus per-part Program and Bank MSB / LSB for full voice-select automation. The global Master Volume, Attenuator, Transpose and Tune, and every effect parameter, are automatable too. Automate them from the host like any plug-in parameter. They share the same path as the matching MIDI CC, so the last change wins (a later MIDI CC overrides automation and vice-versa), and moving one of the on-screen wheels writes to its parameter so it can be recorded.

For the complete list of every message, controller, RPN, NRPN and XG SysEx address MUXG2K responds to, see the MIDI implementation chart in Appendix A.

13. Troubleshooting & FAQ

No sound. MUXG2K only sounds while it receives MIDI and audio is flowing. In a DAW, arm/select the track and run the transport; confirm the part's channel matches your MIDI. If unlicensed, activate first — the engine is silent until then.

Only two channels of output. That's the main stereo mix. In the paid plug-in you can also use the per-part direct outs — assign parts to Part-N buses via Mixer → Output and route those buses in your host (§3). The free Standalone plays the main stereo mix.

A voice won't appear in the browser. Clear the search box and check the toggles: a melodic voice needs VOICE on and its bank enabled (GM/GM2/GS, or it's XG), and any selected family must match. Drum kits and Model Exclusive voices show only when their family button is selected; the GS(TG300B) drum kits also need the GS toggle on. RESET clears everything back to the default view.

Some XG SysEx from my sequence isn't taking effect. XG extends MIDI with System Exclusive (SysEx) messages to reach parameters beyond the standard controllers — many part, effect, drum-setup and system settings. On the original hardware you send that SysEx down the MIDI cable and it all applies. As a plug-in, whether your host forwards SysEx to an instrument — and how completely — depends on the host and the plug-in format, not on MUXG2K (which does read XG SysEx when the host delivers it). Practical guidance:

• General MIDI plays fine everywhere. Notes, Program Change, Bank Select (CC#0/#32) and the standard CCs (volume, pan, expression, brightness, reverb/chorus send, etc.) are passed through by virtually every host and format, so GM songs — and an external editor driving MUXG2K in its GM mode — work correctly.
• VST3 and AU don't carry Program Change or SysEx as MIDI. These formats deliver Program Change through the host's program selector (not a MIDI event), and most hosts don't forward SysEx to instruments at all. MUXG2K bridges Program Change so GM voice select still works in VST3/AU (applied to Part 1 / channel 1; add a Bank Select for GM/XG banks), but per-channel Program Change and real-time XG SysEx editing are not available. In practice an external Yamaha XG editor such as XGEdit will only work in its GM mode with the VST3/AU plug-in — its XG-specific SysEx never reaches MUXG2K.
• Some hosts strip SysEx entirely. Bitwig, for instance, removes all System Exclusive from the MIDI sent to a plug-in, so real-time XG SysEx control is impossible there in any plug-in format.
• Use CLAP (or the Standalone) for the fullest MIDI. The CLAP build passes Program Change and CCs as normal per-channel MIDI events, and the Standalone gives you complete control. Prefer these where your host supports them.
• You can always reach every parameter without SysEx. Set it directly in MUXG2K's UI, or automate it from the host (see Host automation) — neither path depends on the host forwarding SysEx.

Standalone forgot my setup. The Standalone starts fresh each launch — use Save Synth to keep a setup.

Which build am I running? The build id is shown in the corner of the window (e.g. v1.0.0b (3)). Include it in any support report.

14. Support & feedback

MUXG2K is developed by demix.me.

• Product page and downloads: demix.me/muxg2k
• Support, known issues and changelog: demix.me/muxg2k/support
• Privacy policy: demix.me/privacy
• Email: support@demix.me

When reporting an issue, include the build id from the corner of the window so we know exactly which binary you're running.

15. About

MUXG2K is an independent, XG-compatible tone generator, made for interoperability and preservation. Yamaha, XG, MU1000 and MU2000 are trademarks of Yamaha Corporation, used here only to describe format compatibility; demix.me is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Yamaha.

Appendix A — MIDI implementation chart

MUXG2K is 64-part multitimbral over four MIDI ports: on each port, MIDI channel N plays that port's part N (A = parts 1–16, B = 17–32, C = 33–48, D = 49–64). Everything below is what the engine actually responds to. All values default to 64 = no offset for the sound-shaping CCs, and every message type can be enabled or disabled per part via the Receive switches (see the last table).

Channel voice messages

Control Change

RPN

NRPN

Sound-shaping (MSB 01): vibrato rate/depth/delay, filter cutoff & resonance, HPF cutoff, EQ bass/treble gain & frequency, EG attack/decay/release — the same targets as CC#71–78.

Drum (MSB 14–1F, LSB = drum note): per-note filter cutoff/resonance, attack/decay, pitch coarse/fine, level, pan, and reverb/chorus/variation send.

SysEx

Per-part Receive switches

Each part can individually enable or disable receipt of: Note, Pitch Bend, Channel Aftertouch, Poly Aftertouch, Program Change, Control Change (master), Bank Select, RPN, NRPN, Modulation, Volume, Pan, Expression, Hold 1, Portamento, Sostenuto, Soft Pedal. A message whose switch is off is ignored for that part.

Known issues & changelog

Current known issues and recent fixes for MUXG2K, updated as development progresses.