Yamaha XF: Sections, Chords & Lyrics
Yamaha's XF format quietly extends Standard MIDI Files with extra information used by arranger keyboards: song sections (intro, main, fill, ending), chord symbols, the song words, and the song's own title and credits. PXR reads all of it. The sections and chords get click-to-seek timelines, so you can see the shape of a song at a glance.
These windows come into their own with files made on or for Yamaha arranger keyboards. If a file carries no XF data, the windows simply show an empty state, which is nothing to worry about.
Note
For these files, the main player's KEY/CHORD strip also turns into live arranger Style buttons (STY) that light up with the current section. See the Visualiser.
XF Section Timeline#
Open it from Display → XF Sections.
- Each section appears as a coloured block, sized by how long it lasts: green for intros, blue for mains, orange for fills, red for endings, and grey for others.
- Click a block to jump to that section.
- A playhead tracks your current position, and bar numbers line up with the transport.
- A list below shows every section with its bar range.
XF Chords Timeline#
Open it from Display → XF Chords.
- Each chord in the song appears as a chip at its bar position (for example "Cmaj7", "F#m").
- Click a chip to jump to that point.
- A list below shows all the chords and where they fall.
The two timelines cross-link to each other, so you can flip between sections and chords easily.
XF Karaoke Lyrics#
XF files very often carry the song words too, timed syllable by syllable, and in Japanese as readily as in English. They open in the ordinary Lyrics window (⌘L) alongside every other kind of karaoke file, and where the file says who sings which line, each singer gets their own colour.
Song information#
An XF file can name the song properly, rather than leaving you with a filename. Where the file carries them, PXR shows:
- The song title, composer, lyricist, arranger and performer, plus who sequenced it.
- The date it was released, its country, its genre, its beat, and the kind of vocal it has (female solo, male solo, female and male, a chorus, or instrumental).
The title and performer appear in the player and the playlist in place of the filename, and the full list is in File Info under XF FORMAT.
Related pages#
- Lyrics & Karaoke for the words these files carry.
- File Info & Cover Art shows XF counts and song information for the loaded file.
- Tempo Graph for the file's tempo changes.