Another thing I should add is that the Yamaha XG Wavetable often has something like 480 voices whereas sYnerGi GS has something like 200 plus voices. Now if your style calls up a voice in a bank and program number with nothing in it it will take the best guess instrument from those available. So again you may have to go in and make some changes in the styles or add the appropriate insturments in sYnerGi GS or any wavetable of your choice.

In my case, I like playing country styles so I had to add Pedal Steel, and other instruments. It took me a few hours of work to search the internet and my files and add good quality instruments to cover this genre of music.

So, yes it is an investment in time and money but it is worth it!!!!

Hi Frank,
it's really bizzare. The XG sound bank is bank 127. Some of the GM kits are mixed up with the Bank 0 sounds and some are in Bank128 .
Anyway I managed to get them all sorted and saved them into a new soundfont.
All well and good. Then I happened to notice, my 24mb GM soundfont had grown to 132mbs. My laptop doesn't appear to work properly with the Alive software. The 44mb gs font, when copied to a new font , grew to 312mbs. I then did exactly the same thing ie copied the gmfonts to a new soundfont, but I did it in my desktop computer instead and it worked perfectly. Problem is I need it to work in my laptop not the desktop.
I may need to forget about the fonts in the laptop and eventually I'll get to use them in the desktop.
Frank, I wasn't expecting the fonts to sound the same as my xg sounds. I'm not good with drums ( balancing the drum sounds in a track) , and I thought if I can match volumes of individual drums to my xg drums it might make it easier.

I don't regret having gotten involved with the soundfonts, it's been an interesting learning experience. Unfortunately as far as my laptop's concerned, I won't be able to do create my own fonts etc. When we move and I get hold of the desktop , I'll be able to get more involved again with the fonts.

May do a bit more fiddling round with Hypercanvas and see if that works better in my laptop. I noticed I can do a certain amount of editing of sounds.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Frank L. Rosenthal:
[

Rikki, I would have to take a look at your setup to know exactly what is going on with your drums. Could be that in Bank 0 you are seeing certain standalone drum instruments in the upper program numbers? If it is this could be ok. You can check this in your GM wavetable mapping. So you still could be ok. The drums your styles will be looking for are the ones in Bank 127 - XG Drums.

Rikki, take another look at some my comments of today. There may things that trigger an approach that my solve your problems. Using Soundfaction Alive in your laptop should not be a problem. I don't know why the wavetable size increased. You might try the optimizing feature in Alive to minimize the number of times the same wave is saved. I think there is a feature that if all your drumkits use the same Hi-hats that it will only save the wave file once - but you have to tell the software to do that. It might be called cleanup under the file tab.

Also you may have to run LiveSynth Pro with forte and call up Alive from it. I think Alive needs some sound source for monitoring the sounds. This is not need when you have a compatible soundcard, e.g., Audigy.

In addition, you can change the velocity of the various drum instruments using Alive. You can use M. Bedesem's StyleUpdater to change the velocity levels between the various instruments within a style.

Rikki something should work!!!

Rikki, if you can do most things in your desktop/regular computer then you are set. You would do all your editing there and then transfer the edited files via RW CDROM to you laptop. What's wrong with that. You can keep using your laptop to make music and your other computer for editing.

In fact, I do no editing on my dedicated music computer. All the editing (with some blue screens) on my general purpose computer. It keeps the music computer prestine.

I just saw this being addvertised with Sonar 4.0. I will be acquiring this update shortly.

TTS-1 multitimbral, multi-out GM2 synthesizer with authentic Roland® sounds

This might turn out to be a good softsynth alternative. I will let you know.

Hi Frank,
they downloaded that way, ie in the gs font, bank 0 I only had 111 out of 128 instruments, the rest I found in bank128 the gm drum bank.
Actually I could re-sort them all again ( in the desktop ) and copy the it to the laptop.

I just tried the cleanup function, and it did reduce it back down from 132mb to 30mb.
Now I'll have to check and see if it's all working.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Frank L. Rosenthal:

Rikki, the sYnerGi 200 should have about 200 voices and the SYnerGi GS should have more. There could have been a problem with your download or your installation after the download. This could cause you significant problems if there are instruments missing or located in the wrong Bank & Program Change Numbers.

I had no such problems - lucky me!!!

Hi Frank,
looks a bit like a Hypercanvas. ( Sonar synth)

After doing some more testing, I ended up ordering a Hypercanvas yesterday through PG Music. Saved a fortune compared to the price I was quoted here in Australia , so I'm really happy about it.

I'm Hypercanvas as my main synth for the styles themselves. Personally I need something that I won't be tempted to fiddle round with too much, ie with soundfonts, the temptation is always there to keep ugprading the fonts, which could also mean having to tweak the styles each time I upgrade an instrument, and I'd never get anything finished ( I'm a compulsive fiddler, haahaa) .

Like Michael ( Quasar ) I'll use some soundfonts, but more so in midifiles ie if I record a backing track using a style, use the fonts to add additional tracks.

Haven't thought too much about what to use for a main melody. I'm still happy playing piano with a midifile or arranger style for backing.

Feel like I'm on track again. (haahaa)

best wishes
Rikki

Hi Michael,
I think we're talking about 2 different programs. The one I was referring to is Soundfaction Alive. The one you've got "Live" came with your Audiophile??

I've got an Audiophile also, but haven't used it as I've decided to swap it for a controller type soundcard ( kill 2 birds with 1 stone). I only want the controller for portability ( they're only 2 to 3 octaves)so easy to take with me on trips, plus at home I can use it as a soundcard.
I mainly use my piano as my controller for use with OMB.

I think I've got "live" software also, but I haven't tried loading it just in case it needs to be registered.

best wishes
Rikki

Vquestor, I can't get any sounds from the SynthFont. I have to do more help reading to get this to work. I did notice though when this synth means GM it includes only 1 track for drums (channel 9). This means you have to do all the things I have already pointed out plus combine all the style drum tracks to channel 9. This is not difficult but you must do it to play drums instead of piano or other sounds. Other samplers are similar, e.g., VSampler, sfz+, etc. In other words if your style calls up a drumkit in channel 10 it will likely play a piano instead. So there it is. It can all be made to work - it is boring stuff - but the results can be exciting.

Once I get this thing to work I will let you know my findings.

[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 09-29-2004).]