Hi

OK so I hear a bit about soundfonts. I guess they are supposed to be better in sound than a VST. Also more expensive it sounds.

What do I need to try soundfonts. It seems to me I heard there are some good free soundfounds on the internet. Where might I find those and what might the good ones be.

I use a studio quality Mia 24/96 sound card. What do I need to put these soundfonts in? Do I need an Audigy soundcard, or is there something else, hopefully free, that will work with my sound card?

Thanks for the help from someone who hasn't a clue how this all works yet.

Scott

Hi Scott

I had an Audigy, but it quit after a year. There are other solutions like:

SFZ to host the soundfonts http://www.rgcaudio.com/sfz.htm
and SGM180, a good GM sampleset> http://www.geocities.jp/shansoundfont/soundfont.html

Both are free. You download SFZ, and click on the blank space on upper right. You then go to unzipped SGM 180 and import the icon with the v1.5 40 MG fonts.

Synthfont is more elaborate, and also free, but a donation is requested. http://www.synthfont.com/

Many individual sites are also available for free fonts: http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/008711.html

Bernie

Here is another site of free soundfonts: http://www.hammersound.net/

The best way to use OMB or Live - Styler is to use VST Host software as indicated in above noted posts:

Install and Load OMB or LS
Install & Load Host software (forte, console, etc.)
Load VST (sfz, synthfont, etc.)
Load soundfonts within the VST.
Connect OMB or LS to host via Midi Yoke or Maple virtual cables).
Setup the midi ports & channels for Style and lead voices.
Connect your controller keyboard via soundcard to Host.
Load style in OMB & LS and play

As always thanx for all the info from everybody.

Bernie9: I am trying to get SFZ and SGM180 to work but am getting these messages:

"Current sample rate is unsupported by selected ASIO hardware. Sample rate changed to 48000 Hz"

I am using my studio quality Mia 24/96 sound card by Echo Audio. I also have ASIO4all, I believe it's called, but it seemed when trying Hypercanvas with Live Styler that it sounded better with the Mia. I wonder if I need to change some setting on the Mia. If so, I am not sure which one or to what.

"There's no enough memory to load the selected SoundFont."

I see the SGM180 is 78.9MB. And while I just discovered my 80GB HD has become about filled in a year and a half it shows Free Space: 2.26GB, Total Size: 74.5GB.

Any ideas why I am getting not enough memory to load message while it's only 78.9MB and I've got 2.26GB Free Space?

Since I discovered the HD is so full I am planning on emptying it out onto CD-R's, but currently I see my old CD burner went kaput.

Thanx
Scott

I have also tried ASIO4all thinking this might make some kind of difference but get an error message saying that things have to close.

Hi Scott,
I use the following 2 options
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum43/HTML/000003.html

If you just want to hear how a midifile sounds using soundfonts, try synthfont midifile player. From memory, all you need is synthfont, a gm soundfont and a gm midifile to try it with.
http://www.synthfont.com/

best wishes
Rikki

Thanx for the info Rikki. I want to try all this kind of stuff out to see what it's all about and see what it's like. I have a suspision that this could be the real future of arrangers.

Actually, I wouldn't even mind buying a set up that someone has done on a laptop, but I don't see that happening anywhere and I actually wonder why. It's probably better for me though in the long run to have complete control over my SL version soft arranger.

Best
Scott


[This message has been edited by Scott Langholff (edited 07-28-2006).]

You probably already know this but for those that don't http://www.synthzone.com has a list of Soundfont resources at http://www.synthzone.com/soundfont.htm

Hi Scott
It appears you are confusing hard drive capacity with RAM memory. A average PC might have an 80GB HD, and 128 or 256 MB of RAM (memory).

It is the latter, that is the problem. To run samples, you need a minimum of 512MB of RAM . You could get by with 256 with sounfonts that are not too large. Memory is cheap these days. Get as much as your machine will hold if you want to get into sampled instruments eg.

Your hard drive is nearing capacity, but won't interfere with you loading soundfonts.

Go into control panel\system and see how much memory of RAM you have. I can't run SGM180 on my PC with 352MB RAM. I have to go to my Receptor with more RAM.

Bernie

Nigel, you sure are on the ball. What a great site you have here!

Interesting, I tried the synthfont midifile player. I used the SYTHGMS and the SGM180. They both sounded about the same, although I had to watch the volume as it was about 4 AM

Am now wondering why the SGM180 would work with this program and not the other.

My motto always was, computers are great, as long as they're working. 'Course there's this possibility of user error (with some people)haha.

Yes.
Starkeeper

So, all midi files must not be created equally. I listened to SynthFont with the 2 demo songs. They sound pretty good for synth stuff.

I thought I'd try other midi files I have. None of the others work. "Nothing to play" is the error message I keep getting.

Can someone explain this to me please? I suppose there is some program that will convert one form to another?

Maybe learning Greek would be easier?

Hi Scott,
I haven't used synthfont recently. I'll download it and have a look at it.

You mentioned SGM180 & the other font sounded the same?? I'm wondering if there's something strange with your setting & that you're actually hearing the same font both times.

Happened to me originally, I couldn't hear a difference between any of my fonts & I think I may have actually been listening to the default soundset that came with the computer.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scott Langholff:
[B]

Hi Scott,
I haven't used synthfont recently. I'll download it and have a look at it.

You mentioned SGM180 & the other font sounded the same?? I'm wondering if there's something strange with your setting & that you're actually hearing the same font both times.

Happened to me originally, I couldn't hear a difference between any of my fonts & I think I may have actually been listening to the default soundset that came with the computer.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scott Langholff:
[B]

Hi Scott,
I downloaded synthfont. The 2 Demo songs actually have a soundfont especially created for each of the songs. I don't think you actually heard them with sgm180?

There may be a simpler way of listening to your own midifiles, but I did get this to work.

Load your midifile.
Press the "Four Tracks " icon near top left hand corner.
Your midi tracks should all be visible.
Individually Right Click all the tracks under the" File" icon
You get a drop down menu " Assign soundfont file" left click
Locate your soundfont & press open.

You just assign sgm180 to each of the tracks.

You could probably mix n match soundfonts.
Your midi program changes should actually be part of your midifile. Appears you can actually do a fair bit of editing.

best wishes
Rikki

Hi Rikki

I took a look and loaded a Tune 1000 song, and I did press 4 Tracks and nothing happened again. So I closed the program and loaded another Tune 1000 song. I noticed that under File it says everything is sgm180.

But nothing happens. It says "Nothing to play"

And I don't see it load the song like as in the 2 included demo songs.

Any ideas what I might do next?

Hi Scott,
I just tried it with one of mine, works perfectly.
File ( top left)
Open Midi/Arrangement( top ofthe list)
4 ( tracks "icon")
and the tracks all showed up.

Not sure what's wrong with yours.

best wishes
rikki

I emailed Synthfont this thread with hopes I can get this to work.

Scott
I had the same problem, wrote in, and he didn't have a clue, except he said that it might be the midi. I knew it wasn't the midi, so tried a different sampleset. It is working now. Not sure if that was the reason though.
Bernie

Hi Scott,
after you load your midifile in press the
"view" button ( top left) and tick
"expert".
This will give you some extra options for veiwing your midifile.
1. Files
2. Piano Roll (gives you a piano roll editor)
3. Events ( Gives you an event list of your midifile)
4. Tracks ( shows up the tracks that make up the midifile).

Hopefully these will show if your midifile has actually loaded into synthfont.
Try his demo again also.

If your midifile has loaded and you can't hear anything, make sure you've loaded your soundfont & that the "Speakers" icon at the top is depressed.

Just try a few different midifiles, mine are Tune 1000 & working.

best wishes
Rikki


[QUOTE]Originally posted by rikkisbears:
[B]

Hi Rikki

All that stuff is on. I didn't register. I wanted to test it out. I wonder if I need to do that first whether I donate or not.

No, it is fully functional.
Bernie

Notta. Guess I'll try downloading again.

Well, I deleted Synthfont and some other programs I've downloaded recently, and what do you suppose. After fiddlin' I got Synthfont to work using their Synthgm voices. A major accomplishment. I try to switch to the sgm180 and same old error "Nothing to play"

So can someone tell me how to switch from one set of soundfonts to the other. I've been just changing the default player and that will change what's listed under file name but, one set sounds and the other, nothin'.

I am wondering if it makes a difference where the sgm180 is downloaded to, if there is a certain way to associate it with SF.

I would be interested in hearing the sgm180 because the synthgm is a bit thin I'd say.

Now maybe I should delete all the OMB stuff and start from scatch. I did have something come up before, an error that said something about midfi feedback..blah, blah. If I remember correctly I read someplace that could crash my computer if the safety device didn't catch it.

Everything under File now says sgm180 and no sound. I right clicked and brought in one synthgm voice and it alone worked. You know, there is a lot to be said about plug and play

Frank,

I wanted to thank you for this info, but it doesn't sink in for me. My wife who is good at computer related things won't even look at the soft arranger stuff anymore and told me I ought to chuck it.

I'd rather try it a bit though and see if there is a future for me.

I wonder if someone could possibly walk me through setting up OMB with the free stuff listed on Jos's site or something like that. I would really like to try OMB with Hypercanvas and also soundfonts.

If there is something in OMB help file or directions that would be better than the tutorial I'd be happy to look it up myself and try again. But right now there are too many new terms etc that strikes me like the cartoon about what a dog hears when it's master is talking...."blah, blah, blah, Rover, blah, blah, blah,Rover, blah, blah."haha

I think I will delete all the OMB associated stuff I have downloaded and start over. I obviously have something set wrong if it's giving me a midi feedback error and I understand I can crash the computer with that.

Well, that's where I'm at. If anyone has suggestions I'm all ears. Thanx for the patience to listen to this



[This message has been edited by Scott Langholff (edited 08-01-2006).]

I have thought this over. I believe if I am having this much difficulty with my background not to mention my wifes background teaching, selling and playing concerts on home organs,then I believe I need to suggest to those that are producing soft arrangers should have an easy quick start where a person with less knowledge than my wife and I could follow each step of a step by step process.

If there is a step by step approach with either OMB or LS I missed it. If someone can point that out, fine. Otherwise I feel I need to advise those that are making these programs to have a quick start for our benefit as well as theirs, because I can gaurantee they are now selling about 1/10 of what they could be as it stands.

I feel the problem is the techs don't know how to relate to a lay person.

So I will contact those that hopefully can/will do this for all interested in this.

Scott
I am wondering if SGM180 was fully loaded. As with me, Synthfont worked with a lighter set. Did you get anymore RAM memory ? I have ordered more memory for my PC. If SGM180 works then, I'll let you know.

Hi Bernie

I was wondering that also. My wife built this computer and I know it's a very fast souped up job. I will ask her but I am quite certain she built this for me so I could do studio quality recording so I am quite sure that it is more than adequate.

That is one reason we don't have an Audigy sound card. Unless something has changed very, very recently, although they made it sound like it did, but they did not record at 24/96. I believe some editing was possible at that rate, but not recording. This led to a lawsuit over faulty advertising. I use a studio quality sound card by Echo Audio, the Mia 24/96.

Anyway, I'm just trying to take some steps so I have some kind of success with this,this time, or I will probably dump it and never return, which I really don't want to do.

Think I'll count backwards from 10 to 1 now

I am in the same boat, this is all new to me. It can get to you if you let it. I take the pro's advice, and go a step at a time. When you have had it, let it rest. The only problem is I hate to give up and admit defeat.

I am trying to learn my Receptor, B4, Kontakt2, Colossus, while trying to learn how to program a controller. This is in addition to getting a good sounding GM soundset in either SFZ or Synthfont.

By your earlier post, it sounded like you were low on memory. I bought 512MB for $60, to add to my 256MB. We'll see today if that was the problem.

Bernie

Hi Bernie,
if you only had 256mb , sgm180 probably wouldn't have worked.

SGM180 is a 180mb soundfont. I was able to run it on my 512mb laptop

Meanwhile , why don't you try downloading sgm128 it's 128mb.
http://www.sf2midi.com/index.php?searchword=sgm128&filetype=sf2&typesearch=files&page=search&submitButtonName=Go%21+%3E%3E

best wishes
Rikki

By your earlier post, it sounded like you were low on memory. I bought 512MB for $60, to add to my 256MB. We'll see today if that was the problem.

Bernie[/B][/QUOTE]

Turns out we have 256mb ram. So that's the thing. Well, my wife built it fast, but so far we haven't needed more ram. That's easy enough to solve. I think I'll wait and see how Bernie makes out

Hi Bernie

That's good advice and not only that, it's exactly what I decided to do this time around before I started. I guess we are used to everything from instant coffee to instant arranger keyboard. So, if it takes awhile we know what can happen. Sorry, I guess I was just venting at the moment.

Hi Scott,
why don't you also try the sgm128, I think it should load ok into the 256 mb ram.

My new laptop has 2 gigs so I don't really have too many problems loading large fonts.

Actually just dawned on me that my 2 gigs may be the reason why I'm able to load multiple large soundfonts into synthfont.

Get back to you.

Hi Bernie & Scott,
I just tried loading a 600mb font into a 512mb desktop, I got " Not Found".

I did the following.
Loaded midifile.
Pressed ( 4 ) Tracks icon so that my midi tracks would be visible.
Right Clicked the track under the " file" heading ( where it shows which soundfont you're using (synthgms)
In the dropdown menu I chose f3 "assign soundfont file"
I located my soundfont, I loaded & got a message" not found" . I then Right Clicked the track under the " sf2 preset" heading ( where it shows which instrument in the soundfont you're using )
In the dropdown menu I chose f4 "assign preset"
I chose the instrument I wanted to load.

I then had to do this with each individual track.

Cumbersome, but it may be a way of trying the sgm180 font without the extra memory.

best wishes
Rikki

[This message has been edited by rikkisbears (edited 08-01-2006).]

Hi ,
well there goes that theory. Now I'm totally confused.
I just managed to load/use?? 6 different soundfont banks, one for each instrument ( on the 512mb desktop) . Synthfont must work differently. I had sgm 180 for bass, sgm128 piano etc etc.


Is it possible your font is corrupt
sgm180 = 179,306 kb

Try downloading a different soundfont.

best wishes
Rikki

Hi ,
I'm thinking maybe this font was somehow faulty, though I was able to load the presets individually.

best wishes
rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by rikkisbears:
[B]Hi Bernie & Scott,
I just tried loading a 600mb font into a 512mb desktop, I got " Not Found".

Rikki
I think you are right about the SGM180. I tried it again with Synthfont and 768MB RAM. It gave me an error message about the tracks. I load Phoenix, no problem. I am going to try SGM128.

BTW I tried SGM180 with SFZ, and got the same response, that I didn't have enough memory, hogwash! I wonder about the memory allocation. I have forgotten how to do that.

There was no question that I needed more memory to handle decent fonts.
Scott
You probably have two sticks of 128 in your PC. If you don't get enough memory, you will be wasting money, if there but two slots, something has to be discarded. I chose to discard 0ne 128, and substitute a 512, giving me the 512 and a 256. But this isn't my main computer. The decision on memory depends on what you intend to run. Software apps are memory hogs. On a main software computer, you should have between 1 and 2GB. You could get a 512 for awhile and see. That is the minimum I would go.

Bernie, Rikki & Scott, I have no trouble using SGM180 or SGM128 on my Music Computer. I have 2GB of memory. When it comes to music the more the better!!! From an Auto Accompaniment perspective both the SGM180 & SGM128 sound fairly good. As you know I plan on staying with Bandstand which is a much larger wavetable but it uses disk streaming to reduce the amount of memory required.

Hi Bernie,
maybe even try downloading sgm180 again. I've had the odd occasion where a font is corrupt thru downloading process. You can't really tell till you try & use it or put it into a soundfont editor

my sgm180 does work. The size should be
sgm180 = 179,306 kb, if yours is a different size , then I'm guessing something has gone wrong in the download.

I should clarify the one I couldn't load was a papalmedia , so I've downloaded it again. I think it was faulty.

Your 768mb ram should be more than enough for synthfont & sfz.

On my old 512mb dell laptop
using forte & livesynth pro
I was able to load a font 280 to 300mb.
Same computor using an audigy usb soundcard to load the fonts ( instead of forte/livesynth pro)
The largest font I could load was about 200mb.

I tried hubby's 512mb compaq yesterday with Synthfont.
I had a different soundfont bank on everytrack ie sgm 180, sgm128, provitamin, synergi.
I'm guessing Synthfont only loads the preset used in each track ( be it piano, bass drums etc)
No way could it have loaded all the above full banks ( which add up to about 600mb,) into a 512mb computer.

The extra ram always comes in handy. My 512mb was barely enough.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bernie9:
[B]Rikki
I think you are right about the SGM180. I tried it again with Synthfont and 768MB RAM. It gave me an error message about the tracks. I load Phoenix, no problem. I am going to try SGM128.

BTW I tried SGM180 with SFZ, and got the same response, that I didn't have enough memory, hogwash! I wonder about the memory allocation. I have forgotten how to do that.

There was no question that I needed more memory to handle decent fonts.

Rikki

I downloaded SGM128, and it was compressed into sfpak, which I read was out of business. I found this site: http://www.members.shaw.ca/glitch/sffiles.html

I downloaded Jordi JN, which is smaller,but works fine with Synfont.

Hi Bernie,
I may have a copy, If you want it
email rikkisbears@hotmail.com