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Subject:Soundcards that use soundfonts
Posted by: knowbody
Date:1/14/2003 7:46:34 PM
It's pretty clear that the general opinion here is to avoid Creative Cards. One reason I originally got an Audigy card was to be able to use Soundfonts which I have a lot of. Can anyone recommend an alternative card that allows soundfonts to be used? I'm in the $150-$300 range or there abouts. Thanks, Chris (Hunt) |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards that use soundfonts
Reply by: knowbody
Date:1/17/2003 2:05:48 AM
Well, here I am again replying to my own post in the hope that some others will follow suit. Last time I got a lot of very good replies that have helped somewhat with my Creative Audigy, Windows XP Acid issues. I may even be able to get the combination working properley but I'd still be interested to know about other soundcard alternatives that allow me to utilize soundfonts. Thanks Chris |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards that use soundfonts
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:1/17/2003 10:59:24 PM
There's a list here. (It's not big though.) HTH, Iacobus |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards use soundfonts/audigy 2 q back at ya
Reply by: Bodica
Date:1/18/2003 4:33:09 AM
Try SF PLayers or extract them in a wav editor like image-line(fruityloops people have ezeditor and sf players for a fee) and k-v-r has an sf player( vsti, i think) for free, tho havent tried it yet ... hope that helps and ... maybe you know an audigy 2 question I have here as new w/the card(used sbl value afore that) and cant find the s/w synth "sounds" tho have the ports(in some apps anyway, others no port for it ?) but no list of sounds( blank) when try calling bank up ? |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards use soundfonts/audigy 2 q back at ya
Reply by: knowbody
Date:1/18/2003 5:35:51 AM
Thanks, Bodica> I have Ezeditor and the Fruity Soundfont Player. Can I use the SF player with any soundcard. I can extract all the wav files from the SoundFonts but then I won't be using them with Midi. I'm not sure what your question about the Audigy 2 means. In Acid under Options -Preferences theres the Midi tab which lists all the midi devices. I think you can make these available by checking them and then assigning the snyth to a midi track. I can't check this right now because I've just found Acid is crashing when I try to install a midi track. I wonder if that's DirectX9 causing this - or another problem. It was working fine before. Ouch! Chris |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards use soundfonts/audigy 2 q back at ya
Reply by: rjt
Date:1/18/2003 7:57:07 AM
Another option which works well if you want to get into the "higher end" sound cards and can really take sound cards out of the pic is http://www.livesynth.com/ It costs, but allows you to play SFs with any sound card. Take Care |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards use soundfonts/audigy 2 q back at ya
Reply by: IanF
Date:1/18/2003 11:37:47 AM
You can use the fruity SF Player to play SFs, It doesnt matter if the soundcard you use supports them or not. I use the Fruity SF Player and an M Audio card which is purely audio. Ian f |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards use soundfonts/audigy 2 q back at ya
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:1/18/2003 1:11:29 PM
I remember a free VSTi that was in a recent issue of Computer Music that had Soundfont support. (I think it was Crystal 2.) Iacobus |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards use soundfonts/audigy 2 q back at ya
Reply by: dkistner
Date:1/18/2003 5:25:21 PM
Iacobus, I think you might be thinking of the DS-404. It's a sampler that allows you to load soundfonts into it. There are some reviews of it at kvr. Then of course there are things like Kontakt...I'm hoping the street price for their new Kompakt (seems to be a Kontakt Lite) is going to drop quickly after NAMM. I've had my hands on Kontakt, and it works nicely with soundfonts and the Echo Mia. Crystal 2 can load soundfonts, but it doesn't load everything. I think Geniesys' new OPT SF2 plugin may load soundfonts as well without depending on a soundfont-compatible card, but I haven't played with mine enough yet to know. Maybe Alex will chime in. Diane P.S. Where did I get the impression DS-404 can load soundfonts? Everything I'm looking at online does not seem to say that, but I swear I read it in one of the mags I've got. Anyway, it's free if you want to try it. You just have to find a copy of Computer Magazine somewhere. I have varying success with Barnes & Noble. |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards use soundfonts/audigy 2 q back at ya
Reply by: IanF
Date:1/19/2003 5:43:40 AM
Crystal 2 does load Sound Fonts but it isnt an SF Player. I thinl it uses the SF as sort of basic wavefrom for the basis of the sound it creates (which will sound nothing like the original Sound Font) The DS404 doesnt load Sound Fonts either. I guess yopu could extract the wav files from the Sound Font and rebuild them into DS404 files. Not a job I would care to take on, all that business of finding loop points.....shudder Ian F |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards use soundfonts/audigy 2 q back at ya
Reply by: dkistner
Date:1/19/2003 1:08:00 PM
Ian, anybody, what's the cheapest best soundfont player out there? |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards use soundfonts/audigy 2 q back at ya
Reply by: IanF
Date:1/19/2003 2:19:25 PM
Probably the best value for money is V Sampler from Speedsoft. I think its about 50 GBP so 70 ish USD. It does Sound Fonts and a load of other formats as well. In fact it does pretty much what Halion does at a fraction of the cost. I had the demo and was going to buy it but I got SampleTank and Sonic Synth which made sound fonts a bit redundant. There could be other cheaper alternatives but none that I know of Ian f |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards use soundfonts/audigy 2 q back at ya
Reply by: knowbody
Date:1/22/2003 4:33:00 AM
Thanks for the information, Ian. So V sampler will handle soundfonts regardless of the soundcard being used? Chris |
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Subject:RE: Soundcards use soundfonts/audigy 2 q back at ya
Reply by: dkistner
Date:1/22/2003 8:44:18 AM
Thanks, Ian. I got SampleTank XL myself. I'm embroiled right now in trying to find an efficient/reliable way to get midi files out of my scoring program and into a VSTi host, so I haven't been able to play with SampleTank as much as I'd like yet. I'm going to be saving up for a long time, but I'm thinking of going to Cubase SX in hopes that its scoring capabilities are sophisticated enough that I can do everything I need to do within Cubase. Are any composers in here wringing Cubase SX's scoring program to the nth degree? Any opinions? I'm going to go this route only if its scoring capabilities are top-notch. Diane |