Free SoundFont General MIDI sample bank (Arachno SoundFont), software, music and MIDI arrangements, online games and file downloads on Arachnosoft, Maxime Abbey's website Download Arachno SoundFont 1.0 (SF2 Version) for free on Arachnosoft - Maxime Abbey's Website File Download Center. @TheUltimateDoomer666What do you think about Merlin soundfonts? I used commercial Merlin Vienna 100MB (downloaded from Tim Brechbill's Timidity site) before GUGS and it didn't play few instruments on some tracks. Now i downloaded free Merlin GMv32 (34MB) and i haven't noticed any issue, it even sounds better on some tracks than Merlin Vienna.
Hints1- To support this free site, the development and the delivery of the Merlin soundfonts, we ask for donations (1cr=1us$).2- You can acquire credits donating or uploading new instruments. 3- With credits you can download the Merlin Pro soundfont banks. If you have credits at Music Contest, you can download the Merlin soundfonts there and be part of the best free artist web music community !GoNet Web Design and Cool LinksForgot password? New userFree soundfonts download Merlin GM v32 v3.2 - 35M3 bytes - free Merlin Creative v4.15 - 23M8 bytes - free Merlin Silver v4.10 - 11M5 bytes - free Instrument soundfonts Several other General Midi soundfont banksMerlin Pro GM soundfont banksMerlin Symphony v1.21 - 171M bytes - 50 credits Merlin Vienna v3.20 - 90M2 bytes - 25 credits Merlin Orchestra v1.40 - 70M8 bytes - 20 credits Merlin Grand v5.37 - 61M4 bytes - 15 credits Merlin Special 2.05 - 57M5 bytes - 10 credits Merlin GMPro v3.15 - 48M9 bytes - 8 credits Merlin Audigy v1.14 - 38M8 bytes - 4 credits Merlin Gold v4.10 - 38M8 bytes - 2 creditsSoundfont is a brand name that collectively refers to a file format and associated technology designed to bridge the gap between recorded and synthesized audio, especially for the purposes of computer music composition. Soundfont is also a registered trademark of E-mu Systems, Inc., and the exclusive license for re-formatting and managing historical Soundfont content has been acquired by Digital Sound Factory.Soundfont technology is akin to software sampling. A Soundfont file, or Soundfont 'bank', contains one or more sampled audio waveforms (or 'samples'), which can be re-synthesized at different pitches and dynamic levels. Each sampled waveform may be associated with one or more ranges of pitches and dynamics. Generally speaking, the quality of a Soundfont bank is a function of the quality of the digital samples and the intelligent association of samples with their appropriate pitch ranges. Quality is also dependent on the number of samples taken for a given range of pitches.Soundfont banks are tightly integrated with MIDI devices and can be seamlessly used in place of General MIDI (GM) patches in many computer music sequencers and players. The quality of Soundfont banks is generally regarded as superior to standard GM banks and many Soundfont banks have been created specifically to replace GM banks with samples of each corresponding musical instrument.Soundfont CategoriesBanks: collections of instruments and / or drumsetsPianos: acoustic piano, bright piano, electric piano, honky-tonk piano, rhodes piano, chorused piano, harpsichord, clavinetChromatic percussions: celesta, glockenspiel, music box, vibraphone, marimba, xylophone, tubular bells, dulcimerOrgans: hammond organ, percussive organ, rock organ, church organ, reed organ, accordian, harmonica, tango accordionGuitars: nylon guitar, steel guitar, jazz guitar, clean guitar, guitar mutes, overdrive, distortion, guitar harmonics Basses: acoustic bass, fingered bass, picked bass, fretless bass, slap bass 1 & 2, synth bass 1 & 2Solo strings: violin, viola, cello, contrabass, tremolo strings, pizzicato, orchestral harpEnsemble: string ensemble, slow strings, synth strings 1 & 2, orchestra hitVoices: choir aahs, voice oohs, synth voice, space voice, solo voxBrass: trumpet, trombone, tuba, mute trumpet, french horn, brass section, synthbrass 1 & 2Reeds: soprano sax, alto ax, tenor sax, baritone sax, oboe, english horn, bassoon, clarinetPipes: piccolo, flute, recorder, pan flute, bottle blow, shakuhachi, whistle, ocarinaSynth lead: square wave, sawtooth wave, synth calliope, chiff lead, charang, fifths, bass & leadSynth pad: new age, warm pad, poly synth, bowed glass, metal pad, halo pad, sweep padSynth effects: ice rain, soundtrack, crystal, atmosphere, brightness, goblins, echo drops, star sci-fiEthnic: sitar, banjo, shamisen, koto, kalimba, bagpipe, fiddle, shanaiPercussive: tinkle bell, agogo, steel drums, woodblock, taiko drum, melodic drum, synth drum, reverse cymbal, timpaniSound effects: guitar fret noise, breath noise, seashore, bird tweet, telephone ring, helicopter, applause, gunshotPercussive kits: complete kits of drums and percussion, like rock, jazz, orchestra, tr-808, standard, etc.FunctionalityThe most sophisticated sound cards use wavetables to define the base samples that are used to render their MIDI files. MIDI files in themselves don't contain any sounds, rather they contain only instructions to render them, and consequently rely on the sound card wavetables to render such sounds correctly.Soundfont-compatible synthesizers allow users to use Soundfont banks to augment these wavetables with custom samples to render their music. Given good sound design, this kind of synthesis can offer a very realistic listening experience, as the synthesis is based on sampled sounds of real instruments that may be CD Quality or better.A Soundfont bank contains base samples in PCM format (similar to .wav files) that are mapped to sections on a musical keyboard. A Soundfont bank also contains other music synthesis parameters such as loops, vibrato effect, and velocity sensitive volume changing. With these capabilities, a computer with a soundfont-compatible sound card, player or synthesizer can render audio content that is similar in quality to that of a professional digital sampler.See also Related Articles and midi/soundfonts utilities stuff.Examples of what can be achieved using soundfonts:Utilization and ApplicationsPlayback of SoundFont enabled MIDI files using standard media players (such as Windows Media Player) requires the operating system to offer the ability to change the 'Default MIDI Device' to a SoundFont compatible MIDI Synthesizer. This 'Default MIDI Device' switching option was removed from Windows Vista and W7, though the registry information for the 'Default Midi Device' can still be modified to select SoundFont compatibiliy synthesizers, or making use of a tool called PLW Midi Mapper. Several tools (such as Synthfont, Timidity and Spider Player) have been created to allow playback of MIDI files using SoundFonts on any version of Windows. They are, however, independent applications and so do not integrate with Windows Media Player or Windows itself, although Timidity (Music Contest version) and Synthfont have addon tools to do it. Using SoundFonts for music creation is also fully supported under Windows Vista and Windows 7 in some of the more popular Digital Audio Workstation software programs such as PreSonus Studio One, Cakewalk Sequencers and Steinberg Cubase. Studio One also supports the use of SoundFonts on MacOS X via its Presence virtual instrument.Music Contest - Hot Links - Downloads - Merlin Soundfonts
How to CreateSoundFont is a music application that contains digital audio samples recorded from real instruments. Generally, samples could be, single shots, and rhythmic phrases mostly in wave formats (.wav). Examples of such samples include piano notes, single shots of the kick, etc. In order to play these samples via the wavetable (located on the soundcard), the soundFont module incorporates (in itself) the necessary commands or instructions, which describe the state of the samples during playback. These commands include – pitch shifting, pitch bending, stretching, delay, attack, hold, sustain, vibrato, etc.The soundFont module is made up of banks, which are stored on the hard disk. This module can be loaded into the memory for playback via a soundFont player (Fruity SoundFont player) of a sequencer or a sampler.
Advantages of using SoundFontPortability – A soundFont module can be played back in any software/hardware that supports it.Flexibility – It is possible to control or manipulate large number of samples in a single module. In FruityLoops, for instance, instead of using eight channels to playback an octave of an instrument, you will need just one channel of a soundFont module, which could possibly contain up to 11 octaves. Furthermore, it is easier to synchronously control (e.g.
The volume of) the samples through the soundFont. The Structure of SoundFontThe soundFont is 3-level structured. It consists of the sample, the instrument and the preset levels. The sample level is a subset of the instrument level; in the same manner, the instrument level is a subset of the preset level. See Figure 1.Figure 1: The 3-level structure of the SoundFont. Instrument levelAt this level, the most important features are the instrument zone and the global zone. These zones are used to control or manipulate the instrument’s key range, velocity range and generator values.
Any settings made in the instrument zone affects only its samples, whereas in the global zone, the settings affect all other instruments in the zone. Preset levelThis level consists of the melodic and percussive presets. Analogically, it has the preset and the global zones, which play similar roles as the instrument and global zone in the instrument level. Melodic presetsThese presets consist of pitched instruments (piano, etc.). This means that a sample can stretch over a key range.Figure 2: Melodic preset structure of the SoundFont.
Percussive PresetsThese presets are key-based. This is because percussive instruments, by nature, are not pitched. Thus, it means that each key on the keyboard would be assigned to a particular sample.Figure 3: Percussive preset structure of the SoundFont. Multi-This is a technique, in which samples are assigned to separate key ranges. That is, there is only one sample to a key range and the key ranges do not overlap (or intersect) one another on the keyboard.Figure 4: Multi-Sampling.
Multi-LayeringIn layering, the key ranges of the samples can overlap. This implies that playing a particular note on the keyboard will cause all the multi-layered samples to play simultaneously.Figure 5: Multi-Layering.Figure 6: Multi-Sampling + Multi-Layering.
SoundFont Creation TechniquesEvery musician, at one point in time, would love to have new, unique sounds in his songs. It is normal to easily get bored with the old samples after using them in several productions. In practice, the quest for new sounds, among other reasons, could drive your creativity so crazy that you might begin to search for new sounds in places where you least imagined.Furthermore, you may even like to manipulate these samples to add more feel, taste and life to them via software applications. In short, before you realize it, you would have made your own synthesizer! This is very possible, because all you need are:. A soundcard that is compatible with the soundFonts modules (sf2).
Before you buy your soundcard, ask the vendor about this feature. Vienna SoundFont Studio – This is the soundFont creation application. You can download it free from the Creative Labs web site –. Vienna will work only on systems installed with Creative Labs sound device.
Thus, if your computer system does not meet up with this specification, you may as well try out other SoundFont creating software, such as Viena, Swami and Polyphone. A wave editor – In this book, I will be using the Sony Sound Forge. Musical instruments – Some of these instruments, depending on what you want to record, may include the bass, acoustic/electric guitars, MIDI keyboard, drum set, etc. Make sure all string instruments are tuned before recording.Preparing the SamplesThe process of making your samples ready for soundfonting will involve the following key events: instruments interconnections, recording and editing (DC offset, trimming, fade in/out, normalization etc.). For full details on these events, see “ Creating Samples,” in this chapter. However, the following are few tips regarding the process of creating soundfont:.
The naming system – This depends on what you are recording. Your naming system could possibly include alphabets, symbols and numbers.
The tricky part is when you want to create soundFonts that would consist of both melodic and percussive instruments. A melodic (pitched) instrument, for instance, the Piano, has a key range of say C0 – C8.
Thus, a sample of a piano note (like C4), could be named ‘ C4.wav’ or ‘ PianoC4.wav’. In the first case (C4.wav), it means that only the piano would make up the soundFont module. In the second case, however, it is possible to have more than one melodic instrument. This implies that we can also have a sample from the bass guitar named ‘ BassC4.wav’ or ‘ ViolinC4.wav’ from the violin.There is another trick that I use when naming my samples. I usually use the following naming system: MIDI key number: Instrument Name: Octave-note number. Note that Vienna has 128 MIDI key numbers on its keyboard.
For instance, the sample of the piano note (middle C i.e. C4) could be renamed as 060PianoC4.wav.
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