Where can I find a soundcard I can load piano soundfonts onto for piano midi files?

Question

Where can I find a soundcard I can load piano soundfonts onto for piano midi files?

Answer 1

Soundfonts were invented by Roland, so you could use one of their cards. I don't know if they even sell them in computer stores anymore, because sound hardware has gotten so cheap. But you could find a SoundBlaster Live on EBay. Or better, a SoundBlaster Audigy. A card like that would cost maybe $25 because they're very obsolete, but still pretty good.



If I remember right there were one or two other companies that made cards that could use soundfonts, but they'd be hard to find now. E-Mu was one. But most of the later SoundBlasters used soundfonts. In fact Creative (makers of SoundBlaster) even has a program called Vienna for creating and editing soundfonts. I believe it's a free download, but if not it should be on a CD you get with the drivers.



If you buy a used card without the driver CD, fear not, you can download them from audigy.com or creative.com. And I think Vista even has a driver built in for Roland cards. But you still need to download the program for loading soundfonts, which I know you can download.



There are also 'softsynths' that can use soundfonts, synthesizers that exist entirely in software. Roland makes one of these too, which costs about $50 (or used to). They run slower and have more 'latency', so I wouldn't recommend that route, especially since the hardware version is so cheap now.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

For an official soundcard that handles the SoundFont stuff, you can get one of the cards listed at http://soundblaster.com/soundfont/faqs/

- Any "Sound Blaster Audigy" series card

- Sound Blaster Live!

- Sound Blaster Extigy

- Audigy 2 NX



As an alternative, you can also try a software-based solution called TiMidity++. It does not look very user-friendly.

Download link: http://timidity.s11.xrea.com/files/tm040516.zip

Main site: http://timidity.s11.xrea.com/index.en.html

Answer 4

For driver download, you can know more at http://www.opendrivers.com/category/17/soundcard-free-driver-download.html.

If you are not sure how to do installing sound card, you bring your laptop to authorized service center and have them help you in installing the necessary components or software you will need. Just inquire about everything and they're willing to help and advise you better choices.

Please read below. Visit the sites. They may be helpful to you.

http://www.computerhope.com/help/sound.htm

http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm



Good luck!

Aires

Answer 5

To use SoundFonts in your sound card, you need to change the active soundfont. If you're using one of the Creative cards, there should be an icon for a program called AudioHQ in your Windows traybar. Click it to expand - select the SoundFont option. This opens a dialog box with three tabs. Select the 'Configure Bank' tab, and click the 'Load' button to import a sf2 file into your configuration.





RECOMMENDED SOUNDFONT SYSTEMS

High-End System (PC):

Multi-channel audio card

LiveSynth Pro Software Synth

SONAR MIDI/Audio Sequencer

Sonic Implants SoundFonts



Medium-End System (PC):

Creative Labs Soundblaster Audigy Card

SONAR MIDI/Audio Sequencer

Sonic Implants SoundFonts



Alternate Medium-End System (PC):

Any brand stereo soundcard

Vsampler 3.0 (or later) Software Synth

SONAR MIDI/Audio Sequencer

Sonic Implants SoundFonts



Medium-End System (Mac):

Any brand stereo soundcard

Software Synth capable of importing the Soundfont format

MIDI/Audio Sequencer for Macintosh

Sonic Implants SoundFonts



Budget System (PC):

Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! Card (any model)

Cakewalk Home Studio 2004 or Music Creator 2003

Sonic Implants SoundFonts





Hardware versus Software issues for playing back Soundfonts

If you have a Creative Labs card capable of playing back Soundfonts, you are assured of complete compatibility. (After all, the Soundfont spec was created by Creative Labs to support those Soundcards). If you want to use a different soundcard, then you will need to have a software synth that is capable of loading and playing back Soundfont files. With the increasing popularity of the Soundfont spec, more and more software programs are adding the ability to import and play Soundfonts. However, in our experience, many of these programs do not accurately import all the programming parameters. They typically will import the sample data and keymapping info correctly, but the various programming parameters, such as filter and envelope settings, fine tuning, etc., may not correctly be imported. If you are planning on getting a software program to play Soundfont files, you may want to check with the manufacturer to find out exactly how much info they import.

Software Recommendations

If you are going to be using a software synth on a PC, Sonic Implants recommends using Vsampler 3. It does an excellent job of importing all the programming parameters accurately. It includes VSTi and Dxi compatible plug-ins, plus a stand-alone application. The Dxi version of Vsampler is included with SONAR 3.0 Producer Edition.



Another program that works well is Live Synth Pro, which is a Dxi plug-in. Unfortunately Live Update, the company that created LiveSynth Pro, is out of business. A time limited demo version of Live Synth Pro is included on the SONAR 2.0 CD-ROM, along with demo versions of some of our Soundfont products. But since Live Update is out of business, there is no way to purchase the fully functional version any more.



If you have another software sampler that you like working with and it does not import the soundfont format correctly, you want to try working with a sampler format conversion program, to convert from the soundfont format to another format that imports better in your software sampler. Two programs that we have used are CDXtract and Translator.