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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 2,142
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Veteran
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 2,142 |
for anyone picking up this thread, read this one https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=577563#Post577563you do get a load of sounds free i've got the GM mode to work in Halion SE and i'm just working out how to use the standalone instruments outside the GM set. i've also got the synthfont64 to work now i've got the latest version. timbres of heaven is a nice free GM soundfont. i also followed Peter Gannon's 'no brainer' post and got the TTS1 free sfrozando also loads individual sound fonts and there are some good free instruments like the Estate Grand Piano LE which i quite like. totally agree with Mario that GM sounds and free sounds will never match some of the amazing samples available but exploring the free options will give you a better sound than the standard GM sounds you get with BIAB so now i've got several midi sound sources - all free - and as part of a mix they can sound quite good.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 53
Enthusiast
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Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 53 |
Someone please clarify something for me? On the following post on a different forum. Someone explains the reason that soundfonts don't sound great. I've downloaded a bunch of GM soundfonts to try and play midi files through vlc or some other player, and they don't sound good. When I read this post below, it seemed to make sense to me: https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=559685Soundfonts will never sound convincing with GM / GS / XG MIDI-files, because those files rely on MIDI Control Change Messages – Continuous Controllers
e.g.
71 = Filter Resonance
74 = Filter Cutoff Frequency
73 = Attack time
84 = Portamento amount
91 = Reverb send
93 = Chorus send
95 = Phaser send
... and the list goes on and on.
This is not possible to program into Soundfonts.
You need a proper GM-Sound-Module from Yamaha or Roland or Korg with complete implementation of MIDI messages. (Hardware or now better software-pendants)
Otherwise the files will never sound right, just ok if you are lucky and the file does not rely too much on controllers. Yet I keep seeing a lot of discussion about SynthFont. What exactly is SynthFont, is it a soundfont or a vst? Is what the poster in that forum said true about soundfonts? I downloaded the 5mb YAMAHA S-YXG50 vst he references and played a midi file with foobar2000, and it did sound better than soundfonts that are hundreds of megabytes, or more even..
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 2,142
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 2,142 |
synthfont64 is a 'player' for want of a better word. you load it as a synth and then add the soundfonts to it. i'm not sure how you are playing soundfonts at the moment so i can't comment on the quality you are hearing - does vlc play soundfonts?. i know it plays videos. yes, if you compare them side by side, GM soundfonts probably don't sound as good as individually sampled instruments loaded into kontakt or similar. but you can pay a lot of money for top of the range midi sounds but don't dismiss GM synths. the midi demos in PG Music programs are played on a TTS1 GM synth. have a listen https://www.pgmusic.com/addons.styles.php?os=winand you can get the TTS1 free - see Peter Gannon's 'no brainer' sticky post. the midis on the PG site sound pretty good for a free GM synth don't they? but on pc speakers most things sound a little dud - try headphones
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 53
Enthusiast
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Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 53 |
Yes, you can select a soundfont and play midi files in VLC.
I'm just looking for an easy way to play my MIDI files live on a gig, via a laptop, like I used to do with my old Roland SD35. I believe, from my reading, I need a VST that has general midi instruments in it, so midi files can just load up and play. And I guess I need a player, so I need a DAW, hopefully one that is easy to customize and simplify the interface so it shows only what I need, e.g. tempo change, play and stop buttons. I will look up the TTS-1.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Season's Greetings!
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Team PG
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