The wait is over! Sorry for the excessive narrative. As you know I am a consultant and I tend to ramble on when given the stage. But hang in there till the end and you will see the point of all this.
I warned you I can drone on and on and I can be a bit of a Drama King. But I hope I have made a more important point. The VSTSynthFont is fully able to play GM sounds from BIAB with sound quality that far exceeds the Coyote WaveTable synth. If one is concerned the size of the synth has now increased from 200K to ~200M, just delete a few of the banjo RTs and you will find the room.
ok i got vstsynthfont installed includeing GM font. first off kudos to Dan for his patience and help in this. much appreciated Dan.
its still early days as i have lots more testing to do. but heres some initial observations. in this context i'm coming from the aspect of a new pg user. heres my honest feelings which let me stress are not meant to upset anyone.
1..i feel a default NICE SOUNDING gm sf should be included with the shipped bb/rb package. this would save both befuddling a new user and the user needing to download the sf. eg 'where perchance doth i get this sf from in google.' 2..i would suggest a step by step guide for new users including a vid to help with set up as well as how to use when auditioning pg midi styles via double clicking. it sorta confused me initially until Dan kindly guided me through the install process. such a guide should also mention housekeeping tasks like setting up in win a sf dir and putting the sf into it as well as how to set up synthfont app....eg setting default in bb / going to the special synthfont dialog options and specifying which sf to use etc etc. 3..as to sound quality...yes...better than coyo but obviously not as good as various vi's ive heard or RT's.. but i'm gonna check out other sound sets eg...'timbres'. in summary...yes...usefull but didnt knock my socks off....otoh i would not expect such.
finally in summary there is more set up by the user required over coyo and learning how the various features of synthfont vst work. which obviously experienced bb users could figure out.. but when it comes to a new user, maybe even new to music production...particularly a 'gimme now' user...i feel their level of patience might be tested cos lots of new people want fast results these days. 'gimme a hit now' sorta idea.
i hope ive given a fair and unbiased opinion.
once again thanks to Dan for his patience and help.
happiness.
om.
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 10/13/2402:08 PM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs (90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
I warned you I can drone on and on and I can be a bit of a Drama King. But I hope I have made a more important point. The VSTSynthFont is fully able to play GM sounds from BIAB with sound quality that far exceeds the Coyote WaveTable synth. If one is concerned the size of the synth has now increased from 200K to ~200M, just delete a few of the banjo RTs and you will find the room.
OK .. I think I'm more comfortable now with some of what's happening and has happened in the past.
For me at present, I don't have to hit play twice ... once is enough. I haven't (yet?) tried to find out why.
Some of those 25-years-old BiaB quirks have definitely muddied the waters for me ... Channel labes, names, patches, whatever. I only have to wrongly trust one of those and all bets on my trust are off.
You have similar patchnames not matching the GM names as I and that also had definitely mislead me and confused me.
Of course in the past I've set patches on VSTSynthFont to those I think I want, believing that BiaB wasn't setting them, only to have them then 'mysteriously' changed when the song plays. Especially if in the past it's maybe been on the second press of play.
I have two things to take from this: 1) VSTSynthFont can work exactly as one would like, subject to a couple of cautions/caveats. 2) There is so much historic and variable 'cruft' in BiaB, I'm not in the least surprised that people get confused and, probably, angly.
Personally these days I think a couple of hundrem MB for a decent soundfont is pretty much neither here nor there. If one is reallt desparate for memory, even FluidSynth's tiny default SF2 is only 8M and sounds much better than Coyote. ToH is ~ 426M. Compifont is nearly a Gig. I could probably use that on a Raspberry Pi.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
I have two things to take from this: 1) VSTSynthFont can work exactly as one would like, subject to a couple of cautions/caveats. 2) There is so much historic and variable 'cruft' in BiaB, I'm not in the least surprised that people get confused and, probably, angly.
Could not agree more. Great summary. The only question now is, based on that conclusion, will we get more folks to switch their default synths?
Thanks for going to the effort to put that video together Dan. Very descriptive, easy to follow.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Professional & Windows 11, Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors
I warned you I can drone on and on and I can be a bit of a Drama King. But I hope I have made a more important point. The VSTSynthFont is fully able to play GM sounds from BIAB with sound quality that far exceeds the Coyote WaveTable synth. If one is concerned the size of the synth has now increased from 200K to ~200M, just delete a few of the banjo RTs and you will find the room.
Hi Dan. I didn’t mean to belittle your helpful and valuable (if puzzling) discovery in any way. It does sound as if you’ve solved a mystery that was bothering others, and you went to a lot of trouble. The video was very clear.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
Very cool thread. Appreciate the research and nice video by Dan, and the collaboration by all. I have a GM synth I'm quite happy with in Roland so won't be switching. But this is a great thread, and I haven't been able to take my eyes off of it. Oh, and I learned a new word (cruft!), too.
DC Ron BiaB Audiophile Presonus Studio One ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM Presonus Faderport 16 Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
The only question now is, based on that conclusion, will we get more folks to switch their default synths?
I think it's atually fairly easy to achieve, but also very easy to get things wrong and get into a mess and/or get confused.
This really needs a HowTo and/or a sticky thread that walks through the process and warns of the stuff to ignore. I wonder if your set-up post and the video(s) put together in one post and pinned would be enough. I have to say I find it puxxling that PGM themselves haven't affressed this some time ago.
It's telling that PGM don't have that and that if one goes to the "dare to compare" page, they compare RealTracks with a number of older and mostly discontinued synths, including ForteDXi, which has a link to a now non-existent PGM web page of their own. Of course they're selling RTs here, so a comparatively good, later generation, synth and soundfont may be giving the wrong message for them.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
Thanks Dan for your informative video. I don't have VSTSynthfont activated on my system so I can't test, however, I suggest when you change Styles and patches, to try resetting using the Generate and Play button rather than hitting play twice and that may eliminate the double click. .
I think I tried that. Still took double click. But you may be right, I was pushing a lot of buttons at the time. So Charlie what do you use for your midi synth in BIAB?
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We've just released XPro Styles PAK 10 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 28 RealTracks and RealDrums!
Few things are certain in life: death, taxes, and a brand spankin’ new XPro Styles PAK! In this, the 10th edition of our XPro Styles PAK series, we’ve got 100 styles coming your way! We have the classic 25 styles each from the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres, and rounding out this volume's wildcard slot is 25 styles in the Praise & Worship genre! A wide spanning genre, you can find everything from rock, folk, country, and more underneath its umbrella. The included 28 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
Here’s just a small sampling of what you can look forward to in XPro Styles PAK 10: Soft indie folk worship songs, bumpin’ country boogies, gospel praise breaks, hard rockin’ pop, funky disco grooves, smooth Latin jazz pop, bossa nova fusion, western swing, alternative hip-hop, cool country funk, and much more!
Special offers until December 31st, 2025!
All the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 10 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
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Xtra Styles PAK 21 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
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Rejoice, one and all, for Xtra Styles PAK 21 for Band-in-a-Box® is here! We’re serving up 200 brand spankin’ new styles to delight your musical taste buds! The first three courses are the classics you’ve come to know and love, including offerings from the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres, but, not to be outdone, this year’s fourth course is bro country! A wide ranging genre, you can find everything from hip-hop, uptempo outlaw country, hard hitting rock, funk, and even electronica, all with that familiar bro country flair. The dinner bell has been rung, pickup up Xtra Styles PAK 21 today!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Energetic folk rock, raucous train beats, fast country boogies, acid jazz grooves, laid-back funky jams, a bevy of breezy jazz waltzes, calm electro funk, indie synth pop, industrial synth metal, and more bro country than could possibly fit in the back of a pickup truck!
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Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 21 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
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But I hope I have made a more important point. The VSTSynthFont is fully able to play GM sounds from BIAB with sound quality that far exceeds the Coyote WaveTable synth. If one is concerned the size of the synth has now increased from 200K to ~200M, just delete a few of the banjo RTs and you will find the room. 
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