Frequently Asked Questions on SoundFonts

Q) I’m having trouble with my SB Live Soundcard. It’s not working right.

A) Go to Creative Labs troubleshooting page

Q) I'd like to use Vienna to make my own SoundFonts.  Are their any Tutorials?

A) Yes.  There's one on this site Create your Own Virtual Synth 

Q) Where can I find sites with free SoundFonts?

A)  I am building a links section for SoundFonts on my Emu Resources page.

Q  I am trying to install my SB Live in Win 2000 and keep getting the blue screen of death

A) Found this solution on Usenet.  Check it out:  

Q) Can soundfonts truly be as high of a quality as some of the top synth tones?

A) Yes. 44.1 16 bit is what is known as CD Quality. Most synths use these rates. A few like the triton may use the 48khz rate but the audio difference is barely perceptible to most people, if at all. 20 bit synths are starting to appear, but again. same as above. > > Can they be manipulated like GM tones with velocity and aftertouch?

Q)  Can they be manipulated like GM tones with velocity and aftertouch?

Yes. Velocity is very well implemented in the .sf2 protocol. Aftertouch is tricky, but I figured it out and incorporated it in Ice Kold Tekno orkestra. You can also use filters and resonance that GM does not have in its specification. IKTO exploits every possible parameter in the sf2 format, including resonant sweeps, velocity routed to resonance and filter cutoff and more.

Q)  I am having trouble getting CakeWalk to play my SoundFonts. I having no problem loading it into the SoundFont Bank. How do I get my keyboard to play it?

A) You just double click on a track to open up a dialog box where you select either "SB Live! MIDI synth A or B" then selct a program. If nothing happens go deeper into instrument properties and make sure those ports point to "SoundFont Device". If those entries are not there, then they are probably disabled in Windows control panel (multimedia properties).

Q)  How do I control the filter in real time?

A) Can't do real time filter modulation with an SBLive using the sf2.01 protocol. You can do it with the 2.1 drivers, which come with the Emu APS soundcard. However, if you install these drivers on an sblive, it will only work on the digital outputs. Some guys use 2 sblives and run the digi out to the digi in of the other and then listen through the second card analog output. I don't recommend that.

Another view:

I would like to add my comments on your recent reply to a question about real time modulation with the SBLive. I use Cakewalk 8.0 as my recording software and you can do and record real time modulation effects with the SBLive in Cakewalk by adding the "AWE.Cakewalkstudioware" module in your Cakewalk environment. That module and others are bundled with the software or can be downloaded from the Cakewalk web site. That module is a kind of software synth panel for the sound card's synth. There's a slider or knob for all of the soundfonts parameters and you can record the movement of these sliders and knobs in a track. It's also fully programmable which means you could probably route any controller from your synth keyboard to any parameter on the panel.

The synth panel probably works at the preset level and it sends NRPN messages to the soundfont synth. These messages are made up of two numbers: an address and a value. The address determines which parameter is being affected and the value... well obviously its the value given to the parameter. I've been looking for specs on that subject but haven't found anything yet.

Thanks for your attention and keep up the good work.

Michel Gougeon

Thanks for posting that Michael. For those of you wondering, NRPN stands for "non-registered parameter number". These are parameters that are sort of in between system exclusive commands, which affect only the machine and no others, and system common commands, which may control many synths from different manufacturers in similar ways, like a pitch wheel, mod wheel, etc. Yes, we need to get the spec for the sf2 so we can find a way to route, through software, the NRPN for filter cutoff to, for example, the mod wheel. All the big sequencers have a method to transform one event to another. I'd like to see it happen. I'll look for the sf2 white paper.

And more on filters...

if you want to control cutoff from cubase then you can do so with controller 38. But in order to use that you must set 2 other controllers first. First set controller 99 to 127 then controller 98 to xx where xx is one of the following effects you would like to use 5 env1 attack 7 env1 decay 11 env2 attack 13 env2 decay 21 cutoff 22 resonance

so to control cutoff you would do this set controller 99 to 127 set controller 98 to 21 bind controller 38 to the controller you wish to use (ie midi controller, mod wheel etc)

Are there editing tips for trance enthusiasts 

For anyone out there who is trying to get a tune to play while the filter is sweeping up ( trance style ), I found that if you get a synth sample with aforementioned sweep, go into Vienna and using modulator properties, assign one of the user controllers 21-24 to sample start. While the tune is playing, using that controller will move the start position forward for each note and it will feel as if you're controlling the filter. The advantage of this is that if you don't have a real analogue synth to hand, you can create an effect which can't really be reproduced any other way ( with that quality ). The fact is that that the filter sweep on a real analogue synth ( I was using a tb303 sample) is vastly superior the internal filters of the Emu 101k chip . This method allows you use a controller to emulate the real thing. A very similar technique is used to make filter sweeps using tracker software

Q)  Can you dump a soundcard's native instrument set to soundfont?

On all the cards I have had this was not an option. Typically manufacturers either license a general mid set or develop one in house. Either way, its a big time programming expense. Usually they want to (have to) protect that investment and disable or don't write in a get operation.

Q) My SoundFonts Disappear!  Why?

You are saving those banks after you create them in Vienna right? You need to load them from the Audio HQ utility. If you are doing all this and the banks are not automatically loading into memory on boot up, then you _may_ have to download Livewire 3 again. The first release of Livewire 3 had a problem of not reloading upon boot. They fixed it shortly after the initial release. You might need to look into this. Get the most current Liveware3 from the creative labs site.

If you are using the Audio HQ, they should reload automatically on reboot. Are you using the audio hq? or something else? If you use cakewalk, for examples, they unload when you close the song.

Q) How do you compare Logic Audio's SF handling vs. Cakewalk and Cubase?

A) Currently I like the way Cubase handles sf2's the best. It shows you all the patchnames. As of Logic 4.2.2 this has yet to be incorporated. You have to load from the audio HQ for now. Cake is OK too, and will load and save sf2 files with each song automatically. But its only a matter of time before they all have these features because the hooks are built into the sf2 spec.

Q) I sample through my SBLive, process the .wav file in SoundForge and get it as clean and loud as possible, but when I'm in Vienna, the volume output is weak, and doesn't sound as loud as it does in SoundForge. I'm not an expert with Vienna; is there something I'm missing?

A) Take a look at your creative mixer, notch up the midi a bit and see if that helps. Forge bypasses it while Vienna runs all through it.

Q) Every time I try to load a soundfont, I get an error message "Error in loading Bank: Unexpected Error". I'm sure its something obvious, but I don't know what - any ideas.

A) , Verify that the soundfont is in the 2.01 format. Try loading it into Vienna and resave it. Sounds like a bank made with the emu soundfont editor in the wrong 2.00 format

Q) I'm making a soundfont from home recordings of some percussion instruments and would like to make some of the drums truly multi-velocity. How do I do this?

A) Use Vienna's right pane to draw your layers with the mouse. Very easy to do.

Q) How do i get Logic to recognize my soundfonts? Is it done in the environment? Someone please help as I'm at a complete loss here.

A) You have to load the SoundFonts in the Audio HQ, then you have to type in the names. Set a multi instrument port to SBLive Synth A. They will be there, though you won't see the names till you type them in. I am hoping emagic will make things easier soon.

Q) Better still is there somewhere i can download the environment settings from?

Go to the control panel-> multimedia-> MIDI, and see if the port is listed. If it is then it is in Logic's flip menu where you assign ports. Create a multi-instrument and find where to select ports. Double click the instrument name. You really need to get this right and a downloaded environment will not help as you will have to set this anyway. I recommend reading the manual.

Q)  Now, is it possible to burn "your own" CD's with SF-files played in Logic and if so how?

A)  Capture the output of the soundcard to an audio recorder or to a logic track. Make a stereo wave file and burn to cdr with a cd burning utility.

Q) Does anybody know where i can get fender Rhodes sound fonts?

A)  Go to www.hammersound.net and get the Rhodes font there... Here is one of the write-ups

Comprehensive Rhodes sample using 8 velocity layers. Nice raw sound - samples recorded dry through a DI box straight onto disk. Has a couple of tonal inconsistencies in the upper part of the keyboard, but then so did the Rhodes I sampled in the first place. Tried and tested both in the studio and on-stage - this is a truly authentic Rhodes reproduction.

Have fun.... they also have an awesome Steinway font there that I downloaded....

Q) Is there away to design your soundfonts where you can strip out the unneeded GM patches (to save space and redundancy) and having it show that way in Cakewalk?

A)  You bet.  In Vienna.  Edit the bank and save with a unique name.

Q)  Which Mic should I use with the SBLive?

A)  If you want the best results get a small mixer like a Behringer and patch that into the sblive line ins, then use a good XLR mic like an Shure sm57 or better. You will like the results. Anytime you use a soundcard's mic preamps you are asking for trouble. It's not the mic as much as the preamp that makes the bad hissy sound.

Q) Is there a problem with VIA Motherboards?

A)  I was getting lots of pop/crackle noises from my SB. It turned out to be the CPU to PCI bridge latency setting in the BIOS. Have to use a program called Tweak BIOS to set it to 0.

Took forever to track down, tried a gazillion other things first--VIA's updated drivers, messing with video settings etc.. and Creative's support is useless (I'm sure their e-mail help is generated by some algorithm because it can't pass the Turing Test!)

More on this..

Yea, that's all it was. I ran across this at some other usergroup (unfortunately I forgot where, or I'd give the guy credit who found it. Many thanks....) It seems that the SBLive! and the CPU are fighting each other to access the PCI bus, and this also happens with a few other high-end audio cards. He said he sent e-mails to VIA with no response. I also ran across something on M-Audio's website about VIA chipsets/motherboards and their Delta line of Audio cards. They recommend downloading VIA's new "4 in 1" drivers for the mobos, which is supposed to work for their cards....

TweakHeadz Lab | Studio-Central | Audio-Pro-Central | zZounds and online store Affiliations | Site Map | Support the Lab | Privacy Policy | ©2008 TweakHeadz.com