SoundFont

SoundFont 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..

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 GM patches in many computer music sequencers. The sound 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 instrument.

History

The original SoundFont 1.0 version of the file format was developed in the early 1990s by E-mu and Creative Labs. A specification for this version was never released to the public. The first and only major device to utilize this version was Creative's Sound Blaster AWE32 in 1994. Files in this format conventionally have the file extension of .SBK.

The SoundFont 2.0 version of the file format was developed in 1996. The 2.0 format generalized the data representation using perceptually additive real world units, redefined some of the instrument layering features within the format, added true stereo sample support and removed some obscure features of the 1.0 version whose behavior was difficult to specify. This version was fully disclosed as a public specification, with the goal of making the SoundFont format become an industry standard. All SoundFont 1.0 compatible devices were updated to support the SoundFont 2.0 format shortly after the format was released to the public, and consequently the 1.0 version became obsolete. Files in this format (and all other 2.x formats, see below) conventionally have the file extension of .SF2.

The SoundFont 2.1 version of the file format was introduced in 1998 with an E-mu sound card product called the Audio Production Studio. The 2.1 version added features allowing sound designers to configure the way MIDI controllers influence synthesizer parameters. The 2.1 format is bidirectionally compatible with the 2.0 format, which means that synthesizers capable of rendering 2.1 format will also by definition render 2.0 format, and synthesizers that are only capable of rendering 2.0 format will also read and render 2.1 format, but just not apply the new features.

The SoundFont 2.4 version of the file format was introduced in 2005 with the Sound Blaster X-Fi product. (There never was a 2.2 or a 2.3 version.) The 2.4 format added support for 24-bit samples. The 2.4 format is bidirectionally compatible with the 2.1 format, which makes it so synthesizers that are only capable of rendering 2.0 or 2.1 format would automatically render instruments using 24-bit samples at 16-bit precision.

Tools

Alive is a drag and drop based visual editor for SoundFont banks , and can be used to create, manage and edit SoundFont files on Windows systems with a Sound Blaster compatible card.
FluidSynth is a free, open source program which synthesizes using SoundFont technology without need for a SoundFont-compatible soundcard, and the size of loaded SoundFont banks is limited by the amount of RAM available. There is a nice GUI for FluidSynth called Qsynth which is also open source. Both are available in most Linux distributions; compiling them for Windows is also possible.
Megafont is a (freeware and open source) program created for dynamically managing, loading and unloading SoundFont files on Creative Sound Blaster Live! cards. I.e. it's a dynamic cache manager for these cards.
SFPack and SFArk are archivers for SoundFont banks which use different compression techniques.
The SFZ SoundFont Player is a freeware VST plugin which allows the playback of SoundFont presets on cards not natively supporting such playback.
Timidity++ is a high quality software-only MIDI sequencer and MOD player available for various platforms. It uses sound fonts (GUS-compatible or SF2-compatible) to render MIDI files, so you don't need to have a SoundFont compatible soundcard. However, for .sf2 files is not as good as FluidSynth which follows very closely the sf2 specs.
The Vienna SoundFont Studio can be used to edit and create SoundFont files on Windows systems with a Sound Blaster compatible card. Swami is another SoundFont editor/creator for Linux systems.
SynthFont can play, edit, and create SoundFont banks on soundcards which are not Sound Blaster compatible.
bs-1 / bs-16 is a SoundFont 2 compatible sampler for Steinberg VST plug-in format.
SimpleSynth is a SoundFont 2 compatible software synthesizer for use with Mac OS X.

External links

Online tutorials

Others

SoundFont.com Creative's main SoundFont product and technology page.
Creative Developer Relations Creative developer resources for SoundFont technology, including the SoundFont 2.4 format specification.
Freepats is a free patch set suitable for MIDI audio synthesis. It is not complete, nor comprehensive yet. It is, however, the sole DFSG-compliant patch set in existence so far. New SF2 patches are welcome.
HomeMusician.Net Thousands of free soundfonts to download.
Guitar Vince High quality free guitar soundfont
Free Bass Multisampled Ibanez Bass
Jayzen Sound Design Joke site containing a tiny range of crappy soundfonts made by banging tins and bottles in a garage.