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SoundFont

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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.

Functionality

The most sophisticated sound cards use wavetables to read MIDI files. MIDI files don't contain any sounds but only instructions to render them. In SoundFont-compatible software users can use SoundFonts to render their music.

This kind of synthesis offers a more realistic effect, because its based on sampled sounds of real instruments of CD Quality or better. The SoundFont bank contains not only sounds but also other characteristics such as loops, vibrato effect, volume changing, etc.

A SoundFont bank contains .wav files that are mapped to sections on a keyboard for playback. A computer with a SoundFont-compatible sound card can yield results similar to those of a professional digital sampler.

Template:Sound sample box align right

Example of what can be achieved with soundfonts available in the public domain
1 minute song, MIDI played through soundfonts
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Template:Sample box end

SoundFont banks can conform to General MIDI, or use other sound formats.

Examples of sound formats :

On Windows Vista

The use of soundfonts require the operating system to offer the ability to change the default MIDI playback device, to switch to the Creative Synthesizer in order to have the Creative SoundFont Bank Manager load. This MIDI switching feature was not included in Vista, thus effectively disabling the use of soundfonts for Vista users. Creative have not offered a switching utility.

File extensions

Soundfont use .sbk extension (for SoundFont Bank) and .sf2 (for SoundFont Bank Version 2)

Tools

  • SynthFont can play, edit, and create SoundFont banks on soundcards which are not Sound Blaster compatible. VSTSynthFont enables use of SoundFonts in any VST host.
  • Awave Studio can be used to edit and create SoundFont files on Windows systems, and convert to and from other audio file formats. It does not require a Sound Blaster compatible card.
  • Shortcircuit is a freeware VST plugin which allows the playback and editing of SoundFont presets on cards not natively supporting such playback. Processor with SSE-support needed.
  • 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 [1] 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 GUI for FluidSynth called Qsynth which is also open source. Both are available in most Linux distributions; compiling them for Windows is also possible. FluidSynth is used by notation programs like MuseScore to provide SoundFont playback on any system.
  • 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.
  • RatHole is a freeware archiver for Windows and Mac OS X, which is especially designed for compressing any files with audio data.
  • 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 users 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.
  • bs-1 / bs-16 is a SoundFont 2 compatible software sampler for Steinberg VST , and Apple Audio Units plug-in format (Windows / Mac OS X).
  • SimpleSynth is a SoundFont 2 compatible software synthesizer for use with Mac OS X.
  • PolyPhontics is professional sound bank studio for Mac OS X that supports SoundFont and DLS formats. PolyPhontics GB is a SoundFont sound bank editor specifically geared towards GarageBand users.
  • Gervill is a software sound synthesizer for use with the Java Sound API that supports soundfont 2.04 and downloadable sounds 2.2
  • XMPlay is originally a free player for XM files, but in tract of time it developed to a multifunctional audioplayer. Now it uses the SF2 format too.

Online tutorials

Free SoundFont downloads

Others

  • www.sonivoxmi.com Creators of sonicimplants, and known for professional quality soundfonts.
  • www.jayzensound.com High-quality SoundFonts for creative music production and sound design.
  • 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.
  • EdgeSounds High quality General MIDI SoundFont Banks. Some rare ethnic SoundFonts for free download.
  • www.jensensamples.com High Quality Guitar SoundFonts.
  • Today's Sound Font Discretionary listing of SoundFonts provisioned with brief reviews, ratings, and links of origin; written in Japanese by musf (translation is being provided through BizLingo via Excite Japan).
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