Experimenting with SoundFonts
Apr 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Kurt Heiden
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DLS (and later, DLS2), a rival format created by the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group (IASIG), resembles SoundFont format in many ways. DLS banks are easier to render on slower computers, however, because they don't contain all of the parameter data that SoundFont banks contain. As a result, DLS banks don't require any hardware.
Once Creative opened up the SF2 format to the public, SoundFont-capable software synthesizers and samplers appeared on the scene, allowing SoundFont banks to be used without Creative or E-mu hardware. As a result, the relevance of DLS and DLS2 waned, and SoundFonts emerged as the predominant, affordable computer-based sampler format. Today, most software on Mac and Windows that supports SoundFont banks will also support DLS banks and vice versa.
Get on Board
Most modern operating systems (including Linux) have the ability to work with the SoundFont format. A vast number of Windows machines have a Sound Blaster card, which gives them built-in hardware-level SoundFont support. Mac users will be pleased to know that as of Mac OS X 10.3, Apple has added SoundFont support through the QuickTime Preference Pane. Most third-party SoundFont-capable synths are VSTi or Dxi based, so they play well with nearly all MIDI sequencers.
When working with SoundFont banks, there are distinct advantages to using Sound Blaster or E-mu hardware. The hardware renders the SoundFont banks and handles all SoundFont-related DSP functions (reverb and chorus, for example) on the sound card instead of using the computer's CPU. Using SoundFont-capable hardware virtually eliminates latency and frees up computer-processing resources, allowing you to use a greater array of other tools such as effects or instrument plug-ins. It also means that you have more voices (polyphony) to work with, because the sound card acts as a coprocessor. In addition, most SoundFont hardware has MIDI, analog, and (sometimes) digital I/O.
Older ISA-based Sound Blaster cards such as the AWE series had RAM on the card itself instead of using system RAM the way the newer cards do. ISA-based cards are far less desirable because that type of RAM is no longer produced in mass quantities. Moreover, if you're interested in SoundFont banks for music production and are still using a system with ISA slots instead of PCI slots, it's probably time to upgrade your PC.
Until recently, notebook users had no hardware rendering options for SoundFonts. The new SoundFont-capable SB Audigy 2ZS notebook, however, is a pint-size PC card and a bargain at $129, even though it doesn't include a MIDI interface.
If you are not using a Sound Blaster Live card from Creative (or don't want to), you can still use SoundFonts, but you'll need a software synth or sampler that supports SoundFont bank loading and rendering. There are a handful of choices for the PC, including MAZ Sound Tools' Vsampler 3, Cakewalk's Project 5, and Steinberg's Halion. Mac-based synthesizer/samplers include Bismark's BS-16, Pete Yandell's Simplesynth, and Apple's GarageBand 1.1.
Mac OS 9 users can get SoundFont hardware rendering by using Sound Blaster Live for Macintosh. Although discontinued, those cards are offered for less than $50 used on Ebay and come with a useful SoundFont bank manager/librarian and excellent SoundFont performance. Creative has no plans to update the card with OS X drivers, and it doesn't run in the Classic environment, so it's only for OS 9 users.
Although there's no hardware rendering option under Mac OS X, the host CPU has SoundFont support. And given the power of most modern processors, the impact on performance is minimal. The number of software programs that support SoundFonts under OS X is growing. In fact, it was only in the past year that Apple added native support for SoundFonts, so look for more Mac-based software development in the coming months, particularly in the area of SoundFont bank management and editing.
Regardless of platform, anyone who is serious about using SoundFonts should visit www.SoundFont.com. You'll find details available regarding the format itself, including a white paper, technical specifications, application notes, tutorials, and explanations of some of the unique features that make the SoundFont sampling format stand out among others (see www.emuscian.com for a list of additional SoundFonts resources).
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SIDEBAR
Jen's Top SoundFont Tips
Since Sonic Implants began creating SoundFont banks almost ten years ago, the sampling industry has seen more than its share of innovation and change. Today, despite the proliferation of disk-streaming samplers, many musicians still rely on SoundFont technology for its simplicity, quality, and affordability. For those who find themselves constantly tweaking and tinkering with their commercial sounds, creating your own SoundFont banks can be a rewarding experience. With that in mind, Jen Hruska of Sonic Implants offers a few tips for helping you make the best SoundFont banks possible.
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Get the best recordings that you possibly can. That might seem like an obvious consideration; however, like all processes that build outward from one critical stage, having a pool of quality source material will only enhance the caliber of the finished product. If you don't have the means to get high-quality recordings, consider creating variation programs from your existing SoundFonts. For example, adding new filter and other modulation settings to existing programs can make fresh new timbres for your music.
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Consider creating multiple Velocity layers (soft, medium, and loud) for added realism. You won't have much use for that if you're sampling an old 909 or your uncle's B-3, but most acoustic instruments have timbral attributes that relate directly to the strength (or lack thereof) with which the instrument is played (for example, getting brighter as you hit harder). Capturing even some of those subtleties and layering them into your Instruments will have a significant impact on playability and feel. You can try that by assigning Amplitude to Velocity on multiple samples within an Instrument in your SoundFont editor.
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Once you begin assembling your SoundFonts, it's important to understand the distinction between the Instrument level and the Preset level. Instruments are the place you want to do most of your parameter editing. Use Global Zones on the Instrument layer to sweeten all samples in the Instrument, and use Global Zones at the Preset level sparingly because they impact all Instruments in the Preset. Try assigning different parameters to more than one sample within an Instrument. For example, use different Pitch Bend values for sample A than you do in sample B within the same Instrument. That will make for a more expressive Instrument.
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When working with sound samples in SoundFont banks, use traditional synthesis and sampling techniques to beef up your final Instrument, just as you would with other samplers. You'll find that all the goods are there to do what you want with almost any sample. For example, if you're sampling a saxophone, record six samples per octave: three distinct pitches with two samples per note (each pair of samples will represent left and right for a stereo sax). Import and assign samples at their appropriate key ranges in your SoundFont editor, then assign opposite panning for each pair of same-note samples. Still working at the Instrument level, add vibrato and apply reverb as needed.
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