Using soundfonts without an SBLive or EMU card

[MASTON]

I think I've asked this before, but anyway, I'll do it again see if I can get some more bites.

What do I do when I upgrade form SBLive to say an Maudio audiophile, and I want to use soundfonts. Do I have to keep the SBLive in there, and use it alongside the new card, which seems a bit messy and it'll still be 16-bit on the midi front won't it, or is there some way to get the non-EMU card to use soundfonts.

Using cakewalk 9

Ta

Maston

 

[AlChuck]

There are some softsynths that can load Sound Font-format files. But to use them I think you would need a multiclient driver, so be sure whatever soundcard you decide on has such a driver (I believe that the Delta/Audiophile series has a very new multiclient beta driver).

SONAR comes with a trial version of a DXi Sound Font player called LiveSynth, but to use that effectively you need WDM drivers.

For what it's worth, I have a system with a Delta 66 and an SB Live and they worked very well together under CWPA9 and continue to under SONAR (though I've been too chicken to try the WDM drivers yet).

As far as the SB Live limiting your Sound Font capability to 16-bit, it's a non-issue, because I don't think you will find many (if any -- I'm not sure if the Sound Font standard supports it) Sound Fonts that are not built from 16-bit WAV data. So playing them through a 24-bit card won't make them sound any better.

 

[j]

why do you need to worry about soundfonts? can't do real time midi with soft samplers? got some sounds you really like? many soft samplers will load SF files.....SONAR has one , as pointed out by AlChuck.

one trick is to record midi files with a soundblaster and soundfonts (ultra low latency) , and then run the midi files thru a better sounding soft synth or sampler.