Different MIDI drum sounds in SoundBlaster models

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Hi, I recently bought a new computer with a SB Live soundcard, and I'm not quite satisfied with the sound of the MIDI drums. I think that they sounded much better with the SB PCI 16 model, which I have on my other comp (and of course is older). Anyway, I don't really know much about MIDI, but I was wondering if there's any way to change the MIDI drum sound or if I'm stuck with it as long as I have this soundcard.
Thank you.
 
Well... considering that the SB cards are not audio cards, it's no surprise that's the sound quality is inconsistent from model to model.

Your best bet would be to use a better midi sound source to get your sounds.
 
The SB Live card supports a sample format called Sound Fonts. There are tons of commercial ones and free ones available on the net. It's one of the handiest features of the SB Live card.

I'm surprised that you found the GM sound on the cheesier model (which does not support Sound Fonts, hence the drum sound is the drum sound) better-sounding than the default one on the SB Live... if anything I'd expect them to be about the same.

Maybe some of the people here will chime in with Sound Font suggestions. I really like the Sonic Implants Blue Jay Drums and I also found many good free ones at the Hammersound site:

http://www.hammersound.net/
 
Thanks for replying. How exactly do I find new sounds? (remember that I'm a newbie)
 
Oh, I hadn't seen your first response. Thanks for the tips!

Edit: BTW, to me the SB Live default MIDI drums sound like a toy drum or something, whereas the MIDI drums I used with the SB PCI 16 sounded almost real.
 
Ok, I've downloaded a couple of soundfonts and used them. The thing is, I downloaded a Drum Soundfont and it replaced all the instruments, so now instruments 00 and 01 are drums, while the others (which are like over a hundred) are just empty. I'll have to check that out again, cause I'm starting to get lost...
Anyway, I'd like to know if there's a soundfont that emulates the SB PCI 16 MIDI sounds or something like that.
Thanks!
 
Generator, can you specify several things here, and maybe we can help get the most out of your SBLive! MIDI features.

Please tell us your Processor, RAM, Windows, and how do you want to use soundfonts. What's your MIDI sequencer/application? Do you want to record to audio (wave and burn to CD audio), or just playing live with the MIDI song (karaoke style)?

;)
Jaymz
 
Ok, here it goes:

- Intel Pentium 2.6 HT
- 512 mb RAM
- Windows XP
- Voyetra Orchestrator (really old program) or vanBasco's Karaoke Player

Basically, I just want to change the way the MIDI drums sound, since I use them to record songs and I want them to sound as real as possible. I'm not interested in using more complex programs such as Fruity Loops to make percussion lines; what I do is take an already existant percussion line (from any .mid file), convert it to .wav and edit it to fit the song. I know it's a very unconventional method, but I'm used to it and I really feel more comfortable sticking to that plan instead of using the above mentioned type of programs.
Anyway, I'm not quite satisfied with the sound of the preset MIDI drums, so I want to change them for something that sounds less synthetized.
As I told you before, I've downloaded a couple of soundfonts from Hammersound. One of them is called "Real Drums" or something like that. I replaced the preset bank with it, and that of course replaced all of the instruments. That's why when I use this new soundfont I only get two instruments with sound (00 and 01, which are drums) and the rest are empty.
So, what I want is to keep most of the instruments already availabe in the original SB Live soundfont but change the drums.
I hope that clears thing up a bit :)
Sorry about the length of this post!
 
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Okay... I'm trying to make it simple for you...

First, open Creative's AudioHQ from Windows' program menu. Once AudioHQ opened, open Soundfonts. Go to third tab, and raise memory alocation for soundfonts. Say 30MB. Then to the first tab. Attach new any drums soundfonts to Bank 1. Yes, bank 1, NOT bank 0. Doing this procedure, you left Bank 0 as your GM standard bank, and add new drums soundfonts to Bank 1. Now, you have two bank independently.

Close Soundfonts and AudioHQ. Open one of your song in Voyetra Orchestrator. I assume you use Internal SBLive! for your initial MIDI port. That's good. On the drum track, select channel OTHER than 10. Select Bank 1, patch 1. Leave other instruments' track use bank 0 with their respective channels. You'll hear new drums sound using bank 1, while the rest of your instrument still sound the same using GM bank 0.

Hope you got the idea...

Back if you have any difficulties :)

ps. The BEST "general purpose" drum kit soundfont I've ever used is Gold Drums. Find it on mentioned site... :cool:

;)
Jaymz
 
Ok, now I know what the problem is. See, the thing is that my source for the percussion lines is always channel 10 (because that's apparently where the drums are placed in all midis), i.e. the channel that can't be affected by the patches. The drum soundfonts are great for people who actually sequence their own percussion lines, but not for me. I only work with existant midis.
So that's my difficulty; is there any way to change the sound of the percussion in channel 10 in a standard midi?

Edit: [update] I replaced the 2MB sf2 file with a 4MB sf2 that I found in the SB Live installation disc. Drums sound a little better, so I guess that must be the answer??
 
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Yes... Then the only way for you to change the GM drums sound is to replace the GM soundfont in bank 0 with better GM soundfont. Initialy, SBLive! installation will attach 2MB GM soundfont on bank 0. Replace it by something better using procedure above. Here's some link to site contains heluva good GM soundfont. It's in bigger size (can be more than 40Meg), but worth to try... It's free anyway :)

http://www.personalcopy.com/sfarkfonts1.htm

And don't forget to check Windows' control panel --> Sound and audio devices --> Audio tab --> MIDI music playback, set default to either SBLive! synth A or B (or something similiar)-not SBLive! SW synth or Microsoft GS Wavetable softsynth.

;)
Jaymz
 
Yeah, I edited my post just before you replied. You've been of GREAT help and I really appreciate it. Thanks a lot!
 
Aaah, good :) And FYI, 8MB version in the installation CD is what I recomended. Better sound, rather great for it's size, and better bank/patch management compared to 2MB and 4 MB version. Try it out :)

One more thing, sometime, GM drum bank has several "hidden" patches which can be accesed by browsing higher patch number on channel 10 (eg. 16, 40, 48, 32) with your sequencer. There's rock kit, TR909 kit, brush kit, analog kit, Orchestra kit, etc...

;)
Jaymz
 
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