Samples vs. Soundfonts

[jgetman]

I use fruity and I have a stupid newbie question.

As I'm trolling the web, looking for synth sounds that I can play around with on the Fruity pianoroll.

But, as an newbie (see above), I get confused when I see "sounds" referred to as "samples" in one place and "soundfonts" in another.

Can someone explain the difference (if there is one).

And does the format of the "soundfont" (i.e. MP3 vs. WAV, etc) have an effect on the quality of the sample? what format Should I be looking for?

Thanks for the help

 

[Slackmaster2K]

If you're looking for *synths*, then you should be looking for VSTi's (virtual instruments). They are basically the software equivalent of synthesizers, although sound quality of course varies dramatically from instrument to instrument.

As far as soundfonts and samples....a soundfont consists of one or more (usually more) samples with rules as to which sample will be played, and how it will be played, given a specific input. In other words, a soundfont might respond to velocity (how hard you hit the keyboard) and aftertouch (how long you hold down the key). A sample, on the other hand, is just a sample. Yes you can set the velocity of a sample, but it doesn't sound very realistic. A good soundfont might consist of hundreds of samples of the various notes of an instrument being played in numerous ways (hard, soft, etc). Basically, a soundfont is a stupid name for a sound module.

Before you ask, no fruity loops has no native soundfont support, but you can buy soundfont support via an extention from fruity. If you've got the right hardware, like a Soundblaster Live, you can also use soundfonts in fruity. Yes, you can get the original waveforms out of a soundfont if you've got the right software. I use a program called Awave to break soundfonts into waves on occasion.

Working with wave samples to mimic an instrument isn't a lot of fun, but it can be done. I'd recommend looking for VSTi's though. Try http://www.thepluginlist.com

Slackmaster 2000

 

[jgetman]

Slack:

2 things -

1) As always, thanks very much for your detailed response. You've answered a lot of questions for me over the past month or so, and I appreciate your time.

2) I've been to the plugin List that you mentioned. Are there any other good VSTI repositories out there that you know of?

Thanks again,
J

 

[Slackmaster2K]

Well, the plugin list has over 110 VST instruments listed currently. That's about the best resource I've found. I did find a few by searching via google, but of course that's kind of a pain.

Slackmaster 2000