some midi questions

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sameaslune

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Hi to whoever is reading this !

I often read that some people have a sondblaster to be able to play their midi sound font. There is a couple of things that I don't get and I'd appreciate if someone could help me with this.

Here ar some questions:

1) To play a midi sound (for example from GM sound bank), do I need to have an onboard (hardware) synthe on my soundcard? Or is this possible through software synthe?

2) About soft synthe; can they play any midi sound or are those synthe just using analog synthesis (oscillators?) ?

3) When I play the same midi soundfont on different computers/different souncard, the sound is not the same. Why?

4) What about virtual instruments? do they play midi files or wave files?

OK, I know that's a lot of questions and I think a got things a little mixed up, but I also know there are some computer-musicianisist-genuis on this forum... If no time, at least if anybody knows a site where I could get somme kind of a tutorial...

Thank you people!
 
You've kinda mixed and matched a lot of terms. Maybe this will help-
Softsynth and Virtual Synths are the same thing and are software based.

Soundfonts are used by Creative SoundBlaster cards and are samples that are loaded into their hardware synth chip.

All of the above use sample based instruments not analog ocillators.
 
1) If your soundcard makes noise when you play a MIDI file, it has a built in synth/sampler. MIDI makes no noise - only a synth or sampler is going to generate sound.

2) You're not really talking about a soft synth, you're talking about MIDI controllers. A MIDI controller sends MIDI messages, which can trigger synths and samplers.

There are many programs out there that can generate MIDI and thus play the stock sounds in your soundcard's MIDI synth. These programs will use what is called a "piano roll editor", which is typically like a keboard on the screen that you can place notes on.

3) MIDI makes no sound. MIDI is just a communications standard. When you play a MIDI file in your audio program, it sends MIDI messages to the synth/sampler on your soundcard. Not all soundcards have the same sounds.

A soundfont is a collection of pre-recorded samples and rules. Thus a good piano soundfont might have a set of unique samples recorded from every single key on a piano at different velocities. The result, if done correctly, can be a fairly realistic instrument.

4) Virtual instruments don't play anything...they are played.

A virutal instrument is a software synth. You trigger it with MIDI messages either from software or an external MIDI controller. The instrument, which can be a sampler or synthesizer, produces the noise you tell it to.


Maybe this will help:

MIDI - a standard for communication between various musical devices.

MIDI controller - a device the sends MIDI messages. A MIDI controller can be hardware (like a keyboard), or software based.

Synth (synthesizer) - something that generates some kind of sound, typicially using ocsillators and various filters. A synthesizer can be software or hardware based. A synth is typically played via a MIDI keyboard (controller).

Sampler - a device that plays pre-recorded samples on MIDI input. Some samplers have the ability to muck with sounds in addition to just playing them back. A sampler can be software or hardware based.

Sequencer - something that generates MIDI messages at programmed times. Thus a sequencer can trigger a sampler or synthesizer. They get pretty complex really.

A "keyboard" - this is what confuses people. A "keyboard" is typically the combination of a keyboard, a built-in synthesizer, and often a built in sampler and some sequencing abilities (e.g. drum beats, etc). Most decent "keyboards" will also have MIDI output that you can use to control any MIDI synth or sampler, bypassing the stuff built in to the keyboard...thus it simply becomes a MIDI controller. Yes it is possible to buy just a MIDI controller keyboard that doesn't make any sound on its own.

VST or DX Instrument (software synth/sampler) - for all intents and purposes, the exact same thing as a regular synth or sampler, but completely implemented on the computer.



So, your soundcard has a built in synthesizer and if it does soundfonts, it kind of has a built in sampler. These sounds are often not very special, however, so using software would be a better way to go. When you're using software, the onboard synth of your soundcard doesn't have to be used at all.

To get started, I recommend fruity loops...a synthesizer/sampler/ sequencer program on crack...but very easy to use. You can use it to play samples, muck with sounds, add effects, trigger instruments (VST and DX instruments), and so on:

http://www.fruityloops.com

Slackmaster 2000
 
thanks for the answer Slackmaster!!! That was a long one and pretty useful, I think I kind of get it now.

Correct me if I'm wrong: sound fonts can be played on a software based synthe?

thanks again man!
 
key assingment?

hi, plz i'd like 2 know if key assignment(connection 4rm software 2 hardware) can be done with midi keyboards or only with midi-controllers,and if sum midi-controllers come as hardware synths apart 4rm being midi-controllers. thanks
 
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