Sound Font Help in Pro Audio 9

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Milkman

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Hi All,

This is my first time playing with soundfonts.

First off, specs:

recording MIDI with my Audiophile 2496
win 2k pro
Cakewalk Pro Audio 9
pIII 1ghz
512mg sdram
etc.

I have loaded the soundfont I wish to use into the program alright (options: soundfonts: attach), and have selected the soundfont in the track properties and patch etc. The problem is, is that I cannot here the sound I record into the soundfont playback. Usually, without soundfonts (which works fine) will play the midi sounds through my keyboard. Attached are my settings if it helps. Thanks.

Milkman
 

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What's supposed to be playing the Sound Font? I think you left out that you have a Sound Blaster card too...?

Try changing the Bank Select method to one of the other three choices... I forget which one is the right one...
 
Thanks for the reply. Usually I get the Sound Font playing out of my keyboard so I can actually here what is going on. Yes, I do have an sblive.

I tried changing all the bank select methods...no luck.
 
Do you have the output of the SB Live routed somewhere? Describe your connections...

I have an SB Live and a Delta 66 and I do this all the time, it works just fine... so it is possible...
 
Try changing the Bank Select method to one of the other three choices... I forget which one is the right one...
Click to expand...
"Controller 0" is the right Bank Select Method for SB Live! and Audigy...
 
thanks for the replies guys. I am currently using the midi ins and outs of my audiophile 2496. Midi out of roland keyboard to audiophile in. midi in of keyboard to midi out of audiophile. i also have the outs of my audiophile (audio) going to the ins on mackie, and outs of mackie going to ins of audiophile. Usually, when I play/record midi, it is played out of the keyboard. Just not when I have a soundfont loaded, and the soundfont bank chose. Thanks.
 
In your summary of connections, you don't mention either the audio outputs of the SB Live card, nor the outputs of the Roland being connected anywhere. In that case you could hear nothing at all from either the Roland's on-board sounds (I'm assuming it's not just a MIDI controller keyboard and so it has sounds of its own) nor from the SB Live.

If the SoundBlaster's output is not connected anywhere, of course you will hear nothing when its MIDI synth plays. You also don't say where your keyboard is plugged in, so how can you hear anything from that?

Just a minute... let me focus on this statement you made. You said "Usually, when I play/record midi, it is played out of the keyboard. Just not when I have a soundfont loaded, and the soundfont bank chose."

From that statement, it sounds as if you expect the Sound Font sounds to be played from the keyboard's audio outputs.

If that's so, that explains a lot. The keyboard can't make any sounds except those it has on board the keyboard itself -- plus, maybe, sounds that it can load through a card slot or CD-ROM drive on the keyboard itself, if yours is so equipped.

All the MIDI information coming from the MIDI interface contains is intomation about what notes to play when, and for how long... there is no audio data transferred via MIDI. The sounds of the Sound Fonts are not sent in any way to the keyboard via the MIDI connection.

From your screenshot, you have selected the SB Live's synth to play the track. If the audio output of the SB Live is not connected to your Mackie, well, no wonder you can't hear anything.

Got two more channels open on the mixer? Get a cable to patch the SB Live's output (1/8" stereo minijack) to a pair of 1/4" or RCA plugs that you can plug into the Mackie. Then you'll hear something.
 
Thanks alchuck. Maybe I have not made it clear - the SB Live is not used for anything currently. It doesn't have anything plugged in or out. I am using the audiophile for MIDI. Out of curiosity, how does the screen shot so I have the SB Live selected? It says Sound font device...

When I play MIDI without soundfonts, the computer controls the sounds coming out of the keyboard speakers - there is nothing in the audio ins of the keyboard. So, if I choose the patch to be Honky Tonk piano, then my keyboard sounds like honkey tonk piano etc...but when I load in soundfonts, I hear nothing being played out of anywhere. Thank you.
 
In Options> Midi Device, Inputs and outputs, what do you have listed in both columns and what do you have highlighted and at the top of the two columns?

I may be way off beam here but I thought that only the s/blaster card had direct soundfont support unless you use a software program like Live Synth Pro. So if you want to use s/fonts with your keyboard, if you don't have LSP or similar, you would have to connect your s/blaster into the loop somewhere to your keyboard and select the s/blaster in the midi in and out columns of the midi devices dropdown window.
 
When I play MIDI without soundfonts, the computer controls the sounds coming out of the keyboard speakers - there is nothing in the audio ins of the keyboard. So, if I choose the patch to be Honky Tonk piano, then my keyboard sounds like honkey tonk piano etc...but when I load in soundfonts, I hear nothing being played out of anywhere. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Ok ok, I might be stupid here, but does the Audiophile 2496 support SoundFonts? I didn't think so... So the only reason you can select to play back your SoundFonts is to have a SB Live! installed (otherwise you wouldn't be able to select "SoundFont Device"). So: You're playing your SoundFonts via the SB Live! but cant' hear them playing. I would guess that is because "the SB Live is not used for anything currently. It doesn't have anything plugged in or out". Electric signals need leads and cables to go somewhere, my friend....
 
Bingo, I appear to have been right, but you still don't seem to understand.

The MIDI information you send to the keyboard tells the keyboard what to play. The patches you choose from are the patch names (actually a standard set of names which is part of the General MIDI spec) are the names of the corresponding sounds that are living in the electronic hardware inside the keyboard.

This MIDI data carries no audio information. It cannot change the sound that the synth plays beyond telling it which of the keyboard's native sounds to play (the bank and patch selections).

When you choose the track's output to be to be the Sound Font Device, that is telling the SB Live card's internal hardware to play the selected bank and patch, not your keyboard's internal hardware. So if there's no connection from the SB Live's Line Out to your monitoring setup, you will of course hear nothing.
 
Maybe I have not been clear, but I am not using the SB Live for MIDI. I have been using the audiophile. I'll try switching to the SB Live. Thanks. Do you know if the audiophile even supports soundfonts?
 
Milkman, I think thats what we have been saying to you. Either use the s/blaster or get some software like Live Synth Pro for use with soundfonts and the Audiophile . But to use the s/blaster, you will need the s/blaster linked up to your computer speaker system, thats why you can't hear anything!
 
The Audiophile does not have a MIDI synth on board. It cannot play MIDI sounds. It only has a MIDI interface that can send and receive MIDI messages.

Sorry, I don't mean to shout. I guess you do not understand that a MIDI interface (a device that can send and receive MIDI messages) is not the same as a MIDI sound device (a device that can respond to MIDI messages by playing sounds). The Audiophile has only the interface. It has no MIDI sound-generating hardware at all.

With your current setup you must use the SB Live to play the Sound Fonts.
 
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