Recommend Me Some Great GM Soundfonts

[Flynn Taggart]

I have been playing Doom with Timidity4Zdoom + WeedsGM3 and I am really satisfactory with the results of going through my favorite wads and listening to the MIDI music quality but I am looking for new Soundfonts for a little change from WeedsGM3. Post some great Soundfonts you know here. I prefer something with great bass, drums, and guitar instruments but is still consistent.

[RFNagel]

Hehe, although I'm a bit partial to WeedsGM3 (of course <grin>), there's a nice list that I mention over on an installation instruction web page that I created for the BASSMIDI Driver -> http://jasonwilliams400com.startlogic.c ... ration.htm or here -> http://www.mudlord.info/bassmididrv/BAS ... ration.htm

[Flynn Taggart]

That's a fine selection. I was amazed at the quality of the AWE32 one because of how small it is.

[RFNagel]

I was amazed at the quality of the AWE32 one because of how small it is.

That one is an actual dump from an AWE-32's onboard 1MB ROM... in other words, sounds just like a real (stock) AWE-32

(edit) P.S. Nothing beats the overall balanced sound (for it's small size) of the bog-standard "8MBGM E-mu Rev B (EmuAPS8.sf2/8MBGM.sf2)" as well

[Blox]

I was amazed at the quality of the AWE32 one because of how small it is.

I think that's a sign of good craftsmanship, if anything.

Of course it's not exactly suited for doom's music as it sounds.

[Flynn Taggart]

(edit) P.S. Nothing beats the overall balanced sound (for it's small size) of the bog-standard "8MBGM E-mu Rev B (EmuAPS8.sf2/8MBGM.sf2)" as well

This one might be my new standard . But still keep em coming.

[BlueFireZ88]

In extension to this thread, I was also wondering about this subject. I've been using SilverSpring 1.5 and was wondering if some one could recommend some good soundfonts I can use with Timidity?

[Sgt Dopey]

Don't the ones that have been linked work with timidity already?

[Flynn Taggart]

Don't the ones that have been linked work with timidity already?

Yeah, they do.

[Virtue]

for me this is the definative soundfont, its got a crisp distortion and overdrive guitar and AWESOME string, synth, woodwind, and brass. The only thing that slightly lets it down is the drums and bass section, however, they arnt bad and a million miles away from 90s GM soundfonts.

http://www.schristiancollins.com/generaluser.php

[BlueFireZ88]

Which version of this soundfont is the most compatible with Timidity?

[RFNagel]

Which version of this soundfont is the most compatible with Timidity?

I would have to say the "SoftSynth version 1.44" one, as (I'm pretty sure that) Timidity doesn't support the SF 2.1 modulators.

That being said, the BASSMIDI Driver (mentioned previously) _does_, and works fine with the "Sound Blaster version 1.44" one (as it's about as close to REAL E-mu hardware SF2 synthesis as you'll get).

[BlueFireZ88]

I'm surprised how easy BASSMIDI is to use. Just pick what soundfont I want and done. The most recent version allows you to use two soundfonts at the same time (almost). I'm impressed with this.

Also, out of the General User GS soundfonts, which one do you think is the best one, both in terms of compatibility and quality?

[RFNagel]

I'm surprised how easy BASSMIDI is to use. Just pick what soundfont I want and done. The most recent version allows you to use two soundfonts at the same time (almost). I'm impressed with this.

Yes, the dual port and SoundFont feature is something that Kode54 and MudLord recently added. It acts just like an SBLive then... two MIDI ports that can have a different SoundFont loaded into each (as well as "stacked" SoundFont support, similar to the SBLive).

They also recently added a buffer slider control, which helps to minimize "stutters" when playing MIDI files (when the SoundFont's samples are initially loaded), as well as maybe helping to lower latency (for real-time performance).

Overall, most folks that were used to the sound of Timidity found that the overall sound and synthesis of the BASSMIDI Driver sounded MUCH nicer (as it's closer to real E-mu hardware SoundFont synthesis).

Also, out of the General User GS soundfonts, which one do you think is the best one, both in terms of compatibility and quality?

I really don't know, the only one that I've tried is the one mentioned above... but it seems to be fairly well balanced, and the instruments/samples sound fairly realistic


P.S. For anyone interested, here's a MIDI implementation chart of all of the MIDI controllers that the BASSMIDI Driver supports (the driver is based on Ian Luck's BASSMIDI Audio Libraries, so it's the same for that as well... including Ian Luck's MIDI Plugin for his freeware media player "XMPlay"):

http://www.mudlord.info/bassmididrv/BAS ... _Chart.htm , or here http://jasonwilliams400com.startlogic.c ... _Chart.htm .

[Blox]

for me this is the definative soundfont, its got a crisp distortion and overdrive guitar and AWESOME string, synth, woodwind, and brass. The only thing that slightly lets it down is the drums and bass section, however, they arnt bad and a million miles away from 90s GM soundfonts.

http://www.schristiancollins.com/generaluser.php

My only complaint kind of counts for a lot of soundfonts, and that is that the "kick" instrument is very quiet compared to Ye Olde Thingy that we're all used to.
Otherwise, yeah. This sounds good. (I wouldn't exactly call the drums bad, perhaps on some select songs. But all soundfonts kind of suffer from that.)