Getting Started With SoundFonts

Soundfonts are nothing more than a group of samples of a real instrument packaged in one file to use with midi sequencers like Cakewalk to give a more realistic sound to midi files. SynthFont allows us to use soundfonts whether we have a Creative sound card or not!

1. Install SynthFont (http://www.synthfont.com/)
2. Download some decent soundfonts. Here are a few good sites to find them...
Hammersound (http://hammersound.net/cgi-bin/soundlink.pl)
NSKIT (http://www.naturalstudio.co.uk/ns_kit7freedownload.html)
Soundfont.it (http://www.soundfonts.it/)
SF2Midi (http://www.sf2midi.com/)

Do a search on Google for more! Read the reviews of the Soundfonts and download whatever soundfonts you may need (especially bass and drum soundfonts!). The soundfont you download will depend on what type of music you want to create backings for. Usually, the bigger the file is, the better quality the SF2. Organize these SF2s into folders (bass, piano, drums, etc.) so you can find them when needed.

*Some files may be compressed with SFARK to reduce their size for downloading. After installing it, right click the file to uncompress it to get a SF2 file.

***WARNING***
Using SF2s (soundfonts) requires lots of RAM. If your computer is slow or freezes, make sure you are not running any unnecessary programs during this process. A good utility to make sure nothing is running that shouldn't be is End It All (http://www.pcmedixwebs.com/enditall.htm)

Creating a Backing Track Using SynthFont


So, you want to make your own backing track to jam to! Believe it or not, it's pretty simple to do. First things first, you need a midi to work with. A simple Google search should find it. A good resource is http://www.musicrobot.com.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_m7aa94a0f.jpg


1) When you first start SynthFont you'll probably see a message similar to this. The program just needs a default soundfont to use for loading midi files. Click OK. This soundfont is used whenever a midi file is loaded for which there is no soundfont information and should thus preferably be a GM (General Midi) SoundFont (called Collections at the Hammersound site). SynthFont uses an arrangement file having the same base name as the midi file for storing soundfont information. If there is no arrangement file, but there exists a soundfont file having the same base name as the midi file in the path, then that will be used (and assigned to all channels). You can change the default GM soundfont later from the File menu as shown below...


http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_1a9e6dc0.jpg

Click File - Open and choose the midi file you want to convert. Sometimes, larger tracks are split into two tracks... no big deal. Ignore any warnings and click OK. Remember, the larger your default soundfont, the longer it will take it to load.[/SIZE]

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_40f74ed2.jpg
3) Press OK to play the file. If you're using a different version, you may not see this, so just press the Play button.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_md36a890.jpg
4) The midi starts playing. Note the progress bar and the volume levels. Listen and double-click the tracks you want to mute (such as guitars, keyboards, etc.) til you hear only the tracks you want in your backing track. Depending on the way the midi was created, the tracks may or may not be labeled, so you may have to go by ear. Stop the track and restart it to be sure all the unwanted tracks are muted.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_32ad322b.jpg
5) Take a look at this section. Note the different tracks. All of them are using the same soundfont (SF2 file) but different SF2 programs (or presets). This is because each track is assigned a different midi program. Of course, this is just a low quality GM soundfont to get started. We'll change that, but only for the tracks used in the backing (in this case, bass and drums).

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_514f82f3.jpg


http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_2e8774f2.jpg
6) So first, lets get a better sounding drum soundfont in there. Select the drum track and press the F3 key to assign a different drum soundfont (there are other ways, this is just the easiest for me, you can also click the file button on the right or rt-click the track and choose assign soundfont file and they'll all give you the same result). Again, remember that if the file is pretty big, it may take a while to load the SF2 into memory.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_m5f6d54e5.jpg
7) Do the same for the bass. If your files are split, make sure you do the same for both of them. You can also select them together holding down the CTRL key.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_mcf17d4f.jpg
8) If you get a warning like this, choose Yes to All

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_1102b2ec.jpg
10) Ok, so far we've opened a midi file and selected the soundfonts we want to use. But that's just the beginning. Soundfonts are dry samples of instruments. We need to beef them up a bit using effects...

So, what effects should we use??? Good question. I'm still learning. For this example, to keep it simple, I'll just be using one effect. Many times I use 3 and 4 effects on just one track. There's a million combinations to use, and a lot of it is trial and error, but here are some basic general rules I go by to get you started...

- Drums... use reverb and compression. For the advanced users who split the drum track, try not to use too much reverb on the snare as it will muddy the sound.

Bass... very slight reverb, maybe some EQ

Any other effects will depend on the track. Sometimes a little distortion is needed, or maybe an adjusted EQ. The possibilities are endless, and you'll get better at it as you do more of these, trust me;) Output VST Effects section on the right. You'll notice there are different Bus Channels. The Main Bus Channel affects all tracks, so we don't want to use that one. What we want to do is assign each instrument to a different bus. Select Bus1.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_6312cd20.jpg
11) The first time you do this, you'll have to add your VST folders so SynthFont can scan them for available VST effects. Do this by clicking the Add button.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_67d30c51.jpg
12) After adding the folders, choose the effect(s) you want to use and click Add to chain

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_m61dc6c6b.jpg
13) Note that I added the BBE Sonic Maximizer plugin to Bus 1. The (1) means that it's the first instance of that plugin, case you use the same plugin for different tracks. Now, select the drum track and click the Assign button and see what happens:)

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_215f1892.jpg
14) Under the Bus section, the track now says M+Bus 1, meaning that every effect in Bus 1 will be applied to the drums.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_24a47f6f.jpg
15) Do the same for the bass track using Bus 2 and the effects you wish to use for bass.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_6ada4443.jpg
16) Double click the effect to open the parameters of the effect. This is where you adjust the settings or choose presets. Watch for clipping! (When the volume is too high and it distorts the sound.) Do this for all effects used on all tracks.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_m5a5424cb.jpg
17) After setting up the effects play the midi file and listen for the volume levels. Note the button above or near the track volume. You can change things like volume, panning, etc here. You want a good mix and you'll probably have to make some adjustments to get it just right. If it's distorting, you'll probably have to change one of the VST effect parameters.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_m418aa0db.jpg
18) If, at some point you see this message you will need to change the playback buffer size in the options. This will be more likely if you use a lot of effects or have a slower machine.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_67a58103.jpg
19) When you're happy with the mix, it is time to convert to mp3. Choose the quality you want and a name for the file and save it.

If you're going to use the file further (in a recording or maybe in another program for further processing/editing, I'd recommend converting to wave and also choosing the option to separate the tracks(files) so you have more control over mixing volumes later on.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_4f34e6de.jpg
20) You'll see this message, click Yes

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_mb717468.jpg
21) For faster rendering unclick the "To Spkrs" button. This mutes the track while it converts the file.

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_m7cb6c941.jpg
22) Press Play to start the rendering (conversion).

http://www.guitarblast.com/podgod/tutorials/BTwithSynthFont/BTwithSynthFont_html_18d49deb.jpg
23) When the conversion is finished, click "File" and choose "Save Arrangement" This way, if you need to make some changes later, you won't have to repeat all the steps.

Well, there you go... that's how you make your own backing track from a simple midi file using SynthFont. Be sure to share your creations here at GuitarBlast!

Another saved offline html file! This is great stuff PG!! This is where my main problems are. A SB Audigy doesn't seem to like some fonts i try and use, though no SB soundcard guys can make them work fine. I will read up on this.
Thanks! :)

A SB Audigy doesn't seem to like some fonts i try and use, though no SB soundcard guys can make them work fine. I will read up on this.
Thanks! :)

There shouldn't be a problem using SynthFont, as it is not dependant on your soundcard. Did you follow the tutorial completely. I have an old SB Live and it works without any problems. I don't use the Creative software though, just the drivers. Maybe that's causing it:dunno:

Another saved offline html file! This is great stuff PG!! This is where my main problems are. A SB Audigy doesn't seem to like some fonts i try and use, though no SB soundcard guys can make them work fine. I will read up on this.

These are the ones with which I learned all this messing with midis and BT´s. Easy read all the way, and very well done! Many thanks for posting them!
Hey 3F, I have a SB Audigy too, and have had no problem using all of these. If you have any trouble give me a shout :)