WHAT ARE SOUNDFONTS?

SoundFonts is a technology used by many soundcards and software synthesizers that allow you to customize your instrument sounds for MIDI music playback or MIDI sequencing. Developed by Creative Labs and Emu Systems, SoundFont technology allows the user to improve the sound quality of their MIDI playback by either loading a better sounding General MIDI (GM) wavetable sound-set, or loading new (non-GM) sounds for use in music composition and songwriting.  

Musicians, Songwriters and SoundFonts
Songwriters and musicians use SoundFonts to give them access to a much larger palette of sounds from which to compose. In response to the high cost of hardware samplers on the market, composers are now grabbing up less expensive SoundFont compatible soundcards and software synths and using them as pro samplers instead. In the last few years a huge variety of audio systems like this have appeared giving musicians a wide variety of choices, quality and price points. Here are some possibilities. 

Stereo Soundcard with SoundFont Support, Home Studio MIDI Sequencer
Approximate Cost: $250-$350 

Stereo Soundcard with SoundFont Support, Professional MIDI/Audio Sequencer
Approximate Cost: $550-$650 

Multi-Channel Audio Card, SoundFont Compatible Software Synth, Professional MIDI/Audio Sequencer
Approximate Cost: $800-$1200 

A good way to start looking at these options is to check our SoundFont Compatibility list of products. From there you can see what hardware and software options are available. 

Web Surfing and SoundFonts
When you are surfing the web, very often you come across a site and music starts playing out of your speakers. How is this possible? There are a couple of ways this happens. One is that you’ve happened onto a streaming audio site and the music or speech that you are hearing is being "streamed" from the site you are visiting. One popular technology that makes this possible is "Real Audio". If you have the Real Audio player or plug in on your computer than this just happens automatically. Another method is "streaming MIDI". Like streaming audio, the web site you are visiting is streaming or sending MIDI data down to your computer and using the sounds on your soundcard or your hard drive to play the music. The most popular technology that allows this is by a company called Live Update. If you have their streaming MIDI player or plug in installed and you come across a website that is MIDI enabled, MIDI music will automatically start playing. 

So what do SoundFonts do? As mentioned above, if you come across a streaming MIDI site, and there are a lot of them out there, the site will be playing their music but using your PC’s sounds. If you replace or upgrade your PC sounds, then the web music will sound a LOT better. Your new sounds can consist of a higher quality PC soundset or a stylized PC soundset. Sonic Implants offers two GM soundsets, called Industrial Dance PC and Retro Synth PC that replace the standard GM soundset with stylized versions. Click here for more info on those products.

Once you’ve acquired your new GM soundset you’ll need to load it into your soundcards memory. First, locate the SoundFont Control Panel for your soundcard. You can usually find this control panel in the same directory where your other soundcard software resides. If you can’t find it, consult your manual for how to load a SoundFont file. Next, you’ll want to replace your standard GM soundset. To do this, select the .sf2 file that is loaded in Bank 0 of your soundcard. Then load your new .sf2 file into Bank 0.

Gaming and SoundFonts
Many games use MIDI to play the game music. That MIDI music is actually accessing your soundcards General MIDI soundset. Therefore, Gamers can use SoundFonts to replace their standard GM soundset with a higher quality or stylized soundset. You can also replace specific instruments in your soundset or replace the sound effects in your game. (Assuming the game is using MIDI to play its sound effects, some games store sound effects in the game itself.)

Once you’ve acquired a SoundFont GM soundset you’ll need to load it into your soundcards memory. First, locate the SoundFont Control Panel for your soundcard. You can usually find this control panel in the same directory where your other soundcard software resides. If you can’t find it, consult your manual for how to load a SoundFont file. Next, you’ll want to replace your standard GM soundset. To do this, select the .sf2 file that is loaded in Bank 0 of your soundcard. Then load your new .sf2 file into Bank 0. 

One of the coolest things Gamers can do is replace their standard GM wavetable set with a "stylized" GM set. Sonic Implants offers two GM soundsets, called Industrial Dance PC and Retro Synth PC, that replace the standard instruments with stylized versions. For example, orchestral horns are replace with power horns or analog horns, acoustic drums are replaced with TripHop drums or TR808 drums, Electric Basses are replaced with Deep Grunge Basses or Moog Basses, etc. These sets are completely GM compatible so your game music (and MIDI files) will still play the right instruments and make musical sense, only now they’ll have Dance, Industrial, or Retro sounds and mixes.

What is General MIDI (GM)?
Soundcards and software synthesizers often follow an industry standard called General MIDI (GM). This standard is what allows you to play any MIDI (.mid) file on any GM compatible soundcard and have it sound correctly. i.e. the piano part plays a piano; the guitar part plays a guitar, etc. It does this by requiring all GM compatible soundcards to include a GM Wavetable soundset. When your PC plays a MIDI file, it accesses the sounds in your soundcard’s GM wavetable soundset. SoundFonts allow you to replace either the entire GM wavetable set or certain instruments within the set, thus allowing you to customize, upgrade, or stylize how your PC will sound when playing MIDI files. SoundFonts also allow musicians and songwriters to ADD additional sounds to the standard 128 GM wavetable soundset.