Recommended Soundfonts?

that is a lot of reverb. it's pretty noticeable since that track already uses a lot of fake delay, which gets amplified by the soundfont's already existing reverb. on certain tracks, the amount of reverb is gonna cause a lot of feedback that overpowers everything else if it uses a lot of fake delay and reverb. it also seems to be really quiet at low note velocities too, making the piano panned to the right pretty hard to hear.

I recently learned about this soundfont. I haven't listened to it much yet, but it was at least made with the right intentions:

https://fatboy.site/

For my taste, it's far too big. A good soundfont doesn't need to exceed 32 MB if it's well done and optimized. It also depends on what kinda sound you are aiming for.

I have accepted 8MBGM Enhanced v1.8 (27 MB) as my final choice by now:

http://www.bredel.homepage.t-online.de/Soundfonts/Soundfonts-English/soundfonts-english.html

While it was made for Descent, Days of the Tentacle and Indiana Jones adventure games, it also sounds great with Doom, ROTT or Duke3D. It's based on Creative's well-balanced 8mbgm.sf2 (to be correct: Merlin 8mbgm_plus13.sf2, so technically it's the enhancement of an enhancement) and was improved with better instruments to make these mid-90s games sound as good as possible.

On 4/14/2019 at 4:19 AM, NightFright said:

For my taste, it's far too big. A good soundfont doesn't need to exceed 32 MB if it's well done and optimized. It also depends on what kinda sound you are aiming for.

 

I have accepted 8MBGM Enhanced v1.8 (27 MB) as my final choice by now:

 

http://www.bredel.homepage.t-online.de/Soundfonts/Soundfonts-English/soundfonts-english.html

 

While it was made for Descent, Days of the Tentacle and Indiana Jones adventure games, it also sounds great with Doom, ROTT or Duke3D. It's based on Creative's well-balanced 8mbgm.sf2 (to be correct: Merlin 8mbgm_plus13.sf2, so technically it's the enhancement of an enhancement) and was improved with better instruments to make these mid-90s games sound as good as possible.

Oddly enough i've been using the regular Merlin 8mbgm_plus13.sf2 as my soundfont of choice lately. I found mine here though: http://www.soundfonts.gonet.biz/search.php?grupo=0&goto=1 I've found that the Merlin 8mbgm plus13 seems to be the most well-balanced as well for the few Doom PWAD's that have custom music. It seems to sound good for the regular Doom/Doom II IWAD music too.

The Merlin Creative/Silver/Gold ones aren't bad, but they tend to miss a few instruments here and there and/or sound off in certain ways although i do like the slightly heavier drums in them. But while playing Doom i rarely noticed them so it didn't matter (the drums i mean). Also, i didn't know there was an enhanced version of the Merlin 8mbgm_plus13.sf2. An "enhancement of an enhancement" so to speak haha! I might have to check that one out...

I've been using Coolsoft VirtualMIDISynth lately as i've only recently begun to mess around with listening to MIDI's. You can actually just use the built in TiMidty++ player while using GZDoom as it sounds basically the same. You just have to copy the .sf2 to the soundfonts folder and change it in the GZDoom menu (or in the .cfg file). 

The few that i have chosen to keep in my "soundfont chain" are the Merlin 8mbgm_plus13.sf2, the 8M Original EMU (sort of the same thing) & the Merlin GM v22 (i found i like the v22 better then the v32 for some reason). It's mainly just to see what the difference is while playing a MIDI. I usually switch back to the first one (8mbgm_plus13) as it's seems to be the most "well-balanced" one that i have found so far.

Call me crazy, but i went back to M$ GS Wavetable Synth. Speaking of balance - there are no better SW synth. Quality of samples is acceptable, with some midis it even sounds cool. I have read that this synth is laggy, but i haven't noticed any lag during playback.

Well, many Doom community projects actually have their MIDIs composed based on gm.dls, so there simply isn't THE perfect soundfont for everything. I believe though that soundfonts based on the 8mbgm are what I personally expect Doom to sound like since I always had Creative soundcards, so this sound is kinda familiar to me. 

I can really recommend this "enhanced" Merlin soundfont. The guy put a lot of work into it. Especially Descent sounds amazing, IMHO even better than on an SC-55. I was sceptical whether it would also convince me in other games, but it seems to me as if it's really a very solid all-rounder for games of the 90s.

the Microsoft synth has simply too many intricacies in how it sounds that music composed specifically for Doom is going to sound the best on it, with very few exceptions (i think the Eternal Doom soundtrack was composed with another wavetable in mind, but that's it). even 8MBGM is different enough, although some sounds are exactly like the Microsoft one. my "soundfont" that i use isn't a single set, but rather cobbled together from various sources to make something that sounds the best to me. it sounds fine enough to me, but there are still parts that just won't sound good enough.

In the end it's up to personal taste. I don't need to have perfect instruments throughout the whole soundfont, it just needs to sound balanced regarding volume and overall instrument quality. 4 MB soundfonts can sound better than some with 100 or 200 MB if they are done properly. 

Everybody recommends something else, but I try to go for sizes below 32 MB with the best sound possible for that size.

After long and painful switching between GeneralUser GS, MS GS Wavetable and Yamaha S-YXG50 WDM SoftSynth i have made final choice, it's Yamaha S-YXG50. It has only few minor balance issues with some midis composed with sound canvas and is killer with complex XG midis.

Since this topic got resurrected, does anyone have any soundfont suggestions for Hexen? I'd like to try something new with the music.

My soundfont experiences:

4 hours ago, seed said:

Since this topic got resurrected, does anyone have any soundfont suggestions for Hexen? I'd like to try something new with the music.

Try GeneralUser GS. It's balanced for everything, including retro games. But it's not so well balanced for Doom's and other midis balanced for Sound Canvas/MS GS Wavetable - i have spotted some way too silent or even non-audible instruments in some midis. But it has good balance for Heretic's music, so should be good for Hexen too. http://schristiancollins.com/generaluser.php

I was trying to find the most similar soundfont to PrBoom+'s SDL. I have listened to more than 45 soundfonts, but haven't found the best one.

Here are the soundfonts that I found decent:

- Industry Standard 1.4.sf2 - almost all instuments play at the same loudness level. Sometimes it's difficult to differ front and back music if you listen to a map track for the first time.

- SC-55.sf2 - wonderful soundfont, but it's intended for classic Doom music and may not playback exotic music well.

- WeedsGM3.sf2 - pretty nice one. About 40% of instruments sound close to SDL.

- masquerade55v004.sf2 - a little worse than WeedsGM3, but still handles any music, not only classic Doom.

Musyng and Musica 1.7 don't work at all, so don't spend time on downloading these large files.

Silverspring15 has ear-spliting drums (they are very loud). So has Studio Works 2007 Lite.

SDL does not sound like anything. PrBoom+ SDL uses Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth if you're on Windows. This soundfont have best balance of all soundfonts, sounds identical to Microsoft GS Wavetable. http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=500

On 8/18/2019 at 6:54 AM, gotsu said:

My soundfont experiences:

  Hide contents

2MBGMGS.SF2 - Nice and balanced, a good alternative to scc1t2. The sounds are lower fidelity than 4MBGM and 8MBGM but the velocity and general balance is better compared to these in my opinion. Recommended.

18.6mg Quasisynth GM V2.0 Bank.sf2 - Not very good. One of distorted guitar patches has power chords so many MIDIs will sound off. Drums are punchy but lacking in treble. Synths way too loud. Balance is nice. Overall not recommended.

32MbGMStereo.sf2 - Punchy and very balanced, but all sounds are very synthy, so discretion is advised. Personally I enjoy it very much. Highly recommended.

037.4 Bennet Ng Another GS V1.0 Bank.sf2 - Not much to write home about. Same dist/overdr guitar patches as many other amateur soundfonts. Not recommended.

a320 neo.sf2 - Most of the patches seem to be from Sound Canvas. Balance is very bad. Not recommended.

A320U.sf2 - Again, most of the patches are from SC. Balance is better and size is smaller. I can recommend this as a scc1t2 substitute.

a340.sf2 - Balance is off, many sounds are very loud, but the patches themselves are quite nice. Discretion is advised.

Airfont_380_final.sf2 - Dist/overdr guitar is way too loud, also it lacks some notes. I guess it may be enough for Doom but still, not recommended.

Android Synthesizer.sf2 - Many of the patches are off-pitch, too bad as the patches themselves are quite nice. It's fun as a novelty soundfont. Not recommended.

Android_Soundfont.sf2 - Sounds like old phone soundfont. Fun as a novelty.

CHORIUM v2.4, Professional Soundbank (GM and GS Compatible).sf2 - Punchy. Reverb is very powerful. The balance is nice but some of the patches are quite jarring.

CM500HD.sf2 - Patches are nice but it may not be in GM.

Conexant GM500 Beta.sf2 - Good soundfont with a powerful guitar sound, which sometimes drowns other sounds. Recommended.

DGX 32M GM.sf2 - Very nice drums. Dist/overdr guitar patches are the same as in other amaters SFs - you'll know em when you'll hear em. Recommended.

DGX 45M GM.sf2 - You'd think it would be better than the previous one but no. Most of the patches are worse. Not recommended.

DGX 62M GM.sf2 - Most of the patches are different again. Overdr guitar has a very high attack so some of Doom tracks sound weird. Not recommended.

emuaps_8mb.sf2 - I think it might be the same as 8MBGMSFX.SF2

Eternal Hydrogen II - FM.sf2 + Eternal Hydrogen II - FM-Drum.sf2 - It's fine. There are better FM soundfonts though.

FAT_OPL2FM_v2.sf2 - Nice recreation of Fat Man OPL patches in SF form.

FM-PCM GM 0.74r102.sf2 - Fine as a novelty but many patches sound off.

FMSynthesis1.40.sf2 - Good soundfont, sourced from various FM modules. Recommended.

gbfont.sf2 - A font with 8bit sounds. Not really recommended as the quality is subpar

GeneralUser GS 1.35.sf2 - Personally I don't like GeneralUser because the guitar is jarring and drums are too weak.

GMR Basico1.1.sf2 - The dist/overdr guitar is terrible. Other patches are fine. I would recommend if not for the guitars.

GXSCC_gm_033.sf2 - THE 8bit font. Highly recommended. Superb quality.

Hollywood.sf2 - Great balance, nice synthy guitar and punchy drums. Small  size but at the expense of some patches - they are simply not present. I will recommend this though.

Industry Standard 1.4.sf2 - Again sounds similar to other amateur fonts. Just your run-of-the-mill font.

Jnsgm2.sf2 - Nice font. Guitars are again the same as in Industry Standard and others but other patches are pretty nice and balanced. Recommended.

just t4 fixed.sf2 - HIGHLY Recommended. One of the best fonts but it weighs half a gigabyte. Balance is great, drums are super punchy. But some of the sounds are loud so can cause noticeable clipping in some MIDIs. Good for all kinds of music!

masquerade55v004.sf2 - Nice and balanced, can be safely used as a scc1t2 substitute because of its great balance. Patches are very similar to Sound Canves. Recommended!

Masterpiece.sf2 - Personally I don't like this soundfont. Dist gt has a bit high attack (no transient in the sample).

MegaDrive to MIDI Soundfont (Polyphonic).sf2 - Very fun as a novelty font. The dist/overdr gt is very metallic and cool - sounds more like some arcade Nihon Bussan games which were famous for this sound in VGM. The guitar can sometimes overpower other sounds. Recommended!

MidiBel GM50 NX.sf2 - Great font, all sounds are very balanced and come together nicely. Recommended!

Mini Groove  88ish.sf2 - Superb font with a little bit of emphasis on guitar sounds. Balance is great and drums are punchy. Recommended!

OPL3.SF2 - Nice recreation of OPL3 sounds in font form. Recommended. The only advantage to the next one is the smaller size.

OPL-3_FM_128M.sf2 - Often recognized as the best OPL3 soundfont. Recommended.

pc98_ym2608.sf2 - Good for the nostalgic PC98 FM Sound! Drums are very weird though. Recommended.

Piconica_Soundfont.sf2 - Interesting 8bit soundfont with a character. Balance is nice. Recommended.

R_FM_v1LXE.sf2 - Nice FM Soundfont but the balance is off. Unfortunately cannot recomend.

real xg DANGDUT.sf2 - Individual patches are fine but it doesn't work overall. Again no transient on guitars for some reason. Not recommended.

Retro Synth PC.sf2 - Completely synth soundfont. Fun as a novelty.

RSC.sf2 - Too overpowering guitar, otherwise would be fine.

SC-55.sf2 - NOT recommended as a scc1t2 substitute. Balance is way off.

SGM fonts - Personally not recommended. They all suffer from bad balance, even if the patches are fine. The latest SGM SGM-v2.01-NicePianosGuitarsBass-V1.2.sf2 would be fine if not for the very weak  drums. You can't hear the kick drum at all.

Shadow 1.0.sf2 - Nice font but the drums are way too powerful. Discretion is advised.

sonido_gm_24mb.sf2 - Weird guitar patches.Not recommended.

SONIVOX 24 Meg GM Wavetable GS Soundfont.sf2 - HIGHLY recommended. One of the best in terms of patches and balance. Sadly not perfect - but still superb!

SONIVOX 4 Meg GM Set.sf2 - Seems to have been based on the 24 mb one, weighs less but it comes at a cost - some sounds are not present. Still sounds nice!

SONiVOX_GS250.sf2 - For some reason this is worse... Samples are all different, balance is all over the place. Not recommended.

sYnerGi 200.sf2 - Nice font, punchy drums. Guitar is sometimes overpowering. Still recommended.

sYnerGiGS.sf2 - Different sounds than in previous font but still nice. Recommended.

SYNTHGMS.SF2 - I think this is a recreation of Gravis. Personally I don't like it but it is nice. Recommended.

Touhou.sf2 - This seems to have been composed of Touhou soundfont (claims to take sounds from Touhou Windows games) without drums and a drum only soundfont. Guitars are standard. Personally I don't like it. Balance is off. Not recommended.

Turtle Beach Montego II Aureal GM.sf2 - Superb oldscool soundfont! Great replacement for Scc1t2. Highly recommended!

Utopia Live! 2.0 WDM S.sf2 - Nice soundfont with very stereo panned drums which results in very peculiar sound. Recommended.

Wave Blaster Two.sf2 - Weird oldschool soundfont. Recommended but discretion is advised.

WinGroove.sf2 - Based on old Win16 MIDI software, it sounds very well and unique. Recommended!

YAMAHA-ATSMA7.sf2 - Fun as a novelty. Weird synthy guitar. Discretion advised.

YFMX5.sf2 - It doesn't really sound FM. Not recommended.

 

Old phone soundfonts:

LG_Wink_Style_T310_Soundfont.sf2

mobile_0300_base.sf2

mobile30.sf2

Nokia_1202_RH-112-1.sf2

Nokia_3220__RH-37.sf2

Nokia_6230i_RM-72_.sf2

Series_40_5th_edition_FP1__GM_.sf2

All of them are pretty similar and generally inoffensive. Balance in these is generally good but sound fidelity suffers for obvious reasons. Generally they will sound nice with any MIDI.

From these I cound recommend Series_40_5th_edition_FP1__GM_.sf2 and LG_Wink_Style_T310_Soundfont.sf2.

 

 

That's quite a list of soundfonts. What do you think of Roland SC-55 v3.7.sf2 ? Is it well balanced? Does it make a good scc1t2 replacement? Also, could you elaborate on what makes good scc1t2 replacements?

17 hours ago, Loud Silence said:

SDL does not sound like anything. PrBoom+ SDL uses Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth if you're on Windows. This soundfont have best balance of all soundfonts, sounds identical to Microsoft GS Wavetable. http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=500

If he's using Linux, he might be referring to either freepats, timgm6mb or FluidR3.

@gotsu

Have you tried 8MBGM Enhanced v1.8 posted earilier?

http://www.bredel.homepage.t-online.de/Soundfonts/Soundfonts-English/soundfonts-english.html

Doesn't GZDoom with Fluidsynth and the default gzdoom soundfont make the E1M1 music sound ridiculous as soon as the bass starts? It seems too loud to me, can anyone confirm? It goes like DOT DOT DOT DOT DOT DOT DOT DOT

EDIT: Fluidsynth sucks, Timidity++ is kinda better. Why isn't THAT the default MIDI player?

EDIT 2: I think Timidity is windows-only, maybe that's why.

GZDoom has both TiMidity-GUS and TiMidity++ as internal libraries (part of ZMusic now) so they work on all systems.

1 hour ago, Gez said:

GZDoom has both TiMidity-GUS and TiMidity++ as internal libraries (part of ZMusic now) so they work on all systems.

Did it used to be Win-only? Anyway, everyone seems to agree that Timidity sounds better than Fluidsynth, including Graf Zahl. Maybe it should be the default? Just a suggestion. E1M1 sounds crap to me with Fluidsynth+gzdoom.sf2

@NightFright

I wanted to say thanks! I saw a post of yours in the duke4 forum and discovered the very nice "Hyper-VSC SF-GS v2" soundfont, I've played a dozen Doom songs and the BTSX MAP01 song and it sounds well-balanced and higher-fidelity than scc1t2.fs2

https://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/forum/post/1920

On 11/2/2019 at 8:33 PM, Danfun64 said:

That's quite a list of soundfonts. What do you think of Roland SC-55 v3.7.sf2 ? Is it well balanced? Does it make a good scc1t2 replacement? Also, could you elaborate on what makes good scc1t2 replacements? 

I haven't heard Roland SC-55 v3.7.sf2. My opinion is that soundfonts with a complete set of GM patches and same or similar values for velocity/attack/release of patches as in scc1t2 would make a good replacement.

This might help...

On 12/20/2017 at 2:30 AM, PRIMEVAL said:

Another good one is Shadow

Bump here as I've recently built a collection of soundfonts based on recommendations in this thread, but can't seem to find this one, and it sound interesting enough.

Does anyone still have it?

1 hour ago, seed said:

Does anyone still have it?

Shadow 1.0 is available in the Google Drive SoundFont folder linked earlier in this thread.

On 11/16/2018 at 4:32 PM, Loud Silence said:

These are abandonware synths: Roland Virtual Sound Canvas and Yamaha XG SoftSynthesizer WDM S-YXG50. Yamaha's serial number is in readme. They are full and doesn't require any registration or activation.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XwDB3sait-0Q8NU_eBcPJ6Mp4G-c2ZRQ

On 8/17/2019 at 3:56 PM, Loud Silence said:

After long and painful switching between GeneralUser GS, MS GS Wavetable and Yamaha S-YXG50 WDM SoftSynth i have made final choice, it's Yamaha S-YXG50. It has only few minor balance issues with some midis composed with sound canvas and is killer with complex XG midis.

Hello Loud Silence, thanks for posting this information.  I'm a fan of the S-YXG50 from way back when.  I am trying to get the softsynth working in Windows 10 and while I get the XG player working and sounding correct, I can't seem to find a way to select it as a device in gzDoom.  I don't see any control panel options or other way to show the S-YXG50 properties either.  I would love to get this working - any help you could provide would be appreciated.  Please feel free to send me a PM if this isn't appropriate for the current thread discussion.

I do have the Yamaha S-YXG50 Portable VSTi running using loopMIDI and VSTHost, but i would rather have it working as a system device rather than apps runnung in my taskbar.

Thanks!

I just wanted to add that this thread is a great resource.  I'm coming back to Doom after many years and found lots of great information here.  Extra thanks to @TheUltimateDoomer666 for sharing the Google drive with all of the soundfonts.

On 6/2/2020 at 5:54 PM, DrR0Ck said:

 

 

Hello Loud Silence, thanks for posting this information.  I'm a fan of the S-YXG50 from way back when.  I am trying to get the softsynth working in Windows 10 and while I get the XG player working and sounding correct, I can't seem to find a way to select it as a device in gzDoom.  I don't see any control panel options or other way to show the S-YXG50 properties either.  I would love to get this working - any help you could provide would be appreciated.  Please feel free to send me a PM if this isn't appropriate for the current thread discussion.

 

I do have the Yamaha S-YXG50 Portable VSTi running using loopMIDI and VSTHost, but i would rather have it working as a system device rather than apps runnung in my taskbar.

 

Thanks!

Hi. Use savihost x86 instead of vsthost. https://www.hermannseib.com/english/savihost.htm

Rename savihost.exe to exact s-yxg50 .dll name (syxg50.exe for example). Keep both files in same folder. Use .exe to start s-yxg50.

Install MIDI mapper to set savihost as system's default midi device. https://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/midimapper

GZDoom should have option to choose midi device.

I used to really like Timbres of Heaven, in spite of its problems (lackluster guitars, every patch being mixed too loudly, 320MB size.) Had some wonderful pads and percussion.

5 hours ago, Loud Silence said:

Hi. Use savihost x86 instead of vsthost. https://www.hermannseib.com/english/savihost.htm

Rename savihost.exe to exact s-yxg50 .dll name (syxg50.exe for example). Keep both files in same folder. Use .exe to start s-yxg50.

Install MIDI mapper to set savihost as system's default midi device. https://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/midimapper

GZDoom should have option to choose midi device.

Thanks!  Will give it a try.

I was never able to get savihost working, but since I had loopMIDI and VSTHost working, it's not a big deal.  Since then, I kind of went down the rabbit hole of soundfonts.  I downloaded quite a few of them looking for that one that would provide audio nirvana as much of the time as possible.  Some of the better ones I tried were Arachno 1.0, OmegaGMGS2, Musyng Kite, Timbres of Heaven 2.0.2 (the guitars sound way too loud on the version 3 banks I tried, but the v 2.0.2 is significantly better).  However I have ended up with The Fairy Tale Bank as my go to soundfont; it sounds good to me with just about anything I have thrown at it, whereas many of the others I have tried sound off with one or more midis.  The guitars are not super crunchy, like some of the others I have enjoyed, but the drums and bass sound nice and solid without being overpowering.  Note that there is a Fairy Tale Bank 2 soundfont, but I preferred the prior version; drums and bass sounded a bit more defined to me, but I don't know what the technical differences are between the two.  I have read a number of soundfont recommendation threads and have never seen any love or recommendations for The Fairy Tale Bank; I stumbled on it by chance within a zip containing other soundfonts.  If anyone tries it, I would be curious to hear your impressions.

I want to share this link, I apologize if it's in the thread already; I've used this thread many times to find soundfonts but I don't remember seeing this:

https://sites.google.com/site/strixsoundfont/free-and-non-free-soundfonts

It's not links to download, but a list with descriptions of many of the fonts we've seen.

DrROCK, I found the link while searching for Fairy tale bank, and damn that is a nice soundfont, so thank you.