Favorite soundfont?

[DeathWolf1982]

Mines the SNES Doom or Genesis soundfont What's yours?

 

[Ozcar]

Sc 55 

 

shame it went to memed like it was shitty midi.

[Doomkid]

Hope you guys don't mind if I link some other soundfont-based threads.

 

Could be useful for people looking to expand their collection!

 

EDIT: My favorite will always be RLNDGM.sf2 (99.9% accurate to the Windows soundfont) but I also love:

 

GM2 Map Soundfont

SC-55 (most variants, but especially Masquerade 55, Roland SOUNDCanvas Up, and zz_denis' SC-55)

GM DLS Remastered

Alex_GM

ColomboGMGS

 

and so many more...

 

 

[K_Doom]

Arachno SoundFound

[indigotyrian]

I'm a big fan of Arachno as well, at least for custom content -- I find it makes music sound punchier and weightier, really good for a video game feel.

 

That said, while it's not really a "soundfont" I am also deeply in love with the FM Synth sound, and I think the IWAD music sounds best in OPL2 form.

[Arrowhead]

Arachno, as some others have said - but my go-to is still 'SC-55.SoundFont.v1.2b.sf2'.

 

No idea who made it, and no idea where I got it from - but I really like it.

[Fernito]

There are many nice sounding soundfonts out there, but something I really dislike about them is that there's no sense of standardized instrument volumes.

 

What I mean with this: as a MIDI composer myself, I compose using the microsoft GS wavetable synth, and I put a lot of effort in mixing, adding dynamics, balancing track volumes, etc., but the moment you use a different soundfont this balance is always screwed up. Either the drums become super overpowering, or the slap bass is super weak, the strings can barely be heard in the background, and stuff like that.

 

Is no one else bothered by this? 

[Doomkid]

I think a ton of people, especially MIDI composers, are bothered by it.

 

One of my biggest standards for whether or not a soundfont is decent is if the volume levels from instrument to instrument are consistent with the Windows/Roland MIDI sound (the General MIDI standard for eons at this point). One of the reasons that I don't vibe super hard with Arachno (despite really liking all the instrument sounds) is that the electric guitars sound nearly twice as loud as they ought.

 

I will say though, there are no shortage of soundfonts that respect the intended volume levels from instrument to instrument:

 

"SC-55 Roland SOUNDCanvas Up",

"SC-55 SoundFont.v1.2b" (by Trevor0402),

"GM2 Map Soundfont",

"Alex_GM",

"JClive21",

...and all the "SGMv2.01" variants have great leveling. This is just a small sampler of some of my favorite soundfonts as of right now, but they offer some nice variety while keeping those volume levels in-check, which is a massive plus.

[Fernito]

29 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

I think a ton of people, especially MIDI composers, are bothered by it.

 

One of my biggest standards for whether or not a soundfont is decent is if the volume levels from instrument to instrument are consistent with the Windows/Roland MIDI sound (the General MIDI standard for eons at this point). One of the reasons that I don't vibe super hard with Arachno (despite really liking all the instrument sounds) is that the electric guitars sound nearly twice as loud as they ought.

 

I will say though, there are no shortage of soundfonts that respect the intended volume levels from instrument to instrument:

 

"SC-55 Roland SOUNDCanvas Up",

"SC-55 SoundFont.v1.2b" (by Trevor0402),

"GM2 Map Soundfont",

"Alex_GM",

"JClive21",

...and all the "SGMv2.01" variants have great leveling. This is just a small sampler of some of my favorite soundfonts as of right now, but they offer some nice variety while keeping those volume levels in-check, which is a massive plus.

 

Thanks a lot for the recommendations, I'll try them out! 

 

I kinda disagree about SGMv2.01 though. While I really love the sound of most of the instruments, especially electric guitars and orchestral instruments, I think the drums sound really weak, they get kinda lost in the mix, which is sadly a deal breaker for me :( If the drums were better, this one would be definitely my favorite soundfont.

[Doomkid]

You know what, you’re totally right. I’m so used to adding custom drum soundfonts over top, that I sometimes forget how pissweak they are in not just SGM, but most soundfonts. In the topmost thread I posted above, you can find some great drum soundfonts which work so well in conjunction with stuff like SGM.

 

https://ia802502.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/27/items/500-soundfonts-full-gm-sets/500_Soundfonts_Full_GM_Sets.zip

 

^ There’s a really convenient link with lots of drum soundfonts - the best imo are “Alex_GM_olddrumkits”, “RealAcousticDrums5”, “RealAcousticDrums_Extra”, “TamaRockSTAR2”, “MelottiDrums” and “Airfont 380”. Any good soundfont loading software will let you layer them overtop and even set their volume independently of the soundfont you’re layering them over. It’s so useful!

[PsychEyeball]

I'm a MIDI composer and personally I can't stand the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. I don't care everyone has it, it sounds awful and is awkward to use to boot. You get mushy low-quality SC-55 samples with delay, you have no reverb or chorus, and limited as heck polyphony. I can't find any info sheet regarding the specs of the Wavetable Synth but I swear I have notes cutting off all the time when I use it. The original SC-55 has a 24 note polyphony and the SC-55 mkII (the one used for Doom) raises it to 28, but that's not a lot of notes.

 

I'm likely in the minority here but as a baseline I'd use the standard Creative soundfont CT4GM.sf2. I always liked the way sawtooth and square leads sound in it but the overall sound kit is surprisingly solid for such a small soundfont.

 

Nowadays I went full hardware and bought a SC-8820 while using the SC-55 instrument map to play back MIDIs. This thing can emulate (with differences obviously) the SC-55 and even the SC-88 Pro so there's some versatility in what can be done with it, all with 64 voices. 

[Fernito]

19 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

You know what, you’re totally right. I’m so used to adding custom drum soundfonts over top, that I sometimes forget how pissweak they are in not just SGM, but most soundfonts. In the topmost thread I posted above, you can find some great drum soundfonts which work so well in conjunction with stuff like SGM.

  

https://ia802502.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/27/items/500-soundfonts-full-gm-sets/500_Soundfonts_Full_GM_Sets.zip

 

^ There’s a really convenient link with lots of drum soundfonts - the best imo are “Alex_GM_olddrumkits”, “RealAcousticDrums5”, “RealAcousticDrums_Extra”, “TamaRockSTAR2”, “MelottiDrums” and “Airfont 380”. Any good soundfont loading software will let you layer them overtop and even set their volume independently of the soundfont you’re layering them over. It’s so useful!

 

haha that's amazing man, thanks a lot! I'll have a lot of fun trying out soundfonts during the weekend :)

 

Any recommendation for a "good soundfont loading software"? I have to admit, I'm super ignorant when it comes to this. I normally use VLC player, which is very limited.

 

11 minutes ago, PsychEyeball said:

I'm a MIDI composer and personally I can't stand the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. I don't care everyone has it, it sounds awful and is awkward to use to boot. You get mushy low-quality SC-55 samples with delay, you have no reverb or chorus, and limited as heck polyphony. I can't find any info sheet regarding the specs of the Wavetable Synth but I swear I have notes cutting off all the time when I use it. The original SC-55 has a 24 note polyphony and the SC-55 mkII (the one used for Doom) raises it to 28, but that's not a lot of notes.

 

I'm likely in the minority here but as a baseline I'd use the standard Creative soundfont CT4GM.sf2. I always liked the way sawtooth and square leads sound in it but the overall sound kit is surprisingly solid for such a small soundfont.

 

Nowadays I went full hardware and bought a SC-8820 while using the SC-55 instrument map to play back MIDIs. This thing can emulate (with differences obviously) the SC-55 and even the SC-88 Pro so there's some versatility in what can be done with it, all with 64 voices. 

 

I totally agree about the awful sound of the Microsoft GS synth, but sadly it seems to be the most widely used when it comes to Doom, that's why I always use it when composing. I also hate the low polyphony it offers, but haven't been able to find specs on the max number of voices either. 

 

Never tried CT4GM, I'll give it a go!

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

I think the Microsoft GS Synth sounds very bland as well, but I use it when balancing MIDIs as it's still based on the SC-55.

 

MS Synth's very limited polyphony is annoying, and I often experienced notes being dropped when composing MIDIs for community packs. I attempted to alleviate the issue by shifting certain notes forward or backward in relation to other notes in some parts of my MIDIs.

 

As for what exactly the voice limit is, I recall a now-defunct website saying that it actually varies on different systems. Supposedly the voice limit was reduced even further on newer Windows versions, although I have no idea if that's true or just anecdotal evidence.

 

1 hour ago, Fernito said:

Never tried CT4GM, I'll give it a go!

The Creative SoundFonts are nice, although the sounds are a little basic which is to be expected from smaller banks. There are actually a few different versions of the Creative SoundFonts. Some of them are available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aj2SMQnxvwIxi1616tE1-USm7Q2FrFuF?usp=sharing

Edited August 17, 2022 by TheUltimateDoomer666

[Hawk of The Crystals]

The old SC-55 is still my favorite, but I'd also say that the SGM-V2.01 is becoming a pretty big contender for the title of favorite.

[Tristan]

I thought the voice limit for the Microsoft synth was 32. Don't forget voices on higher-numbered channels are first in line to be cut off so put less important stuff like subtle delays on those and keep the important things like melody, bass on the lower-numbered channels and then you can probably get away with more intricate arrangements, but to be honest I've stopped caring about it seeing as modern Doom ports don't seem to use the MS synth itself by default and instead use things like Fluidsynth with a soundfont emulating the MS synth without the polyphony issues.

 

Not hugely keen on soundfonts personally. There's a lot of uploads of Doom WAD soundtracks on Youtube that use various soundfonts, such as on this channel. As a composer I genuinely do find it interesting how my MIDIs are handled by each soundfont, despite how badly some of them turn out, but for me they're never better than the Microsoft synth originals.

[Doomkid]

@Fernito (and anyone else worried about polyphony limit) - VirtualMIDISynth is the software I use to load soundfonts and it seems to allow for many, many more simultaneous voices.

 

I’ve noticed that with each passing windows version MIDI support gets worse and worse, not just in reducing polyphony but simply muting notes at random with no real rhyme or reason. At this late stage of the game, even if you did want the “standard MS wavetable sound”, you’d be getting a much less janky experience by loading a windows soundfont into 3rd party software like VMS or something of that ilk. For my money RLNDGM.sf2 sounds damn near identical, with the big difference being that it won’t ignore effects like reverb and such.

[Alex S.]

Definitely going to put my name in for SGM 2.01. I love how it sounds.

[VoanHead]

SC-55 (Emperor Grieferus ver.) and ColomboGMGS2

[knifeworld]

SC-55 for winamp and I keep coming back to it for doom ports too, I replaced it with the new zzdenis SC-55 one for a while but some stuff just sounds too quiet in that one but it's still really good.

[BonciuADV]

decino.wad

 

 

In case you aren't aware of it:

 

[brick]

On 8/17/2022 at 12:52 AM, Fernito said:

Is no one else bothered by this? 

I'm just a "consumer" when it comes to MIDI, but it bothers me too. When someone has put a lot of time and effort to make their music sound just the way they want it, I'd like to be able to hear it just like that too; if I was the composer I'd be saddened to find out all the nice little detail I put in there is not even being heard by a lot of people. For this reason I like it when wads specify what they used to compose and how it's meant to be played back. Whatever the soundfont or settings you want your music to be heard in - tell me and I'll make sure I play it correctly.

 

On a somewhat related note, I often notice people saying the MS wavetable synth as sounding "very similar" to a real SC-55. Unfortunately I can tell from experience this is not the case at all - the instrument balance is off for most of them, but more seriously a lot of instruments don't sound the same at all. I started playing Heartland not long ago, initially with my SC-55, until I realized from listening to the soundtrack on Bandcamp that it sounded very different from what I was hearing. When I switched to the Windows softsynth suddenly everything sounded right. Something to keep in mind for those of you composing - whichever one you choose to use, keep in mind it will not sound the same, and sometimes will sound surprisingly different, if played back on the other.

[DELTA256]

Arachno is pretty fine for a soundfont it has it's downsides but overall, good soundfont.

[Doomkid]

Hey @brick, I know I’m a month late, but I just wanted to add a little bit of trivia (potentially uninteresting, but still). Roland used the SC-55 samples as a base when making gm.dls (the “Windows soundfont”) but sometimes that meant cutting the samples for each instrument down in length/quality pretty substantially, which is why some instruments sound so similar, while others sound so different as you pointed out. The samples share a common origin, hence the frequent comparison, but when compressed/shortened so much it can understandably have a pretty massive impact on the sound, in practice.

[Dusty_Rhodes]

I'm a big fan of @rfnagel's Weeds GM4 Soundfont. It has that fullness that the Roland emulations have but it also sounds it a little warmer. The saw waves synths, distorted guitars, horns, and marimbas sound absolutely huge, very unique. Been playing on PrBoom+ with this soundfont for like two years and I love it. Eternal Doom, Hell Revealed 2, and Execution DM sound awesome on it. 

[SilentD00mer]

I don't know many soundfonts tbh. The one I use now is TimGM6mb.sf2, I don't remember the complete name and how I found it, I downloaded it 2 to 3 years ago. I don't know how faithful to the original Doom music it is, but it feels very nice to me. Except that it always feels like something is missing in Heretic music for some reason and I'd like to know some soundfonts that could help to fix this sensation. Basically any soundfont I found is good for Doom, but not for Heretic and Hexen so I'm still looking for "the perfect" one.

[YoshiGa]

On 8/17/2022 at 6:02 AM, Doomkid said:

I think a ton of people, especially MIDI composers, are bothered by it.

 

One of my biggest standards for whether or not a soundfont is decent is if the volume levels from instrument to instrument are consistent with the Windows/Roland MIDI sound (the General MIDI standard for eons at this point). One of the reasons that I don't vibe super hard with Arachno (despite really liking all the instrument sounds) is that the electric guitars sound nearly twice as loud as they ought.

 

I will say though, there are no shortage of soundfonts that respect the intended volume levels from instrument to instrument:

 

"SC-55 Roland SOUNDCanvas Up",

"SC-55 SoundFont.v1.2b" (by Trevor0402),

"GM2 Map Soundfont",

"Alex_GM",

"JClive21",

...and all the "SGMv2.01" variants have great leveling. This is just a small sampler of some of my favorite soundfonts as of right now, but they offer some nice variety while keeping those volume levels in-check, which is a massive plus.

Since this thread got sorta revived I guess, what's SC-55 Up if you don't mind me asking? I've never heard of that one before.

[rzh]

Lately I've been using 1mgm and I really like it, although I'm definitely into the minority in this case.

[heliumlamb]

im taking a break from nukedopl, so far it's Super_Italo_DiscoFont_Directors_Cut

[Doomkid]

16 hours ago, YoshiGa said:

Since this thread got sorta revived I guess, what's SC-55 Up if you don't mind me asking? I've never heard of that one before.

Sadly I don't know who made it, it sounds great though. In case you need it, here's a direct link - https://archive.org/download/500-soundfonts-full-gm-sets/500_Soundfonts_Full_GM_Sets.zip/SC-55 Roland SOUNDCanvas Up.sf2

[CasualScrub]

I haven't typically messed with soundfonts much, but Arachno for me. Just really love how it sounds.