Help with SoundFonts

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Level 1

4 points

Help with SoundFonts

So I downloaded this file that is called "The Ultimate Megadrive Soundfont" that is supposed to imitate the sound of a Sega Genesis. I know how you are supposed to drag the .sf2 files to the "Banks" folder to add them to GarageBand, but this one is supposed to contain more than one instrument (Its filesize is nearly 60MB compared to the others which are mere kilobytes). When accessed through the DLSMusicDevice option it only plays one instrument. It also came with some file with the extension .bak that I don't even know what to do with.
It's clearly not designed for use in GarageBand but I was hoping that there could be some way to get it to work, or at least something similar that will work. If this can't be used could someone please let me know about some sort of software instrument that produces Genesis/Mega Drive sounds.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jun 20, 2010 11:40 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 21, 2010 2:03 AM in response to losnagnios

There was a way to make them work in earlier GB versions, a software called SoundFontSynth, but ist has been discontinued and stopped working with GB 08. So at the moment you can only use soundfonts with one instrument.

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Answer 2

Jul 9, 2010 3:13 AM in response to Christoph Drösser

Just a quick correction Christoph, It was Tiger the killed SFS, as Apple changed Core Audio, which broke SFS, causing GB to crash anytime an instrument accessed SFS, As I understand it, the developer gave up re-engineering SFS for every OS upgrade. As I had purchase a license not 2 months before upgrading to Tiger, I was understandably, VERY disappointed that I could no longer use SFS.

Although, since I did not actually have GB '08 installed prior to Tiger, I can not say whether SFS was still compatible with GB '08.

Anyway, as you state, you CAN use SF2 files with GB as long as they are only SINGLE instrument soundfonts - I have several installed. However, if the sf2 file has more than one instrument (as has the Quicktime MIDI sounds), you will only be able to access the FIRST bank of sounds. This is because the Software Instrument Track does not send Program change information, which you need to change the bank.

Sorry, I don't know of any SW that produces Genesis/Mega Drive sounds. You may be able to find the individual program sounds as standalone sf2 files though, which you could use in GB.

Hope this helps clear things up.

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Answer 3

Jul 9, 2010 5:17 AM in response to Gary Sumlak

Thanks for the clarification! And sorry that it doesn't change the sad fact that there is no software at this time to access multi-sound soundfiles.

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