New Acoustic Guitar SoundFont -free

[SampleSmith]

You'll find a new, free (demo) Steel String Acoustic Guitar Soundfont (sf2) at http://www.samplesmith.com

I hope you'll find the demo useful and enjoy the other content on the site.

Any feedback is welcomed. Thanks!

Keith Smith

[duncanparsons]

that's a really great resource you're building up there

I love those demos - they remind me of Chet Atkins stuff, and very good for SF2s..

I'm dling the example SF, and will check back to see how the site progresses!

DSP

[SampleSmith]

Thanks, Duncan!
I'm hoping to have a Finale Transcription/Tab sheet for 'Mixed Bag' up there soon. The biggest problem now is what to do next!
k

[SampleSmith]

My apologies! Some kind soul pointed out that the d/l link for the font on the home page was messed up. It's been fixed. The link on the download page was working, though.

If you had trouble with that, please try again!

Thanks,
Keith

[Jafo]

The demos impress me; expressive and close enough to convincing, they show some of the best use of guitar sampling I've ever heard. Well done.

[SampleSmith]

Hey, thanks for the kind words, Jafo. BTW, I got that transcription up today if anyone's interested.

And thanks to all for the visits!
k

[bpetherick]

I think that the difference between the two soundfonts should not be underestimated. The demo soundfont is good, but the full soundfont is necessesary to get the final sound just right

[freeztar]

This is probably the best guitar soundfont I've ever heard.
Being a guitar player though, I miss the little nuances of the real thing. What might make this soundfont more realistic is some dirty notes in there. When I'm fingerpicking my guitar I can never get the bass to be so clean and constant volume-wise. Sometimes the string buzzes as it is struck hard and sometimes it makes a muted sound where my fingers didn't do their job properly. Little string ambiences such as lifting a finger off a string or sliding to a note (string squeak) could also make this more realistic.
Nonetheless, this is some great work! Kudos.

[manytone]

Hey Keith
Cool to see another Guitar sampling addict from Calgary.
I live in the South end of town in Somerset. Where abouts are you?
Your site looks pretty interesting... Look forward to checking out your stuff.
Ohhhh and.....Welcome to KVR!

Paul Brown

[SampleSmith]

Thanks, yet again!
Bruce, thanks for your input. Of course I can only say that I agree!

Freestar, you echo some feelings I've had all along about this, and some other comments that have been made. It's definitely something that's on the development calendar. Pulling the site together has been the main effort for the last while (read vertical learning curve). I'm finally seeing the light of day again and want to get some new fonts up and improve the existing one. Thanks for the extra kick, along with the lovely compliment.

Paul, thanks for the welcome! I'm in Glendale, I guess (ha,ha, can't keep them all straight), call it Richmond Rd & 45th.

A quick question for all, though. I'm wondering what the interest might be in 24 bit versions of this soundfont and any future ones, which will include a classical guitar and a clean electric fairly soon. Opinions?

[duncanparsons]

..you'll have a problem with that.. SF2 spec if 16bit only as I recall.. SFZ format will accept other types. Other than that, classical and clean elec sounds great

DSP

[SampleSmith]

Hi Duncan.
The reason I ask is that the new X-fi series of cards from Creative are supporting 24bit fonts. Also the package includes Vienna 2.4 which is a quantum leap in usability over 2.3, which alway felt (to me) like it should be running on Win 3.1, if you know what I mean.

I bought the Platinum version on Saturday, but haven't had much time to play with it yet. I've always avoided these cards in the past, and only put one in when I started messing with soundfonts, but at first blush I'm pretty happy with this.

I am curious to see what this means for the future of soundfonts. I can't find anything indicating the 128MB ceiling has been lifted, and I presume that to do so would require a change in the GM spec(?).
k

[learjeff]

Unfortunatetly, there is no documentation I can find that explains how 24-bit samples can be used with a .sf2 format file. The 16 bit sample size is implicit. So, unless they added a new code to indicate that, it's just not possible. And if they did, you'd think they'd publish it so folks could MAKE a 24-bit soundfont.

I think 24-bit support simply means 24-bit output -- which is a big improvement, even when working with 16-bit samples. For example, quiet passages can still have full fidelity rather than truncation.

[SampleSmith]

So I guess that begs the question: What's happening with the sfz format? I don't see much about it, yet it would appear to address any limitations of sf2 with regard to bit depth, and sample rate. Lack of support from the big boys, I guess.

BTW: I've added PayPal payment processing and reduced the G1 Full package price and added a CD delivery option.
I hope that works better for more people.

Keith

[learjeff]

Well, sfz format doesn't require support from the big boys. IMHO, it's a perfectly good and successful format. However, I publish my own SF (jRhodes3, free) in .sf2 format since it's more common and I don't have 24-bit samples.

Also, sfz format is supported by Extreme Sample Converter and I think CDExtract. I've used the EXSC conversion to patch a bad sample in my own soundfont: it was the easiest way to fix it!

I listened to the demo and realy like the sound; I agree with what you say on your site about the higher notes but overall I bet it's still a great soundfont. Maybe I'll try out the demo sf some time.