VST Plugin to play General MIDI Soundfonts?

[cfcboc]

Okay... so far I have downloaded the demo for SAMPLELORD. Yesterday, I successfully loaded a General MIDI soundfont bank, and using the VSTi (32) in conjunction with jBridge, was able to playback several General MIDI files using the Media Player within Cantabile 3 (x64 version). That was on a PC using Win10 x64.

Conclusion... The SAMPLELORD solution will allow you to use it as a VST to playback MIDI files using the General MIDI (GM) standard.

I am concerned, however, by the earlier comment from DarkStar: "It's old and the developer has not been heard from for ages. Go carefully." SAMPLELORD costs 39 Euros ($43.50), so if it's working now, not sure if I would really need access to the developer, but it would be helpful to have a user forum, which I could not find. In an earlier post, Mabian gave it a +1.

Other than SAMPLELORD, however, none of the other products discussed so far has a VST that can use a GM soundfont file and playback various General MIDI files and responds to MIDI program changes (where each GM file starts with a different set of program and/or bank changes on each track).

Re: TX16WX... I did a Google search for a combination of TX16WX and General MIDI or GM and could find no references that TX16WX could playback GM files. The web site and docs also did not reference General MIDI, so looking for some confirmation that it will load and play GenMIDI soundfonts and respond to program changes.

I will take a look at VSTSynthFont this weekend to see if I can get it to work like I need it.

Thanks all for your continued responses.

[medienhexer]

Wasn't Sound Canvas released fo exactly this use case?

https://www.roland.com/global/products/sound_canvas_va/

[Andywanders]

Wasn't Sound Canvas released fo exactly this use case?

https://www.roland.com/global/products/sound_canvas_va/

I also think this is the best choice - instant, good-quality GM sounds. The only downside is the lack of outputs - just one stereo out.

[fischkopf]

There's also this but I haven't tried it: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/xs_1_by_jeskola

[mabian]

There's also this but I haven't tried it: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/xs_1_by_jeskola

I tried it, works but if I remember well it doesn't have multiple outputs (or, if it has, they are not one per midi channel)

And no disk streaming. In my opinion samplelord is much better when though has no reverb and no chorus embedded.

- Mario

[fmr]

Re: TX16WX... I did a Google search for a combination of TX16WX and General MIDI or GM and could find no references that TX16WX could playback GM files. The web site and docs also did not reference General MIDI, so looking for some confirmation that it will load and play GenMIDI soundfonts and respond to program changes.

It loads SoundFonts, but loads just one channel. Uou have to manually create the remaining 15 channels. And it will not respond to Program Changes.

I will take a look at VSTSynthFont this weekend to see if I can get it to work like I need it.

Works, but I found it very unstable here (in Windows 7 x64. using the x64 version). I wrote to the developer, since I think this looks promising, and deserves to be further developed.

[yellukhan]

definitely +1 Samplelord

as a side note (for 64 bit vst)
lately i realized Kontakt can do this also with a workaround but needs more RAM and a little time to prepare once...
Files/New Instrument Bank
load all instruments to bank slots according to Instrument patch numbers
save the Bank and load it back 16 times,
one for each midi channel, set the midi inputs 1 to 16 and finally set the audio outputs as you wish
save the Multi.

[cfcboc]

Wasn't Sound Canvas released fo exactly this use case?

https://www.roland.com/global/products/sound_canvas_va/

That's where I started this mission. I used to have a Roland SC-88 which served me well for years until I upgraded to a Roland SD-50. Then... in a moment of stupidity... I sold the Sc-88 on eBay for $140 several years ago. So for me to now spend $125 for the "new" Sound Canvas VA to basically get the old SC-88 sounds just bothers me.

That's why I started this search for a better set of GM sounds, for which soundfonts provide a good answer (including a GM soundfont that duplicates the sounds of the SC series).

So I like the idea of soundfonts and use them for general GM MIDI playback using the CoolSoft VirtualMIDISynth product which operates just like the Microsoft GS Wavetable for simplicity and compatibility with most MIDI players and DAWS. It also allows for multiple soundfonts so that you can start with a basic GM soundset and selectively add other soundfonts to replace specific instruments.

However, I am an avid user of Cantabile 3, which has an internal media player that only accesses VST's, and wanted to find a VST solution that can properly play GM soundfonts and respond to program and other MIDI changes.

As to why I am messing with GM... I have thousands of GM MIDI files that I use for backing tracks as I play keyboards. I'm retired and simply enjoy going through my collection of fake books, and sheet music folios and finding a MIDI file for that song and playing along with it. So, although I use Sonar Platinum to alter MIDI files, I like being able to stay within Cantabile for quick changes to my keyboards setups, hence wanting to use the builtin midi player with a VST GM file.

[cfcboc]

There's also this but I haven't tried it: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/xs_1_by_jeskola

I've seen that product in my searches, but there was something that I thought I read in a forum that it did not handle GM soundfonts. Since I'm not sure about it, I'll give it another look.

Thx for the tip.

[cfcboc]

I will take a look at VSTSynthFont this weekend to see if I can get it to work like I need it.

Works, but I found it very unstable here (in Windows 7 x64. using the x64 version). I wrote to the developer, since I think this looks promising, and deserves to be further developed.

Yeah, I'm giving this product a demo. I use Win10 x64 on the PC I want to put this on. (My studio setup is Win7 x64 and I plan to stay on Win 7 for quite a while since some software I use in the studio setup doesn't offer Win10 compatible drivers, and I don't want to invest in workarounds right yet)`

The VSTSynthFont plugin now has a 64 bit version (as of August 29th 2016), and I just downloaded it from this link: http://www.synthfont.com/VSTSynthFont64Setup.exe

It appears to work fine with GenMIDI soundfonts and I accessed the VST in both Sonar X3/Platinum and Cantabile 3 and was able to play midi files with program changes. The only problem I had was being unable to resize the VST edit window which shows some partial buttons on the right hand side of the window but no way to enlarge the window using the mouse "grab" or from a menu. I sent an email to the developer pointing out this bug.

Anyway, I would encourage you to try out the 64 bit version, and hopefully a near-term update will fix the window resize issue (or I'll get a note back from the developer on how to resize)!

[cfcboc]

definitely +1 Samplelord

as a side note (for 64 bit vst)
lately i realized Kontakt can do this also with a workaround but needs more RAM and a little time to prepare once...
Files/New Instrument Bank
load all instruments to bank slots according to Instrument patch numbers
save the Bank and load it back 16 times,
one for each midi channel, set the midi inputs 1 to 16 and finally set the audio outputs as you wish
save the Multi.

Yes, been using the SAMPLELORD demo and it's been working great! It loads large GM soundfont setups in a matter of about 2 seconds, so I have a collection of soundfonts and can bounce around trying them with the same Midi tune with no lag time. I can handle the reverb and FX needs within Cantabile, so I'm getting close to going with SAMPLELORD for the $44, once I finish checking out a couple of the other options noted in the KVR forum.

I have toyed with the idea of loading up 16 instances of a VST that doesn't do GM multitimbral, as I can do that within Cantabile, but it seems like such an inelegant solution, that if I couldn't find a better solution, I would revert to using Sonar for midi song playback and go with a two monitor display on my PC to handle Cantabile setups on one and Sonar on the other. These days a nice 23" monitor runs about $120, less cost than the Roland Sound Canvas VA solution (@$125) discussed earlier in this thread!

[Alfonx]

Hi all!

I was searching for a good GM-VST 64 bit for Ableton (and perhaps REAPER; i am using REAPER too) and found this:

I am now using BassMidi VSTi 1.2 ( falcosoft.hu ) within Ableton live 9 (64 bit).
BassMidi is a great vst32/64 SoundFont Player (for free).
I’m using the player with SoundFont „Arachno“.
I add the vst instrument BassMidi on Track 1.
Then i load the midi-file to Track 2-15.
Then i map every Track (2-15) Output to: BassMidi.
I map the Output Channel of Track 2 to Channel 1 of Bassmidi.
I map the Output Channel of Track 3 to Channel 2 of BassMidi.
And so on. Just the Drum Track should mapped to Output Channel 10.

See here:
http://blog.ultimateoutsider.com/2015/0 ... on_23.html

So i am very satisfied with that vst now.

P.S: I am still thinking about using JBRIDGE to use all of that vst32. JBRIDGE seems to work stable! I possible then use the Yamaha syxg50 vst32 in Ableton 9 (64 bit).

Regards,
Alfonx

[tonedef71]

Hi all!

I was searching for a good GM-VST 64 bit and found this:

I am now using BassMidi VSTi 1.2 ( falcosoft.hu )

I didn't know about the Falcosoft VSTi build for BASSMIDI. Thanks for sharing!

[satchnut]

Another viable option which seems to have been overlooked is Sobanth (donationware) by BeRo:

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/sobant ... n-rosseaux

SF2/DLS support, 32/64-bit, 16-part multitimbral, multi-bank support w/ layering, chorus+reverb (unconfirmed)...

Issues I see are that there hasn't seemed to be an update in a couple years, there doesn't seem to be direct GS or XG support, and the GUI feels somewhat slow and glitchy.

[BlackWinny]

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