the best general midi

[fluct]

I realise that alot of people would see this is a contradiction in terms, but Im looking for the best quality GM sample set, I already have kontact and I just want a good GM set for some fractal, algorythmic programs that I use that are designed to output to GM.
There are a few around, but I can't find any reviews etc

any price

thanks

greg

[torhan]

Have you looked at:

Bandstand?
Colossus?

I'm sure someone can recommend a free soundfont library...you can do a forum search as this has been asked many times

[ozinexile]

Colossus sounds great but won't handle patch change info conforming to GM, meaning each sound will need to be chosen manually from within Kompakt/Kontakt. That is unless you don't mind having the same 16 sounds assigned to the same 16 channels, then you can always set up a template.

I still use Rolands Hypercanvas (or similar contained in Sonar 4 and up) for GM requirements.

[.jon]

You can try sfz and the Fluid3 GM soundfont, it's free and I'm pretty satisfied with the quality. Of course commercial options should provide superior quality, and I haven't tried how sfz handles program changes (I have sfz+ but dunno if there's any difference.)

[midi-man]

ozinexile wrote:

Colossus sounds great but won't handle patch change info conforming to GM, meaning each sound will need to be chosen manually from within Kompakt/Kontakt. That is unless you don't mind having the same 16 sounds assigned to the same 16 channels, then you can always set up a template.

I can't understand why NI has chosen to implement program changes in Kontakt2 like this. The only reason I can think of is that they want to sell bandstand to you as well.

Let's hope Wlodzimierz Grabowski's (the guy that makes extreme sample converter) new sampler is better in this aspect.

[ozinexile]

ozinexile wrote:

Colossus sounds great but won't handle patch change info conforming to GM, meaning each sound will need to be chosen manually from within Kompakt/Kontakt. That is unless you don't mind having the same 16 sounds assigned to the same 16 channels, then you can always set up a template.

I can't understand why NI has chosen to implement program changes in Kontakt2 like this. The only reason I can think of is that they want to sell bandstand to you as well.

Let's hope Wlodzimierz Grabowski's (the guy that makes extreme sample converter) new sampler is better in this aspect.

Yeah I know what you mean, but if you think about it further there would be other problems. I have plenty of GM files that change patches during the song (effective immediately on GM synths) but this couldn't happen in Kontakt. Imagine the hassle of trying to remember to place enough time between patch change info and the first notes to give Kontakt enough time to actually load the sounds. ANd it would differ for each DFD setting and/or set of GM sounds you were using.

With bandstand they had a closed system where they could control these things and make it work. Saying that I don't have much desire to buy bandstand. I still use GM but it is definitely just a starting point.

[midi-man]

Yeah, loading instruments during the song would be tricky.
Maybe it would be a good idea to let the purge-funtion handle
program-changes as well? I mean...you play your song once, then
press an update button to load the detected programs.

At the moment I start with GM sounds and later replace them with
bigger, more high quality instruments. But it would be cool if it
was easier to go for the big ones directly, wouldn't it?

[Ildon]

Edirol Hyper Canvas is my favorite GM synth right now. It's only fifty bucks now at American Musical.

[1-2-Many]

Free GM Soundfont (FluidR3) + VSampler


BTW- VSampler kicks Kontakt's tiny hiny in so many ways