gdjacobs wrote:

If so, perhaps a clean spec could be created for use on the other side of their Chinese wall.

I think so, that could be possible.

I red all posts in this topic but didnt notice the clear answer to this question:
will there be a tool to upload user-made GM soundbanks? if yes, then will it let convert SF2 banks to X2 specific format?
I think its a crucial option to let users experiment with user-made banks - it would greatly extend popularity and the lifespan of X2. I just dream about compiling my best instrument patches and creating a GM sounbank to play with my favorite games! How great would it be to have custom X2 banks here on vogons repository! :0

Doppler wrote:

I red all posts in this topic but didnt notice the clear answer to this question:
will there be a tool to upload user-made GM soundbanks? if yes, then will it let convert SF2 banks to X2 specific format?
I think its a crucial option to let users experiment with user-made banks - it would greatly extend popularity and the lifespan of X2. I just dream about compiling my best instrument patches and creating a GM sounbank to play with my favorite games! How great would it be to have custom X2 banks here on vogons repository! :0

If you read previous posts, Serge informed us that yes there will be a tool to edit and upload new sound banks. I am curious about the soundfont creation pipeline and whether tools will be available to convert from SF2 format.

dreamblaster wrote:

I think so, that could be possible.

This sounds exciting! Going to have to start saving my shekels.

gdjacobs wrote:

This sounds exciting! Going to have to start saving my shekels.

Do that. I unbundled my doubloons and dug out my buried pieces-of-eight for this one.

gdjacobs wrote:

If you read previous posts, Serge informed us that yes there will be a tool to edit and upload new sound banks. I am curious about the soundfont creation pipeline and whether tools will be available to convert from SF2 format.

nope, he talked about preset editor, check:

dreamblaster wrote:

Preset editor : should be no problem, .DXP preset format is a pretty simple format, i designed myself. Can release the specs when it is final, if someone wants to make a different editor.

X2 USB Uploader tool : I need to ask, this is a Dream proprietary protocol, they were very kind to let me make my own upload tool version, but I did sign an NDA, not allowed to release information without permission.

so it is uncertain that we will have a tool to edit/convert and upload usermade banks. what we know is that there will be more .DXB soundbanks released by himself and a tool to upload his banks.

dreamblaster wrote:

[...] 2/ X2 USB uploader tool : upload a soundbank (.DXB) and acoustic preset file (.DXP) to the card. The soundbank and preset […]
Show full quote

[...]
2/ X2 USB uploader tool : upload a soundbank (.DXB) and acoustic preset file (.DXP) to the card. The soundbank and preset are stored in flash on the card and loaded at powerup. So you don't need any TSR or sysex commands when used in DOS or any other project.

[...]
James-F wrote:
Will it be possible to load a different soundbank with the complete GS instruments and CM-64 instruments and access them?

Yes this is possible, a bank can have any amount of instruments MIDI allows.
First in the pipeline are a high end piano bank, and a chiptune bank, but general midi soundbank is definitely planned, it will take me some more time to get the conversion right, and I must respect copyright of course. The dream bank is amazing by the way, you'll love it, I will provide it as a file so you can swap to a different bank and swap back to the dream GM bank

Doppler wrote:

gdjacobs wrote:

If you read previous posts, Serge informed us that yes there will be a tool to edit and upload new sound banks. I am curious about the soundfont creation pipeline and whether tools will be available to convert from SF2 format.

nope, he talked about preset editor, check:

Fair enough. I was reading more into it than was there. Honestly, I would be happy if we had the bank format spec so it could be patched into an existing soundfont editor. The important thing is unlocking the versatility of the hardware.

Yes I created a free tool that allows uploading binary Dream format soundbanks to the X2 flash.
Maximum compiled soundbank size you can upload on X2 is approx 63.5 mbyte.

Creating your own soundbanks into the right binary format directly, is not possible with free tools, as far as I know.
The spec for the compiled dream banks is proprietory, actually I don't think any 3rd party software can generate it directly at the moment.

So my short term plan, is to compile some banks myself and make them available for X2 users :
1/ a high end piano bank (using 63.5 mbyte!) (a good friend, excellent pianist and instrument builder, will help me, he also has the Dream 5000 SDK)
2/ a chiptune bank with retro-retro interpretion of GM instruments (matej from chipmusic will help me, he will sample his chip hardware)
3/ an alternative converted general midi bank. (not decided yet which one, the Dream bank always sounds better 😉 )

Suggestions are welcome. Once I make these available for download, you can upload to your X2 easily.
I will also provide the Dream GM 16M binary bank file, so that you can return to the original Dream GM kit if you like.

If you want to make your own soundbanks on your own pc, well this is how it can be done :

To edit + compile banks into this 'Dream 5000' proprietary binary format, you need the Dream 5000 SDK (http://www.profusionplc.com/parts/sam5000-sdk).
This is a hardware+software bundle which works well, but is fairly expensive (list price was 650 euro +VAT last year).
This toolkit allows to import wav files, and access to all synth engine parameters of the dream, to create professional soundbanks.
It has no soundfont import function, but it uses an XML based format (+ wav files) for storing your instrument/bank projects, so in theory you can make a tool that
generates data that can be read by the bank compiler.

And there actually is one person I know, who's working on generating this XML format : Garth from Chicken Systems (he also has the Dream 5000 SDK).
I am helping him test the Dream XML driver he is developing for his Translator Hi Tech edition software.
This 299$ software package allows to read many soundbank formats (including soundfonts) and export to Dream XML format http://www.chickensys.com/products/translator … tion_hitech.php.
It is really powerful software, but there are not many users for the Dream driver, which makes slow but steady progress.
Melodic instruments already convert fairly well (still needs some manual tweaking), drum bank support using the different 'drum' bank structure format is still under development.
So yes to convert an individual saxophone or piano bank, i think it is already up to it, for musicians. It does a large amount of the job for you.

For general MIDI, yeah we definitely need drums, and many instruments. We're getting there. I intend to continue testing, finetuning the flow, and
once the drumbank conversion works, convert some banks (where the license and/or owner permits), to provide them to you.

So my planned conversion flow is currently : .sf2 soundfont --TRANSLATOR_HITECH(CONVERT)---> Dream XML Format ---DREAM5000SDK(EDIT/CORRECTIONS/COMPILE)--->Soundbank Binary

It would be great to create a soundbank repository on Vogons, I agree.
If someone is good at soundfont design, has a soundfont site, programs soundfont editor software, or just motivated to help me,
you may always pm me...I definitely would love to make this work, and will provide support where I can.
But have some patience, the next week will be very busy, working on the launch of X2 first. 😊

yup. the ability for converting and loading userbanks is a musthave. If it turns out that It wont be able to do that, I'll pass. There are great ISA soundcards with sounbank ulpoad abilities like Terratec EWS64 or Guillemot Maxi Sound for similar price secondhand. I just dont want to spend 90 Euros for hardware which will give me only few "good sounding" banks released by manufacturer. I have wide experience in sound designing, sf2 creation/editing and Im very comitted to make some interesting GM banks.

what blocks me is that im a bit puzzled between these two choices before I'll proceed:
- Buy Dreamblaster X2 with custom bank upload feature and be happy to share our sounbanks with each other
or
- Buy secondhand Dream SAM9407 based ISA soundcard and share soundbanks with very few people which have similar soundcards.

Letting out user tools for Dreamblaster X2 would resolve practically all wavetable sound quality problems. Imagine a posibillity of having a dumped KORG daughterboard, and loading it on X2. Want Yamaha DB50XG wavetable sounds? or maybe a mix of these two? BAM! load it on X2. ...you see? It opens so much posibilities. I want X2 badly, but only if it will let me do my ideas. I dont need another daughterbord with limited banks to choose from.

I dont speak for other but for me SAM9407 based cards are still untouchable. I can create/convert from sf2 what i want and upload it to RAM. Of course it does not have such advanced options like acoustic effects control and 24bit sound stream, but finally everything goes down to instrument patch sounds - i dont like some? so ill replace it with better ones and get back to retrogaming.

The older Dream chipset faces a similar problem as the X2. I'm not aware of any tools to generate compatible soundbanks. The ICS Wavefront chipset technically has tools available, but understanding the soundbank format and it's limitations is still an ongoing effort.

Couldn't pass up the Black Friday special (the only thing I bought on Black Friday). Can't wait to get these!

hmmm. I was 100% sure someone posted here on VOGONS about succesful conversion from SF2 to 94b. I need to find that topic and report back.

Doppler wrote:

hmmm. I was 100% sure someone posted here on VOGONS about succesful conversion from SF2 to 94b. I need to find that topic and report back.

Definitely. I'd love to hear about it.

Sorry, I've totally messed up the infos 😁 I red about DLS to 94b conversion, and not here on VOGONS but somewhere else. One of posts had pointed to this:

"How to convert DLS to Sound Bank(.94b)

1. Run Dlsread.exe
2. Slect 'open' in file menu and choose a DLS file.
3. Press 'Extract Bank' button and you can get *.wav, *.94i and *.94l
4. Run 94wbank
5. Select 'new' in listing file on 'Sound Bank's menu
6. Choose *.94l that was made during No. 3 process.
7. *.94K will be made if press 'OK'.
8. Select 'open' on 'Sound Bank''s menu and choose Sound Bank file(*.94K)
If you click 'compile', *.94b will be made.

Note)
DLS downloadable site : http://www.microsoft.com/music/setup.htm

1. You can get 8bit as well as 16bit.
2. All file is executable. Runnig one of them will lead you make
gm.dls under C:\Multimedia Files\Music\InteractiveMusic "

ftp://retronn.de/driver/Guillemot/MaxiSound64 … in9x/dlsreader/

dreamblaster wrote:

So my planned conversion flow is currently : .sf2 soundfont --TRANSLATOR_HITECH(CONVERT)---> Dream XML Format ---DREAM5000SDK(EDIT/CORRECTIONS/COMPILE)--->Soundbank Binary

I really hope it comes to fruition some day and will be easy for the end user.

There are some excellent SC-55 and Reality_GMGS soundfonts around.
The best (IMO) SC-55 soundfont is created by a username 'patch93' he has been working on this soundfont for years and currently it is version 2.2 which sounds really close to the SC-55 with all the dynamic swirly synth sounds and it is very balanced.
Youtube is full of videos demonstrating patch93's SC-55 soundfont.

Serge perhaps it will be wise to contact this 'patch93' user to help you convert it to DB format, he has a lot of experience, maybe even maintain both versions?
https://www.doomworld.com/vb/everything-else/ … nvas-soundfont/

Got some money left. (missing birthday present and x-mas present I did not count in recieving)
So I ordered the S1 black edition. I thought why not.

Waiting for the Midi shield and VS1053b shield these days, so I guess my midi capeability's are
good and fine in the future. Uhhh.... Are the black edition going to be ultra rare?

brostenen wrote:

Are the black edition going to be ultra rare?

Thanks !!!
for S1 Black Edition only 150 will be made... I think 40 of these will be SAM2195 breakout boards (some people use it in hardware projects), and 110 as S1 waveblaster boards.
These are the last ones, the SAM2195 chip is obsolete, so yeah you are right to grab one while you still can.

Have ordered also the X2+S1 bundle.

It's good to have options for MIDI boards these days.
Thanks dreamblaster!!!

Put in my order for the X2+S1 Black bundle too, the re-programable flash and sound font -> sound bank stuff is right up my street.
Will be following this topic here on Vogons for sure.

Good job SERDACO!

I really hope Serge will have at least one good SC-55 soundfont converted to DB format, besides the already excellent 16MB bank by Dream.

IIRC in the 90-s there was a legal dispute between Roland and Dream for their copyright violation on the SC-55 ROM. Dream used that for a vast majority of its chips produced back then. Later they concluded a license agreement that made it possible for Dream to even put GS logo on the ROMs that they sold together with the synth chips.
Taking this into account I would suppose that the current Dream bank has its roots in that Roland-licensed SC-55 bank.