Have you played around with the 28MB creative soundfont (28MBGM.sf2) from PCI X-Fi driver CD? Apparently that too still has at least some GS support even though it's from 2006.

Just curious, I didn't know such a thing existed and it gave me a chuckle when I found it from the driver CD 😁

Sombrero wrote on 2024-03-07, 15:02:

Have you played around with the 28MB creative soundfont (28MBGM.sf2) from PCI X-Fi driver CD? Apparently that too still has at least some GS support even though it's from 2006.

Just curious, I didn't know such a thing existed and it gave me a chuckle when I found it from the driver CD 😁

Hah, I had no idea that was a thing either! 😁 Do you have a link to the specific driver CD which contains that soundfont? I checked my X-Fi Titanum Fatal1ty CD and it only has the 2, 4, and 8 MB versions that I mentioned earlier.

EDIT - seems to be on the Vista driver CD. Apparently, some fellow Vogons users were not particularly impressed by it.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2024-03-07, 15:48:

Hah, I had no idea that was a thing either! 😁 Do you have a link to the specific driver CD which contains that soundfont? I checked my X-Fi Titanum Fatal1ty CD and it only has the 2, 4, and 8 MB versions that I mentioned earlier.

EDIT - seems to be on the Vista driver CD. Apparently, some fellow Vogons users were not particularly impressed by it.

I got an original driver CD with a PCI X-Fi Fatality I bought and it's in there. It has XP drivers so I don't at least think it's the Vista CD.

But if the Vista CD has it have a look if you feel like it, looks like the image is at vogons drivers. I can also upload the .sf2 somewhere if it isn't.

Sombrero wrote on 2024-03-07, 15:57:

I got an original driver CD with a PCI X-Fi Fatality I bought and it's in there. It has XP drivers so I don't at least think it's the Vista CD.

But if the Vista CD has it have a look if you feel like it, looks like the image is at vogons drivers. I can also upload the .sf2 somewhere if it isn't.

I found it on this X-Fi Vista driver CD which is indeed hosted on Vogonsdrivers. Seems to behave the same as 8GMGSMT.SF2 with regards to GS. Meaning, most effects in the Dune 2 intro sound wrong (rockets sounding like a telephone is ringing etc). Maybe the sample quality is a bit higher than on the 8MB version, but in terms of GS compatibility, there isn't much difference.

It seems like Creative stopped caring about GS instruments around 1998 or so.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2024-03-07, 16:11:

It seems like Creative stopped caring about GS instruments around 1998 or so.

Right, expected as much. I did give it a very quick try when I found it but I honestly wasn't sure did I hear any difference between it and the 8MB version so I just put it aside as a curiosity.

It would have been rather surprising (and hilarious) had X-Fi shipped with some ultimate soundfont for DOS. Buy the Fatality edition, get XRAM effects for DOOM!

Hi,

Regarding the different SF2 soundfonts from Creative:
1. 28MBGM.sf2 has one of the biggest bugs ever made in an 'officially' released soundfont by Creative/Emu. Namely it completely misses Picked Bass (34) preset from the capital tones. So its usage is absolutely not recommended. Its characteristics is almost the same as the 4/8 MB soundfonts (but has more serious bugs) and there are much better sounding/less buggy soundfonts in the ~30MB range. It has only 135 presets (missing Picked Bass and no GS/MT-32 variation tones at all but it has 8 GS drum kits). Considering its size it is a rather mediocre 28MB soundfont.
Here is a test file attached to confirm the above bug:
download/file.php?id=129937

2. 8MBGMSFX.SF2/CT8MGM.SF2 (exactly the same one) is somewhere between the above and the 4MB one: it has 137 presets (so no GS/MT-32 variation tones at all, but has 9 GS drum kits). Compared to the 28MB one at least it has fully implemented capital tones (Picked Bass is not missing) and also has SFX Drum set at program 56 on channel 10. Otherwise it also has the same characteristics as the others.

3. 4GMGSMT.SF2/CT4MGM.SF2 (exactly the same one) is a decent 4MB SF2 soundfont with 329 presets (full GS variation tones and Drum sets + MT-32 tones and Drum set) . Arguably the 4GMGSMT.SF2 version is the most feature rich since it contains the most variation tones and drum sets.

All the above SF2 soundfonts have rather serious instrument range definition bugs. Try them e.g. with Storm.mid from Duke Nukem3D. The cricket mimicking effect is completely missing at the beginning:
download/file.php?id=129928

A decade ago I fixed some bugs in the 4MB one since it was the most feature rich and had the best performance/size ratio:
download/file.php?id=129934

Falcosoft wrote on 2024-03-07, 16:59:

3. 4GMGSMT.SF2/CT4MGM.SF2 (exactly the same one) is a decent 4MB SF2 soundfont with 329 presets (full GS variation tones and Drum sets + MT-32 tones and Drum set) . Arguably the 4GMGSMT.SF2 version is the most feature rich since it contains the most variation tones and drum sets.

Interesting! I noticed the same thing while testing the Dune 2 intro, but it's good to have proper confirmation from someone who has examined the soundfont in detail.

To my ears, CT8MGM.SF2 has a slight advantage in sample quality over CT4MGM.SF2 which is why I use it for General MIDI only games. The 4MB version should of course be used for games which utilize GS instruments.

Falcosoft wrote on 2024-03-07, 16:59:

All the above SF2 soundfonts have rather serious instrument range definition bugs. Try them e.g. with Storm.mid from Duke Nukem3D. The cricket mimicking effect is completely missing at the beginning:

I can confirm this. The default version of CT4MGM.SF2 doesn't play the "beeping" sound at the start of the track, while your fixed version does.

If you don't mind, can I use your fixed version of the file when I next update the driver CD image? Might take a while, but there's bound to be another update at some point.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2024-03-07, 18:51:

I can confirm this. The default version of CT4MGM.SF2 doesn't play the "beeping" sound at the start of the track, while your fixed version does.

If you don't mind, can I use your fixed version of the file when I next update the driver CD image? Might take a while, but there's bound to be another update at some point.

Yes, of course.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2024-03-07, 13:16:

Listen to the this playlist to check how games sound on a SBLive using this SC-55 soundfont. For comparison, here's how the games sound on a real Roland Sound Canvas.

Do you confirm that there is a minimum RAM requirement to use the SC-55 soundfont ? I read in an earlier message on this thread that it requires at least 128 MB if not 256...

mtest001 wrote on 2024-04-26, 14:55:

Do you confirm that there is a minimum RAM requirement to use the SC-55 soundfont ? I read in an earlier message on this thread that it requires at least 128 MB if not 256...

On SBLive/Audigy cards soundfonts get loaded into system memory (RAM). Since this particular SC-55 soundfont takes up around 47MB, I wouldn't recommend loading it on a PC with less than 128MB RAM.

This is because RAM taken up by the soundfont cannot be used by the operating system and/or games, at least that's what Creative's documentation implies.