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Where can I get SoundBlaster soundfont?

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First post, by Muz

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Hi, does anyone know where to get the SoundBlaster soundfont?

Reply 8 of 17, by oerk

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Okay, please tell us what you're trying to accomplish.

OPL-3 is a synthesizer chip used on older sound cards (most older sound cards will have one or emulate one). It can be used as a MIDI device in Windows.

The AWE32 is a sound card from Creative. Without going into details: it has a sampler chip which can be used as a MIDI device in Windows. It also has an OPL3 which also can be used as a MIDI device in Windows... 😀

None of those are a Soundfont. A Soundfont is a type of file which includes instrument samples that can be loaded onto a sound card or into a software synthesizer, which then can be used as a MIDI device in Windows.

Windows has had a software MIDI synthesizer for the longest time, so if all you want is to play MIDI files and don't care about the sound too much, all you have to do is click on them.

So, you really have to tell us what you're trying to accomplish, what Windows version you are using, and what type of sound card you are using, in order for us to help you.

Reply 10 of 17, by keenmaster486

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The OS does not determine how the MIDI sounds.

What determines this is either

A. Your sound card - some sound cards (like the AWE32 or AWE64) have sound banks in which you can load soundfonts that change how it sounds.
B. The software synthesizer, which is not the same thing as the OS.

What hardware did you used to play MIDI files on? Because that would go a long way towards figuring out how you want them to sound. For instance, if you had an AWE32 you were playing them on with real hardware then of course it would sound different in Virtual PC since that doesn't emulate an AWE32!

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 13 of 17, by keenmaster486

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Exactly. You're hearing OPL3-like sound because that's exactly what Windows is doing, playing MIDI through the emulated OPL3 chip.

Look, if you don't want MIDI to play through OPL3 you need a sound card that actually has MIDI capability and not just an OPL3 which is not the same thing.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 14 of 17, by gdjacobs

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You could certainly use soundfonts using a software synthesizer like BassMIDI, though. Also, software cores for OPL3 emulation exist. Nuked OPL, for example. I'm not sure if any are installable as a Windows device, though.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 17 of 17, by Rencer

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Muz wrote:

Hi, does anyone know where to get the SoundBlaster soundfont?

I know this is an old post, but I saw that nobody really answered your question, so don't be a necrophobic... 🤣

I don't understand why they didn't (want to?!?!) understand your simple question, I can't believe they really don't understand what you want...

So here what you requested:

Visit this page:
https://archive.org/details/cd-sb-audigy
From here you can download the ISO CD-image of the Sound Blaster Audigy insatllation disk.
Download it, then mount the ISO or open it with an archive manager program, rename the extension to ZIP if necessary. ISO files are basically ZIP files.
Navigate to the "Audio/Common/SFBank/" folder and there you find 3 Soundfont files. You can copy them, extract them and you can use them.
Use the "CT8MGM.SF2" its a 8MB soundfont. (8M in the filename indicate this.) The others are 4MB and 2MB, smaller files so they fit in smaller memory, but of course they are much less quality.
I always use the 8MB version to listen MIDI files, or play old DOS games if I want that quirky OPL sound.
I extracted it from my original CD (I have an Audigy 4) but the ISO on that link seems exactly the same, so I think that is the same that I have.