Reply 40 of 75, by Synthoridity
- Rank
- Newbie
wrote:How about commercial sound fonts like Sonivox? Anyone tried those?
I have pretty much all the Sonivox GM soundfonts. Most of them I had to obtain from others who kindly uploaded them, since the Sonivox soundfonts are no longer sold anywhere as far as I know.
* 24 MB GM/GS - A nice soundfont I suppose...I did use it quite a lot. Some of the instruments are not very realistic (such as the choir ahhs), and some are rather weak compared to some free soundfonts (strings and church organ for example). There were also a couple of smaller, lower quality versions of this soundfont, such as a 4 MB GM-only version. Video (DOOM E1M1): https://youtu.be/FVquRxzXV4s
* Industrial Dance and Retro Synth - These are two pseudo-GM soundfonts. Although they are designed for playing GM files, many of the instruments do not use the GM standard, which can result in some MIDIs sounding strange. Video (DOOM E1M1 and E1M2): https://youtu.be/4ZMews3-9Jc
* 250 MB GM/GS - "A step forward in every conceivable way and the last Soundfont GM Set you’ll likely ever need" - the Sonivox website. The product description for this is exaggerated, and this soundfont is definitely not amazing. It's a mixed bag; it does have a few very good instruments, but it also has some bad ones, resulting in poor balance depending on which instruments are used in a MIDI. The 24 MB soundfont is better than this one IMHO. Video (DOOM E1M1): https://youtu.be/KD0CFM1X7N0
Edit: And I'll also list all of the other commercial soundfonts I have, and a few opinions for them (which others may or may not agree with).
* EdgeSounds GeneVoice GM64Pro - 24-bit soundfont. Contains 2 full GM banks. Not really suited for classic game MIDIs; soundfont's samples are more intended for creating music with.
* EdgeSounds SoniqBear GM120Pro - Contains 4 full GM banks, and several drumsets. Not really suited for classic game MIDIs; this soundfont is intended for creating music in genres such as dance, techno, etc. Videos (DOOM E1M1): https://youtu.be/Mxq5KkuYkG4 - https://youtu.be/SznPgRqBJbg
* JaZMan GM24 PRO - 250+ MB 24-bit soundfont. I like this one a lot. Video (DOOM E1M1): https://youtu.be/5nHLqloSEos
* Merlin Symphony - 160+ MB. It's okay I suppose...uses some sounds from the standard E-mu/Creative soundfonts. There are also some free Merlin soundfonts, such as Creative, Elite, Gold, Gold Plus, Grand, Jupiter, Plus, Pro, Silver, Special, Vienna, and WXP.
* NemeSys Conexant GM500 - Originally in Giga format. Soundfont version is 350 MB. Videos: DOOM E1M1 - https://youtu.be/UJEZIp69DMU | E1M8 - https://youtu.be/uh2EOd-F4vA | DOOM 2 Map05 - https://youtu.be/glB_MovFkOg
* Papelmedia GM 2007 - 220+ MB. Some of the instruments are not really useable for regular MIDI playback, such as Synth Voice (in this soundfont it is a sample of a female "laa" that just sounds comical in some MIDIs). Videos: DOOM E1M1 - https://youtu.be/BxspHACtoMo | DOOM 2 Map10 - https://youtu.be/SqiutLZsUqM
* proVITAMIN - 230+ MB. Available as a Reason ReFill. Pretty nice, except for the distortion guitar, which is horrid. Video (DOOM E1M1): https://youtu.be/3LX4DGRIpm0
* Sonic Reality OmniSynth - Available for SampleTank and as a soundfont. Can sound muddy unfortunately. Video (DOOM): https://youtu.be/UWIzlpUQe3Q?t=2m58s
* sYnerGi GS - 40+ MB - I think it's nice for its size. Videos: DOOM E1M1 - https://youtu.be/3P3YmFCtXjo | DOOM 2 Map10 - https://youtu.be/PlgrNPqssZc
* Utopia Live! - 20+ Mb - The electric guitars are just not my taste. Others might like them, but that particular electric guitar style is bleh to me. 😜 Video (DOOM E1M1): https://youtu.be/RpsXwrEfslo - check the video description for a list of 4 main versions of this soundfont (stereo panned perc, lite edition with stereo panned perc, enhanced pianos and stereo panned perc, StereoID perc)
* Voice Crystal 4 MB GM - A very nice, small soundfont.