VOGONS


First post, by ElectricMonk

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I have no musical training (beyond forced violin and piano lessons when I was a kid. I was terrible), but I have seen people mention making "stacked" Soundfonts. Like using the Percussion patches from Drums Salvo, the wind instruments from Bellatrix, and maybe SC-55 or SGM instruments for the remainder of the soundfont.

Anybody aware of a tutorial that would walk a newb thru this? Or should I just rotate between SGM, SC-55, 8MBGSFX from E-mu, and OPL3, depending on the game? I have Viena Soundfont studio. Any better tools you folks recommend?

I only use Munt's MT-32 for games that were written for that, like older Sierra games, and I usually stick to SCUMMVM for most of those.

/In, before I get dogpiled by the mods for being "vague". AGAIN. 😒

Reply 1 of 28, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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I'm using the following sound fonts:
SGM V2.01
Bellatrix Orchestra
Drums! by Slavo
....and I like the combo better than any hardware MIDI I've tried out there, even better than SC-55 for SC-55 games. That's a matter of taste, though, but regarding to drums, nothing beats Drums! by Slavo (no pun intended).

The Bellatrix Orchestra needs to be edited to assign the correct GM patch, though, then put it on top of SGM. The Bellatrix Orchestra handles anything orchestra while the SGM does the rest.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 2 of 28, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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PS: of course I haven't compared my sound front stack to professional tone generator like Monowave PPG or Roland Integra, but I don't even know if such MIDI sound module are GM. 🤣

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 3 of 28, by ElectricMonk

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I apologize for the less than stellar image I uploaded to Imgur, but while in Veinna Sound studio, but do I replace the instruments with the ones I wish from other soundfonts? Or do I also need to replace all the presets as well?

xKQ2lpo.png

Like I mentioned, I'm a real newbie with this, I'm willing to admit I'm out of my element, and would appreciate all the hand holding I can get.

/You need Cisco/Juniper/ADtran Telecom CO equipment installs/maintenance, building DSLAMS and CATV Head-ends, or Enterprise WiFi installs, I'm your man. Messing with Soundfonts, or other musical is almost like a foreign language to me. Any help or tutorial for newb would be greatly appreciated, and help me suck just a little less.. 😀

/BTW, I'm still coming up dry on those speakers you've been looking for. Sorry about that, mate. 😒

Reply 4 of 28, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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ElectricMonk wrote:

I apologize for the less than stellar image I uploaded to Imgur, but while in Veinna Sound studio, but do I replace the instruments with the ones I wish from other soundfonts? Or do I also need to replace all the presets as well?

I don't quite remember; it was 2012 when I tinkered with sound fonts. IIRC you just need to replace the instrument number, that' all.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 5 of 28, by ElectricMonk

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:
ElectricMonk wrote:

I apologize for the less than stellar image I uploaded to Imgur, but while in Veinna Sound studio, but do I replace the instruments with the ones I wish from other soundfonts? Or do I also need to replace all the presets as well?

I don't quite remember; it was 2012 when I tinkered with sound fonts. IIRC you just need to replace the instrument number, that' all.

If that's the case, I know what my project this afternoon is! 😀

Did you run across any issues with some instruments from one soundfount being louder than others, or is there a way to normalize them?

I also noticed some people talking about certain emulated synths lacking FX/reverb processing and the like. Think this will be an issue with what I'm trying to do?

Reply 6 of 28, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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ElectricMonk wrote:
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:
ElectricMonk wrote:

I apologize for the less than stellar image I uploaded to Imgur, but while in Veinna Sound studio, but do I replace the instruments with the ones I wish from other soundfonts? Or do I also need to replace all the presets as well?

I don't quite remember; it was 2012 when I tinkered with sound fonts. IIRC you just need to replace the instrument number, that' all.

If that's the case, I know what my project this afternoon is! 😀

Use this for reference. For example, the GM instrument number of Trombone is 58. So if you open Bellatrix Orchestra, and see different instrument number for Trombone (let say, 3 or 14, for example), then change it to 58. And so on.

Bellatrix Orchestra is the only sound font in my stack where I need to change instrument numbers, by the way. 😀

ElectricMonk wrote:

Did you run across any issues with some instruments from one soundfount being louder than others, or is there a way to normalize them?

But of course! Drums! by Slavo is a notorious example, so I reduced the volume to about 75% or 80% of the original (don't quite remember the exact percentage).

Of all the sound fonts in my stack, only Drums! by Slavo that needs to be reduced in volume, IIRC.

ElectricMonk wrote:

I also noticed some people talking about certain emulated synths lacking FX/reverb processing and the like. Think this will be an issue with what I'm trying to do?

Huh? I've never messed around with FX/reverb. All I did was changing the instrument number to make Bellatrix Orchestra adhere to the standard GM instrument number, and reduce the volume of Drums! by Slavo.

Anyway, are you Hz is Good from Techreport forum? If that's the case, then welcome to Vogons. 😀 Yes, I am the Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman on TR forum you previously talked to.

(and have you found a pair of JBL 044Tis I'd like to buy? 😉 )

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 7 of 28, by ElectricMonk

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:
Use this for reference. For example, the GM instrument number of Trombone is 58. So if you open Bellatrix Orchestra, and see dif […]
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Use this for reference. For example, the GM instrument number of Trombone is 58. So if you open Bellatrix Orchestra, and see different instrument number for Trombone (let say, 3 or 14, for example), then change it to 58. And so on.

Bellatrix Orchestra is the only sound font in my stack where I need to change instrument numbers, by the way. 😀

Thanks! I'll look into that! 😀

ElectricMonk wrote:

I also noticed some people talking about certain emulated synths lacking FX/reverb processing and the like. Think this will be an issue with what I'm trying to do?

Huh? I've never messed around with FX/reverb. All I did was changing the instrument number to make Bellatrix Orchestra adhere to the standard GM instrument number, and reduce the volume of Drums! by Slavo.

I need to dig up the article I read when I started researching this, but certain physical soundcards/synths had ASICs on board to handle the reverb/FX processing to help "enhance" the quality of the 2MB soundfont/patches they used.

Anyway, are you Hz is Good from Techreport forum? If that's the case, then welcome to Vogons. 😀 Yes, I am the Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman on TR forum you previously talked to.

(and have you found a pair of JBL 044Tis I'd like to buy? 😉 )

Yup, that's me! 😀 I've been asking everyone I know with connections to audio installers/suppliers, and I've come up empty. I'll keep looking for you though. You're based in indonesia/malaysia/philippines, right? If I do end up finding them, I'll PM you so we can discuss shipping and the like. Ya'll have been helping me out greatly here, so the least I can do is try to return the favor! 😁

Besides, I could really use some good Karma.

Offtopic, but are any ISPs where you live hiring network engineers? I'm Cisco and Adtran certified (working on my VMware Data Center, and Department of Defense IAT Level 3 certs, too), but the job market here in the deep american south is terrible. I'm willing to relocate anywhere at this point, where the jobs are. I'm brushing up on my Japanese and Mandarin (All I remember in Cantonese is how to cuss), and would love to move to Japan, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia at this point. Gotta go where the jobs are, ya know? 😁

Reply 8 of 28, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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ElectricMonk wrote:

Thanks! I'll look into that! 😀

You're welcome. 😀

ElectricMonk wrote:

I need to dig up the article I read when I started researching this, but certain physical soundcards/synths had ASICs on board to handle the reverb/FX processing to help "enhance" the quality of the 2MB soundfont/patches they used.

Hmmm... I'm not sure how it applies to sound font, but I guess it's back to the soft synth you're using. I'm using BASSMIDI driver, and it seems you're using that too. Unfortunately BASSMIDI doesn't have reverb features.

ElectricMonk wrote:

Yup, that's me! 😀 I've been asking everyone I know with connections to audio installers/suppliers, and I've come up empty. I'll keep looking for you though.

Many thanks! 😀

ElectricMonk wrote:

You're based in indonesia/malaysia/philippines, right? If I do end up finding them, I'll PM you so we can discuss shipping and the like. Ya'll have been helping me out greatly here, so the least I can do is try to return the favor! 😁

Besides, I could really use some good Karma.

Indonesia. More precisely, the beautiful city of Naboo... I mean Bandung.

ElectricMonk wrote:

Offtopic, but are any ISPs where you live hiring network engineers? I'm Cisco and Adtran certified (working on my VMware Data Center, and Department of Defense IAT Level 3 certs, too), but the job market here in the deep american south is terrible. I'm willing to relocate anywhere at this point, where the jobs are. I'm brushing up on my Japanese and Mandarin (All I remember in Cantonese is how to cuss), and would love to move to Japan, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia at this point. Gotta go where the jobs are, ya know? 😁

I'm not sure; I was a DBA and solution designer before I went independent, so I wasn't involved much in network stuff. But I'll let you know if a company here is willing to hire expatriates for the job. Are you sure you want to move to Indonesia? 😉

Have you tried multinational companies like Schlumberger Omnes?

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 9 of 28, by ElectricMonk

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

I'm not sure; I was a DBA and solution designer before I went independent, so I wasn't involved much in network stuff. But I'll let you know if a company here is willing to hire expatriates for the job. Are you sure you want to move to Indonesia? 😉

Have you tried multinational companies like Schlumberger Omnes?

I'm highly ashamed to admit it, but long story short, my best friend, father and grandfather died within weeks of each other and I went went sideways briefly, and made the mistake of having just enough alcohol in my system while driving back to my hotel from a nearby bar to get pulled over by a small town cop for "having a tag light out". (My lawyer proved I was under the legal limit, but the judge decided to make an example out of me anyway. Guess they were desperate for ticket/fine revenue). That misdemeanor DUI has blacklisted me from the big international corps, like Schlumberger, Schneider Electric, Windstream, and a few other large corps. I paid my dues, and completed my year of probation/ license revocation, but that still is a black mark on my record (first time I ever got in trouble in my 38 years on this earth), and as soon as I mention it on my applications/interviews, my resume gets chucked in the trash can.

That, and I'm actually worth about $75-$100/hour, due to my 15+ years experience in the field, and lots of employers would rather pay some kid right out of training with ZERO experience to save labor costs.

Besides, I've never been to Indonesia, and always wanted to visit. 😀

Last edited by ElectricMonk on 2014-07-28, 18:36. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 10 of 28, by ElectricMonk

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

I'm not sure; I was a DBA and solution designer before I went independent, so I wasn't involved much in network stuff. But I'll let you know if a company here is willing to hire expatriates for the job.

A DBA? You are an better man than I. I took MS-SQL courses, and hating every minute of it. Same with the programming and MS-Exhange courses I took.

It's weird. I can kickass at routing/switching/WiFi/Licensed band radio deployments, Fiber Optic installs, and WAN link provisioning and turn up, but Databases, Mail Servers, and Programming just don't compute in my mind. I'm definitely a weird duck. 😜

Reply 11 of 28, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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ElectricMonk wrote:
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

I'm not sure; I was a DBA and solution designer before I went independent, so I wasn't involved much in network stuff. But I'll let you know if a company here is willing to hire expatriates for the job. Are you sure you want to move to Indonesia? 😉

Have you tried multinational companies like Schlumberger Omnes?

Long story short, my best friend, father and grandfather died within weeks of each other

I see, very sorry to hear that.

ElectricMonk wrote:

and I went went sideways briefly, and made the mistake of having just enough alcohol in my system while driving back to my hotel from a nearby bar (My lawyer proved I was under the legal limit, but the judge decided to make an example out of me). That misdemeanor DUI has blacklisted me from the big international corps, like Schlumberger, Schneider Electric, Windstream, and a few other large corps. I paid my dues, and completed my year of probation/ license revocation, but that still is a black mark on my record (first time I ever got in trouble in my 38 years on this earth), and as soon as I mention it on my applications/interviews, my resume gets chucked in the trash can.

That, and I'm actually worth about $75-$100/hour, due to my 15+ years experience in the field, and lots of employers would rather pay some kid right out of training with ZERO experience to save labor costs.

...and that's the very same problem here in Indonesia. 🤣

ElectricMonk wrote:

Besides, I've never been to Indonesia, and always wanted to visit. 😀

Nonetheless, I'll let you know if a local company here is interested to hire and expat.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 12 of 28, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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ElectricMonk wrote:
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

I'm not sure; I was a DBA and solution designer before I went independent, so I wasn't involved much in network stuff. But I'll let you know if a company here is willing to hire expatriates for the job.

A DBA? You are an better man than I. I took MS-SQL courses, and hating every minute of it. Same with the programming and MS-Exhange courses I took.

It's weird. I can kickass at routing/switching/WiFi/Licensed band radio deployments, Fiber Optic installs, and WAN link provisioning and turn up, but Databases, Mail Servers, and Programming just don't compute in my mind. I'm definitely a weird duck. 😜

Not really, everyone has their own likes, y'know. 😉 By the way, I was doing Oracle, not MS. Frankly MS-SQL is not really "tune-able" compared to Oracle.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 13 of 28, by ElectricMonk

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Nonetheless, I'll let you know if a local company here is interested to hire and expat.

Thank you, my good man!

Reply 14 of 28, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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ElectricMonk wrote:
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Nonetheless, I'll let you know if a local company here is interested to hire and expat.

Thank you, my good man!

No problemo.

Anyway, let us know when you have finished tune your sound fonts. I did merely basic tuning - modifying the Bellatrix Orchestra sound font to the correct GM instrument numbers. But who knows you may be interested to tune it more. 😀

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 15 of 28, by ElectricMonk

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Not really, everyone has their own likes, y'know. 😉 By the way, I was doing Oracle, not MS. Frankly MS-SQL is not really "tune-able" compared to Oracle.

That was one thing about that bugged me about the tech school I went to. They lacked the official blessing of Oracle to teach the courses. The only time I ever saw it, was when (then) Royal Ahold (Dutch company), back when they owned a large regional grocery store. They had Oracle running on IBM RS/6000s they brought for the class, but I was only allowed to watch, not touch anything.

Although, my Microsoft and Novell instructions loved bagging on the Lotus Notes teacher, who would snidely tell prospective students that they should learn a "Real OS", like Lotus. Even then (knowing as little as I did), I called him out it. It was hilarious watching him backpedal from that false statement. 😁

For what it's worth, I also taught custom courses for the US Army, Air Force, Navy, AT&T DSLAM installers, and the SC Mental Health department. It was a lot of fun, even when I did have to correct their misunderstandings.

Reply 16 of 28, by ElectricMonk

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:
ElectricMonk wrote:
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Nonetheless, I'll let you know if a local company here is interested to hire and expat.

Thank you, my good man!

No problemo.

Anyway, let us know when you have finished tune your sound fonts. I did merely basic tuning - modifying the Bellatrix Orchestra sound font to the correct GM instrument numbers. But who knows you may be interested to tune it more. 😀

If I can get a nice, normalized soundfount, based on multiple patches from the various soundfounts, do you think Vogons would allow me to post a link to it, or would it cause issues for the site owners (like the original creators demanding royalies?)

I'm also working on a tutorial for getting legacy software working in Virtualbox, Think I could post it here too, in the HOW-TO section?

Reply 17 of 28, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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ElectricMonk wrote:

For what it's worth, I also taught custom courses for the US Army, Air Force, Navy, AT&T DSLAM installers, and the SC Mental Health department. It was a lot of fun, even when I did have to correct their misunderstandings.

Have you met DOSFreak IRL? IIRC he works for the USAF.

ElectricMonk wrote:

If I can get a nice, normalized soundfount, based on multiple patches from the various soundfounts, do you think Vogons would allow me to post a link to it, or would it cause issues for the site owners (like the original creators demanding royalies?)

I'm also working on a tutorial for getting legacy software working in Virtualbox, Think I could post it here too, in the HOW-TO section?

I dunno, those sound fonts are free to begin with, so I don't think there's a problem to post the link to your modified version, but you should ask a moderator just to be safe.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 18 of 28, by ElectricMonk

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Have you met DOSFreak IRL? IIRC he works for the USAF.

I'm still newish here, so I haven't had a chance to meet anyone here IRL. I've been on Tech Report for quite a while, and still haven't been able to go the the BBQ to meet anyone either.

I've been on Fark.com a along time, and the few Fark partys I went to were incredibly disappointing, so I've been avoiding Message board meet ups. I think I'd rather just keep the illusion.

Case in point, at an ISP I worked for for 6 years, there was a customer rep who sounded gorgeous on the phone. I travelled to their NOC to train the CSRs, and all the field techs kept being me to tell them how hot she was, and take pictures. I told them to hang onto the fantasy, because the reality was miles away from what I saw firsthand. 🙁

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

I dunno, those sound fonts are free to begin with, so I don't think there's a problem to post the link to your modified version, but you should ask a moderator just to be safe.

Cool beans! Which mod should approach? Qbix and Dominus seem to have it out for me.

Reply 19 of 28, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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ElectricMonk wrote:
I'm still newish here, so I haven't had a chance to meet anyone here IRL. I've been on Tech Report for quite a while, and still […]
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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Have you met DOSFreak IRL? IIRC he works for the USAF.

I'm still newish here, so I haven't had a chance to meet anyone here IRL. I've been on Tech Report for quite a while, and still haven't been able to go the the BBQ to meet anyone either.

I've been on Fark.com a along time, and the few Fark partys I went to were incredibly disappointing, so I've been avoiding Message board meet ups. I think I'd rather just keep the illusion.

Case in point, at an ISP I worked for for 6 years, there was a customer rep who sounded gorgeous on the phone. I travelled to their NOC to train the CSRs, and all the field techs kept being me to tell them how hot she was, and take pictures. I told them to hang onto the fantasy, because the reality was miles away from what I saw firsthand. 🙁

Ha! That's also common with social media. 🤣

ElectricMonk wrote:
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

I dunno, those sound fonts are free to begin with, so I don't think there's a problem to post the link to your modified version, but you should ask a moderator just to be safe.

Cool beans! Which mod should approach? Qbix and Dominus seem to have it out for me.

DosFreak?

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.