Native Support For DLS soundfont files with Synthesia.

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JPS
Posts: 16

Post by JPS »

Hi

I've been using Synthesia for a while now and I found it very useful for graphically mapping out MIDI files to learn how to play new songs.

The only problem is that some of the MIDIs that I try to learn, were orginally meant to be played back with a DLS soundfont and not the default MIDI sound that come standard with MIDI playback.

Is it possible to provide support for DLS soundfonts or not?

Thanks
KaleidonKep99
Posts: 58

Post by KaleidonKep99 »

I could make you an SF2 version of that DLS soundfont.
JPS
Posts: 16

Post by JPS »

Cool, but still, I can use that with Synthesia?
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jimhenry
Posts: 1899

Post by jimhenry »

Assuming you have the Windows or Mac version of Synthesia, Synthesia is NOT producing your audio with Sound Fonts or anything else. Synthesia is producing MIDI messages. You can connect whatever you want to turn the MIDI messages into audio. If you have something that will accept MIDI input and produce audio using DLS, then you can connect that to Synthesia. See, for example, the description of how to use BASSMIDI to produce audio from the Synthesia MIDI output.
Jim Henry
Author of the Miditzer, a free virtual theatre pipe organ
http://www.Miditzer.org/
JPS
Posts: 16

Post by JPS »

So I assume that Synthesia isn't currently capable of outputting audio like this yet?...
kiwi
Synthesia Donor
Posts: 1180

Post by kiwi »

You 'll need coolsoft virtual midi synth and a soundfont .sf2 "who have the same quality of .dls"
There's soundfont on the website of coolsoft.
http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth

On mac you can use directly any dls without third party software. but no sf2...

So yes it's possible to have a really better sound than the microsoft synthetiser device.
JPS
Posts: 16

Post by JPS »

Hi

There's one thing which I forgot to mention, is that I mostly use my iPad for Synthesia, I occasionally use it on my iMac and less on my PC. I guess I was really hoping for a networked solution for the sf2/DLS soundfont, but I'm starting to think that it's improbable.
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jimhenry
Posts: 1899

Post by jimhenry »

Even on iPad you can route MIDI from Synthesia to another app. I don't know all the ins and outs of it but I did route MIDI OUT from Synthesia to MIDI IN of the Galileo Hammond B3 simulator to get a Hammond organ sound. If the there is an iPad app that can produce the DLS sounds you want based on MIDI input, you may be able to send it MIDI from another app like Synthesia.
Jim Henry
Author of the Miditzer, a free virtual theatre pipe organ
http://www.Miditzer.org/
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Even more interesting: the "built-in" synth that Synthesia uses on the iPad... is actually a DLS synth! We happen to have licensed a VoiceCrystal set from the folks at Eye & I Productions, but there is very little reason it couldn't be pointed at a different DLS file. While I don't have anything like this on the roadmap, it would be tantalizingly easy to add. No UI to keep things easy, but something along the lines of "Synthesia will use the first DLS file it finds in the iTunes File Sharing folder [or fall back to the built-in DLS file if none are found]".
kiwi
Synthesia Donor
Posts: 1180

Post by kiwi »

Yep and on my imac Synthesia use also a DLS and it's easy to change the default dls by the one you prefer.
JPS
Posts: 16

Post by JPS »

I’ve even found an app which can import dls and sf2 (I think) files through the open in another app feature on iOS.

Sweet MIDI Player by Roni Music - https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/sweet-m ... 78002?mt=8
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

For what it's worth, since the last post in this topic, we've released Synthesia 10.5 which includes a (BASS and BASSMIDI-based) software synth that uses SF2 SoundFonts. You can now use the SoundFont of your choice in the PC and Android versions of Synthesia by following this guide.
JPS
Posts: 16

Post by JPS »

Cool

It would be really awesome if this was added to iPad though.

Also what about Mac support?
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Adding it to Mac and iPad are on the list. It wasn't quite as pressing though, because the quality and (especially!) latency of the built-in synths on Apple devices is already excellent.
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