Select different instrument from hands/colors/instruments menu / fix crappy sound?

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BillionArrow
Posts: 2

Post by BillionArrow »

Hello there!

(apologies in advance for not using the correct terms, I am kinda new to this hobby)
I discovered Synthesia a few weeks ago and i'm loving it so far. It's much easier than sheet music to learn popular songs that I always wanted to play (i am going through music theory now though :P ). Anyway I'm having an issue and figured you guys might help. The tool is really useful if you only want to play with one hand, let's say the right one. The notes that are supposed to played by your left hand are automatically played by synthesia's own synthesizer. The notes i played with my right hand sounded kinda off and echo-y, but by going through tutorials i figured it was my piano and synthesia playing at the same time, so I turned off "my notes" in settings. Surely that fixed it. Now the issue is with the left hand part. The notes (especially the ones next to C3) sound really weird and not even close to the sound that my piano makes. I went to the Hands/colors/instruments menu:
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I went through all the instruments but all of them sound off. Is there a way for me to make the application use my piano's notes and not the built-in ones? If not, is there a way for me to select an instrument other than the ones provided in the list? I already have an .SF2 file sitting in my downloads folder.

Thanks in advance!
Sincerely,
Billy
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

BillionArrow wrote: 08-10-22 4:00 am... so I turned off "my notes" in settings. Surely that fixed it.
You found the correct advice; that's good to hear! :)
BillionArrow wrote: 08-10-22 4:00 amNow the issue is with the left hand part. The notes (especially the ones next to C3) sound really weird and not even close to the sound that my piano makes.
This is very interesting. I don't remember ever hearing a report about this before.
BillionArrow wrote: 08-10-22 4:00 amIs there a way for me to make the application use my piano's notes and not the built-in ones?
On the Settings screen, it's under the "Music Output" list. You'll want to disable the built-in synth and then enable your keyboard as an output device. Does it still sound weird with your own keyboard's onboard synth?
BillionArrow wrote: 08-10-22 4:00 amI already have an .SF2 file sitting in my downloads folder.
Do change the SoundFont, all you need to do is put it in a place that Synthesia normally checks for songs. (See the Settings --> Songs tab.) This guide has the step-by-step explanation.
BillionArrow
Posts: 2

Post by BillionArrow »

On the Settings screen, it's under the "Music Output" list. You'll want to disable the built-in synth and then enable your keyboard as an output device. Does it still sound weird with your own keyboard's onboard synth?
Yes, but I figured it out! Now my digital keyboard plays my notes (but not the option "my notes" since it doubles the sound) and Synthesia's built-in synthesizer only plays the background notes, I had no idea that you could set 2 output options at the same time.
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It's a mess but I figured it out. Now that I can select soundfonts for the background, only thing i gotta do is find one that sounds as close to my keyboard as possible or just go ahead and sample it myself.

Thanks for the help!
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