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More on soundfonts and MIDI files System
This isn't really an OS X-only hint, but it also makes this hint much more accessible by providing some more explanations, examples and links.

To get better sound from MIDIs in general, you should think about replacing the default Roland soundfont (small sound canvas) with one of the many free soundfonts on the internet. Two good sites for soundfonts include hammersound and personalcopy . The largest problem Mac users will face when trying to use soundfonts is that they are compressed in SFPack or sfArk formats, formats specifically designed to compress soundfonts. These programs are PC-only, so you'll need to use Virtual PC to decode the files. However, I have downloaded the Reality [20mb download], Unison [20mb download], and Musica Theoria [24mb download] soundfonts, unpacked them and stuffed them into a Mac-friendly .sit format. Click any of the download links above to start the download.

Once you've unstuffed them, place them in the directory /Library -> Audio -> Sounds -> Banks. Then open up the Music tab in the QuickTime preferences panel, choose the new soundfont, and click on 'Make Default'. I haven't found any non-commercial soundfont that suits all music perfectly, but these do a good job without becoming too large. Though Unison suffers from some downtuned instruments, it is what I use for most my MIDI files because of the great choir, distorted, and overdriven guitars.

To easily compare the quality of these soundfonts to the small default quicktime font, I exported a MIDI to mp3 using the sound canvas and unison soundfonts:

Eagle-Eye Cherry - Save Tonight:Another way to raise the quality of MIDI music files is to export them to another format, say AIFF. When exporting, QuickTime outputs the samples at higher quality, producing crisper, fuller sound with a better stereo image. Compare the three files above; the exported files will sound better than straight playback of the MIDI files.
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sfark compression utitlity available
Authored by: stringplucka on Oct 01, '02 10:27:54AM

a beta release of an sfark utility is available by emailing and requesting the webmaster the melodymachine.com



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Impressive
Authored by: WillyT on Oct 02, '02 05:42:47AM

This demo is pretty good. The guitars are a major improvement. Hearing a more natural drum kit also. I like the guitar hiding in the shadows too. Prety good mix. (I do sound for a lot of festival type shows. Move em on, play, move the next group on, play so a good mix can be a challenge. Nothin like the real deal to sort em out.)

Unfortunately my midi software can't read the QuickTime midi format as it has a nonstandard header. I've had problems with QT midi files before. In OS 9 QuickTime actually converted standard midi files and saved them to a QuickTime Converted folder. I wanted to see how my midi gear compared to your demo.

Can you recommend a program to play the QuickTime midi files to external gear?
Or something to convert them to standard midi files?



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Impressive
Authored by: c15zyx on Oct 02, '02 06:51:32AM

Have you tried QuickTime Player File -> Export then selecting "Standard MIDI"?



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Fluid R3 soundfont
Authored by: c15zyx on Oct 02, '02 12:52:31PM

As a user commented in the referenced hint,- The Fluid R3 soundfont (downloadable from hammersound.net, 70MB compressed) produces even better results, but uses up too much resources to be useful for most people. I\'m using a G4/867 and there are slight skips on midis with several instruments, as in the midi sample above. However, if you are going to export/output your midi music to wave or aiff, you might want to check it out for better quality.



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Thanks
Authored by: WillyT on Oct 03, '02 06:52:11AM

These soundfonts files make it easy to use QuickTime for a reasonably listenable preview of most midi files. Still I found one old one, the Winjammer AxelF.mid that my system just doesn't have enough juice to play (except with the old default Sound Canvas).
Maybe its getting close to time to move my midi hardware to the Mac from my Amiga. Just have to see if thay got the midi power soak thing fixed with 10.2. My little fastlane midi interface just pegged the CPU at 0% idle.

In case anyone has a question what type of file you have type "file " without the quotes at the Terminal, then drag the file to the terminal, and hit enter. You will get an answer such as data, Standard MIDI data (format 1) using 15 channels, or Apple QuickTime movie file (moov). Very handy.



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More on soundfonts and MIDI files
Authored by: ionlord on Jan 18, '05 12:36:24PM

I have a general problem with QuickTime starting at version 4.0. When I play some midi file in some midi player using QuickTime for playback and having on-screen keyboard displayed with notes being played, these notes are played abour 4 seconds before thay are actually. It is very bad for me, because I can't learn notes while listening. It is a general bug affecting many programs.

Do you have same bug? Try to open Harmony Assistant and play some midi with on-screen keyboard.

Thanks for your responses.



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