How To Use sfz and sfplay?

n-Track Studio Discussion Forum
2

After reading the thread entitled “SoundFont Player,” I downloaded sfz and sfplay and installed them to nTrack’s VSTPlugins folder. nTrack’s help file says that to use VST instruments, I need to

1. select the desired VST or DX instrument to use in the Track / MIDI / New instrument channel pop-up menu

2. open a MIDI track’s Track properties dialog box. The MIDI output port drop down box should now contain, besides the regular MIDI output port, an entry relative to the VST/DX instrument plug-in.

I don’t have a “New instrument channel” pop-up menu under Track > MIDI.

Anyone have any ideas what I need to do to get started with these plugins?

Thanks.

3

You’ve basically got it sussed although with a soundfont vsti you will, of course, need to load a soundfont before you get any sound.

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I don’t have a “New instrument channel” pop-up menu under Track > MIDI.


It’s moved in recent versions. Try: “Add Channel”–>“Add New Instrument Channel”.

It might be worth downloading a midi file from the internet and using that to get you started. Then see if you can find a General Midi soundfont (rather than just a single instrument). Have a play with those two things until you get comfortable.

HTH

Mark
4

OK, I found the right menu option. But now, when I load a SoundFont file into either plugin (sfz or sfplay) and change my MIDI track to output to that channel, I get no sound at all. If I output to plain old Microsoft MIDI Mapper, I get sound again.

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot that?

Thanks.

5

I don’t really have time for a proper answer at the moment but I suggest that you do some googling and read up about MIDI “banks” (patches), and MIDI “channels”.

You may be asking sfplay to play an instrument (bank/patch) that you haven’t loaded, or to play a channel that has no instrument on it. Microsoft MIDI Mapper access to a MIDI device with a full complement of GM banks I suspect.

Also, find a GM soundfont (one that has a full complement of instruments like the Microsoft MIDI mapper). That will help you understand banks etc.

HTH


Mark

6

Thanks, Mark. I’ll do some digging. One of the soundfonts that I loaded was, supposedly, a GM soundfont, and I had the same problem. I’ll see what I can come up with on Google.

7

Basically, the easy way to make sure what you have loaded is set to the right program/bank is to make sure that in that section of the vsti, you can see words describing what sound you are trying to play. Also make sure that the midi channel your track is playing on is the same channel the vsti is reading off of. (if it says “all,” you are ok too.) Also, make sure that your program and bank in the properties of the track are set to “(none)” or whatever. This will save you having to go back and reset the vsti due to something weird in the way N works with vsti’s.

fish

8

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Basically, the easy way to make sure what you have loaded is set to the right program/bank is to make sure that in that section of the vsti, you can see words describing what sound you are trying to play. Also make sure that the midi channel your track is playing on is the same channel the vsti is reading off of. (if it says “all,” you are ok too.) Also, make sure that your program and bank in the properties of the track are set to “(none)” or whatever. This will save you having to go back and reset the vsti due to something weird in the way N works with vsti’s.


But watch out because MIDI files from other sources may have bank change commands embedded in them so you set everything up, hit play, and it all changes.
9

yep. For example, I use cakewalk express to make a lot of my midi files. Cakewalk always embeddes program changes, so once I import it into n, I always go back to “event list” and delete everything that doesn’t say it is a “note.”

10
Quote (savingedmund @ Nov. 08 2005,10:20)
yep. For example, I use cakewalk express to make a lot of my midi files. Cakewalk always embeddes program changes, so once I import it into n, I always go back to "event list" and delete everything that doesn't say it is a "note."

Be carefull, you can delete events (controllers) that are important, like expression, or others, that can change the way the midi file sound.
11

yeah. that is true (if you are dealing with someone else’s midi file that may have actually recorded such thing. I don’t when using cakewalk). Just be sure you are deleting “program change,” etc., events.