Soundfonts
for your own projects
Soundfonts
are samples in a type of format that originally were meant for special
types of soundcards, although today they can be played back in a DAW
software program (Cakewalk Sonar, Pro-Tools, etc.) with any prosumer
soundcard via a VST instrument that plays soundfonts. Some of
the
more advanced soundfont VST players are commercial and cost money, but
there are a few free ones, such as Synthfont,
and free versions of commercial products that are scaled down, which
can be found in an internet search. More on soundfonts (as
well
as a better explanation) can be found on the wikipedia here.
As
a side note, if you can't afford a commercial DAW for music design, you
can look into a program called REAPER,
which is an uncrippled shareware program that is constantly being
improved and is rather good. If you don't want to go with
shareware, Cakewalk has a large product line of good programs that
start at low prices (around $30 at the time this is written) to
high-end professional (although expensive) applications, depending on
your budget and needs, although at the time of this writing, REAPER
offers the most "bang for the buck" and is something I would reccommend
as the best choice.
A few links:
WWW.CAKEWALK.COM
Current
Soundfont
list:
LICENSE DETAILS:
This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License.
Please
note that many of these soundfonts include both palm-muted and standard
notes, in seperate banks, most of them "dry" without any distortion or
speaker/amp/cab FX applied, or any other FX (so that you can apply your
own). Please also note that if you want a guitar track in
your
work that sounds real and authentic, the best solution is to play a
real instrument - these files will get you close if you can't do that,
but they won't sound exactly like the real thing. All of
these soundfonts were created with a program from the Synthfont
website called Viena
(and no, that's not
a typo). You can play them back if you have either a
Soundblaster
soundcard that supports soundfonts, or if you have a VSTi plug-in
instrument that can play them - Many such VSTi plug-ins exist that are
free and can be downloaded from various places, simply search for "free
soundfont player" in your favorite search engine.
SF2
Soundfont of Ibanez
RGR320EX Electric Guitar
with pickups designed by EMG:
Version 1.0
CLICK
HERE TO DOWNLOAD
Bridge
HB pickup sound only, Neck and both pickup sounds will come at a later
date. Recorded with D'Addario strings, set of '9s.
Note
that these are not "true" EMG humbuckers, but sound somewhat close in
tone.
SF2
Soundfont of Gibson
Explorer with stock pickups:
Version 1.0
CLICK
HERE TO DOWNLOAD
Bridge
HB pickup sound only. Recorded with D'Addario strings, set of
'10s. Yes, it's
a
real Gibson, and no, it is NOT an Epiphone, Korina, or imported
knock-off. This is probably the last version of this
soundfont
because since making it I've had the pickups replaced with EMGs as well
as different strings.
SF2
Soundfont of Gibson
Explorer with EMG Pickups: <-- NEW! <--UPDATED!
Version 1.1
CLICK
HERE TO DOWNLOAD
Oh, YEAH!!! That's right, I had HZ EMGs put in my Gibson, and
yes, they are real ones, although passive because I don't like to fuss
with batteries. Specifically, they are the H4 and an H4A,
with
Elixer strings, and now she plays like a dream. So far I've
only
taken samples from the bridge pickup (I'll record more at a later
date), but unlike the other soundfonts this one includes a powerchord
bank in addition to the palm-muted and single long note banks, which
can give more realistic results for chords played through distortion.
You can hear an MP3 demo of these different banks put
together
with various FX HERE.
(Drums were added via EZ-Drummer.) Recorded in
standard
tuning (E), although the samples extend down (via pitch-bending in the
soundfont internally) to A, in case you want to emulate dropped tuning.
New in Version 1.1 is an additional set of
samples recorded at the 12th fret that ring long (high notes further up
the neck, by one octave).
SF2
Soundfont of Cheap
Electric Bass Guitar:
Version 1.0
CLICK
HERE TO DOWNLOAD
Probably
not the best Bass Guitar soundfont out there, but it works better than
nothing if you want a bass track and don't have a real bass guitar.
Recorded from a cheap (sub-$100) four-string bass, picked
(not
fingered).
More
to come later...
