Copyright: Copyright © 1998-2001. Creative Technology, Ltd.   Creative SoundFont Control Help (UDA) - Version 1.1
Citation: Copyright © 1998-2001. Creative Technology, Ltd.


WAV
Wave

Microsoft Wave format files (with .WAV file extension), which Windows stores sounds as waveforms. Depending on the sampling frequency, on whether the sound is monaural or stereo, and on whether 8 or 16 bits are used for each sample, one minute of sound can occupy as little as 644 KB or as much as 27 MB of storage.


What is SoundFont Control?

Creative SoundFont Control allows you to configure MIDI banks with SoundFont, DLS and Wave files and instruments, as well as set the caching algorithm and space.

Note

If you load a Soundfont 1.0 bank (with .SBK file extension), SoundFont Control will prompt you to convert and save the bank into SoundFont 2.0 format (with .SF2 file extension).

SoundFont Control supports the SoundFont 2.1 format.


If You've Used AWE Control Before ...

The tabs Synth, User and WaveFx have been reorganized into the stand-alone SoundFont Control applet.

Synth and User have been combined into a single Configure Bank tab.

The WaveFx tab is now Configure Instrument.

There is a new tab Options that allows you to specify the caching space.

The names for the interface elements are now more intuitive and task oriented.

Bank 0 is not reserved for synth banks (namely, GM, GS and MT-32) anymore. You can now load any user bank to Bank 0.

In AWE Control, only one SoundFont file could be loaded at a time. In SoundFont Control, SoundFont files can be loaded one on top of another; they can be stacked. Stacking allows you to preserve the configuration of all the loaded files. For more information on the benefits of stacking files, see the notes in Configuring Banks.


Configuring Banks

To configure a bank

1	In SoundFont Control, click the Configure Bank tab.

2	In the Select Bank list, select the MIDI bank to configure.

3	Click the Load button and load the SoundFont/DLS/Wave file you want to the MIDI bank.
The latest file loaded always appears at the top of the Bank Stack box.
The top of the stack is indicated by an arrow.

4	To replace a SoundFont/DLS/Wave file, click the file and then click the Replace button.
OR
Double-click the file.

Select the file to replace with.

5	To clear a bank from the stack, select the bank and then click the Clear button.
A variation bank cannot be cleared. To clear it, you must clear its main bank .

6	Repeat Steps 3, 4 or 5 as required.

Notes

Why stack multiple SoundFont/DLS/Wave files?
The sounds produced by a game you have bought may not be to your liking. Removing the attached SoundFont/DLS/Wave file may not be a good option because there may be other users on your computer who like the sounds as they are. Also, when you reload a removed SoundFont/DLS/Wave file, you may not be able to reproduce its last-saved bank and instrument configuration.

You can "spot" hide particular instruments; this may require loading one or more SoundFont/DLS/Wave files on top of the original.

When you clear a SoundFont/DLS/Wave file, you remove the latest configuration of the main bank and any variation banks, and that includes the latest configuration of their instruments done at the Configure Instrument tabbed page.

Variation banks cannot be cleared directly. To clear them, you must clear the main bank.


Configuring Instruments

To configure an instrument

1	In the SoundFont dialog box, click the Configure Instrument tab.

2	In the Select Bank list, select the bank whose instruments you want to configure.
You can select any bank.

3	In the Select Instrument list, select the instrument to configure.

In the Instrument Stack box, you may see an instrument entry although you did not load an instrument in this page. The instrument, which has the [image] icon, is the instrument found in a bank loaded in the Configure Bank tabbed page.

4	Click the Load button and load the SoundFont/DLS/Wave file that contains the instrument you want to use.
The latest file loaded always appears at the top of the Instrument Stack box, with an arrow pointing to it.

5	To clear an instrument from the stack, select the instrument and then click the Clear button.

Note

An instrument can only be cleared if it comes from a single-instrument file (for example, a SoundFont file in which only one instrument is configured, or a .WAV file).


Configuring Cache Memory for SoundFont Files

SoundFont/DLS/Wave devices that are geared for the PCI bus use computer memory for direct processing of SoundFont/DLS/Wave files. This is in contrast to the SoundFont devices geared for the ISA bus which grab memory from memory add-ons.

For faster processing of SoundFont/DLS/Wave files, the files are loaded from the hard disk or any other drive to memory. You need to set the maximum amount of cache memory if you want to load more or bigger SoundFont/DLS/Wave files to the MIDI bank.

To set the amount of cache for SoundFont files

On the Options tabbed page of the SoundFont Control dialog box, move the SoundFont Cache slider to set the amount you want.

Note

Setting the amount of cache memory for SoundFont/DLS/Wave files does not mean setting aside or reserving the space. The space can still be taken up by your system or other files, if needed.

Your computer may slow down if the amount of cache used is too high. Select some banks to clear and reduce the amount of cache to improve the system performance.

  Related Topics


Changing the SoundFont Device

To change the SoundFont device

On the Options tabbed page of the SoundFont dialog box, click the device to change to from the SoundFont Device list.


Glossary

DLS

Icons: Bank and Instrument

Instrument zone

main bank

MIDI

Preset

Preset zone

ROM

samples

SoundFont

SoundFont bank

synth bank

synthesizer

variation bank

Wave


DLS

Acronym for Downloadable Sounds, an audio standard that extends General MIDI by using wavetable synthesis technology to provide a means to add custom sounds to the audio card.


Icons: Bank and Instrument

Main bank

variation bank

Single instrument SoundFont file

Single Wave (.WAV) file

Instrument found at a certain assignment in a bank loaded at the Configure Bank tabbed page.


Instrument zone

An instrument zone contains a reference to only one sample at a time and also information to articulate this sample. The information includes the key range, velocity range, and generator values.


main bank

Principal bank in a MIDI program space, which consists of space for a main bank and its 127 or so variations. Compared to its variation banks, the main bank has the bulk of its instruments configured.


MIDI

Acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, an international hardware and software standard for exchanging data such as musical codes and events between electronic musical devices and computers from different manufacturers.


Preset

Each preset is a collection of one or more preset zones , each of which references an instrument.  There are two types of presets: melodic and percussive.


Preset zone

A preset zone contains a reference to only one instrument at a time and also information to articulate the instrument zones of this instrument. The information includes the key range, velocity range, and generator values.


ROM

Acronym for Read-Only Memory, a data storage that can only be read but not written to. It contains unchangeable preprogrammed data, for example, ROM samples .


samples

Raw audio data (sounds) recorded from a sound source in the real world and converted into digital audio data; also known as sampled waveforms, sampled sounds, or digitized sounds.


SoundFont

A SoundFont is commonly referred to as a SoundFont bank or a SoundFont-compatible bank. Each SoundFont bank can contain one or more MIDI banks, but normally, only one MIDI bank is used. SoundFont banks are saved as SoundFont files in your hard disks and loaded into your audio card for playback.


SoundFont bank

A SoundFont bank is a file that contains digital sound samples and also information to articulate these samples. A SoundFont 2.0 bank consists of user samples, ROM samples, instruments, instrument zones, preset zones, and presets.


synth bank

Standard synthesizer bank in which the first 128 presets are defined. Refers to GM, GS and MT-32 banks.

In AWE Control, it was not recommended to change a synth bank, which was automatically loaded to the ROM. In SoundFont Control, there is no ROM chip on the card, and therefore there is no preloaded synth bank. However, predefined synth banks of various file sizes are provided. The larger the file size the richer the sound. To load a large synth bank, you must have sufficient system memory.


synthesizer

An electronic device that produces sounds in the form of audio signals (called waveforms) and sends them through a sound generator. It also allows you to change various sound parameters such as pitch, timbre, and volume.


user bank

Custom bank. Unlike a synth bank, not all the first 128 presets need to be defined. For example, a user bank can have only one instrument defined.


variation bank

A variation of the main bank . The main bank and its variations make up a MIDI program space.

A variation bank cannot be deleted directly; to do so, delete its main bank.


Memory indicator

Shows the amount of memory used by SoundFont files loaded to the system, out of the total memory allocated for such files.


Close button

Click this button to close this dialog box.


Help button

Click this button to open the Help file for this program.


Select Bank list

Select a bank to configure. The labels in square brackets indicate the status of the bank:

Unused.

If a bank has been loaded directly. its name.

If a bank has been loaded indirectly (it is a variation bank): that it is used.

A single-instrument bank.


Bank Stack box

Displays the current configuration of the bank selected in the Select Bank list. See Glossary: "Icons: Bank and Instrument" for a description of the icons. This box shows the result of actions done at both the Configure Bank and Configure Instrument tabbed pages.

The most recently loaded SoundFont/DLS/Wave file always appears at the top of the stack, to which an arrow points.

To replace or clear a file from this box, select the file and click the Replace or Clear buttons respectively.


Load button

Click this button to load a new SoundFont/DLS/Wave file, which will appear at the top of the bank stack.


Replace button

Click this button to replace the SoundFont/DLS/Wave file selected in the Bank Stack box with another SoundFont/DLS/Wave file
OR
Double-click the selected file.


Clear button

Click this button to remove the selected SoundFont/DLS/Wave file from the stack, and thus free up memory.

A variation bank cannot be cleared directly; to clear it, you have to first clear the main bank.


Select Bank list

Click the bank whose instrument you want to configure.


Select Instrument list

Click the instrument to configure.


Instrument Stack box

Displays the current configuration of the instrument and bank selected in the Select Bank and Select Instrument lists. See Glossary: "Icons: Bank and Instrument" for a description of the icons. This box shows the result of actions done at both the Configure Bank and Configure Instrument tabbed pages.

The most recent loaded SoundFont/DLS/Wave file always appears at the top of the stack, to which an arrow points.

To clear a file from this box, select the file and click the Clear button.


Load button

Click this button to load a new single-instrument SoundFont/DLS/Wave file which will appear at the top of the instrument stack.


Clear button

Click this button to remove the selected file from the stack, and thus free up memory.

Only single-instrument files [image] or Wave files [image] which are loaded in this page can be cleared here. An instrument file [image] which appears in the Instrument Stack box because it was loaded in the Configure Bank tabbed page can be cleared only in that page.


SoundFont Cache slider

Use this slider to set the maximum amount of cache memory if you want to load more or bigger SoundFont/DLS/Wave files to the MIDI bank.


SoundFont Device list

Lists the Creative audio devices on your computer. If you have more than one audio device, select the audio device whose SoundFont settings you want to configure.


Save On Close check box

To save the current settings on closing this dialog box, make sure this check box is selected.


Remember Last Directory check box

It is recommended to have this check box selected because you can then resume work from the same directory when you reopen this dialog box.


Lists the instruments available in the bank.


Icon	File type

Valid SoundFont 2.0/2.1 bank.

Wave file.

Invalid file type. Cannot be loaded.

Valid DLS bank.