Does Music Creator 2 support other SoundFonts?

Hey, it's been a while since I posted something here.

Okay, I've been using my LightSnake cable for a while along with Music Creator 2 to record my music via in audio.

But now, I want to switch back to recording MIDI because I heard that SoundFonts with real instrument sounds help make the MIDI sound real...like the piano or guitar instrument.

Now, I've tried it with a very old program called, WinGroove and its output when I record via MIDI back in the day, the sound is much better than the very generic MIDI with it's default sound. However, even with WinGroove, the sound still doesn't match "realistic instrument"...it still sounds very generic.

Now, the question is, can I use different soundfonts with real instrument sounds in Cakewalk Music Creator 2? If I could, how do I set it up in MC2?

Oh, and until I get or should I get "Midi Converter Studio 6.0" to export MIDI into audio format such as WAV or MP3 or can I actually do it in MC2? I want to export the MIDI with its desired soundFont into an audio format. How do I do that? Cuz, just going file export doesn't work.

Okay, after checking MC4, its features sounds more amazing than my CM2.

Now I was wondering, if I purchase this product, will it "always" come with the usb MIDI cable because I currently have the old MIDI cable that requires you to stick it in a joystick port. But new computers no longer have the joystick port so that proposes a problem for me and my budget if I were to purchase the USB MIDI cable separately. And my purchase is going to be at either Circuit City or Best Buy.

Another question about MC4...

If I record using MIDI, will it produce "very real and high" quality sounds? and not like the old form of MIDI where it sounds way too generic. I know Garage Band (on the Mac only) have this function but I don't use a Mac. I use PC. It records as a MIDI but produces very "real instrument" sounds and including effects like for guitars having auto random frets and electric guitar have random distortion. Which amazes me. Now does MC4 have those capabilities?

And you said you could export MIDI directly into an audio format like WAV. I also read that it only exports to WAV forms, which is not a problem for me since I got a converter for that.

Are there any issues with the product? Because I also did some research and most the reviews I read are bad about the product like it doesn't work well with Vista which is bad if I "do" decide to switch to a new computer rather than using my current one which runs on XP. And I also heard that there something about a "wait time" with the export of WAV? I don't really understand that part. Oh, does it still work with generic sound cards?

But anyways, do tell me your pros and cons and whether or not it has the real instrument outputs using MIDI recording method (like using soundfonts or synths), and if it "always" come with the USB midi cable or not.

I just downloaded the soundfont player and a sound font of strings. How do I open this in mc4? the same as vst's?

ok, I am now able to insert the sfz player and it loads just like any other synth. I cant get any sounds. my soundfont stringsynth is showing up if I right click on the sfz players top track. It loaded 2 different tracks only 1 with record. the string synth popped up too but no noise. The second track was just the midi part so I couldnt add the sound font. Only effects. any suggestions?

ok, I got it to work. awesome. thanks for the help with soundfonts

MC 2? How old is that? I had MC 2003 and MC Pro24, both of which came with the Edirol VSC software synthesizer. Do you have that in MC 2?
A lot of people here have more experience with soft synths than me, but the quality of the TTS-1 soft synth sounds in MC 4 and various SONAR programs is way above the Edirol. But a word of caution: making a MIDI guitar sound like a guitar is more dependent on technique than the synth itself. It may sound like a guitar, but making it sound like a played guitar is a whole 'nother ball of wax.
You can use MC 4 with most computers, what operating system do you run? I think the MC 4 Music Pack includes cords, but are they MIDI to MIDI or MIDI to USB?
I just looked. That must be an old page. It says it comes with a USB connector and MC 3! $49.

So, MC4 doesn't come with a USB MIDI cable, huh? Man, either the Cakewalk site is outdated or they lie because the site did say that MC4 does come with a USB MIDI cable or are there two different versions? Like one that just has the software and the other has both the software and the MIDI cable.

Anyways, let's see, in MC2, one I have right now, the only way I record was just using tracks and hit the record button. Occasionally, I use fade out and fade ins. That's pretty much all I do in MC2. I use a keyboard (Yamaha YPT-300, 61-keys) and a Mono-audio Output LightSnake Cable. I do use a lot of tracks sometimes but not always. Usually I can just record on three tracks and since it's audio, I could play instruments on any tracks. Oh, and I don't have any special sound card like Sound Blaster Live. I just have the factory built on my laptop. I don't really have any problems recording on my laptop using MC2. I only have the generic sound outputs for MIDI and my lame ass LightSnake Cable only produces mono audio outputs which sucks ass and makes my Yamaha YPT-300 piano sounds sound like crap. Because you see, my YPT-300 keyboard's piano sound sounds great and almost realistic but when I plug in my LightSnake cable, it only outputs the left side of the audio and the left side of the audio sounds generic. If only I could get the right side which is the side that has the real sound...

But when it comes to recording MIDI, that's where I need to use several tracks. But again, MC2, doesn't seem to have the realistic sound feature...just the generic sound.

So with the description above, do you still think I should still get more upgrade on hardware and/or equipment for MC4? or am I just fine with my own way of recording when I DO switch to MC4...well mainly for the MIDI with real instrument sound quality output.

My "current" computer specs:
***Oh and I have a HP Pavilion zv6000 laptop

Win XP: Home w/ SP2
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3200+ (2.0 ghz)

2 gigs of RAM

80 gigs of Hard disk space

Graphic Card:ATI 200 Xpress series

Soundcard type: factory built? generic?

Sound like the computer is up to the task... however... time to upgrade and go buy some stuff. Here's you mission...should you decide to accept it.

Upgrade to MC4....ASAP

Go to the music store and buy a new Audio/midi interface...USB or better yet FIREWIRE. (assuming the lappy has USB ports...very likely, but do check for a firewire port...as some lappys don't have a firewire port.. computer stores sell adapters that fit in a slot (PCMIA) that will allow you to add a firewire port to the lappy)

Come home and hook it up...start making music.

Mission accomplished!

The keyboard...it should have a midi output... MC4 comes with TTS...a decent soft synth with lots of sounds (patches to use)

So quit complaining about MC2 and lightsnakes (whatever that is) and do the upgrades needed to get you recording music.

Okay, before I actually do go out and purchase MC4 and MIDI cable USB or Firewire as you recommended, I opened up my MC2 and I did noticed that it has Synths. DXi Synths and EDIROL VSC. I've never used those before but I tried doing so. I assume they're suppose to work with MIDI recording...right?

Well, if they do work with MIDI recording, I tested it out recording a MIDI track. Problem is, I don't hear any sound or my MIDI doesn't record even with the ARM button on and the record button pressed. So, what do I do to enable it, assume it's "main menus" are similar to MC4. Is this a hardware issue or do I have to tweak the program?

I just wanted to see if my synths are actually what I want...MIDI with real instrument sounds...

They synths also have instruments built in too...but I can't record or hear any of them. How to fix that?

what is TTS? is it a synth? 'Cuz in my MC2, it doesn't have that. It only have DreamStation Dxi2 and Edirol VSC synth. So would I be experiencing "any" problems?

Oh, and I don't have my Keyboard or cables with me at the moment so I'm just using the piano rollout to test record on the computer only.

ederol is the synth you have in MC2 so use it... select the proper patch to make the sound you want....

If you upgrade to MC4 you will have TTS as one of 3 synths.

just insert ederol and set it up as I describe on my site...I'm thinking it works basically the same way as TTS...

yea, I'm trying to test out whether my synths are working or not on the MIDI track using the Piano roll sheet. And yes, I made sure, the piano roll sheet was the Midi track's. I don't have my keyboard or cable with me at the moment so I'm just using my touch pad on my laptop to test out sounds by creating midi.

Yamaha YPT-300

Be advised that some (Most? All?) Yamaha's don't work with MIDI to USB cords not made by Yamaha. So if you buy the MC program that includes the MIDI to USB cord, it may not work with your Yamaha.

They are different animals.
The Joystick/MIDI adapter is a direct serial connection. It simply rearranges the wiring from the 5-pin DIN MIDI to the 15-pin joystick port.
The MIDI/USB adapters put the signal through a bit of conversion, and some timing glitches can come into play.
For some reason, Yamaha keyboards tend to be particularly sensitive to this, and they don't seem to communicate well with USB adapters from other manufacturers.

In each "part" of Edirol VSC, you will see a preview (PREV) button. you can click on that to hear the sound of the selected patch (instrument).
In the Instrument window, click on the down arrow to select different sounds to audition.
If you have a bank and patch selected in your MIDI track, it will override the patch you have auditioned.