Music Creator 3 & 5

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (bangity)

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:28:25 GMT

I am not hearing Built-in soundfont. I used professional soundfonts and they sound much much better than my acoustic piano.
I have Creative Bank Manager to manage that, it is linked through the soundfont bank manager of MC3 and 5. TTS does play sound, however, it does not use the soundfont. It uses its synth or GM bank.

Yeah, I did not use Bank 0 for Output. I used my soundfont which appeared as it name on the output so I can't be wrong. Thanks.

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (Guitarhacker)

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:41:05 GMT

OK... I keep forgetting that certain soundcards have the soundfonts built in..... so it is possible that you are hearing the built in soundfont from your card....same as GM in the way it works.

So.... take a few minutes and visit my website and work through setting up TTS to play 3 sounds....It is there, and it will help you to see how to set up the channel numbers and the patches so that TTS plays piano, bass and strings at the same time.

If you have problems come back and post the details.

Remember this: setting up midi and synths is much easier to do on a USB or firewire based interface...... it's not impossible to do on a factory card but there are inherent limitations in factory cards that are at times quickly reached by using Cakewalk products.

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (kine321)

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:05:57 GMT

This is what I found in the help files, maybe you've already seen this?

Options-SoundFonts The [SoundFont files contain data for patches. They are available from vendors and you can create them using the Vienna editor from Creative. To use SoundFonts, you must have a Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live, AWE 32 or AWE 64 sound card and have the SoundFont Management System installed (supplied with SoundBlaster Live). When SONAR opens a WRK or MID file, it looks for a SF2 file in the same folder with the same base name. If one exists, SONAR uses it. Use the Locations button to specify folder (or folders, separate multiple folders with semicolons) where SONAR should look. Use the Attach button in the SoundFont Banks dialog box to override this behavior and specify a different SoundFont file to use with the song. Bank 0 is reserved for the Standard GM sound set, but user banks can be attached to banks 1 through 255. SONAR saves SoundFont file names in (WRK) files, but not in Standard MIDI (MID) files. In order to use an attached SoundFont, you must select your SoundFont device as an output and assign a MIDI track to that output. You must also force an output channel for the track and choose a SoundFont bank and patch for the MIDI track.

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (bangity)

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:15:51 GMT

No, what I mean is that I am hearing the Soundfonts from both Apps while choosing Creative Audigy 4 Synth A as the Output. I lfet microsoft GS alone.

I am confused.

Okay, I did not use SFZ as the player. I used the Soundfont Bank Manager in the Option -> Soundfont and load the Bank from the MIDI Track Properties and it still works.

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (57Gregy)

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:51:32 GMT

I loaded 4 different soundfonts and they both sounded the same in MC5 and FL9.
This makes me think that you are using the GM stuff.... try loading a soft synth according to the directions in my web pages and also Tutorial 8 in MC.

That's what I was thinking. He's hearing the Microsoft GS Wavetable synth for both examples, which is why they sound the same.

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (Guitarhacker)

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:22:35 GMT

I am here.... Greg.

Bangity.... go to my website and read the pages on Music...MC4 especially, there is a lot of stuff there on using TTS and midi and soundfonts.....and it's in easy to understand step by step instructions.

What sound card are you using? This is a very important question.

In MC... the export to an MP3 is a 30 day trial.... so past that your only option is to export as a wave and use a converter.... there are several free ones on line.

In MC ... understand that ALL midi tracks & their synths are TWO seperate tracks. In a nut shell......You record data into a MIDI track. Then you also have a softsynth installed in a different AUDIO track. Your midi keyboard sends data, the platform (MC5) directs the data to the midi track. The midi track is sending the data to the synth that lives in the audio track and the synth outputs it's audio from that audio track to the soundcard and them to the speakers.

As you set up the 2 tracks you will use the track properties window to select the inputs and outputs to the various tracks... this is covered in detail in my webpages....

depending on the synth you have inserted into the audio track.... the sound you hear will depend on the patch or sample played by the synth. In the past, that synth was in the soundcard and used GM.... but when you start to use the softsynth and the patches and samples, the sound quality will blow you away compared to the old GM stuff.

I loaded 4 different soundfonts and they both sounded the same in MC5 and FL9.

This makes me think that you are using the GM stuff.... try loading a soft synth according to the directions in my web pages and also Tutorial 8 in MC.

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (bangity)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:42:17 GMT

no. It's a MIDI track. I loaded 4 different soundfonts and they both sounded the same in MC5 and FL9.

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (57Gregy)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:17:05 GMT

in Music Creator 5, I just use the MIDI track and load up soundfont. it works.

I don't think that's right. You may be loading a a MIDI clip into a MIDI track, but the sound you hear is probably the Microsoft GS Wavetable synth, which is notoriously hard to bounce to audio.
Without a sound font player, and the MIDI track directed to that player, you'll just hear the Wavetable synth, or nothing.
Herb, where are you?
I think I already mentioned I don't know much about sound fonts, except what I read here, but I know it needs a player to hear it.

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (bangity)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:02:56 GMT

in Music Creator 5, I just use the MIDI track and load up soundfont. it works.

in FL, I used the AkoustikPiano or the same Soundfont (pianissimo..) using FL Keyboard controller.

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (57Gregy)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:42:35 GMT

What is the sound font and sound font player you're using?
Maybe someone else can try it or tell you how to do it.

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (bangity)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:23:15 GMT

I tried Bounce to Track with the MIDI (of the Soundfont one) and there is no sound in the new Audio file. The other method will work but only with the General MIDI. Is there any other way?

FL Studio works fine but took very took to render.

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (57Gregy)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:03:27 GMT

Others know more about sound fonts than me, but I'm pretty sure the bounce process is the same:
Select both the MIDI track and the synths track by clicking on them while holding down the computer keyboard's Ctrl key.
Go to 'Edit>Bounce To Track(s)' and choose some options in the Bounce dialog box. Usually, the What You hear option works best.
The synth track is then converted to audio in a new track.
Is that what you're doing with the sound font track?

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (bangity)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:30:28 GMT

Hi, I have been reading the forum for hours now. After updating the drivers for the soundcard. I am able to use Music Creator 5 with ASIO support. Thus, I can play live especially with Soundfont. The problem I have found is that I am able to export to audio using a soft-synth as described. However, it will not play any sound inside music creator when I set the output to TTS1. But exporting to a WAV file does the job. But the problem is that, the sound exported to the WAV file is general synth midi, it's not the soundfont I wanted to hear as it played right inside Music Creator. What should I do? I am using a Privia PX-310 as midi controller, I do not want to use its sounds but the soundfont only. Thanks

Spec:
Windows 7 7600
Intel Quad Core 3.0
6GB of RAM
Audigy 4 Pro (ASIO works very well)

Re:Music Creator 3 & 5 (57Gregy)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:02:06 GMT

What synth are you using to hear the MIDI play? If you're using anything other than the Microsoft GS Wavetable synth, you first bounce the MIDI to audio, then export that audio to your desired location on the hard drive.
Some info on your computer will help, too.
How fast and how much RAM? What sound card? What operating system?
Welcome to the forum.

Music Creator 3 & 5 (bangity)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:30:17 GMT

I have both of these versions. I still favor version 3 for a fact that when I play MIDI through, the sound is stable while version 5 is lagging no matter what I changed (drivers, buffer.etc)

Now that I tried to export the midi to an audio file such as MP3, it seems the menu is disable to do that in both of the versions. What is the problem and is there a way to convert from MIDI to MP3 inside Music Creator?

THanks