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What Soundfont Instruments Would You Recommend?


Jimbob
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While I've been playing "real" (physical?) music for a few years now, I've only recently dabbled with making MIDI music. However, despite me having quite a large range of instruments and effects, many just don't sound quite so full/real/decent. There are a few people on this forum, the brilliant Drill Master and Shadowblaze coming foremost to mind, who have made great music using soundfonts so I wondered if anyone could recommend decent soundfonts based on their own experience? Preferably I would like them to be free, but I understand the whole "you get what you pay for" (or don't as the case may be) philosophy, so if you use paid instruments that you'd really recommend I'll definitely take a look at them.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

Edited by JimbobJeffers
Correction, Soundfont not VST
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What genre of music are you needing the synths for?

I've used hundreds of VST's, but it just really depends on the genre which one you could use.

As A 90's gabber house producer I tend to use Redominator, because it simulates the godly Roland Alpha Juno :)

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Shadowblaze

I personally use soundfonts for orchestral instruments, so in case you need them I suggest trying out the Squidfont Orchestral. It needs a bit of polishing before being used, but it shouldn't be too difficult if you can apply an equalizer to it.

I use just one main VSTs, the IL Sytrus (costs a bunch), along with a couple of cheap wave generators for simple stuff and soundfonts. Yeah, I use just those...

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Ah, my mistake, I meant soundfonts. I'm not entirely sure of the difference but the software I'm using only allows soundfonts, I have to pay a huge amount of money to get access to VSTs. Is there any real difference between the two?

Pascal, I'd rather like to have a wide range so that I can approach multiple different genres. To be honest though I'm not particularly knowledgeable on which genre represents which music, what with bands classifying themselves as "progressive space rock/metal" or whatever. :P

Shadowblaze, I'll check that out, thank you! I have quite a few equalizers already so that shouldn't be an issue. :)

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In that case you might want to use Jupiter-8V software synth ;)

It simulates the old jupiter 8000 which was very popular back in the day, you can make all sorts of crazy sounds with it :)

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Thanks Pascal, I'll be sure to take a look at it. :)

And thank you both again for your help, I've started making a song and will post it some time soon. I'm not particularly happy with it so would love some constructive criticism from you pros when I do get around to uploading it.

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Here it is, my first (public) attempt at making music. Much inspired by Shadowblaze's LR2 Music Overhaul, I had this idea to make my own music for LEGO Racers. I know there's currently a project to remake its current music in better quality, but my plan is to compose an entirely new album. Thankfully the tracks in each race are only around a minute long, so I don't have to concern myself too much with structure, progression, etc.

This first track is for Rocket Racer Run. It isn't the final version, rather just a draft. I have the main tune but have applied no equalizers or effects, nor have I added any improvisation. I'm not happy with the middle and end transitions, either. Furthermore it only uses four instruments - I tried to go somewhat Sci-Fi to match the track. Without further ado...

https://youtu.be/2_68kjl0gbA

What do you think? I would really appreciate any suggestions for improvements. :)

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That bad, huh? :P

Could someone please give me a little advice on what's wrong? Even if it's the whole thing, I'd appreciate a little support. :)

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Shadowblaze

Oh, whoops, I didn't notice that post, sorry! D:

I've listened to the tune now, and I have to say that the intro sequence is pretty cool. Although, the rest is too diluted, and the whole music sounds kinda weak. To fix these problems, you could add more filler sequences, a couple more instruments when the sequences are repeated (to make them a little less repetitive and more powerful), and boost both the bass and the drums.

Another thing I didn't like very much was the third note of progression at 0:44. It just sounds... odd and jumpy.

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Thanks Shadow, they are some very helpful comments and I appreciate you lending me a hand! It definitely sounds weak, I wanted more oomph but just didn't know how to add it in. I'll take note of your suggestions and try and improve it. :thumbsup:

The only thing I'd disagree with is the note at 0:44... I'm not entirely sure what sounds off there? I think it was a jump from a 1st to a 5th in the same scale which should work out okay, unless it conflicts with the other instruments?

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Shadowblaze

Thanks Shadow, they are some very helpful comments and I appreciate you lending me a hand! It definitely sounds weak, I wanted more oomph but just didn't know how to add it in. I'll take note of your suggestions and try and improve it. :thumbsup:

The only thing I'd disagree with is the note at 0:44... I'm not entirely sure what sounds off there? I think it was a jump from a 1st to a 5th in the same scale which should work out okay, unless it conflicts with the other instruments?

​Making the bassline and drums more sustained and boosting the higher frequencies in the master also give the music a lot more punchy.

It should work ok, but the interval between the two notes (the second and third ones in the progression) is way too large to... sound good. I remade the progression and tried to transpose one octave up the third and fourth notes of the progression, and to me it sounds better. Maybe you could try that?

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've given Rocket Racer Run a rest for now as I'd like to come back to it when I have more experience. But when I do revisit it I'll be sure to try out your suggestions. :)

 

My first completed track is out: Amazon Adventure Alley! To complement the environment of the track I used very tribal instruments and avoided synths, with the exception of a Bass instrument in the Squidfont pack that Shadowblaze suggested. I'm proud of it but I don't know if it sounds at all decent, you can be the judges of that. I worked on it on-and-off over a few days, tweaking parts here and there. Due to the 1-minute time constraint (which even then I pushed) it doesn't have as much filling as I'd like, but I hope it will work as a racing track.

Enjoy!

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Shadowblaze

Okay, I like the part from 0:36 to 0:52, and the sounds are pretty good. But the rest doesn't sound really good, especially for a racing tune. The part after 0:52 is basically the same as the previous one, and sounds kinda repetitive, and the melodies at the start are very faint, and too slow. For a racing game the soundtrack should have a fast melody and energic drums (the percussions you used here are ok, but they need hihats), and many melodies and variations. This last thing is a must in every videogame music, otherwise they'll become annoying really fast.

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