Advice for best possible (and affordable) General MIDI playback

Hello!
I'm looking for the best possible sound quality for my collection of MIDI files from games. I use an Audigy 1 card and have several Soundfont banks from 4 to 500 MB. They are all free GM compatible sets and rated between OK and pretty good.
Now I've learned that there are not only Soundfonts, but also soft synths like Bandstand.
My question, what would you buy? A big Soundfont like Pappelmedia (20 Euros), or Sonivox 250MB (100 Euros), or a soft synthesizer like Bandstand (190 Euros), or something better for under 300 Euros?
Thanks!
PS my experience with Sonivox:
I wanted to buy the Sonivox 250 MB GM Soundfont bank, but I was unable to make a deal with them because I do not own a credit card and PayPal requires it as well. My mails to them got "lost" somehow, because I never got an answer from them regarding cash payment by mail. However, I looked around for an alternative and I have found the Pappelmedia Soundfont for 20 Euros, which sounds to me much better than the Sonivox for 100 Euros. Your opinion regarding the two Soundfonts?
Message Edited by WKjun on 05-21-200712:16 AM

Man,
I have done that before just to mess around with different complex musical arrangement. I DL'ed this midi file and imported into cubase sx 2. If you do not select anything then it will go by the midi map that windows produces. But if you would like to replace those sounds I would suggest getting some good plugs. Check into native instruments. I think that will totally round everything that you are looking for. You can also do the cheaper way and run into Reason 3.0 and then just use samples to replace it or their factory synths. I do not know if that is what you are looking for but Reason will work really well for a cheaper and easier way of messing with premaid midi files.
[email protected]
www.sevensixdesign.com
www.myspace.com/falumiallamly

Similar Messages

  • On my iCloud account I can see an alternate email ID which can be used to login to my account, this email ID does not belong to me so I need to delete it. Please advice the best possible way as it does. It show any option to delete that ID

    On my iCloud account I can see an alternate email ID which can be used to login to my account, this email ID does not belong to me so I need to delete it. Please advice the best possible way as it does. It show any option to delete that ID

    Do the alternate e-mail address ends with me.com or icloud.com?

  • Best Font for Subtitles? and other General Subtitling questions?

    I've never had to use subtitles, until my current project, so I am looking for some general advice and suggestions.
    I will be using PPCS3 (on XPpro) as the subtitles (as in the kind that translate a foreign language) will be permanent.
    So here are my questions:
    1. What is the best font and or what is the most standard font for subtitles? (Font size and other characteristics may be worth mentioning here too.)
    2. Is it possible to have an outline around the text as opposed to shadow?
    3. What are some general rules of thumb for subtitles that apply to broadcast and cinematic productions?
    Thank you.

    See also:
    FAQ:Why are my titles blurry/wrong?
    Cheers
    Eddie
    PremiereProPedia   (
    RSS feed)
    - Over 300 frequently answered questions
    - Over 250 free tutorials
    - Maintained by editors like
    you
    Forum FAQ

  • What hardware and OS should I prefferably choose for best possible Firefox performace? (Windows/Linux)

    What is the best configuration I should choose for best performance with Firefox?
    Considering OS included also, Windows/Linux,
    as there might be some platform specific accelerations or drivers dependent things.

    If there are problems with updating then best is to download the full version and uninstall the currently installed version and delete the Firefox program folder to remove any leftover files.
    Download a fresh Firefox copy and save the file to the desktop.
    * Firefox 8.0.x: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html
    Uninstall your current Firefox version if possible.
    *Do not remove personal data when you uninstall the current version or you lose your bookmarks and other data in the profile folder.
    Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.
    *It is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure that there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling.
    Your bookmarks and other profile data are stored elsewhere in the Firefox Profile Folder and won't be affected by a reinstall, but make sure that you do not select to remove personal data if you uninstall Firefox.
    *http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
    *http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup

  • Looking for best application and stylus for iPad

    I am looking to download an application for an ipad to use with a stylus, but don't know which application or stylus is best.  Please share your opinion on the best application and stylus for taking handwritten notes.

    Procreate is the only good reason to own an iPad, it has support for the top three stylus. However iOS7 has broken the Bluetooth Bridge that Pogo Connect, Wacom and Jot need to give pressure sensitive support. Procreate hardly works now.. except..you want to finger paint.
    But when it is fixed I would suggest buying the Pogo Connect and a set of nibs and if I had only one App to use it with I'd use Procreate. It's vastly superior to many desktop Apps too.
    However, Apple relying on third party Stylus support only makes my MS Surface Pro look like where I'll be spending my cash on the next upgrade cycle. Why Apple has not come out with an iPad Pro is a stunning insult.

  • What format to import AVCHD for best quality and how to export?

    Hi
    My boss has got himself a panasonic HDC camcorder of some sort that is formatting the video in AVCHD.
    Basically he was using adobe premiere pro from around 2003 on an pc running xp and loved it. My I.T. director persuaded him to buy an iMac and Final Cut Pro 7. As we stand now he states he hates macs because he can't figure out how to get his home movies off his camcorder and onto a dvd without them looking blurry and fuzzy.
    Can anyone advise what format we should be importing the AVCHD files into final cut pro for best video quality and how we should be exporting the final movie for best quality to go onto dvd?
    I will also note that he is using toast 10 titanium to burn his movies to dvd.
    Also he is not looking to burn to blu-ray as none of his familiy have blu-ray players. He just wants his HD footage off camera and onto a dvd with the best quality picture he can get. Also his movies are approx 2 hours long and he has just ordered some Dual Layer DVDs
    Thanks
    Kieran

    I take it you mean Pro Res 422 from the AVCHD plugin options? And not going for any of the other 422's with bits in brackets?
    Sorry for being dumb in this area but my boss and i are both pretty new to FCP
    How do i ensure i edit in a pro res sequence?
    Export straight to quicktime no quicktime compression or anything?
    Thanks for your help
    Kieran

  • Strange volume swells in DLSMusicDevice, general midi playback, since Lion upgrade

    Hi all,
    Like many people, I upgraded to Lion when it first came out, and overall, everything's been working great. I'm a composer though, so I make frequent use of Sibelius. My problem isn't specific to Sibelius, so don't worry if you don't have experience with it. My problem seems to be with the OS-bundled DLSMusicDevice that, together with the Quicktime Music Synthesizer, is used to playback general midi. Ever since upgrading, playback volume seems to swell randomly, from low to high, making playback of my compositions extremely irritating since it won't play at a constant, consistent volume. Is there anyone else experiencing this? If the DLSMusicDevice is the problem, is there any way to reinstall it without reinstalling the OS? I'm trying my luck with this issue both here and on the Sibelius forums, just in case. Thanks for your help!

    Hello,
    My problem is similar of yours.
    That is unusually small sound by attached plug-in of DLS music device,
    on sequence softwares, and playback SMF file with Quick time and finder.
    I tried MacOSX ver. 7.0 to 7.2 with installed to external USB hard disk,
    but there aren't improvement.
    And It heard for me peculiar limiter effect sound, by listening carefully.
    I've been searched that some one encountered status like my problem, with posted in japanese Apple communities, from July.
    But, no body replied to now.
    So, I searched english sites with my poor english abilities, and I found your contents.
    My environment is :
    Macbook pro (late 2008, 2.4GHz Core2Duo, 8GB RAM)
    Logic Express 9 and Metro (is music sequencer)
    I expect fixed this problem in near days, by update OSX version, or i'll find any other answer for it.
    If I leave this distress, I will announce about it.
    Thank you reading my unskillful sentence.

  • Need advice for future design and hardware I should purchase now.

    I was wondering if someone could assist me in making a decision on where I should take the future design of my network. Currently the design has no redundancy and I've been told recently that my company has a bit of money to spend and that it needs to spend it within the next 2 weeks. I am fairly new to the company so haven't been able to really think about future redundant designs nor have I studied much about designing networks. There are about 200-300 people that may be using my network at once, all users aren't at the location in question but they may be asking for resources from our servers.
    I've included a basic design of the "core" of my network and would like any suggestions for creating redundancy in the future and also optimizing the way data travels to our servers. Do people generally have redundant Layer 3 switches for the core in small networks such as mine? I will be replacing the 2811 since it only has 100Mbps connections and was thinking, perhaps replace this with a Layer 3 switch with the plan to have another identical Layer 3 switch installed to offer redundancy in the future.
    Also, would it be a good idea to move the servers into a vlan on the core? Thanks for any advice on what I should be purchasing now with plans for redundancy being implemented over a year.  -Mark

    40k Can go pretty quick depending on the scope. Your server farm especially should be dual-homed capable of surviving link, hardware, routing, and software failure.
    It's going to be best practice your server farm be in it's logical subnet, so failover mechanism can be controlled routing protocols, as opposed to FHRP's such as HSRP/VRRP/GLBP. Especially since you adjust routing timers to sub-second convergence.
    Budget will be the primary limitation (as it always it) but ideally dual 6500's running VSS and FWSM would be the ideal way. Data centers should be designed with high availability in mind, hence the need to 2x devices.
    Depending on the size of the SAN/Virtual infrastructure Nexus might want to be considered but you will chew up 40k before you know it.
    Also make sure the server farm is scaled properly. Your server farms should be oversubscribed in a much higher ratio compared to your access layer.
    CCNP, CCIP, CCDP, CCNA: Security/Wireless
    Blog: http://ccie-or-null.net/

  • Hardware Upgrade Advice for HD editing and CS4

    Dear friends,
    I realize that there are many posts on hardware requirements, recommendations, etc... Perhaps this is my problem, there is too much info.
    Here is my scenario and I would love some expert advice.
    What I Have:
    I have been editing my home movies since Premiere 6.5 and have been using CS3 for the past couple of years.
    My current PC is an HP 9100t which has a ...
    Quad Core 6600 2.4GHz processor
    3GB RAM (max RAM is 8GB according to the stats for the motherboard)
    500 GB System Drive
    I recently added a 1.5 TB SATA Seagate Barracuda drive
    Also have external 1TB WD connected via USB
    Windows Vista Home Premium (32-Bit) OS
    What I Just Got:
    Recently purchased a Sony HDR-XR 500v and just love the HD picture quality. But now I want to edit the AVCHD files and thus upgrade to CS4
    What I'd like to Know:
    I'm tired of buying a new PC every couple of years, this machine is 16 months old and runs just fine.
    Do you think I can upgrade the processor, add RAM and move to Windows 7 64-bit and happily edit my HD movies?
    Or, do I need to once again try and convince my wife to let me buy a new PC
    My Upgrade thoughts:  I could Buy these items...
    Intel Quad Core 9600 processor  2.8Ghz (the HP motherboard supports the Intel Yorkfield processors)
    Max out the RAM at 8GB
    Upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (I actually pre-ordered this for $49 a few weeks ago)
    and of course upgrade to Premiere CS4
    DO you think a few hundred dollars spent on upgrades will extend my editing life for another year or two?
    Thanks so much!
    Paul

    but I was surprised to see you comment that it's pointless to upconvert video before working on it.
    It can easily be you misunderstood my intention. It is somewhat like people often thinking that converting from a compressed format to a lossless format will restore the original quality. That is nonsense, because what has been thrown away during compression, can never be regained by uncompressing. That is an expectation similar to orange juice being uncompressed will restore the original oranges.
    My intention with my remark was to emphasize that going from 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 will not restore original data or improve the image, only increase storage requirements.
    But clearly that is not what you meant. You are talking about chroma keying and similar being best done on 4:2:2 or even better on 4:4:4 material. You are completely correct, but keep in mind, and that is what I tried to convey, is that starting out from 4:2:0 and upconverting to 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 will not restore original quality, it will still be (slightly less than) the 4:2:0 quality, because of the rounding errors in the algorithms. You will increase storage space significantly by this upconverting, but if you want to do any chroma keying,  the quality of the keys will be significantly better than when performed on 4:2:0 material and the loss when again converting to 4:2:0 for final delivery will be significantly less than had you used chroma keys on 4:2:0 material.
    I hope this explains it somewhat.

  • Your advice for best resolution/page dimensions for building a website

    Hi.  I would like to know your opinions on what the best resolution to use is prior to building a website in GoLive.
    Is it best to design a site that would fit a monitor screen thats 1024 x 768, considering that 1024 x 768 is probably the most common resolution people use?
    Or should I go higher and design my site at a 1280 x 1024 resolution, which is what I've set my monitor to display that I'm currently using, although
    it's not as common a resolution that most people use...and people with monitors that do not support resolutions higher than 1024 x 768 will have to scroll
    to the right to see the full webpage?
    Or am I overanalyzing this too much, considering that flatscreen monitors are the current trend, and most of those are capable of displaying a 1280 x 1024 resolution, and I'd simply need to add a little message at the top of my site that reads "this site is best viewed at 1280 x 1024 resolution"?
    ...your feedback please.
    Thanks,
    Chris.

    Well, let me ask your advice on this then.  I've been designing my website in Golive basically by setting up a grid, and placing transparent gifs where I want them to go, with a frame on the left for the menu.
    My website is a unique custom tribal store in which I create and sell all sorts of cool things..
    I have been designing my website to view fully on a 1024 x 768 resolution.  Since I am not using a liquid css layout, if you view my website at 1280 x 1024 resolution, you will see a white column on the right where the website ends at 1024 x 768.  To illustrate what I am referring to, here are the examples;
    viewed at 1024 x 768, it's perfect.
    but viewed at 1280 x 1024, herein lies the problem.
    So, what is your advice on how I should go about laying out my website so that it will scale to view fully on a 1280 x 1024 resolution as well as a 1024 x 768?   The type of layout I need involves a static scrolling left menu column (scaling ok), a static header for my company logo (scaling ok) that does not move when you scroll down the page, and a liquid body that can scale and scroll down while the header stays in place.
    Should I use a liquid css layout, should I continue as I am doing with a basic grid and left frame for the menu, as well as a frame for the header so it remains static, and a frame for the body that scrolls so people can view products...
    I need advice on how to structure the site before I begin adding products and images and things.  What would be the best type of layout to use for what I am trying to accomplish so that it can be viewed fully at virtually any resolution when a person expands or contracts their browser window?
    Thanks,
    Chris.

  • Advice for flash animation and audio

    Just wondered if anyone could give me advice on the
    following:
    I have a music score in flash with an animated bar to show
    the position in the score during playback. The audio track is
    included with the flash file before I import it into Director.
    Is this the best method to run audio and flash together or
    does running the flash movie and audio track seperately have any
    advantages.
    regards
    Andy

    Hi Andy,
    That behavior will let you set a Flash sprite's member to be
    paused or
    not. I don't know that this has anything to do with what you
    want to do.
    You can't directly change the volume of a flash .swf from
    Director. You
    can use sprite(X).stopAllSounds() to stop the sound in a
    Flash .swf in
    Director, but there's no start available. A Flash .swf has a
    sound
    property, but that will only toggle the sound of an .swf off
    and on, and
    only applies after the sound has finished. The change will be
    used at
    the next play of the .swf.
    You can use the soundLevel property of Director to control
    the volume of
    the whole Director movie. If you have no other sounds playing
    when the
    .swf is running, you can use this property to control volume.
    It's
    pretty coarse, it only allows for 7 levels of volume change.
    Rob
    Rob Dillon
    Adobe Community Expert
    http://www.ddg-designs.com
    412-243-9119
    http://www.macromedia.com/software/trial/

  • Advice for moving to, and updating Aperture on, new computer?

    I am moving to a new MacBook Pro with Retina Display, from a 6-year-old MacBook Pro. I'm looking for tips to make the transition smoother.
    I will be upgrading to the newest version of Aperture. I currently have Aperture 3.4.5. Everything is all on my laptop. The Aperture file is 938 MB, and is SLOW! It's barely usable as it is.
    I will be using TimeCapsule to transfer files. My current OS is 10.7.5.
    Should I update Aperture before I move it? Should I move it, and then update it? Should I (somehow!) "disconnect" the files from the program and then reconnect them after they are transferred?
    I'd like to make this transition as painless as possible!
    Thanks for any advice you can give me.

    1. You can't update Aperture past 3.4.5 from 10.8.5 or earlier. You need to move it and then perform the update.
    2. See #1.
    3. No. Just keep a backup of them.
    4. If you got Aperture from a DVD and the new computer's running Yosemite, you'll probably need to contact Apple to perform the update.
    (116295)

  • Advice for audio import and how do i find the item ID?

    Hi all,
    I am a bit stuck and hoping for a bit of help. i need to add voice over to my project but i am a bit stuck as to the best way to do this. My project is in Chinese and has Chinese captions. I don't speak any Chinese at all.
    In terms of the voice recording i don't know anyone that speaks Chinese so i am sending the text captions externally to get them recorded. As i don't speak Chinese i am a bit nervous about the import process and what the final output will sound like.
    In my export document i can see each caption has an item id - my audio files will come back as an individual recording for each caption, i am assuming they will name the files the same as the item id in the word doc.
    My question is - i have a slide with 4 captions - when i export the captions they are each assigned a unique item id - say the voice over person records each of these captions and then they are named with the item id - what is the most efficient way of importing them back in and assigning them to the correct caption? Is there a way of seeing the caption's item id within Captivate? if i could then i could check the caption's item id and then import the corresponding audio file to it. In the absecen of being able to see the item id how will i know which caption each audio fuile belongs to? i could try to decipher iot based on the caption's text and compare that to the text in the word doc but that will take forever and as i don't know any chinese is not very foolproof
    maybe i am doing this all wrong and there is an easier way??
    Please help !
    Thanks
    Deb

    If you printed the Network Configuration Page, then it SHOULD be on it. It's named 'Hardware Address(MAC)' on the page. If you don't find it there, which is highly unlikely and surprising, then look at the back of the printer for a white label with a Wireless and LAN symbol on it, and the Mac address will be there.
    But to be honest, Mac Filtering is not the best form of security for wireless networks. It can be easily bypassed\intruded by wi-fi network hackers. It's better to assign a WPA or WPA2 security with a WPA key longer than 13 characters. This is nearly impossible to crack currently. So if they can't find the WPA key, they can't connect to the network... which will render Mac Filtering completely useless.
    Cheers.
    Make it easier for other people to find solutions, by marking my answer with \'Accept as Solution\' if it solves your problem.
    Click on the BLUE KUDOS button on the left to say "Thanks"
    I am an ex-HP Employee.

  • Any Advice for 4:3 and 16:9 Menu DVD Authoring / Scripting?

    Hi all,
    Working on my first DVD with both 4:3 and 16:9 menus. I was wondering if anyone has advice, pointers, things to watch out for, tips, etc...
    I want it to be completely automated so I am using scripts to check SPRMS, jump to menus depending, etc and so far so good. But I am encountering a few issues and sure there will be more.
    Here's a question - this is a music concert DVD and each song is a chapter in a track. I have the menu button for each chapter assigned to the Select A Song menu and that track's button is selected.
    How can I keep this functionality but also keep the 4:3/16:9 menu ability? Do I need to write a script for each chapter marker?
    Thanks everybody.
    Jason

    That sure is easier, thanks. I might just finish via scripting to figure it all out but if something doesn't work it's real good to have this way.
    I guess the only drawback is not being able to fully utilize the 16:9 screen real estate. It's probably worth it for most cases.
    Thanks,
    Jason

  • What export format for best resolution and 4:3 aspect ratio

    Team,
    I am putting together a DVD for my son's hockey season. It is a mixture of Livetype stuff, imported DV clips (Not HD), and using a program called Photo To Movie for my photo montage's.
    I have about 2 mins of livetype stuff, and about 2 mins of an export from "Photo to movie" in iMovie DV (NTSC) format
    Now I'm doing a few dry runs to see if this newbie can get this to DVD using iDVD. Now when I burn it, and I play it on a standard DVD player on a standard 4:3 ratio TV, I'm seeing a black bar on the top and on the bottom.
    The only way I get those bars to go away is if I export from FCE in Streaming DV format (export using quicktime options and choosing DV Streaming (then imported into iDVD), but I'm feeling my quality is lower as a result. Am I off here? Is there a format that has high export quality .
    I'm new to mac, and am not accustomed to "Exporting" and "Importing" and maybe I'm screwing something up during those events. I just think my video quality may be suffering because I can only get DV Streaming to not have the black bars when burning with iDVD.
    Any advice would be appreciated asap.
    Thanks!

    I'm exporting from FCE and I then use it in iDVD. My brain is fried, and I may have not been clear on the following: I export from FCE using File => use quicktime conversions.
    Now when I export to straight-up Quicktime (not use quicktime filters), and then take that Quicktime file into iDVD it gives me a "Widescreen Preview" and when I take the next step and burn to DVD and play on a 4:3 aspect TV it comes out with the black bar on top and bottom (Which I believe is letterbox?)
    So that being said, I'm at a loss as to why there are letterboxes in iDVD.
    Thanks in advance.
    Message was edited by: Skatingskis
    I found something close. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5924938&#5924938
    It appears they are going from "Photo to Movie" straight into iDVD and having a similar issue. The big difference is that I'm using FCE before I go to iDVD.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Questions on Flip4Mac and MS Windows Media player for Mac

    If one installs "flip4mac" sofware, the plugin is installed. Will there be a icon or an application file for this software and an uninstaller file in the application folder? Do I have to activate the plugin before I use the web site to play the "wma"

  • How to edit the header text of colums in DataGrid

    Hi Iam not able to edit the headertext or column header names of the datagrid ..can somebody help me asap..how to do it...I want to edit the  column header names (headertext) in the runtime ..similar to  edit the data in the rows of datagrid by setti

  • Explicitly tagging an object as unused

    Just read an article on gc tuning (http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-perf06304/?ca=dgr-lnxw07BlogFix) where memory leaks are caused by the so called "unintentionally retained objects". Currently, detecting memory leak in Java is do

  • Outlook Express 5.0.6 & Tiger

    Hello: I asked this question as part of a previous post. We have been using OE for all our e-mails and have quite a large file stored in seperate folders in our seperate OE profiles. If we switch to Tiger, would we be able to have access to our OE e-

  • Anybody have DVD Player issues after 10.7.3 upgrade?

    Aloha everyone, I upgraded both my iMac and MacBook Pro to 10.7.3 (I used the combo updater) like any dutiful Apple customer, as I've never had an issue with an upgrade (I made the switch in 2006, so I don't have that much history here).  I didn't no