WSTco divisions

Soundfont Installation and Customization
for Soundblaster-Live Soundcard Users

• 1. How to install my Steinway Piano soundfonts
• 2. How to replace existing instruments inside a larger soundfont bank (like a GM soundfont).

How to Install and Use My Steinway Piano Soundfont

1. Unzip/uncompress the soundfont file if required.

The downloadable soundfont is compressed with the RAR compression scheme and then compressed again using the ZIP compression scheme. So, when you download the file (steinwst.zip), you must first uncompress the zip file using a standard ZIP/UnZIP utility like Winzip. This will give you the still-compressed self-extracting RAR compressed file "Steinwst22f.exe". Double clicking on this file will run the self-extracting file to create the final soundfont file "SteinWST22f.SF2". Soundfonts included on my CD-roms are not compressed, and are distributed in the regular SF2 format on the CDs.

2. Start the Creative Labs - Soundfont Control Panel application

SB-Live On the SB-live software installation, the control panel application is part of the "Creative Launcher". Start that program and then select the "Audio HQ" tab at the top. This gives you a bar which includes a choice showing "soundfont". Clicking on the "soundfont" choice starts the control panel application for the SB-live software. For the SB-live, the actual program is called "ctsfont.exe". This program can also be started directly under Windows. Click for larger view

3. Browse to where the SF2 file is located and select it.

Select the soundfont file you wish to install from the proper disk drive and directory/folder. This will vary depending on where you have stored the soundfont files on your particular machine.
IMPORTANT!! You must have enough memory to accommodate the soundfont!

SB-Live Clicking the "Load" button in the control panel application brings up the standard Windows file browsing panel. Select the soundfont file you wish to install from the proper disk drive and directory/folder. For the SB-live, the soundfont is stored in a memory cache allocated within the system RAM of your computer. I recommend that you first explicitly clear any soundfonts currently loaded in the cache to free up memory before you load the replacement soundfont. This is done by highlighting the currently installed soundfont in the "Bank Stack" window area and clicking the "clear" button. Click for larger view

For either type of soundcard, if you don't have enough available memory, the soundfont won't load.

4. Enjoy Your Piano MIDI files!

Once the piano soundfont is installed as described above, you can play MIDI files and you will get the Steinway Piano sounds from my soundfont instead of the piano sounds in the soundfont you were previously using.
For both the AWE64/32 and SB-live soundcards, you must be configured to use the hardware wavetable soundfont capability, not the W/G-software-synth application. Normally, this would be pretty obvious, but I mention it just in case.
NOTE: With the soundfont installed in this manner, replacing the GM soundfont, ALL instrument sounds will come out as a Grand Piano. You won't get any other instrument sounds unless/until you re-install your original GM soundfont. To avoid this, if you have enough memory to support a larger GM soundfont, you can merge my Steinway Grand piano soundfont into a full GM soundfont which you can use for everything. Instructions for doing this are included below.

How to Replace Instruments Within Composite Soundfont Banks

Steps For Replacing Instruments In A Soundfont

1. Make A Copy OF The Soundfont File !!!

You will want to work on a copy of the GM soundfont, not the original file. That way, if you mess things up, you can always make another copy of the original file and start over.

2. Open The Existing GM Soundfont File In The "Vienna" Editor

In the example shown, I am using a copy of the 8MB GM soundfont that shipped with my soundcard. This file was originally named "8mbgmsfx.sf2", and the copy I made to work with is called "8mbgmwst.sf2". If you copied the file from a CD-rom, you may have to change the file properties to remove any "read-only" status in order to edit the file.

3. Delete The Existing Instrument You Wish to Replace.

In the "tree view" window on the left side, expand the "melodic pool" list, and highlight the instrument to be deleted ("piano-1" in this example). Take notice of the "bank" and "preset" numbers currently assigned to this instrument (000-000 for piano-1) and then press the "delete" key on your keyboard. After verifying the delete, the instrument will be removed.

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4. Import the Replacement Instrument.

In the Vienna program, go to the "file" menu and select "Bank Manager". This opens a pop-up Bank Manager window as shown. From this window, press the "Import Bank" button and select the soundfont containing the instrument you wish to import. In this example, I will import the first instrument patch from the 4MB Steinway Grand piano from my downloadable file (SteinWST22F.sf2). After the soundfont has been selected, expand the "melodic pool" listing within the Bank Manager window for that soundfont. Highlight the instrument you want to import and press the "copy" button in the Bank Manager window. With the Bank Manager window still open, move the mouse over to the main Vienna tree view window and highlight the "Melodic Pool" folder. While the "Melodic Pool" folder is highlighted, go to the "edit" menu in Vienna and select "paste". This opens a pop-up window allowing you to select the bank and preset numbers, as well as the instrument name, to assign to the imported instrument. Use the same bank and preset numbers for the imported instrument as the instrument you previously deleted (000-000 for "piano-1"). After accepting the values, Vienna will import the instrument and all of the underlying samples assigned to it automatically. You can then close the Bank Manager window.

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5. Save The Modified Soundfont.

First, set the preferences in Vienna to delete any unused samples. This will remove the samples associated with the old instrument you deleted, and keep the soundfont from getting excessively large in size due to a glut of unnecessary embedded samples in the file. To set the preferences, go to the "options" menu and select "Preferences". This opens the "preferences" pop-up box shown with several tab selections. On the "options" tab of the pop-up box, there are several check box choices. Check the box which says "Discard unused samples and instruments when saving". note: The newest version of Vienna (2.3) works in just the opposite manner. It will automatically discard unused samples unless you check the box that says "Always save unused samples & instruments".

Click for larger view

6. Importing Related Instrument Variations.

If you wish to import more than one patch from a soundfont to replace more than one instrument, be sure to check the box "Enable Verifying of Duplicate Samples" in the preferences. This keeps Vienna from duplicating all the underlying samples which may be used in more than one variation. For example, you can import the "brite" and "honky tonk" piano from my Steinway soundfont into the GM soundfont without requiring additional samples, since these patches use the same underlying note samples to create those instrument sounds.

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