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Topic: AWE64 Gold (Read 8860 times) previous topic - next topic

AWE64 Gold

I know, I know I'm a mug. I believed the hype about the
so called 'CD quality' of the AWE64 Gold, and how it's
sounds are in distinguishable from the real stuff. Yeah
right. Forget it.

-Nigel

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #1 –
Well, Nigel, I think what you (and I) are missing here are some good soundfont patches for our AWE 64s.
I agree that the sounds that come with it are a bit Mickey Mouse (single violin and flute for example).
These are all fixed with a good patch. Creative provide some with their installation (in CTSND\SFBNK) but I still haven't found one to really make me say "What a great buy!" :-(
I think there are some good patches out there somewhere, but haven't found them yet.

Andrew

PS: Please let me know if you find some.

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #2 –
Andrew,

How to I use this CTSND\SFBNK you mention?

-Nigel

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #3 –
Start AWE Control (this is in the Sound Blaster AWE 64 Gold Menu/Group)
Click the Synth Tab
Select General Midi as the available synth
Select Browse and hunt around for the Sound Font Banks (in my system, they're at Program Files\Creative\ctsnd\sfbnk, which answers your question)
Choose a Sound Font. The 2gm and 4gmgsmt.sf2 files indicate 2Meg and 4Meg of card memory respectively. Sample shows how the waves can be dogs, cats, anything.
Choose Okay
Choose Apply (and wait a little for the two and four meg banks, as they take a little longer to load).
Start an app and see what happens! You should now have better sounds.

Andrew

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #4 –
I went into Creative Wave/Synth control and it only listed
a few (unuseful) instruments. How do I add some new ones?

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #5 –
Can you describe a bit more clearly what you are seeing?
-A

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #6 –
Err, not really without a screen dump. I go into 'Creative Wave/Synth Control',
click on the tab marked 'Waveguide' and only a few instruments
such as Electric Piano, Harpsichord etc. appear. No instrument
that I want do.

-Nigel

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #7 –
That explains it! We're talking about two different programs!
The one I want you to use is normally called AWE Control and should be the first in the list.

Failing that look in the the folder for awe32cp.exe
If you installed it using the defaults, this is in
c:\Program Files\Creative\ctsnd\Programs

If you are using Win 3.1, this is all going to be a little difficult... :-}

A

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #8 –
Looks like Santa brought you an AWE64 for Christmas Nigel!
With the sound fonts loaded, the output is superior to
anything else I've heard (that doesn't cost more than the
PC) - that's if you're writing for piano, orchestra or dance
band. For brass-band enthusiasts like you and I, the cornet,
tenor horn etc sounds are sadly lacking and can't really be
substituted by trumpet, french horn etc. Still, it's an
improvement on the SB16 where everything seemed to sound
like a harpsichord.

So, how do we make a soundfont for brass band instuments?
Any suggestions?

Don

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #9 –
Make some good samples, and then use Vienna (...SOMEHOW, I've not used it, yet) to turn it into a sound font bank.
I'm planning to do it for dulcimers and maybe tabla this year for the same reasons as above.

Andrew

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #11 –
Unfortunately I only have 4Mb on my sound card and I'm loath
to spend the money on the extra memory unless I know if
the chaos stuff will get me closer to the sound I (and Don)
want.

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #12 –
Try http://www.lysator.liu.se/awe/. Not the answer to my
prayers, but a least a few things including free sound
fonts.

I've set my Midi playback device to 'SB AWE64G MIDI Synth'
in the NWC options screen. Is that correct?

-Nigel

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #13 –
Absolutely.
I assume you have loaded and selected a 4mb soundbank?
When/if you add sound card memory--fill it up--I added 8 MB and regret it now. At the time 4 MB was a big commercial bank leaving 4 MB for me to play with. I thought ..

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #14 –
Reading the preceeding thread brought memories of trying to figure
figure out CL's not very clear instructions on how to use the
AWE 64. I now have an AWE 64 Gold both at home and in my
office, one with a medium-sized Yamaha keyboard attached, the
other with a Roland digital piano. One of the boards has
the 4-meg memory module, the other an 8-meg. I can't tell
much difference between them. The best sounds are in an 8-meg
level sound font file. It is on the CD that comes with the upgrade.
By
 

Re: AWE64 Gold

Reply #15 –
Please, where i can find jungle/dub groove banks?