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Topic: Sound Blaster Extigy > 128 instruments? (Read 5342 times) previous topic - next topic

Sound Blaster Extigy > 128 instruments?

I have a HP Omnibook xe4500 and the internal standard-soundcard gives me "only" the choise of 128 different instruments.
Now I consider buying an external 'Sound Blaster Extigy' and I hope somebody can answer these questions:

1)
Can I make use of more than 128 instruments with this card?
2)
I have read some users have had trouble with this card and its drivers. Is that a serious problem, or is it relatively easy to solve, e.g. downloading a driver?

Kind regards
Steffen Appelquist

Re: Sound Blaster Extigy > 128 instruments?

Reply #1 –
1) Most modern sound cards support midi instruments according to the Roland GS layout. To make use of these, set a bank in addition to an instrument patch - probably even your current card supports this.

If you are simply looking for better midi sounds, I recommend Yamaha XG SoftSynth as an alternative. It provides high quality sounds, and it is completely software-based, so it will computer-independently always sound the same - as a downside it requires a bit of computing power, but it should be no problem.
Download a trial from Yamaha's website and give it a try!

Re: Sound Blaster Extigy > 128 instruments?

Reply #2 –
Hi!
The problem is that I use a notebook with a built-in soundcard. I therefor have to use an external soundcard.
I use NoteWorthy for writing notes and do not use a piano connected to the PC. I convert the music I have written into wav-files so I can burn it on CD, but the sound is rather colourless. I desire a soundcard with more than the standard 128 instruments so I wonder if EXTIGY can fulfil that.
Kind regards
Steffen

Re: Sound Blaster Extigy > 128 instruments?

Reply #3 –
As I said, try a software synth (unless your notebook lacks of power). I have used it for a year now, and I can say it's great.

Extigy can most certainly achieve over 128 instruments, but Yamaha has even more. Extigy may have also support for sound fonts, which yamaha doesn't support, though.

Re: Sound Blaster Extigy > 128 instruments?

Reply #4 –
No, Extigy doesn't support sound fonts. I can't remember whether or not it supports more than 128 instruments, as I don't use mine any more. It was OK for MIDI, but when you try to play games, the USB connection can't keep up and the sound quality is dreadful.
To be fair, the Creative recommendations do imply that it's not suitable for games, so it was my own fault for not looking before I bought!

RObin

Re: Sound Blaster Extigy > 128 instruments?

Reply #5 –
But I have already bought one so now I have two soundcards - one standard 16 bit and the external 24 bit.
I hope someone can help me with this:
In "Tools / Options / MIDI" these 4 play devices are available: 1) Creative SB Extigy MIDI Synth, 2) Creative SB Extigy MIDI UART, 3) Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth and 4) Microsoft MIDI Mapper.
Putting "Creative SB Extigy MIDI Synth" in the box "Devices used by play back" gives a sound who is rather sharp, especially for trumpets.
Putting "Microsoft MIDI Mapper" in the right box gives a more smooth sound, but occasionally there occurs a little annoying crackling.
Kind regards
Steffen Appelquist

Re: Sound Blaster Extigy > 128 instruments?

Reply #6 –
In simple terms, Midi Mapper means the default midi source.

If you look at your MIDI settings in Control Panel, you will probably find that the default device is Microsoft GS... This is a very primitive software synth coming at least with XP. It's not very efficient, it can have those crackling sounds, it may lag or burst notes.

Also, the softness may be that Midi Mapper somehow processes midi sound.

And finally, the GS instruments can be achieved by specifying a bank value in Staff Properties->Instrument.

A good test is this: instrument #126, bank #0 is helicopter, but bank #6 is train.

Re: Sound Blaster Extigy > 128 instruments?

Reply #7 –
However, it seems that NWC is not quite capable of setting a bank. My card supports banks, but NWC makes no difference. Cakewalk and Evolution handle banks quite OK.

Re: Sound Blaster Extigy > 128 instruments?

Reply #8 –
Thank you.
My english is not the best. I do not know what a "bank" is. It is not mentioned in my dictionary.
Kind regards
Steffen Appelquist

Re: Sound Blaster Extigy > 128 instruments?

Reply #9 –
Jussi said:-

"However, it seems that NWC is not quite capable of setting a bank. My card supports banks, but NWC makes no difference."

NWC does also:-
For each staff select Staff Properties/Instrument - enable Send Bank Change and enter the Bank MSB/LSB according to your soundcard specification.
For many cards you must do this before sending a program (patch) change.
 

Re: Sound Blaster Extigy > 128 instruments?

Reply #10 –
Indeed this is how I do it, yet no difference can be heard. And as I said, other programs can realize the bank change.
And on a Yamaha SoftSynth, a bank change mutes that specific staff.
I assure I do everything exactly as my sound board manual suggests.

And to Steffen, a bank is a sort of a collection of instrument sounds, that is program changes, with space for 128 instruments in each bank. Not all space in every bank is used, however.