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Topic: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning: (Read 6979 times) previous topic - next topic

Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Using my new 1.2G Athlon CPU/Asus A7V133 motherboard, I would like to burn CD-R or CD-RW with TDK 16/10/40X burner. I want to play original .nwc files through sound fonts, employing an appropriate, best-bang-for-the-buck sound card. I am looking at SB AWE64 Gold, Value, and Live! cards but am open to other suggestions. Is there a Web page that already describes the best routes to take, in order to convert .nwc files to CD-ROM disks, employing state-of-the-art Sound Font technologies, please?

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #1 –
This effort has been discussed many times in the forum. If you have not done so, you should get a copy of the offline forum and search for threads that have CD-R and/or "Full Duplex" in them. Here are a few threads to get you started:

https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=1037, https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=784, https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=850

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #2 –
I thank Noteworthy Online for its kind guidance. But I have not found much specific advice at the forum regarding which sound cards are best for handling sound fondts, these days. Can somebody please respond specifically to this part of my question?:

"I am looking at SB AWE64 Gold, Value, and Live! cards but am open to other suggestions."

Which cards should be avoided like the plague, and why? Which are really the best available PCI sound cards? Which do almost as well as the best but are affordable? And so on . . . please.

Thanks! :-))

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #3 –
SB Live series, preferably Platinum. You can always install a soft-synth of Yamaha and Roland, thus, experience the advantages of all the three systems.

Hth

---
Decode address to reply

PS: I recommend General User GS as a total soundbank.

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #4 –
Thanks for your specific suggestions. A friend has been aiming me toward the Live Value card. Much appreciated! :-)

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #5 –
Don't get AWE64 Gold. They are old technology and now difficult to get extra memory on (they only have 4 Mb).

If you want brilliant sound, get a card that uses your system's memory (and get lots of system memory - at least 256M) then go for broke on a card that uses it and get a good soundfont (or two or three). With soundfonts, bigger is not always better, but some of the really good oens are quite huge.

This is assuming you have an unlimited budget. :-)

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #6 –
Thanks, Andrew and all,

Settled today on SB Live! MP3+ 5.1

Your guidance has been greatly appreciated.

-Steve-

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #7 –
I have a question about the Live! Platinum. I want to upgrade from my AWE64 and the Platinum looks like a great card, except that it comes with something they call a "Live Drive" that takes up a full-width disk bay. I don't have any bays to spare. Does anyone know if the Platinum can be installed without the Live Drive?

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #8 –
Peter: My Blaster PC, which includes an integrated SB Live on the motherboard and a built-in Live Drive in the case, is running Windows 2000. PC shutdown and power saving modes do not fully operate, but the Live Drive is functional (I have not tested the IR remote control mechanism).

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #9 –
My reason for wanting to upgrade is to have access to the larger soundfonts that my AWE64 doesn't have room for. My reason for interest in the Live! Platinum over, say, the Live! Value is not compelling.

As to the Live's inability to mix multiple sound inputs, I don't know if this would trouble me or not. Mostly I'm interested in producing high-quality instrumental MIDI sound. The only other thing I've used the sound card for (beyond game soundtracks) is recording from old cassettes & LP's in order to write CD's, and I think for that I could live with a single input source at a time.

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #10 –
The only difference between the different cards (X-Gamer, P3+ is the software bundle, for the most part. The platinum versions come with the extra drives. If you only want 2-4 speaker support, go with the Live! series, if you need 5.1 speaker support, go with the Live! 5.1. If you really want high quality audio and/or use professional recording equipment, you may wish to check out the new SB Audigy in a few weeks. You really should check out soundblaster.com if you want information straight from the source.
~Drakhan

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #11 –
I did check out soundblaster.com, but I don't trust it. It looks mostly like marketing hype to me. The site itself answers very few actual questions, and some of the answers it does give are self-contradictory. Also, when I asked a question via their site they ignored me.

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #13 –
I have this setup, and as far as I can see the drive bay bit is not actually required - it just has extra inputs and outputs connected by a ribbon cable to the main card.

Actually I've never managed to get my live bay working (driver problem with W2000 ? , or does the bay need to be installed? - I'd be grateful for some input on this one myself).

If no-one comes up with a definitive answer I'll disconnect mine tonight and report back.

Peter

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #14 –
Grant, I think you can use a SB Live without the Live Drive. Beware, there might be a problem with the joystick port MIDI behaviour using the latest drivers, and latest card (5.1?) (the drivers might assume use of the LiveDrive for MIDI), so there may be some difficulties. I cannot test this, as our only SB Live 5.1 is integrated into a Creative Blaster PC motherboard, which has the Live Drive integrated into the front of a special ATX case (unlike the PCI card, our version does not have any back-side ports, and you must use the MIDI ports on the front for MIDI, as the joystick port will only work with analog joysticks, not MIDI or digital joysticks).

However, why would you want to do this? If you compare the SB product line, you'll notice that you are paying a premium for the Live Drive (maybe you have found a good deal somewhere??). In real world tests, I have not been able to hear a difference between the SB Live Value and the SB Live Platinum. If you don’t have space for the Live Drive, you might be able to save yourself some money. If you are comfortable installing PC components, you could also buy a new case with more drive bays and move everything over.

Also, I recently tries making the switch from an AWE 64 Gold to a SB Live in our sound studio computer (Pentium II - Windows 98 SE). We ended up switching back to the AWE 64 Gold. The input (recording) side of the SB Live mixer would only allow a single audio source to be recorded at one time. The AWE 64 input mixer allows selection of multiple input sources for recording using tools such as CoolEdit. I was unable to get the SB Live to support this.

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #15 –
Have been using SB Live Value for some time now and have been very pleased. The card accesses up to 1/2 the available memory (320 MB) for active sound fonts. I've used the WIndows sound recorder to create wav files that I then burn on to a CD. Not much software with a white box Live Value, but the price was right and the sound is great!

Worked fine with included drivers on WIN98, but crashed W2K until I loaded W2K drivers from the Creative web site.

You will need to pick your sound fonts carefully. I agree that bigger is not always better, but it usually is so. A well crafted general midi sound font is most convenient, but some of the single instrument or small ensemble sound fonts may generate more realistic sounds to your ears. I've found that the combinations of sound fonts you select for your music will also affect your perception of the individual instruments. A pair of sound fonts that are not very realistic played alone may sound better when played together.

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #16 –
Grant -

The Live Drive (which does take a 5 1/4" drive bay slot) is not required to be used; however, I have found mine to be very convenient. I've found that the "Microphone 2 input (1/4" plug) on the front is cleaner than running my microphone into a miniplug adapter on the back of the card (The back connection tends to generate a lot of electrical hum). It's also a lot easier to get to the front than the rear. There is also a headphone jack on the front with volume control, which can be configured to mute (or not) the speaker connections (which are on the back of the card) when listening with headphones. Like I said, not required, but definitely convenient. I found my Live Platinum on sale for $99 about a year and half ago, so I couldn't resist, since it normally sold for $199 list (but usually never dropped below $149).

My $.02 worth

Thanks,

John

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #17 –
And after I hit send, I realized I forgot to mention that the MIDI connections are on the front of the Live Drive, as well. This makes it a lot easier to connect/disconnect my MIDI keyboard. They are true MIDI connections, not a game port (so you don't need the Y-adapter for the game port).

Sorry for replying to my own reply. I'll pause now to make sure I didn't forget anything else...

Nope. That's all. Good luck with your new sound card purchase.

John

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #18 –
First, sincere thanks to all who have contributed to this "Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:" thread. You have been very helpful, and I appreciate it.

My friend Dana Hawkes, who has a nice site at

<http://www.tidepool.com/%7Edanad/viol.html>

bought the same Sound Blaster Live! MP3+ 5.1 card that I did. He has given me permission to share his concise instructions for making soundfonts work in NoteWorthy Composer:

. . . . .

Have used sfs in nwc....
--- start- programs- creative- soundblaster live!- audio hq
--- from there.. click on 'soundfonts'
--- click top tab 'configure instrument'
--- go down the 'select instrument' list til you get to the instrument that
you would like to change to sf (don't worry none of this is permanent)
---say you chose oboe from the list.... then click 'load'.... find the oboe
sf that I just sent.

Now, in nwc:
--- tools
--- options
--- under the MIDI tab, in 'devices used by playback', remove all but
'A:SBLive MIDI synth'

now when you assign oboe to a staff, you should hear your sf.

. . . . .

Please note that if you use

Re: Sound cards, sound fonts, .nwc --> CD-R burning:

Reply #19 –
[Sorry, I fat-fingered the post above, and it went out before I was finished; continuing . . . ]:

[Please note that if you use . . . ] the same card as Dana and I use, and if you have a rather complete installation of the software, then when you bump your cursor against the top-center border of your monitor screen you will find it trivially easy to get to the

AudioHQ | SoundFont

place in Dana's instructions. (Dana was unsure as to whether or not I had that feature installed.)

I hope that the gist of these instructions will be helpful even to people who do not have this particular card.

* * * * *

NEW SUBTOPIC (related to SoundFont issues):

"Where Can Freeware Soundfonts for Early Instruments Be Found?"

I hope that the new MIDI standard (about which I have only heard a rumor) will soon be out and will include soundfonts for such early instruments as:

viola (sopranino all the way to violone, but more typically soprano through viola da gamba range)[Aside: The cello soundfont that I have inherited from a friend has considerable vibrato. But instruments of the viola family, unlike modern violas, are fretted (usually with 7 frets), and according to established orthodoxy were almost never played with vibrato; certainly they were not played with the more-or-less constant vibrato that modern cellists use (sometimes I use vibrato, though). The tone of the viola da gamba has been said to be the best of all instruments in resembling the sound of a man singing (though I have heard such claims for other instruments, too). When things go right, the tone is hauntingly penetrating and "crystal clear".], lute, rebec, vielle, recorder, krumhorn (crumhorn); tambourine, timpani, and other percussive instruments; cornett, sackbut, rauschpfeife, shawm, curtal, tabor, rackett, regal, sordun, serpent, hurdy-gurdy, cittern, rommelpot, naker, gemshorn, and shaker (percussion?). . . and probably lots more that I still have never even heard of.

I am not at all familiar with most of those instruments. But I believe that public-domain soundfonts for them should be included in the new MIDI standard, so that people who delve into Early Music will not all be forced to purchase commercial soundfonts every time they want to play otherwise free sound files.

Whether or not soundfonts for such obscure instruments can become part of the new MIDI standard, I hope that some of you can point me to a public-domain sound bank that already contains soundfonts for at least SOME of them.

Thanks again for all your help! :-))

Steve

P.S. Don't forget to visit http://www.tidepool.com/%7Edanad/viol.html ;-)