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Topic: sfArk files (Read 5617 times) previous topic - next topic

sfArk files

I would like to get step by step instructions on how to get a sfArk file into my itrees folder so I can try out some new instruments.
Thanks, dheo

Re: sfArk files

Reply #1 –
I notice that there haven't been any answers to your question yet. That's probably because it's difficult to know where to start.

SfArk files are not, strictly speaking, compatible with iTrees. SfArk files are compressed sound fonts (or sometimes, compressed banks of sound fonts). ITrees are lists of instrument patches. The instrument patches designate positions in a sound bank, rather than individual sounds. The basic iTree that comes with NWC complies with a sound bank standard known as General MIDI (GM, for short). Sound fonts within sfArk files may or may not comply with this standard: iTrees can handle non-standard patches, but it takes an extra couple of steps. And not all sound cards use sound fonts, anyway - most cards simply give you a single GM sound bank, take it or leave it. If yours is one of the few that can use fonts, there is one set of instructions for using sfArk files. If it doesn't, there is whole different set of instructions, and you will need several other pieces of software. See the various discussions on this forum regarding VST instruments and soft synths to get an idea of how complicated that can get.

So there are many complications between downloading an sfArk file and getting the sound from that file coming out of your speakers. It would help us help you if we knew a little more about your setup - whether or not your sound card is sound font compatible, what version of Windows you are using, and how comfortable you are with downloading, installing, and setting up various pieces of software and making connections among them. It would help even more if we knew what specific part of the process is hanging you up.

Re: sfArk files

Reply #2 –
I don't know very much how some of this software works. I downloaded a sound bank from Merlin and I think it was labeled as GM. I have a SB live soundcard and have Windows XP on my computer.
dheo.
 

Re: sfArk files

Reply #3 –
dheo, if you have a Soundblaster card it must have come with some sort of soundfont manager which enables you to load/unload soundfonts.  BTW, I generally use sinfonia36 soundfont which I like and find compatible with my tastes.  But then again, my use is almost exclusively limited to orchestral works and this soundfont does not cater for (say) steel/electric guitars.

Re: sfArk files

Reply #4 –
Thanks for the info. How does that work with Noteworthy's itrees ??

Re: sfArk files

Reply #5 –
Quote from: dheo –
How does that work with Noteworthy's itrees ??
I doesn't, at least not directly.  The itree is a text file that you create to reflect what you want from from your instrument selections.  It is fundamentally soundfont/synth independant, but will, when tailored to your preferences, allow you to make instrument selections that will automatically do a lot of the settings you might otherwise do manually; things like transpositions, volume and velocity settings (if you want them different from the defaults).  Of course, this tailoring you will/may do will logically reflect how you want to use particular soundfonts or synths.

There is a lot of information embedded in the sample itree that comes with NWC2.

There are also some itrees that others have already prepared in the itree section of this forum:
https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?board=6.0
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: sfArk files

Reply #6 –
I'm not an expert in this area, but it's my understanding that some SB Live! cards support sound fonts and some don't. You'll need to check the documentation. If yours supports sound fonts - the older ones mostly do - it should have come with a sound font manager (may not have been installed, but it should be on your installation discs, if you still have them). The sound font manager's help screens, or possibly the sound card's documentation, should tell you how to install sound fonts on your computer and get your sound card to use them, once you get the manager up and operating. As for using them in an iTree: if you are working with a GM sound font, you won't have to do anything at all with iTrees. You will simply have to set your sound card to use your preferred sound font instead of the one that comes with Windows. The sound font manager that comes with Creative cards (the SB Live! is a Creative card) will help you do that. Otherwise, you can use VST software to bypass the Windows sound font and substitute another one.

ITrees are primarily useful when you are using bits and pieces from several GM sound fonts, or individual sound fonts that don't comply with the GM standard. Otherwise, you don't need to worry about them. See Lawrie's post, above.

In any case, though, you will need a program to decompress the sfArk file and turn it into an sf2 file. Check the Melody Machine website (http://www.melodymachine.com/). The Merlin sound fonts are generally excellent - I use the Merlin_Audigy font myself. Definitely a "sound" choice.

Re: sfArk files

Reply #7 –
Well, the original SBLive package is a bloat, uses the registry as a database for the register by register data of the (greatly useless) configurations ("environments") of the E-mu, and the handling of the soundfonts is buried in an intricated and largely unintuitive submenu.
I can understand that someone can have difficulties to sort it off!

By the way: not that the Kx driver is so much easier.

As I already wrote somewhere, I'm considering to switch to a VST SW synth...