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MIDI patch sets
The DIGMID wavetable music driver needs a set of instrument samples, which
can either be in the GUS patch or SoundFont 2.0 formats. GUS patches can be
read directly from disk or converted into a single patches.dat file with the
pat2dat utility. SoundFont banks must be converted prior to use.
A GUS patch set consists of around 180 .pat instrument files, plus a
default.cfg index file listing which patch goes with each MIDI program
number. To use these files directly, point the "patches=" line in your
allegro.cfg at the default.cfg file. To convert them into the patches.dat
format, run "pat2dat -o patches.dat samplepath\default.cfg -8", and then
copy the resulting patches.dat into either the same directory as your
program, the location pointed to by the ALLEGRO environment variable, or the
location specified by the "patches=" line in your allegro.cfg.
A SoundFont bank consists of a single .sf2 (SoundFont 2.0) file. Allegro
cannot read the older .sbk (version 1.x) format, but there is a utility to
convert such files: see the links below. The SoundFont should contain a set
of GM instruments on bank 0, presets 0-127, and a GM drumkit on bank 128,
preset 0 (this will be true for anything described as GM or GS compatible).
It is possible to convert non-GM files as well (pat2dat has an option to
grab samples from any bank you specify), but obviously the results will only
work with MIDI files that were specifically written for those instruments.
Some SoundFont banks make use of the AWE32 ROM samples, which are not
available to Allegro, so it is only possible to convert instruments that
include all their sample data within the SoundFont. To convert a SoundFont
into the patches.dat format, run "pat2dat -o patches.dat filename.sf2 -8",
and then copy the resulting patches.dat into either the same directory as
your program, the location pointed to by the ALLEGRO environment variable,
or the location specified by the "patches=" line in your allegro.cfg.
It is very easy to customise a GUS format patch set. You can either just
copy new instruments over the top of the existing .pat files, or edit the
default.cfg index to use different patches. If you want to modify a
SoundFont bank, you must first convert it into the patches.dat format,
which can be edited using the grabber. Each instrument is stored as a
seperate object, so you can export them to .pat files, import from other
files, move them around, rename them, etc. The patches.dat also contains a
default_cfg index object in the standard GUS format, so you can edit this to
use different samples (in particular you can list a single instrument for
multiple program numbers, so for example you could use a single brass sample
for the trumpet/trombone/tuba/horn/etc, if you are trying to reduce the size
of your sample set).
I am no lawyer, and I didn't make any of the patch sets listed below, so I
can't tell you what the copyright situation with these samples is. Apart
from the Emu bank, I think you are probably quite safe to redistribute them
with a freeware game, but I would be very careful about using them in
commercial products. It may be possible, but check the details first. I
can't give any guarantee about the legality of these files...
| Richard Sanders's GUS patches |
ca. 30 meg GUS patch set |
Gravis patch files.
On the site, it says:
Eawpatches is the best GUS patch set for TiMidity++.
Eawpatches is maintained (tweaked and tuned) by Eric A Welsh.
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Gravis Pro Patches FTP Archive
| Various patches |
The install program doesn't work on my machine, and the distribution doesn't
include a default.cfg file, so you will need this
one that I made. A pretty good sample set, with some nice powerful
sounds, but there are a few tuning problems (eg. the panflute), and most of
the instruments have very long release phases, which makes some music sound
too muddy. I'm not sure what the legal situation with these patches is,
because many of the sounds are based on the original GUS set (copyrighted by
Eye&I).
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| Emu 2MB bank |
2 meg SoundFont |
Probably the best sounding sample set I have found, and certainly the most
reliable across a range of music. The only slight niggle is that the
electric grand sound seems very odd (it has about 60 layers playing across
the entire keyboard, which must be a mistake either in the file or in my
converter :-) The big problem with this one, though, is that it is
copyrighted by Creative Labs. Read the license agreement carefully, and in
particular note that you can't rip sounds from this or use it with any non
Creative Labs soundcards.
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| Chaos Bank |
8/12 meg SoundFont |
Good all-round sample set, although some of the percussion sounds are rather
quiet. Missing four instruments: bottle blow, square lead, calliope, and
telephone ring. Very distorted grungy guitars.
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| Realsound GS |
8 meg SoundFont |
Most of the solo instruments (eg. violin, flute, sax...) in this set have a
lot of expressive vibrato and articulation recorded into the samples, which
sounds great with some tunes but doesn't work at all well with others.
Missing the trombone.
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| AWEsome SoundFont |
8 meg SoundFont |
A very uneven set. Missing 34 instruments, mostly the synth leads, pads, and
FX. It also has some problems with the tuning and with instruments being in
the wrong octave, but there are a few really nice samples (the oboe and
panflute sound fantastic in the middle section of the title music from the
demo game).
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| Midia bank |
8 meg GUS patch set |
This distribution doesn't include the default.cfg index file, so you will
need this one that I made. Basically good and rich
sounding, although a few of the instruments (eg. the solo violin) are very
quiet.
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| Sycaft's GUS patches |
8 meg GUS patch set |
Nice sounding and well balanced set of Gravis format patch files. |
| Emu website |
Unknown size |
The people who made the SoundFont format in the first place. Commercial: you
can buy some great GM banks (not sure what the deal with redistributing them
would be, though...) and they usually have a few free non-GM banks that you
can download.
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| ftp.lysator.liu.se |
Unknown size |
A large collection of SoundFonts, both .sf2 and the older .sbk format. Many
non-GM banks, plus copies of some of the files mentioned above.
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| ftp.cdrom.com,
sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk |
Unknown size |
Lots of GUS format patches. |
| MAZ Sound |
Unknown size |
Huge collection of instrument samples in various formats, and links to many
related sites.
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| The best for your AWE soundcard |
Unknown size |
Links to various sample files and SoundFont banks, plus a SoundFont 1.x to
2.0 (.sbk <-> .sf2) converter.
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| The AWE Hot Spot |
Unknown size |
Check the SoundFont Gallery and FTP Area for an assortment of SoundFont
banks.
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| Instred |
Unknown size |
Patch editor by Martijn Versteegh. |
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