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Copyright: 2005 by S. Christian Collins

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Reviews

User: tonemotion317
Good job thanks chris...............

User: davestew04
Lengthy, but important LICENCE.TXT and README.TXT which appear upon extraction of file from original form... ======================================== *** GeneralUser GS v1.4 *** *** License v1.0 *** You may use this bank without restriction for your own music creation, private or commercial. Regarding the samples contained herein: many of the samples were created by me, but some were taken from other banks freely (and legally) available on the Internet from various SoundFont websites. Because GeneralUser GS originated as a personal project with no intention for publication, I cannot be sure where all of the samples originated, although I can be sure that none of them came from commercially published SoundFont packages or sample CDs. Regardless, many "free" SoundFonts available on the web may indeed contain samples of questionable origin. It is not my intention to infringe any existing copyright, and I would urge anyone who believes that I may be using their samples outside of their permission to contact me. Please do not redistribute GeneralUser GS without the accompanying license file or the documentation (This information can be found within the ZIP file downloadable from my website). If you plan to feature GeneralUser GS on your own website, please do not link directly to my download files. Either link to my website, or provide your own local copy instead. You may not, under any circumstances, make any money off of the distribution of GeneralUser GS. This bank is provided to the Sound Blaster community free of charge, with only the request that the bank and accompanying files remain unmodified, and available to the community at large. I hope you enjoy GeneralUser GS! This SoundFont bank is the product of many years of hard work. You can find updates to GeneralUser GS and more of my SoundFonts at: http://www.schristiancollins.com I can be reached at: s_chriscollins@hotmail.com. Thank you! ~-=Chris *************************** *** GeneralUser GS v1.4 *** *** Readme v1.0 *** *************************** +----------------------+ | System requirements: | +----------------------+ Windows 95/98/SE/ME or Windows 2000/XP (I don't know if NT is supported) 128 MB RAM Supported sound card (see below) The *.SF2 file included in this archive is designed for use with the following SoundFont-compatible sound hardware: Sound Blaster Live! family (tested successfully in Windows XP [WDM] and Windows 98SE [VXD]) Sound Blaster Audigy family (tested successfully in Windows XP [WDM] and Windows 98SE [VXD]) Sound Blaster Audigy 2/NX/ZS family (not tested) Sound Blaster Audigy 4 family (not tested) Sound Blaster X-Fi (not tested) Sound Blaster Extigy (not tested) E-MU APS (not tested) Any SoundFont-compatible hardware or software not listed here is not officially supported, but may still work depending on the quality of the hardware/software's SoundFont support. +--------------+ | Installation | +--------------+ To install GeneralUser GS, follow these steps (Live!/Audigy): 1) Open "Creative AudioHQ" (it should be in the "Creative" folder in your Start menu) and double-click on the "SoundFont" applet. 2) Select the "Options" tab. 3) Set your SoundFont cache to at least 64 MB in size. 4) Under "SoundFont Device" Select "XXX Synth A" where XXX is the name of your sound card. (NOTE: older driver versions do not feature this option, in which case, please ignore this step.) 5) Select the "Configure Bank" tab. 6) Click the existing bank in the bank stack (usually "[2GMGSMT Rev N++]") and click "Clear". Your bank stack should now be empty. Click the "Load" button and find "GeneralUser GS 1.4.sf2". After selecting it, you should see "[GeneralUser GS 1.4]" in the bank stack window. 7) If you were able to select "XXX Synth A" in step 4, then go back to step 4 and select "XXX Synth B". Repeat steps 5 and 6 for synth B, then click close. Installation on other cards may vary, but will likely be a very similar process. Please refer to your sound card's documentation for help. +---------------+ | MIDI FX Setup | +---------------+ GeneralUser GS will not sound correct without first customizing the MIDI reverb and chorus effects. Without Reverb and Chorus effects, MIDI files will sound very dry. Unfortunately, Creative sound cards are not set up by default to allow the use of these effects. Reverb and Chorus is controlled by Creative's Environmental Audio technology (or EAX for short). To set up Reverb and Chorus for MIDI, follow these steps: 1) Open "Creative AudioHQ" and double-click on the "EAX Control Panel" applet (or "Environmental Audio" on some systems). 2) Click the "Import Environment" button. (HINT: it looks like a piece of paper with a red arrow pointing to it) 3) Select the file "MIDI Playback EAX Preset-XXX.Aup" where XXX is your sound card. If you now see "GeneralUser GS 1.4 MIDI Playback" in the audio effects window at the top then you can close the EAX Control Panel and move on to the Self-Test Mode (next section below). 4) If the EAX preset fails to import, you have the following options: a) Try importing another preset from the GeneralUser GS folder b) See if a compatible EAX preset is available for download from my website: http://www.schristiancollins.com/sfont/genuser/download.htm c) Create the EAX preset from scratch (not as hard as it sounds). This will be necessary to provide the maximum sound quality from GeneralUser GS. To create the EAX preset, follow the directions in "EAX Preset.txt". NOTE #1: Setting the Reverb and Chorus effects for MIDI will interfere with EAX functionality in games. If you want to play an EAX game, please go into the EAX Control Panel and select (No Effects) before launching the game. When you want to play MIDI music or compose, change it back to "GeneralUser GS 1.4 MIDI Playback" NOTE #2: If you are using an older version of the GeneralUser EAX preset, you will need to replace it with the new one. Version 1.4 of GeneralUser GS uses 100% of the EAX preset's effects instead of only 20% in versions 1.39 and earlier. As a result, version 1.4 will sound too "verby" with the old preset. If you prefer using your own custom reverb/chorus settings, you may want to set the master sliders for both reverb and chorus to -12 dB to keep the sound from being drenched by the effects. +----------------+ | Self-Test Mode | +----------------+ To test the installation, double-click on "GUTest.mid" in the GeneralUser GS folder. You should begin to hear a voice talking. If you don't hear anything, verify that you installed the SoundFont correctly. If the SoundFont is installed correctly and you still don't hear the voice, make sure the correct MIDI synth is set as the default MIDI device. To do this, go into the Windows Control Panel and open the "Sounds and Audio Devices" applet (it's called "Multimedia" on older versions of Windows). Select the "Audio" tab and make sure the default MIDI playback device is something like "SB Audigy Synth A" or "SB Live! MIDI synth". Here is an explanation of the self test: "GeneralUser GS installed version 1.4" - tells what version is installed "Sample offset, supported/not supported" - some instruments use sample offset, but it isn't supported in older audio driver versions. Lack of sample offset support will slightly decrease the realism of a few instruments. "Custom velocity scale, supported/not supported" - if supported, some instruments will respond differently to how hard you press the keys (example: Harpsichords and Organs), - if not supported, all instruments will respond the same, which may affect instrument balance somewhat. "Reverb, testing" - if you properly set up the custom EAX preset, you should hear the reverb effect when I say this. "Chorus, testing" - if you properly set up the custom EAX preset, you should hear the chorus effect when I say this. +-------------+ | Odds & Ends | +-------------+ Instrument list files are currently provided for Cakewalk and Quartz Audiomaster sequencers in the "instrument lists" folder. If you create an instrument list for any other sequencers, please e-mail them to me at s_chriscollins@hotmail.com and I will include them in the next release package. I have also provided some free MIDI files in the "demo MIDIs" folder for your listening enjoyment. Please feel free to send me more of those as well :) --------------------------------------------------- FAQ Q: Why do I get an error when I try to import the EAX preset? A: Because EAX presets made on one version of the EAX control panel are not compatible with others. Try updating your audio card drivers and the EAX control panel by visiting http://www.soundblaster.com. Q: Why did you increase the effects sensitivity in GeneralUser 1.4? A: The two primary reasons are: 1) increased compatibility with non-SoundBlaster SoundFont hardware/software 2) improved signal-to-noise ratio (when the reverb master slider is set to maximum in the EAX Control Panel on some systems, it introduces noticeable hiss into the audio signal--when set to -12 dB instead, the noise is minimal) Q: Where Can I find updates, and how can I contact you? A: You can find updates to GeneralUser GS, the EAX preset and more of my SoundFonts at http://www.schristiancollins.com. I can be reached at s_chriscollins@hotmail.com, but please use good judgement when asking questions--check your sound card's manual first. I won't have time to answer every question that I receive. Thank you! ~-=Chris Collins --------------------------------------------------- GeneralUser GS Revision History Changes for v1.4 Countless samples have been replaced, improved, cleaned, re-looped, etc. Just as many instruments have been reworked, rebalanced, etc. Improved overall instrument volume and balance Previous versions of GeneralUser GS only allowed 20% of the total reverb and chorus effects to be used (this is the default setting in the SoundFont specification). Setting reverb (CC91) or chorus (CC93) to max value (127) now allows 100% of the effect to be heard. Added self-test mode (activated by playing "GUTest.mid") There are too many improvements in this bank to list, you will have to hear it for yourself :) Changes for v1.35 Made compatible with Sound Blaster Audigy and EMU APS. Minor tweaks. Changes for v1.3 Combined AWE32/64 and Live! versions into one bank compatible with both sound cards. Resampled Marimba. Standard snare now sounds much more realistic. Cymbals act appropriately when played soft, making decent-sounding cymbal rolls possible. Replaced Synth Brass 1, Square Lead and Sawtooth lead. The old Square Lead and Sawtooth lead can be found in bank 12. Countless other modifications to instruments in the bank, including balance fixes. Changes for v1.2 Both versions: Adjusted piano 1 and 2 brightness. Adjusted tuning of Marimba -- attack still sounds strange in Live! version, can't figure out why. Fixed crackling in Clean Guitar (and variants). Increased volume of high Trumpet notes. Other small changes. Live! version: Fixed Hi-hat cutoff bug that showed up courtesy of the Creative Labs driver. Fixed bad attack on Harpsichord sound. Fixed some more synth sounds that weren't right because the Live! driver screwed up the filter settings. Changes for v1.1 Both versions: Reworked the string ensemble using same samples. Sounds more full now and is in stereo. Adjusted balance/envelopes of some woodwinds. Made orchestral snare velocity sensitive. Other small tweaks here and there. Live! version: Fixed some synth sounds that weren't right because the Live! driver screwed up the filter settings.

User: noob256
nice job, good for using it on game music midis when you have only limited memoy resources available. the sounds come very close to the impression i got years ago while playing the original games- at improved quality of course, instruments are very fine balanced against teach other. a fine font for this size.