On Sun, May 8, 2011 at 8:12 PM, Peter Chubb
<
address@hidden> wrote:
>>>>>> "Heather" == Heather W Reichgott <
address@hidden> writes:
>
> Heather> [1 <multipart/alternative (7bit)>] [1.1 <text/plain;
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> Heather> I have been using Lilypond for some time, and have used MIDI
> Heather> sequencing software before, too. Back in the early 90s I
> Heather> taught myself Cakewalk Apprentice with MIDI output for my
> Heather> early composition projects. :) But I am a beginner regarding
> Heather> the inner workings of MIDI. I have some beginner questions
> Heather> about soundfonts.
>
> Heather> 1. Is the choice of soundfont a property of the MIDI file
> Heather> itself, or a property of the playback software? (Or both?) I
>
> It's a property of the playback software. MIDI encodes `banks' and
> `programs' within `banks' only. Bank 0 progams have a conventional
> mapping to instruments (the so-called GM instrument set), and this is
> coded at present into Lilypond's MIDI performer, in midi.scm,
> instrument-names-alist. So Lilypond's output is always bank 0, with
> program number dependent on the Staff.midiInstrument setting for each staff.
>
> This provides maximum portability, so if you give a MIDI file to
> someone else he or she will hear the same instruments you do (although
> the actual sounds may be different, depending on what synthesizer is
> used).
>
> If you want to use different configurations for different performances
> with timidity the simplest way is to use multiple configuration files.
> you could create, for example, a file called pc51.cfg containing only:
> soundfont /usr/share/midi/PC51.sf2
> then do
> timidity -c pc51.cfg file.midi
> to use it.
>
> Heather> 2. Is there an easy way to see a list of all the instruments
> Heather> in a soundfont and hear samples of the sounds?
>
> You could try something like swami (which I've never used!)
>
http://www.swamiproject.org/
>
> Peter C
>
> --
> Dr Peter Chubb
http://www.gelato.unsw.edu.au peterc AT
gelato.unsw.edu.au
>
http://www.ertos.nicta.com.au ERTOS within National ICT Australia
>