Yp, looking for “best” GM Soundfont for orchestral score playback.

A friend of mine composes for pro orchestras on a 15+ y old version of Finale. He uses hw SC-88 Pro (mainly for piano) via his keyboard. This ends up in a fully-fledged orchestra score/parts (prints).

For a while now, they’ve been asking me to convert Finale's MIDI files to audio for conductor’s reference. Initially I used SC-88, but now I’ve been importing the MIDI into Reaper, adding the BassMIDI VSTi with various Soundfonts to each channel (+some EQ, imaging, rev, etc.) with decent results.

I’ve been using Timbres of Heaven and Airfont, but that was a quick pick. I’m curious if anyone has recommendations for good Soundfonts (free or paid) suited for orchestral work.

Among others, I came across the GoldMidiSF2 site. Anyone have experience with those?

Tnx

*btw this has to be done super quickly (usually within half a day), so GM compatibility is a must.

 

HQ Orchestral Soundfont Collection

Scroll down a little with your mouse and you will find the latest version 3.0 available for download.

https://musescore.com/groups/young-composers-group/discuss/172224

 

Last edited: Nov 3, 2024

I think the Crisis 3.0 soundfont had some pretty good orchestral sounds. I used that one including a bunch of others to make my own custom soundfont to use for old DOS games.

 

I'm not sure if it's the best for orchestral sounds as it's a general purpose one, but the 1.7GB Monalisa GM soundfont is the one I use to reference GM MIDI files with.

*edit:* oh yeah, it's a free one, so can't hurt to try I guess

 

Last edited: Nov 3, 2024

They convert really easily from SFZ using Extreme Sample Converter, you can use Bjorens SFZ mapper to make an SFZ. Anything that's just .wav files can be mad into SFZ. Ronan Fed's Soundfont loader can then load them easily.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I checked it out and it looks promising.

yp, I use SW ITB whenever possible especially w/ digital

Yes it does. Tnx. I also understand that most people use these for games, sound module emu etc. My use case is somehow particular

Unfortunately I can't find a working dl link. If you have one I'd love to check it out.

Thanks guys. Let me know if you have any other suggestions. Anyone tried GoldMidiSF2 (Score Orchestra, Symphony Orchestral sf2)? I wonder if they are any different from the free ones..

 

Huh, it has disappeared indeed. Check your PMs.

 

Ehi, anyone has link of "Monalisa GM" soundfont? I've tried to download it, but didappeared the version of 1,73gb! Thanks in advance

 

Stolen Soundfont v2.08 (December 11th, 2024)

Hello again! It has been about a year since the last version dropped and I disappeared off the face of the internet. The truth is that I was sick of working on this soundfont, and decided to take a really long break. That was until about last December, when I have been slowly adding new updates in my spare time. As of now, I have replaced over 30 instruments and tweaked many of the existing ones with EQ and compression and some other stuff (I'm pretty new to audio editing). The result is a welcome refresh, sounding more full and energetic than the previous version (which I honestly come to really dislike). And with new, high quality soundfonts being made like Apollo GMGS and Monalisa GM that beat pretty much every other large soundfont out there, I decided it was a good time to upload my own soundfont once again for other people to enjoy.

www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/135393-stolen-soundfont-v208-december-11th-2024-a-high-quality-replacement-for-the-windows-midi-synth/

 

Last edited: Dec 29, 2024

Thanks for the reply. I know the Stolen Soundfont, I will try also updated version. Do you have Monalisa GM 2.10? Can you share? Thanks

 

Hello @Orator89, unfortunately I can't help you.