Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra-The bank

• Mar 8, 2013 - 23:40

Hello everyone!

I remember going through this section of the forum recently and seeing someone post that SSO was only available in sfz format...then someone converted them to Sf2 format, so i put all those sf2 into one bank, and made a musescore compatible version of the SSO. I will share it here, but i have to go find this link first. In the meanwhile, how does that sound?

Best,
Quinn

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• Mar 9, 2013 - 22:45

I guess i have to link the individual files now...i do not know why they would be 'blocked', i did not do that.

https://www.box.com/s/fbxthyz8wjy97hkapd21
https://www.box.com/s/4elm71qo7re3y274el6d
https://www.box.com/s/konvdjy95u3xbm4u7b62
https://www.box.com/s/b2168ad7i9ht9413bivg
https://www.box.com/s/c4468vh7xb9j2u0q4x9e
https://www.box.com/s/w2q616wegpuslgggujsz
https://www.box.com/s/xbky3jpp9kpb2jfzlxcm

Sorry for the mix up.

-Quinn

P.S: I'm getting close to finding the link!!!

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• Mar 9, 2013 - 23:32

Are those demos actually produced using MuseScore? The legato effect is more convincing than I'd expect. Also, I'm curious if you created a custom instruments.xml, because you are using some instruments that are not straight generic GM instruments (bass clarinet, contrabassoon). So I'm kind of suspecting these were created and massaged by hand using other software. Would love to find out I'm wrong and that MuseScore could do this out of the box with the right SoundFont.

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• Mar 10, 2013 - 00:18

Actually, the only thing i used to create these demos was musescore itself. I just loaded the soundfont, opened the music file, selected the instruments from within the mixer, adjusted the reverb a little bit, and pressed play. I did not use anything custom here since i included all the instruments in the soundfont, so the only thing you have do is go and select them in the mixer. I'm guessing that the legato was in the piece the was being played. Or it could be the natural legato. Who knows?

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• Mar 10, 2013 - 00:50

Ah yes, selecting individually from the mixer - that would allow you to access non-GM instruments manually. Good call.

I found a link to the ZIp file of all the individual samples in SF2 format: http://www.gigasize.com/get/6f4npox0o2d

I tried loading up a few into MuseScore - the nightly / 2.0 builds allow multiple soundfonts to be loaded at once - and entered a few notes. Does seem to work. Encountered crashes and other issues that prevented me from really trying this out as I would have liked. So a version with all the SF2's loaded into a single monolithic file would be nice - then it could be used with 1.3.

One thing I realize now that I should have earlier: this really is just the symphonic instruments. And just the more common ones at that. So, for example, no saxophones or guitars. And for some reason, no solo viola, either - only a full section - so it doesn't even work for string quartet.

But I do look forward to playing with the full version, so thanks for posting, and do let us know if you get the full version together.

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• Mar 14, 2013 - 03:51

Alright,
I found it! It's here: http://www.putlocker.com/file/01507D7E71AE666D

This is the Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra in Sf2 format. Although, there are a few flaws with it, as there is with everything else in this world:
The flutes (piccolo, concert flute, not alto flute) will probably play an octave higher. If you don't want this for playback only*, select the flute or piccolo staff and transpose it an octave lower.
To access certain percussion, you may have to write the parts on treble or bass staves.
Strings will not playback with certain articulations (pizz). As far as that goes, you have the choice of pizz or arco strings.
You may edit the soundfont!

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• Mar 15, 2013 - 15:06

Thanks for the link! I've got it installed and have played with it a little. I guess a custom instruments.xml could be made so you the correct sounds load for each supported instrument automatically, but using rhe mixer to select sounds certainly works for now. I didn't have any problem getting pizziacto to work - just load the appropriate samples in the mixer. If you've set up your staff texts correctly, it works fine.

I have only played with it a little, but so far, I'd say it meets my expectations, which were perhaps a bit lower than some people's. Most of the samples sound very good, and individual notes can soind quite impressive. My overall sense of playback of score playback is still somewhat held back by MuseScore's inherent limitations in terms of noting using the various MIDI controllers (legato, volume, etc). But some time spent hand-tweaking a generated MIDI could yield very impressive results, I would image.

Rights-wise, I wonder what the status would be if someone were to take a full GM soundfont like Fluid R3, replaced the orchestral instruments with their Sonatina equivalents, and maybe found room for some of the non-GM instruments from Sonatina like bass clarinet, which I always miss very much in GM soundfonts?

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• Mar 15, 2013 - 15:37

Marc,

I'm very glad you like it! To tell the truth here, i did'nt think it would turn out so good, but playing with it again did show me some interesting (and realistic) results!

About the editing of FluidR3, i think that you can edit the sonatina instruments into the soundfont without any problems, unless you somehow post the result around the internet, claiming that you made the soundfont itself. Then, that would get back to the creator, and then there would be problems. But, other than that, yes you are free to do that. Although, on the version of the Sonatina GM i made, there may have to be changes made to that percussion.

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• Jun 15, 2013 - 23:47

I downloaded the sound font from the most recent download link on this page. However when i tried it... there was no playback what so ever... So naturally i checked to make sure that i wasn't just being a spazz but this was not the case. What do you think the cause may be

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• Aug 23, 2016 - 21:01

Hey Marc Sabatella. Didn't you know that I also made a MuseScore Version of the soundfont? I added more instruments to the soundfont. But somehow, the soundfont hasn't been published yet.

You can still listen to a piece I uploaded on MuseScore which is my first symphony in A Minor that of course features the main instruments in the soundfont here: https://app.box.com/files/0/f/0/1/f_92795817627

In the MuseScore Version of the soundfont, I added other instruments from different soundfonts and free audio from a website program like the Celesta, Vibraphone, Marimba, Church Organ, Nylon Guitar, Saxes, and the Recorder from the GeneralUser GS Soundfont, some samples from the VirtuOrgan Soundfont, Some string samples like Pizzicato, Tremolo, Arco, Slow Strings, and Timpani from the SGM-v2.01 soundfont, Harpsichord samples from the Blanchet Harpsichord Soundfont in the website "Soni Musicae" which you can find here: http://sonimusicae.free.fr/blanchet1-en.html, and borrowed some Viola Samples from the website "The University of Iowa MIS" where you can find here: http://theremin.music.uiowa.edu/MISviola2012.html. You can download these viola samples as 24-bit, NOT 16-bit.

Anyways, Enjoy the audio file.

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• Sep 25, 2013 - 16:25

When I try to export FLAC files with the Sonatina SF2 flute in the synthesizer, the sound comes out wrong. Is this a program glitch or an issue with the SoundFont itself?

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• Feb 6, 2014 - 23:05

Hi there

I've downloaded this from elsewhere, but the instruments are not part of a bank but individual, which I think is not compatible with musescore. Reading this thread, it appears that someone posts them in musescore compatible format? But that link is no longer working. Is there any chance of someone having the time to re-up this material please?

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• May 10, 2014 - 19:46

Hello people.

Well, I've been using soundfonts for a while now with a programme called Midi Converter Studio, and so far it has worked perfectly. I came across sonatine and would love to use the samples to listen to my MIDIs, but the thing is... When I use this fiile (or join the seperate files myself in Viena) the same thing keeps happening: all the instruments play the same notes. For example, oboes play what violins should be playing but not what oboes should be playing. Could this be solved in any way?

Any help would be deeply appreciated!

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• May 10, 2014 - 22:04

This soundfont does not use standard GM mappings. Eg, the GM standard says patch #3 should be a piano, but in Sonatina Symphonic, it's Violins. So you'd have to go through your MIDI files and change all the patch assignments to use what Sonatina provides - assuming it provides anything. Sonatina provides but a small subset of the GM instruments - the ones used in an orchestra (and even so is missing some thing you might need, like a solo viola).

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• May 10, 2014 - 22:40

No, only MIDI files that were created using the GM standard - which is, to be sure, most MIDI files. But it's perfectly possible to reassign the patches using a MIDI sequencer. Or, if the files were generated by MuseScore - I assume there is a MuseScore component to this since you are asking here - you could use the Mixer in MuseScore to change the instrument assignments and regenerate the MIDI file.

FWIW, though, as you'll see if you read any of my previous comments, I think you'll be disappointed if you expect any random MIDI file to sound as good as the demo of Sontina. The demos were probably generated and massaged heavily by hand using special software to sound that way, When I play my own scores in MuseScore using Sontina, they sound nowhere near that good; only marginally better than FluidR3, really.

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• May 11, 2014 - 09:09

It is a simple matter of changing the Program numbers.

You may have to assign to a different bank as the program will not let you overwrite and existing preset.

Once you have the presets with the program change numbers you want then you simply reassign to the bank(s) you wish to use.

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• May 10, 2014 - 23:28

I'd say whether it's worth it depends on what you are starting from and what your expectations are. If you are starting from a MuseScore score, and are comparing it to the generic soundfont that comes with 1.3, then it will sound a lot better sure - but nowhere *near* as good as the demo. If you have already installed a better soundfont in MuseScore than the default - FluidR3, GeneralUserGS, Merlin Gold, or any of the other specialty soundfonts available - Sonatina will sound only "somewhat" better and still nothing like the demo.

I think the quickest way to test is load the soundfont into MuseScore, load up a score that uses a handful of of orchestral (only) instruments, and use the Mixer to change the patch. This takes under a minute. if you are sufficiently impresses with what you you here to think it's worth actually editing the soundfont, then by all means go for it. But again, you should at least be comapring to a better soundfont than the default - *anything* will be a pretty big improvement over that.

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• Jan 6, 2015 - 00:46

I've been using Sonatina in musescore and I love it. On moving to musescore 2.0, the strings play the wrong instruments... Violins = bass drum, violas = silent, 'Cellos = Xylophone, Contrabass = silent. The woodwindandother instruments seem to be fine.

I downloaded it from this thread, but I can't find a more up to date version anywhere. Is there one?... or is there something I can do to correct the problem?

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• Jan 6, 2015 - 01:18

HI Mike,

The problem you have is that Sonatina is not a GM soundfont, but uses it's own management of instruments into patches.

The default MuseScore Instrument list is designed to work with a GM compatible soundfont, and this is the reason you are finding Sonatina is not playing correctly.

You should be able to set the correct sounds for each instrument from the mixer.

Maybe this is something that needs looking at, but as the Sonatina is a proprietary soundfont there may be licence issues to deal with here.

HTH

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