How to pick and choose which instruments get specific soundfonts?

• Nov 29, 2020 - 05:51

I'm attempting to use an orchestral soundfont, Aegean Symphony Orchestra, alongside the HQ Musescore 3 soundfont. I've loaded the symphony soundfont and have gotten all sounds to work properly, except for the Marimba. The Marimba defaults to a grand piano sound, and when I try and change the sound through the mixer (which, by the way, if there's a way to search for the sound name rather than scrolling and looking, please let me know) nothing changes. Even when I change it to other sounds - ones that I know the soundfont can play, it still plays the grand piano sound. I want to use the Marimba sound from the Musescore 3 HQ soundfont alongside the Aegean Symphony Orchestra sounds for the rest of the orchestra - is this possible?
Thanks :)


Comments

What you are describing should do what you want. What might go wrong is that you have not entered the sound fonts in the correct order in the synthesizer, but if you select a marimba sound you should get some marimba. If the synthesizer is set up correctly (sound fonts in the correct order in the fluid tab), all I can suggest it that you attach the score, or an except from it se we can look at other settings that would affect playback. Let us know what order you have the sound fonts in so we can test it the way it is on your system.

As for searching for a sound, click the sound dropdown in the mixer and type "ma" quickly and it will jump to the next sound that starts with ma. When it reaches the bottom it will start again at the top. To make it start at the top anyway, press home first.

In reply to by mike320

Thanks for the reply. That search function is much faster, thank you! For the soundfont order, I've tried both having the Aegean Symphonic Orchestra at the top and Musescore 3 HQ at the top. Currently, the orchestra is loaded at the top. It's worth noting that a third soundfont labeled SGM (I don't remember the full name) was at the bottom, but removing it did not change the result. I've attached the score here, thanks for the help:

Attachment Size
BattleofHyruleField.mscz 981.25 KB

In reply to by Criminy

The first thing I noticed is that your sample has no Marimba notes, so I put F2, F3, F4 & F5 at octaves like the piano, set the sound to Marimba (1) which is actually in the MuseScore General HQ soundfont and I get the sound of a marimba. In the version of ASO I use, there is no Marimba sound, I still have v2.2 and I believe the latest is around 3.5.

In reply to by Criminy

I have the ASO then MuseScore General HQ sound fonts in the fluid tab of my synthesizer (listed top to bottom). Everything defaults to the ASO sounds since it's listed first. Since there is no Marimba in the font it defaults to the first sound in the first sound font which is Grand Piano as is the case with standard sound fonts. To change it, open the mixer, click the marimba then click the sound dropdown and choose the first marimba from the list. You now have the marimba from MS Gen HQ selected for the marimba sound.

In reply to by Criminy

Bingo! You have the first flute selected and applying marimba sound to it. You need to look at the marimba in mixer and click it's name at the bottom of the window, use the scroll bar if you need to see the names at the bottom. You can click other places but the name will absolutely get you instrument you want selected.

In reply to by Criminy

The mixer doesn't open to what you have selected in the score. This is probably not a good thing but it's the way it is right now. We'll see what happens in version 4. In the mean time, in the mixer below all of those vertical volume controls at the bottom are the names of all of the instruments you have in your score. You need to select the marimba there. As you can see in the top left corner of the mixer, you have the flute selected.

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.