Found a really melodic free grand piano soundfont in sf2 format
I've been searching for weeks for a free, rich sounding, melodic concert grand piano soundfont that does not seem to have any quirks when you change volume or use dynamics. I Just found one I really like. It is called Yamaha Grand V2.1. It is based on a Yamaha Salamander Concert Grand and is free and available at Soundfont4U. Here is a link to the main page, (https://sites.google.com/site/soundfonts4u/) and a link to download it. https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1AUn3lGaUyCyA12btdKYgeHGdo44M88T6&export…
Simply place it into your MuseScore Soundfonts folder, then open a piano song and "Add" the soundfont to the score using the Synthesizer menu. It offers several pianos to choose from by selecting them in the synth Mixer, with slight differences between each. Responds well to boosts in dynamics up to ff. Let me know if you're not sure how to add the file to the synth, or switch to it in the Mixer, and I will post instructions.
Comments
Unfortunately, while that soundfont may be gratis, it’s not really free. The Soundfont4U site notoriously is very unclear with regards to licencing and avoids specifying licences clearly. They have some attributions on the website generally, but it’s unclear what applies to which soundfont(s), and the Creative Commons attributions are not even done correctly.
In reply to Unfortunately, while that… by mirabilos
Thanks for the heads-up. I assume i can use the soundfont in MuseScore to make music, and post a link to download it from Soundfont4U as I did above. Frankly, I am not sure how else I would use it, so is this something to be very concerned about, or just sort of a background concern, particularly since it does not claim any restrictions on it in particular?
In reply to Thanks for the heads-up. I… by fsgregs
I think you’re safe downloading it, listening to music using it yourself, and linking to it. I’d be extremely wary with anything else, such as, giving wav/mp3/… files created with this soundfont to someone else.
Restrictions in copyright law are automatic; licence grants must be explicit.
In reply to Unfortunately, while that… by mirabilos
It is Creative Commons Attribution 3,0 License. I compiled this sf2 version from the original Salamander Grand sfz and tweaked it to have better dynamics and reduced its size. The piano can be used in any way but the original author Alexander Holm should be ackowledged.
Cheers,
John
https://sites.google.com/site/soundfonts4u/
In reply to It is Creative Commons… by Jonky Ponky
And where is the exact attribution in the format required by the CC-BY 3.0 licence (which country version?), and the copy of the licence that is required to be handed out together with the work?
In reply to And where is the exact… by mirabilos
Alexander specifically mentions this site http://freepats.zenvoid.org/Piano/acoustic-grand-piano.html
which has links to the Creative Commons License. If you need more than this then I can not help you - I am not a lawyer. I make no money from my work it is just a hobby.
In reply to Alexander specifically… by Jonky Ponky
Unfortunately, licence violations are also not permitted nōncommercially as “just a hobby”.
In reply to Unfortunately, licence… by mirabilos
I give up. It is clearly not a license violation. It is OK for you to differ but I'm done on this one.
I've just updated this soundfont to include a Dark Grand. So the presets now are Yamaha C5 Grand, Mellow Grand, Dark Grand and Dynamic Grand. I think the Dark Grand will suit some pieces better. It is now called Yamaha C5 Grand-v2.3 and is downloadable from my site https://sites.google.com/site/soundfonts4u/
I've noticed my earlier version is downloadable directly from Musescore so I'm happy if Musescore put up this latest version. I'm happy with the mix of pianos so I'm not expecting to update this for a good while now.