Better piano sound font?
I'm always on the lookout for a good piano sound font. The 0.9.6 default piano sound font, TimGM6mb, is pretty good and better than almost all the piano sound fonts available. However, it sounds a little wimpy to me, especially on music that requires some muscle.
Recently I ran across the "Splendid Piano" sound font, Splendid_72M. It's very similar to TimGM6mb, but is a lot larger: it has only piano and takes 70meg - TimGM6mb is only 5 meg and has all those other instruments.
I've put together a comparison of the two sound fonts using the James Johnson standard, Carolina Shout. Here are the two links (SP for Splendid Piano, Std for the default TimGM6mb):
http://ormusic.home.comcast.net/CarolinaShoutSPCX.mp3
http://ormusic.home.comcast.net/CarolinaShoutStdCX.mp3
Comments
Some piano soundfont comparison and download.
TimGM6mb has been choosen because it's a complete GM soundfont and it's quite compact compared to its overall quality.
(And because it's totally open source)
In reply to Some piano soundfont by [DELETED] 5
I didn't mean to throw stones at TimGM6mb. It's a great choice for the standard distribution. I tested a lot of those fonts you noted in your post. Of what I've tried, Splendid_72M is a good choice if one is only working with piano. It has the advantage that the attack is dependent of the level, so loud notes sound different than soft ones. And Splendid_72M is free, too.
In reply to Didn't mean to throw stones by EdwardsRG
Thanks for this.
ps: I'm glad I don't have to duck.
I listened to both of the mp3s as closely as I could, and I honestly couldn't tell a difference between those two files! Maybe it's just that I don't have as discerning an ear, but they sounded identical to me.
In reply to Difference? by newsome
As I said in the original post, TimGM6mb is very good. But to my ear, it always has a slightly nasal quality. In the example, the theme begins at 4 seconds into the song. At 20 seconds there is a variation on the theme. At 37 seconds a new thought opens and it is at this point TimGM6mb begins to sound nasal to me. Maybe it's because I'm used to hearing a real piano sound, but for this type of piece, the alternate font wins out for me. But if you don't see a difference, then stick with the default: It will always produce a sound file a lot faster, and it won't be worth fretting about if the more complicated font doesn't sound any better.