SoundFont

SoundFont is a file format for sample-based instrument sounds. You will need a SoundFont to use FluidSynth.

If you just need to play General Midi files, these SoundFonts are known to work well with FluidSynth:

• S. Christian Collins GeneralUser GS - 30 MB
• Fluid (R3) General MIDI SoundFont (GM) - 140 MB

More download sites for SoundFonts:

• Hammersound - A nice resource for downloading free SoundFont instrument files.
• ResonanceDB (Currently down, until a new hosting location is found)

SoundFont editors

• Project SWAMI by Josh Green (Linux), http://www.swamiproject.org/

• Polyphone, http://polyphone-soundfonts.com/en/

• Vienna SoundFont Editor by Creative Technology Ltd. (Win)

• Alive Soundfont Editor by Soundfaction (Win)

Note: We cannot recommend using Audio Compositor for creating or editing Soundfonts, as it generates files that violate the Soundfont2 spec (specifically the order of generators as defined in section 8.1.2) and are therefore unusable with fluidsynth!

Developer Resources

The SoundFont format was originally created by Creative Labs and EMU Systems and used in the SoundBlaster AWE 32 and later cards. There are now many other hardware platforms and software synthesizers supporting this format. SoundFont 2.0 and later are open formats and the specification is freely available.

• Wikipedia SoundFont page - Good overview of SoundFont format and other resources.
• SoundFont 2.4 specification - PDF document describing SoundFont format technical details.
• Creative Labs Developer Documentation - Specifications, docs, SF2 test files, etc.