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general midi compatible Alternatives to Roland Sound Canvas (besides Bs16i)
Which other apps/sound font players are general midi compatible, similar to to Roland sound canvas/BS16i?
Basically I am looking for a replacement for the now defunct Roland Sound Canvas
When I play midi files I want a general midi compatible sound font player with “decent” inbuilt sound rather than googling for SF2s
I have somehow have never bonded with Bs16i
Comments
Don’t own it.. haven’t tried it.. but have thought about picking it up for the same reason..
MIDI SWEET: Module Unit (AU)
Jens Gruell has an app called "GM MIDI Player" that is free. Worth checking out.
and he has made "MIDI SWEET: Module Unit (AU)" that might be worth checking into.
I think SF2's are still useful for this particular file standard. "FluidR2" is worth auditing against anything else that works. I recently discovered that the "World Synth" and "World Piano" apps are free and can load SF2's which are also free from many places with my favorite being the @Reuben hosted "SoundFonts4u" at:
https://sites.google.com/site/soundfonts4u/
It hadn't occurred to me to throw a general midi file at World Synth yet.
I like BS-16i for this use case because it's designed to support many instruments and gets all the little details (like drums are always channel 10) right.
But I agree and really miss SoundCanvas. Yamaha also "retired" their "MDXG: XG Sound Set Controller" too.
It's just a dying standard that hasn't been replaced but needs to be simulated with configurations in apps like AUM or composed in a notation app.
I just wish Roland would bring SC back! Great source of sounds.
I'm not clear on whether you're primarily seeking an app/sf player or a better General MIDI soundfont. Instead of googling for single instrument soundfonts, why not just try to locate the best General MIDI soundfont and start using it all the time? (I.e., once you find it, no need to google for anything anymore.) Use it in any soundfont playing app you want.
I have no experience with them, but there are several General MIDI soundfonts at the soundfonts4u website:
https://sites.google.com/site/soundfonts4u/#h.p_biJ8J359lC5W
If you don't like BS-16i I assume they'd work in the B-Ray Soundfonts app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/soundfonts/id1453325077
Or, maybe I misunderstand how it all works, and the player app must have special support General MIDI, and not just the soundfont that you're loading in that must be General MIDI. Will B-Ray's app not work with this?
Looking for a like for like replacement for sound canvas (at least similar to all that sound canvas did ) , Better soundfonts would be bonus
Bs16i has similar features , but I could not bond with it
I’ll try B rays app thanks
This app by Midiculous has built in GM soundbank and can be loaded as an audio unit in AUM. One Auv3 instance per instrument:
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/46730/midiculous-learning-software-by-midiculous-llc-auv3
General MIDI allowed you to select up to 16 instruments at a time and throw in bank/program changes to add new instruments to the mix.
BS-16i supports this virtual hardware target design.
I suspect many of the others do NOT but we should test and report results here.
First we need a General MIDI player. I was using MIDI File Player at one point but
I'm going to look for other options like using Cubasis. Cubasis will also load from it's
MicroSonic instrument collection (which is worse, IMHO, than many of the SF2 options).
Cubasis can load GM files.
BS-16i has a built-in MIDI file player. (HINT: The ideal solution now that SoundCanvas is dead seems to be BS-16i. It purpose but for this problem).
If there are other app choices for the player please report here. I'd rather NOT re-install
Auria Pro because it will bump a lot of useful app off my limited storage. It would be nice
to limit the exercise to apps that are universal in my opinion.
CUBASIS:
Cubasis 3 loads into AUM as a source.
It can load GM files and assigns it's rather cheesy Microsonic instruments. I muted it as a sound source and routing every track out to the AUM MIDI target.
I loaded BS-16i and it loads the proper instruments and plays the file using it's default "GeneralUser GS Softsynth" which is better than Cubasis but NOT the best available. I'm downloading "FluidSoundFont" which MuseScore is based on and "Sonatina_Symphonic_Orchestra" which is the largest SF2 I can find.
I'll install these as options into any MIDI Soundfont target app (BS-16i, Soundfonts Pro, Wave Synth, Piano Synth, etc).
I tested on my iPhone... painful but doable. Switch the UI out of Cubasis is a finicky pain in the neck. It's an IAA interface and fills the screen (good thing) but switch out of full screen in landscape mode is a poor implementation (by Apple I assume). The gesture to swap the window out is finicky and it fails to follow my intent more often that not.
Downloaded the "Sonatina_Symphonic_Orchestra" and imported it into SoundFonts Pro and World Synth.
SoundFonts loads and displays the menu of instruments BUT it does NOT assign multiple instruments across the 16 potential tracks/MIDI channels. FAIL. You would need to load an instance per channel to use it for general MIDI and hand assign the target instrument in each instance. (BS-16i is securing it's use case for me).
World Synth loads the sf2 bundle but asks you to declare the instrument category for each and every potential instrument and then serves them individually.
For me World Synth and Soundfonts Pro are useful for the big pianos from SoundFonts4u.
One instrument and also maybe for auditioning the instruments inside. As luck would have it I loaded an "Alto Flute" from Sonatina and the pitch was so bad I'd never use it.
For me all roads lead to BS-16i since SoundCanvas is gone. WAIT! SoundCanvas is still installed on my iPhone so I have access to it as a sound module. It's got a good synth-y orchestral quality with some rather cheesy woodwinds... lifeless and robotic sounding. But the strings are smooth while living in the uncanny valley.
JUST FOR THE RECORD: iSymphonic can load general MIDI files using the now deprecated iTunes File Sharing process... when was the last time you did that using a desktop running iTunes? (Is there a workaround involve only IOS devices?). But be advised iSymphonic will sell you small batches of instruments and it will take significant money (~$200) to assemble an orchestra. But it does sound great.
Tangential, but if you’re interested in that you’re maybe also interested in this:
https://github.com/dwhinham/mt32-pi
(Must try it myself, actually)
Looks Bs16i , seems to be only the solutions now
The problems I had with it are (though not frequently)
I have tested Cubasis 2 before successfully but was bit of an overkill
Is there a way to download soundfonts and then upload them to BS-16 all on the iPad? I don’t have a desktop but I kept hitting roadblocks trying to do it all on the iPad. I know Doug has a video on this but it’s so many years old now I figured there may be another way. I’ve been able to successfully load some old Casio ct-700 sounds into bs-16 but that’s the only one. Haven’t been able to get any of the piano (salamander) or orchestral sounds to work.
Yes. You can download using Safari which will place the file in the default "downloads" directory.
BS-16i will let you get at tis file using:
Settings "Widget"
Wavetables
Select one of the 8 Library Slots
Scroll to the bottom to find "Import Wavetable File"
Navigate in the Files app to the download directory
Select the sf2 target
It will report a successful install
Assign/select the upload sf2 to this Library Slot
Back out to the main UI
Check to see what instrument is active
Click on the installed instrument to change to another that's presented from the current Library Slot that's active.
No iTunes and laptop/desktop needed.
One more comment for the record:
General MIDI files can be imported into Staffpad and rendered, usually with instrument assignments if the source declares the instrument target. Staffpad is fragile with larger MIDI files and a side-pass through Notion to convert to the Music XML format will typically get the job done.
The Staffpad renderings are the best available for IOS if the music is purely orchestral. Drum parts can be problematic for the pop genres and should best be put into something else. BS-16i knows to place drums automatically on channel 10 and has a good selection of kits in it's General MIDI default library.
I use Sweet Midi Player app plus a GM soundfont available free from my site https://sites.google.com/site/soundfonts4u/
Sweet Midi Player is really well designed in my opinion. You can re-mix voices, change volumes etc very easily and it will also display lyrics if they are embedded in the midi or kar file.
Here is an example of the sound quality
Is this still true:
"Upload files using iTunes"
I'm pretty sure I tested it for my needs and let it go for some reason but I tend to get into MIDI projects and then move back to AUv3 tools and better sound targets.
As yes:
"This free version is limited to play the first 3/4 of a MIDI file."
IAP to unlock is $15. I don't see the need for occasional use.
Interesting:
"Software synthesizer engine licensed from bismark.jp" Bismark is the developer behind BS-16i and a Japanese shop which might explain why they are so quiet... language issues and a home market.
They have a Facebook presence and had a recent update adding an improved "scenes" feature with more knobs.
Yes its way overdue for an upgrade. Sweet Midi still requires iTunes to install a new soundfont - you can't use iCloud or any other system as far as I can tell.
Thank you 🙏 super helpful as always. Will give this a try later and report back. Any site on particular that’s good for this? I had a few saved in my tabs but can’t find them now
Google help find them but some sites are click holes for download offers of shit you won’t want. Free files tend to be a scam. Soundfonts4u is the star but focuses on pianos in general with general midi and a few odds and ends. Try there first. The Piano Book project has Exs24’s that I’ve been loading into AudioLayer… found sounds, choirs and a ton of choices. Worth the time to look there if you own that sampler. Logic and Kontakt are dominant there. There’s a buggy Decent Sampler that has yet another package for samples with presets. After a while you run back to solid tools like Drambo and learn to make sounds and control samples there. Rock solid tools.
Thanks! I have decent sampler but rarely use it, though it seems less buggy now. Gonna give all this a shot my first day off.