![[The Hunger Site Donate Free Food]](images/hungerbanner.gif)
Latest: I want to thank everyone who has visited this page, and e-mailed me with questions, etc. However, this is not an up-to-date page, nor has any effort to make it current been made, as I lost interest in anything MIDI a few years ago. I have only kept this up as a reference for other people. Please forgive me if I have not responded, or do not respond, to your inquiries. However, I am willing to post updated links on this page to any DLS related websites in the section below. Additionally, I give permission for anyone interested to: either write an update to this page (which I will link to directly at the top of this page), or to otherwise use the information contained in it verbatim or otherwise, as long as credit is given to me for the appropriate information. Thanks, Mark.
I believe that this will be the final update to this web page. One of the reasons for this is I haven't found a PCI sound card that is friendly to DOS. FYI, I've got an Intel 430TX. In the future, I will have a SB16 pnp with a wavetable daughtercard. SB16's have excellent driver support across almost all PC operating systems, and Linux will treat the daughtercard as an external MIDI module so I'll be able to play mids under Linux. But the primary reason for abandoning this DLS page is TiMidity++' ability to use use SoundFonts for MIDI playback. And it doesn't cost any money. It is an excellent open-source software wavetable synthesizer and is continually being improved. The level of quality and configurability is just amazing, and it takes up less than 10% CPU using customized options, so it's perfect for playing background music. I strongly recommend you try it.
To help you get started with using SoundFonts with TiMidity++, I have uploaded some cfg and bat files for you to download. I created these files for myself in order to facilitate switching between SoundFonts as well as to account for ROM references. Many popular SoundFonts are supported. You will have to provide the GUS patches referenced in the cfg files as well as make the necessary changes to match your directory structure.
I am no longer looking for patches for Audible. Instead I have been testing the sample set to improve its quality, replacing bad patches with known good patches from gm.dls. I am considering re-releasing Audible, but only for test purposes in order to identify any bad patches I may have missed.
Here is a link to a page I accidently found concerning DLS. The link on this page to a DLS bank is broken. Here is the correct URL. Also, check out Miles Sound System. Miles Sound Tools includes a software synthesizer that can use a DLS bank for MIDI playback even if you don't have a DLS capable sound card!
I'm sure you've been to DLS Adventures and maybe DLS Fury too, two of the first sites to offer general purpose, meaning used for playing normal MIDI files, DLS files. And I'm quite certain you've also found these sites somewhat limited, but this does not mean at all that the sites above are not good places to start for info. on DLS files. In fact, if you haven't visited either or both of them yet, please do it now before continuing.
FYI, DLS stands for DownLoadable Sounds, meaning customizable sounds for MIDI. Neat stuff. If you don't like the wavetable sample set that comes with your card, simply download another. Unfortunately, it's not very well supported except in the increasing number of PCI sound cards that supports the standard. That's nice and all, but you'll find very few actual DLS files available for download.
It's a wonderful coincidence that Creative Labs sound cards are very popular, and it is fortunate that there is de facto standard for downloadable sounds promoted by Creative Labs called SoundFonts. Consequently, there are a large number of SoundFont, aka SF2, files on the Internet, most of which are freely available. How this becomes significant for those of us with cards with support only for DLS is revealed with a sound app called Audio Compositor. Skip below for rudimentary info on converting SF2 files to DLS.
The Audible Project was born from the desire to have a 100% DLS Level 1 compliant sample set that could be used on all DLS 1 compatible sound cards. I need your help to make it the best.
I have several PCI sound cards, all of which support DLS. However, my Vortex cards appear to be the only ones that supports DLS on Windows NT 4.0. I'm not really complaining, as my Montego is the best sound card I currently own, but it would be nice if other companies besides Aureal supported DLS under NT. Consequently, if I was to recommend a sound card for DLS support, Vortex 2 based cards such as the Turtle Beach Montego II or the Diamond MX300 would be at the top of the list as their wavetable capabilities are better than the less expensive Vortex 1 based cards. In reality though, if I was to recommend a sound card for customizable sounds, I'd probably recommend a Live! since SoundFonts are so well supported. Other sound cards that support DLS are based on S3's SonicVibes, using up to 15 MB PC RAM, Trident's 4DWave, and most if not all of those based on Yamaha's YMF724 chipset. Note that DLS support is often advertised as a feature of a sound card when the only support may be through Microsoft's DirectMusic. Aside from the Vortex, the only card I know of that has support for DLS besides through DirectMusic is S3's SonicVibes. Interestingly enough, cards, including the SonicVibes, capable of DLS can be readily purchased for about $20, much less than the cost of an AWE64 or a Live!, though that probably won't stop me from buying a PCI 512, which uses the same chipset as the Live!, in the future.
Yamaha XG MIDI is the best. Aureal Vortex MIDI is good. SonicVibes MIDI is also good with the 4 MB Euphonics sample set. And Timidity++ is an exceptional free software synthesizer especially if used with EAW's patches. But there's no help envying the 12 MB Chaos SoundFont that Sound Blaster Live! and AWE32 users can enjoy. So, like a normal human being, I acted on my jealousy and decided to use that same 12 MB SoundFont on my DLS capable Montego. Impossible? It once was.
This is almost trivial. I've had to know so little about the conversion process it's bad for me and for you too. After failing to do the conversion with an older version of Awave, I turned to Audio Compositor 3.3b. I loaded the SF2 file into AC, clicked on Save As, and selected DLS Level 1 for file format. I opened up the Vortex control panel, clicked on Download, selected the the newly converted DLS file, and there you go. I played a MIDI file. It worked. But your definition of 'working' may very well be different from mine. As always YMMV.
As you may suspect, this is not as simple I made it out to be in the paragraph above and is not a completely trouble-free process. SoundFonts are different enough from DLS to cause problems when converting from one format to the other. EXPECT A LOSS IN QUALITY. This loss in quality is unavoidable and can range from negligible to intolerable, depending on how abusive the author was with the SF2 format, meaning how well he knows the format, or, alternatively, how well he doesn't. It also depends on how DLS compatible the most recent version AC, or whatever you're using to convert SF2 to DLS, is. Fixing the 'errors' that conversion creates is not a task for those lacking patience or time. But if all of this isn't bad enough, Audio Compositor leaves much to be desired in more than a few areas, but I suppose we just have to be thankful and wait for the next stable version to be released.
The most significant problem that is encountered after conversion is with regards to the ability of SF2 to reference samples in ROM. This is a Bad ThingTM, at least for those without an AWE32 or AWE64, which means you and me. If you're very lucky, you won't notice that the respective instruments are missing. But if you're not, the easiest way to get around the problem is to power down your computer and listen to a music CD on your stereo. Really though, my solution involves replacing the offending patch with samples from a 'clean' sample set. There are more elegant ways around this problem than my cut and paste solution, but I only have the faintest idea as to what they actually are. You're on your own for the most part. Here are a few things to help you get started:
BTW using AC isn't the only way to convert SF2 to DLS. Awave, also shareware, can also do it and, as of version 5.2, can save files in DLS Level 2 format, but I am unable to test it. DLS Level 2 should take care of the many incompatibilities with the SoundFont format. AC 4.0 beta, also supports DLS 2. Unfortunately, Vortex sound drivers do not currently support DLS 2. I do, however, understand that Aureal has a SF2 to ARL, Aureal's native format, converter in the works.
There are 3 DLS sample sets available on the web that are 'clean,' including Shred's of DLS Adventures and the two Roland-based sample sets from Microsoft. 'Clean,' in this context, means relatively error free with no missing instrument samples, downloads correctly into memory, but not necessarily fully compliant with the DLS 1 spec. The Fury DLS, as of version 1.2, doesn't work on the Vortex 1 under NT unless it is re-saved under AC, but you really don't want to hear it after that. Following is a semi-complete report of my successes and failures with SF2 to DLS conversion. I am sorry that I am currently unable to make these available for download, but I hope my results will at least save you some time and effort.
The 'Audible' project is a project to create a 100% DLS Level 1 compliant sample set in, astonishingly, DLS Level 1 format. The project, with all practicality, is already complete and includes all 128 GM instruments and 10 drum kits. However, many of the instruments need to be replaced. Click here to see which ones. The instruments with a 'Y' next to them do not need to be replaced. If you are interested in contributing to the project please e-mail me. Possible contributions range from sending me a link to a sample set, which can be in SF2 or SBK format, that has easily convertible patches, or, preferably, sending me a patch in SF2 format that is ready to be converted to DLS 1, meaning all non-DLS 1 extensions have been removed. Read the Audio Compositor help file for the necessary modifications. In any case please do not send me patches that I already have. In addition, please download this file to test your patch before you send it to me. Suggestions for changing the sound levels of any patches I am not missing will be greatly appreciated.
This is the last Audible available for download until I find more server space. Audible has grown past Geocities' 10 MB limit to almost 17 MB's uncompressed and sounds much better for it. Though the version below is outdated, gm.txt will always be in sync with the version on my hard drive. As far as I'm concerned, the project is finished until I receive your assistance. I am very satisfied with it. Until then, you'll have to settle for the files below as I'm not going to go through the trouble of uploading the new version unless I know someone is interested. If you are this someone who is interested, please contact me so I can make the newest version available to you. The DLS, as good as it sounds IMHO, requires tuning, especially with sound levels, and, as I've said, replacement samples. Download audible.dls:
Unzip all files into the same directory. Double-click on audible.bat, unzip audible.zip, stir and enjoy.
As you can see, I have removed Audible. I thought that it would be better to offer a DLS conversion of the excellent 8 MB Chaos Bank instead. It's much more balanced and fits nicely into my Geocities account. There are no ROM references and no missing instrument samples. Please let me know if it works on your system, especially if you're using a SonicVibes.
If you're still interested in Audible and need something, here is a zip containing all Audible distribution files, including documentation and MIDI samples, but without audible.dls.
The place to find SoundFonts, including many of those above, is HammerSound. You will also find a bit of relevant information as well as a forum and a newsgroup there. Good luck and have fun. Don't hesitate to e-mail me concerning your experiences with SF2 to DLS conversion. But please include the following information in as much detail as possible:
Another recommended web site is 3D Sound Surge. Daily news and reviews! It's not specific to DLS in anyway but is worth a weekly visit.
![[Best Viewed With Any Browser]](images/anybro.gif){kind=small}
Copyright © 1997 Mark Santos. All rights reserved.