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From: | S. Christian Collins |
Subject: | [fluid-dev] My FluidSynth test results |
Date: | Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:56:46 -0500 |
User-agent: | Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:14.0) Gecko/20120714 Thunderbird/14.0 |
Here are the results of my tests of FluidSynth 1.1.6 RC: 1) SoundFont compatibility: Proper rendering of modulators, etc Result: It's as good as ever. I have yet to come across a SoundFont synth that handles the SoundFont 2.1 parameters and modulators better than FluidSynth. In some cases it even surpasses the Audigy! 2) Voice stealing logic Result: I can think of a few improvements to the voice stealing logic, but nothing is broken. I'll share the improvement ideas at a later time. 3) Reverb and chorus Result: It works, but the default values are not that great, IMO. I spent a lot of time playing around with the reverb and chorus values, and I believe the following sounds considerably better: Reverb:
Chorus:
FluidSynth's default reverb is too confined, so my settings give
the music a better sense of space. The main problem with
Fluidsynth's reverb engine is that it has a bit of a metallic
sound, causing spikes in annoying parts of the frequency range. I
would normally allow for more reverb to be present at CC91=127,
but with this reverb, I feel it's best to mix it a bit lower.
Unfortunately, as far as sound quality is concerned, I consider
the reverb to be the weakest component of Fluidsynth. I also noticed that the reverb presets defined in fluid_synth.c
line 144 appear to have been designed for testing the parameters
of the reverb engine, but they are not very useful musically. I
would be happy to create new presets to replace these ("Large
Hall", "Small Hall", "Room", etc.). The default chorus values are too brash and have been replaced
with warmer settings. I have attached a couple of MIDI files to this e-mail for testing
these reverb settings:
The Hybrid Collage was written using GeneralUser
GS. You can compare FluidSynth's playback to the original
Audigy version here
(see under "Examples"). Fluidsynth is able to come decently close
using my new reverb and chorus values; the Audigy just has a much
better reverb, though. The main difference you will hear with
FluidSynth is the missing filter wah-wah in the electric guitar in
the middle of the song. I'm guessing FluidSynth must not be
compatible with the Sound Blaster NRPNs that control the filter. Anyway, those are the results of my tests. Please let me know if
you want me to do anything for this release or a later one. God Bless, |
S_Christian_Collins--March_1_in_D_major.mid
Description: MIDI audio
S_Christian_Collins--The_Hybrid_Collage.mid
Description: MIDI audio
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