SF2 positioning questions
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SF2 positioning questions
Creating an sf2 file on a 61 keys keyboard.
Were do the sounds position themselves when used on a 48 or 25 keys keyboard? Is this concentrated on the centre key? Or the left key? Otherwise?
Or asked differently, which keys disappear with the less keys keyboard because not enough keys?
Were do the sounds position themselves when used on a 48 or 25 keys keyboard? Is this concentrated on the centre key? Or the left key? Otherwise?
Or asked differently, which keys disappear with the less keys keyboard because not enough keys?
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Re: SF2 positioning questions
That depends entirely on the hardware keyboard.
The keys are absolute, each one has a number between 0 and 127. A midi instrument can decide which ones to use. Since there is electronics in the keyboard it is also possible to change the mapping, for example by adding or subtracting 12, which results in octave-transposition.
A sensible default, which most manufactureres follow, is to have the keyboard centered around key 60, which is the middle C.
The keys are absolute, each one has a number between 0 and 127. A midi instrument can decide which ones to use. Since there is electronics in the keyboard it is also possible to change the mapping, for example by adding or subtracting 12, which results in octave-transposition.
A sensible default, which most manufactureres follow, is to have the keyboard centered around key 60, which is the middle C.
Re: SF2 positioning questions
So am i understanding right that then that key 60 on 127 board will become around key 30 on 61 keyboard, around key 24 on 48 keyboard, and around key 12 on 25 keyboard? Always centred?nilshi wrote:A sensible default, which most manufactureres follow, is to have the keyboard centered around key 60, which is the middle C.
Or asked differently? On what keys should you concentrate the sounds on? What should you (and i) take as base positioning?
Last edited by zoco on Mon Feb 25, 2019 5:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: SF2 positioning questions
No, no matter how small the keyboard is, most likely it will have key 60 in the center.
All keyboards have a +/- octave button.
What you describe is not a problem at all.
All keyboards have a +/- octave button.
What you describe is not a problem at all.
Re: SF2 positioning questions
So my central sound will be on my 61 keyboard the last key but one when octave on 0?nilshi wrote:No, no matter how small the keyboard is, most likely it will have key 60 in the center.
All keyboards have a +/- octave button.
What you describe is not a problem at all.
As far as i know my octave button doesn't shift the sounds to different keys, but just the octave of the sounds. So that snare drum stays on key 3, not shifting to another key with the octave button. I must try that to be sure.
So in that case it is a problem for me. I want to know which key to concentrate on as kind off basic positioning.
In the future i want to share my soundfonts to be used for every keyboard, were i want to keep the core sounds available, and let the minor sounds fall away. I can put the snare of a drum soundfont on key 1 but if that falls away on an less keys keyboard the drum soundfont will become useless.
I want to learn and know how a less keys keyboard will react to that.
Re: SF2 positioning questions
Perhaps i wasn't clear that i probably don't understand the given answers enough.
I would still be pleased to learn what key to concentrate on as positioning target. Centre key? Left first key? Calculating?
I would still be pleased to learn what key to concentrate on as positioning target. Centre key? Left first key? Calculating?
Re: SF2 positioning questions
Don't do that. For unpitched instruments (drums, cymbals, various percussion), try to use General MIDI Drum mapping. For example, midi note number 38 plays a snare, note 36 plays a kick, 51 plays a Ride Cymbal, etc. Here's a chart for GM Drums.zoco wrote:put the snare of a drum soundfont on key 1
Code: Select all
MIDI Drum Sound MIDI Drum Sound
Note # Note #
35 Acoustic Bass Drum 59 Ride Cymbal 2
36 Bass Drum 1 60 Hi Bongo
37 Side Stick 61 Low Bongo
38 Acoustic Snare 62 Mute Hi Conga
39 Hand Clap 63 Open Hi Conga
40 Electric Snare 64 Low Conga
41 Low Floor Tom 65 High Timbale
42 Closed Hi-Hat 66 Low Timbale
43 High Floor Tom 67 High Agogo
44 Pedal Hi-Hat 68 Low Agogo
45 Low Tom 69 Cabasa
46 Open Hi-Hat 70 Maracas
47 Low-Mid Tom 71 Short Whistle
48 Hi-Mid Tom 72 Long Whistle
49 Crash Cymbal 1 73 Short Guiro
50 High Tom 74 Long Guiro
51 Ride Cymbal 1 75 Claves
52 Chinese Cymbal 76 Hi Wood Block
53 Ride Bell 77 Low Wood Block
54 Tambourine 78 Mute Cuica
55 Splash Cymbal 79 Open Cuica
56 Cowbell 80 Mute Triangle
57 Crash Cymbal 2 81 Open Triangle
58 Vibraslap
Code: Select all
MIDI MIDI MIDI
Note Frequency Note Frequency Note Frequency
C 0 8.1757989156 12 16.3515978313 24 32.7031956626
Db 1 8.6619572180 13 17.3239144361 25 34.6478288721
D 2 9.1770239974 14 18.3540479948 26 36.7080959897
Eb 3 9.7227182413 15 19.4454364826 27 38.8908729653
E 4 10.3008611535 16 20.6017223071 28 41.2034446141
F 5 10.9133822323 17 21.8267644646 29 43.6535289291
Gb 6 11.5623257097 18 23.1246514195 30 46.2493028390
G 7 12.2498573744 19 24.4997147489 31 48.9994294977
Ab 8 12.9782717994 20 25.9565435987 32 51.9130871975
A 9 13.7500000000 21 27.5000000000 33 55.0000000000
Bb 10 14.5676175474 22 29.1352350949 34 58.2704701898
B 11 15.4338531643 23 30.8677063285 35 61.7354126570
C 36 65.4063913251 48 130.8127826503 60 261.6255653006
Db 37 69.2956577442 49 138.5913154884 61 277.1826309769
D 38 73.4161919794 50 146.8323839587 62 293.6647679174
Eb 39 77.7817459305 51 155.5634918610 63 311.1269837221
E 40 82.4068892282 52 164.8137784564 64 329.6275569129
F 41 87.3070578583 53 174.6141157165 65 349.2282314330
Gb 42 92.4986056779 54 184.9972113558 66 369.9944227116
G 43 97.9988589954 55 195.9977179909 67 391.9954359817
Ab 44 103.8261743950 56 207.6523487900 68 415.3046975799
A 45 110.0000000000 57 220.0000000000 69 440.0000000000
Bb 46 116.5409403795 58 233.0818807590 70 466.1637615181
B 47 123.4708253140 59 246.9416506281 71 493.8833012561
C 72 523.2511306012 84 1046.5022612024 96 2093.0045224048
Db 73 554.3652619537 85 1108.7305239075 97 2217.4610478150
D 74 587.3295358348 86 1174.6590716696 98 2349.3181433393
Eb 75 622.2539674442 87 1244.5079348883 99 2489.0158697766
E 76 659.2551138257 88 1318.5102276515 100 2637.0204553030
F 77 698.4564628660 89 1396.9129257320 101 2793.8258514640
Gb 78 739.9888454233 90 1479.9776908465 102 2959.9553816931
G 79 783.9908719635 91 1567.9817439270 103 3135.9634878540
Ab 80 830.6093951599 92 1661.2187903198 104 3322.4375806396
A 81 880.0000000000 93 1760.0000000000 105 3520.0000000000
Bb 82 932.3275230362 94 1864.6550460724 106 3729.3100921447
B 83 987.7666025122 95 1975.5332050245 107 3951.0664100490
C 108 4186.0090448096 120 8372.0180896192
Db 109 4434.9220956300 121 8869.8441912599
D 110 4698.6362866785 122 9397.2725733570
Eb 111 4978.0317395533 123 9956.0634791066
E 112 5274.0409106059 124 10548.0818212118
F 113 5587.6517029281 125 11175.3034058561
Gb 114 5919.9107633862 126 11839.8215267723
G 115 6271.9269757080 127 12543.8539514160
Ab 116 6644.8751612791
A 117 7040.0000000000
Bb 118 7458.6201842894
B 119 7902.1328200980
The note range of the controller is irrelevant. Follow the above midi standards.
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Re: SF2 positioning questions
Ok. Experimenting with Polyphone cleared up a lot.
Polyphonic automatically uses my key #60 as a reference.
I still wonder if i create a soundfont around that key 60, were that one will turn up on a 48 or 25 keys keyboard.
Polyphonic automatically uses my key #60 as a reference.
I still wonder if i create a soundfont around that key 60, were that one will turn up on a 48 or 25 keys keyboard.