Soundfonts sound 'thin'

thehog · Jul 7, 2008, 09:43 PM

Hi,

I have a soundblaster live value and recently replaced the Creative driver by the Kx driver. It appears that the Kx driver can load bigger soundfonts than the Creative driver could, which is good! However, I have two issues with the Kx driver:

1. Soundfonts sound a bit 'thin', or 'metallish' with Kx. This is clearly audible
with piano soundfonts, which did sound good with the Creative driver. I tested both with the 3541 and the 3583m version of Kx.

2. It appears to me that the 3541 version has a little latency in the midi handling. Soundfont notes are played a little behind after I press a midi key. Version 3583m does not have this issue. I am using a full-size master keyboard for piano playing, so having latency here is a bit (ehm a lot) annoying.

Are these known issues? What can I do in Kx to improve the soundfont playing? I'd really would like to use Kx instead of the Creative driver since Kx makes it possible to load >256 MB soundfonts.

Thanks
-- thehog

octave · Jul 9, 2008, 06:25 PM

Maybe the metallic sound is because of the reverb used. (Try another reverb or preset, or Russ's Creative reverbs clone.) Maybe you had some EQ or "enhancer" set up and you have forgotten? Remember it's easy to be mistaken about a difference in sound, when there is none (I'm not saying that is the case here).

EDIT: I'm intrigued by the SF latency, are you sure? Still 3538m here and not using kX SF synth for some time now.

Jul 7, 2008, 09:43 PM	#1
thehog DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Soundfonts sound 'thin' Hi, I have a soundblaster live value and recently replaced the Creative driver by the Kx driver. It appears that the Kx driver can load bigger soundfonts than the Creative driver could, which is good! However, I have two issues with the Kx driver: 1. Soundfonts sound a bit 'thin', or 'metallish' with Kx. This is clearly audible with piano soundfonts, which did sound good with the Creative driver. I tested both with the 3541 and the 3583m version of Kx. 2. It appears to me that the 3541 version has a little latency in the midi handling. Soundfont notes are played a little behind after I press a midi key. Version 3583m does not have this issue. I am using a full-size master keyboard for piano playing, so having latency here is a bit (ehm a lot) annoying. Are these known issues? What can I do in Kx to improve the soundfont playing? I'd really would like to use Kx instead of the Creative driver since Kx makes it possible to load >256 MB soundfonts. Thanks -- thehog

Jul 9, 2008, 06:25 PM	#2
octave DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 39 Rep Power: 0	Maybe the metallic sound is because of the reverb used. (Try another reverb or preset, or Russ's Creative reverbs clone.) Maybe you had some EQ or "enhancer" set up and you have forgotten? Remember it's easy to be mistaken about a difference in sound, when there is none (I'm not saying that is the case here). EDIT: I'm intrigued by the SF latency, are you sure? Still 3538m here and not using kX SF synth for some time now. Last edited by octave; Jul 9, 2008 at 06:31 PM.