Creating the 'perfect' Final Fantasy 7 soundfont...

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Doh!  It seems I've overlooked one of the newer aspects of the VGmusic.com forums.  Previously, you didn't have to be logged in to be able to view attachments.  Now, its different.  I had thought they simply hid the portion of a post that contains the link to the attachment, but still allowed anyone who directly typed in the link to access it.  Now it appears its more complicated than that.

Anyway, I'll go ahead and upload a .zip of the two MIDI files on Mirex's Server.

-edit-

Upload done. Linkage here.
 
Well, before I start, I'm gonna say this:
I think it's great that everyone loves this game so much that they want to improve the shitty quality PC MIDIs.  Good luck to anyone and everyone writing an FF7 SoundFont, I'll definitely try it out when you're done.

Anyway, I worked on a FF7 SoundFont a while ago.  I thought it sounded pretty good, but then I realized:  I'm just a PC Tech/Programmer with really no knowledge of how to make good music.  Nobuo Umatsu is a musical genius.  Every last intrument, note, pitch, etc that he put into every one of his pieces was done for a specific reason.  I just don't believe that I have the musical ability to create a SoundFont that owns up to Umatsu's original vision.  (It's kind of like blasphemy for me, if you will.)

On a side note: I'm playing through FF7 again.  I'm using my Soundfont, because I believe it sounds WAY better than the crappy quality ones that come with FF7, and the XG SoftSynth doesn't have the Sephiroth choir . . . I just don't think the SoundFont lives up to Umatsu's original vision.
 
So what's wrong with the mp3-rip of the music CDs? AGO put out a BT for it couple weeks ago, though it's dead now.
 
So what's wrong with the mp3-rip of the music CDs? AGO put out a BT for it couple weeks ago, though it's dead now.
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True, i totally agree. Why not use the mp3s from the CD's?

I've uploaded 3 mps on them, they are the best music for usage for the soundfonts. 1 is the main field theme, another is the aerith theme, the last is the final battle theme i think.

the thing is that they are not design for looping i must say? is that right?


EDIT:
Anyway, finish uploading. the links are below.

http://ff7resources.tripod.com/aeriththeme.mp3
http://ff7resources.tripod.com/maintheme.mp3
http://ff7resources.tripod.com/onewingedangel.mp3

right click and save as please. cheers. ;)
 
Hi!

I haven't heard the samples yet... but I'm sure that they are very good!  :D

Anyway... how will the SoundFont being made (if there is one being made) be the original if a lot of the instruments have been scrapped? It would be nice to have a 100% original one, too... but I suppose that's me being a miserable person to people who do a lot of hard work... sorry!  :(

xeriouxi.
 
Firstly the XG enhanced midi Goku7 is a hell lot better to listen to on the ears :)
that song is a long repition, that would drive anybody mad, but the XG one is nicer by far.
2ndly I do not like to see MP3s directly linked here  :evil:
3rdly Neither do tripod  :D  I should know, you probably have problems downloading that one.
 
Hmm, I can't get those links to work.  Anyway, yeah, I don't think you should directly link to MP3s from the CD here.
 
Aaron your on fire, I have to say whats that 5 posts in 5 minutes, Im trying to play catch up...
 
Firstly the XG enhanced midi Goku7 is a hell lot better to listen to on the ears :)
that song is a long repition, that would drive anybody mad, but the XG one is nicer by far.
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Thanks.  That's been just about the first piece of feedback I've recieved on that song from anyone with an XG synth, lol.

I suppose it can be repetitive.  Actually, the newest version is gonna have a pick slide near the end, but I'd also prefer to somehow get it recorded to mp3.....I swear, the irony of my situation makes me feel that I've been PWNED in this regard (the XG synth that exists physically on my card is not considered a recording source....usually you only run into that if the XG device is software). :P
 
i think tripod deleted those mp3s. i will find a better server to upload them. Sorry if u dun like mp3s linked here..
 
What do you think is the purpose of a "perfect" soundfont?
Should it simply sound like the PSone original and fix all the errors of the current release or increase the overall instrument sample quality?
The sound driver in the PlayStation version is not too great (I know it's a first generation title), sounds very synthy to me.
 
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Hi!

What I mean is that it should be identical as much as possible to the PSX version of FFVII... the way it was meant to sound!  :D

xeriouxi.
 
Don't get your hopes up. I know that creating a soundfont is a lot of work and I haven't done it before. But I'm willing to learn and will try my best to enhance the music.
 
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Hi!

Right then... firstly I will need the original instruments used in the PSX version of FFVII. I have PSound to rip these... but there only seems to be about 70-80 if my memory serves me correctly. Is this right?  :-?

xeriouxi.
 
There are 74 instruments in the main bank and 6 choir samples. Most of the main instruments are very, very, very short. It should be the complete user sample collection of the PlayStation sound driver, but it's only 3 MB. Even the...well...let's call it "good" soundfont ff7.sf2 is 5 MB and the choir samples are not included.
 
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Yes, i think there are about 74 instruments in the main bank and 6 choir samples. These six really sound great, but most of the main instruments are very, very, very short. It should be the complete user sample collection of the PSX sound driver, but it's only 3 MB. 3 MB? Even the ... well ... let's call it "good" soundfont ff7.sf2 is 5 MB and the choir samples are not included in it.
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Actually, the "good" ff7.sf2 soundfont that FF7pc was packaged with is 4mb, not 5....but that's just a technicality.

Anyway, don't diss the size of the PSX soundset.  Bigger does not always equal better.  The PSX samples are meant to be infinitely looped during sustained notes, and that's why they are so short.  That is also why the size is small.  Now, if you want instruments that have a sampled release in them, then the current samples are insufficient.  But you can still mimic that type of release by using the short samples and messing with their ADSR envelope values -- particularly the "Decay" value, if memory serves.
 
Will have to see which method sounds better.
 
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but u know i always thought the psx version was sounding more tinny and lower quality then FF7pc with a decent sized soundfont (50+meg) or yamahaXG.
Im not sure sounding like the psx version is really "perfect"
 
That's the issue I wanted to point out.
A prime example is "chu.mid" ("Fight On!") with the Yamaha XG SoftSynthesizer. It just sounds one hell of a lot better than with the PlayStation sound driver.
 
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Hi!

When I said the 'perfect' SoundFont... I meant perfect in duplication from the PSX to the PC.  :D

As for the 'Decide the future of FFVII' poll for the SoundFonts... well the XG MIDI has been made... so how can that be deciding the future when it exists already?  :-?

xeriouxi.
 
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