AudioCompositor

[pepak]

I am still getting ready for rendering QuestStudios' complete soundtracks to a CD-DA, using some high-quality soundfonts. From my tests it seems the best (in terms of quality of the output) software for MIDI to WAV rendering is AudioCompositor, but sadly the program apparently disappeared from the web so even if I wanted to, I can't order a licence (without it, the output length is very limited; also, some of the longer soundtracks, such as King's Quest 6, cause rather serious clipping problems with the application so the author's help might be needed). Do you know where can I find a new homepage for this utility?

Or alternativelly, do you know an application that does MIDI to WAV rendering in comparable quality?  i want something simple, preferably a tool where I select a MIDI file, a soundfont (preferably SF2) and output quality and it performs the rest? TiMidity's quality is rather poor and most (if not all) other programs don't let me use my soundfonts. I don't want to record "what you hear" while playing back the MIDI.

[Ari]

A random search in Google turned this up. I have no idea how good it is, since I always record my MIDIs to WAV using the "What you hear" method, as you call it.

[Alistair]

(By the way, Ari, 'What U Hear' is probably not the best way to record- if you're using modules, use Line In.)

As for Pepak, you sound like you don't understand what you're doing. You're using a Sound Blaster card, right? Load the soundfont using whatever Creative software you use for that, have the SB's MIDI Synth (the one that's using the soundfont you have loaded) selected.

Then, you don't 'render' anything. You digitally record the MIDI, using say WinAmp and its' recording feature (setting it up of course), or play it in WinAmp (or anything else that plays MIDI's well) and record using some digital recording software (I use Total Recorder).

I presume you don't want to record for time reasons, or whatever- 'processing' the MIDI really just records it on the fly, using predetermined MIDI software patches. I don't know of any software that does this for variable pathes, only constant ones like Roland's VSC, where only Roland VSC patches would be used. Anyway. I think recording is your best, bet, and if you don't like the hassle, use WinAmp.

- Alistair

[Ari]

I do use the line-in, unless it's a multiple module remix (which I've done only a few times). I assumed he was talking about using a line-in which is also kind of "what you hear" in a sense...

[pepak]

Then, you don't 'render' anything. You digitally record the MIDI, using say WinAmp and its' recording feature (setting it up of course), or play it in WinAmp (or anything else that plays MIDI's well) and record using some digital recording software (I use Total Recorder).

That's exactly what I don't want to do. I want to use a quality renderer which won't choke with 100+ megabyte soundfonts, won't be influenced by sudden bursts of activity from other applications and if possible will be able to use e.g. 24bit output which my soundcard doesn't have (and which I can later downsample to 16bit).

[pepak]

A random search in Google turned this up. I have no idea how good it is, since I always record my MIDIs to WAV using the "What you hear" method, as you call it.

It looks good on paper but none of the distribution archives of the thing work - all of them are corrupt. Tested multiple times on two different computers with different downloading links.

[Ari]

Hmm... Sorry. I just looked at the first thing I could find. I've never used Sound Fonts or even owned a card that uses them.

[pepak]

Hmm... Sorry. I just looked at the first thing I could find.

Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. In fact, I appreciate you tried to help. Sadly, it turned out it doesn't do the trick.

[Ari]

There are probably several other programs that claim similar abilities though. You just need to look for them on the internet.

[Alistair]

How fast is your PC? The last time I used a memory intensive soundfont was when I ran a 128MB RAm 1GHz Celeron, so y'know, not very reliable comparison

Why would you want to record in 24 bit if your soundcard doesn't support it?

I don't know, it just sounds like you're doing a bunch of pointless stuff.

I do use the line-in, unless it's a multiple module remix (which I've done only a few times). I assumed he was talking about using a line-in which is also kind of "what you hear" in a sense...

But, you said you always use "What U Hear" to do it..

- Alistair