How To Upload A Soundfont To Musescore

Summary

In this tutorial nosotros'll attempt to make a night-time woods soundtrack using some bird noises nosotros record as samples and so include in a custom SoundFont that we'll use to make a score in MuseScore. We begin with brief instructions on the employ of Audacity to record the samples, followed by a short guide to using PolyPhone to create the SoundFont. We then talk over using the custom SoundFont in MuseScore to create a sound effects track.

The tutorial MuseScore (ForestBirdiesTrack.mscz) and SoundFont file (ForestBirdies.sf2, from zip file ForestBirdies.zip) that we create are available to download equally function of this tutorial.

There are 2 ways to use these files - the start if you just desire to apace run into the result of the new SoundFont in a template score. The 2d works through a tutorial on how to create, manage and use these files.

Option	Description
ane - Quick Outset	Download the two files (ForestBirdies.aught and ForestBirdiesTrack.mscz). Open up the MuseScore file, load the SoundFont file into Synthesizers and mind to the birds without going through the tutorial. Section 1 describes this approach.
2 - Follow the tutorial as y'all go.	Follow the more detailed tutorial instructions to make your own SoundFont, and use it in your own score. Follow the instructions in Section 2 and Section 3 to learn about what's going on, and how you can brand and use your ain custom SoundFonts.

Note that both Audacity and PolyPhone have detailed usage instructions online, so we try to avert duplicating this data by focussing on just the key features required to run through the tutorial. The methods still are applicable to the creation of whatsoever custom SoundFont that can be used in MuseScore.

References (section four beneath) list the links you lot can use to get hold of and use Audacity and PolyPhone.

ane. Quick start guide for playing demo Bird Noises soundtrack without following tutorial

If you just want to apace hear the bird noises SoundFont in action without post-obit the tutorial, follow these instructions.

1.1. Install the bird noises SoundFont file

Download ForestBirdies.zip, unzip and store the file ForestBirdies.sf2 in your MuseScore SoundFonts directory. You tin can check this directory by going to Settings/Preferences and finding the SoundFonts directory.

one.2. Download and open the score file

Download and save the ForestBirdiesTrack.mscz somewhere (ordinarily in your default Scores directory - see settings as per step 1a above.)

ane.3. Add the new SoundFont to your synthesizer list

In View - Synthesizers click Add and add the ForestBirdies.sf2 SoundFont into the list in the first tab (Fluid). Make sure information technology stays as the showtime entry in the list (the default) so no other SoundFonts override it. If y'all want to add effects e.thou. Reverberation, you tin can exercise then in these settings too.

1.iv. Play the track

You should be gear up to get: click 'Play' and you should hear a short C scale on a piano, followed by the bird noises.

2. Detailed instructions for creating and using a custom SoundFont

2.1. Recording the wooden instruments and creating sample files.

2.i.1. Instruments used to create the SoundFont

To create the SoundFont in this tutorial I recorded some bird noises using a set of wooden bird noise instrument (whistles etc.) purchased from a marketplace in Arles, virtually Avignon, French republic a few years agone. They are packaged in a wooden box with a glass chapeau. The maker's details are listed at the terminate of this tutorial.

They're not likewise bad as far every bit realistically creating bird sounds goes, merely the sounds haven't been recorded professionally - an extremely detailed topic on its own.

2.1.2. Sampling instruments using Audacity

The sounds were recorded using a basic microphone and recorded and processed in the freely-bachelor Audacity software. In Brazenness, the sounds were trimmed to remove silence, levels were normalized and for a couple of the files, some noise reduction and a small amount of reverberation was added. You want to go out the SoundFont sounds every bit natural and unprocessed as you lot tin, giving you telescopic to add effects using MuseScore'due south Synthesizer - Master Effects.

In Audacity, the output format used for each sample is as follows:
16-bit, mono, sampling rate 44.1K/south .wav format
PolyPhone will recognize the original sampling parameters when you add together the samples to the SoundFont. Notation yet that this was not an practice in high-cease sampling given the simple, low-allegiance of the wooden instruments themselves.

The list of sample files, their size and names are listed in a table at the end of this document. The attached SoundFont for this article (ForestBirdies.goose egg beneath) contains the original samples, which can be extracted from PolyPhone if need exist (although this is non required for this tutorial).

two.2. Creating a custom SoundFont using PolyPhone

The SoundFont file format compages includes the concepts of Samples, Instruments and Presets.
The table below briefly discusses the 3 main components of a SoundFont file. In our case, we are only using the nigh uncomplicated properties of a SoundFont – the format allows for far more customization, but our bird noises example does not crave the use of these additional settings.

Property	Purpose
Samples	SoundFonts embed your sample files into the .sf2 format. These are used to create Instruments. Samples are bound to Instruments.
Instruments	An musical instrument is a drove of one or more than sample files, with their required key ranges, loop setting and a root key. Instruments are bound to Presets.
Presets	The ultimate sound setting you choose when using your SoundFont file in MuseScore. Presets accept a bank and preset number to allow for selection in MuseScore (or any other software that uses SoundFonts), and can be set upwardly to override key ranges, root keys and loop settings – although this overriding is not required in our example of bird noises. Presets too allow you to define MIDI settings and effects (e.g. Chorus and Reverberation) – once again we do non need to override these settings so they are not discussed further.

2.2.ane. Create your new SoundFont file

Click New SoundFont and prepare Product to your chosen name for the SoundFont. You tin can besides add copyright information and costless format comments.

two.2.ii. Add samples to your SoundFont

Once you accept your .wav file format (simply) sounds, you lot add these sample files to your new SoundFont by clicking the sine moving ridge icon (add samples) and selecting them from Finder/Explorer. To see the samples you lot've already added, you can click the 'up' pointer adjacent to Samples. These arrows also function the same way for Instruments and Presets. PolyPhone also shows you lot an estimate of the central, based on a frequency analysis of your sample - although we ignore this as the goal is not to create a melodious rails. You tin also perform parametric equalization on your sample, and suit the sample rate (neither feature is used or required for this tutorial). To proceed things simple when making the SoundFont file, it'due south probably meliorate to use Audacity to adjust these settings when processing the sample file itself.

2.ii.three. Add Instruments – ane per sound

Once the samples accept been added, you and so add together a new musical instrument past clicking the Speaker icon.

Give your new instrument a proper noun. In the ForestBirdies.sf2 SoundFont, make an Musical instrument for each sample, matching the name to the sample name (east.g. Cuckoo). And so, bind the samples to your Instrument past right clicking your sample file (due east.g. Cuckoo) and select Bind to… to adhere information technology to the corresponding instrument (Cuckoo).

At present you can click on your instrument (Cuckoo1) and set the keyboard notes yous wish to apply to play the sound – do this past setting the Key Range values (e.g. 48-51 for the Cuckoo sound), corresponding to C3 to D#3 (middle C is C4). Then that the SoundFont preset knows which note a sample pertains to, it'due south important that yous set the Root Key for the musical instrument – this volition be the number of the central that starts the fundamental range (48 or C3) and reflects the 'original' frequency at which the audio was recorded.

The event of these edits is that for each sound there volition be 4 notes on your allocated to play the sound, starting at the root key and moving up in frequency past a semitone. When playing the notes, you can choose which of the stepped semitones you wish to utilise – the original frequency, or slightly higher (and faster). You will usually want to loop your sample hither as well: double click Loop Playback in the Instruments window for Cuckoo, and select the middle icon (ordinary looping). This type of loop simply starts playing the note again after its elapsed duration, and repeats for as long every bit the central is held down.

Echo this process for each of your samples/instruments.

two.2.4. Create Presets for each Instrument

Finally, you need to create Presets for each musical instrument: Preset settings tell the SoundFont how it will be selected in the SoundFont including the banking concern and preset numbers. Yous can also attach multiple instruments to a single preset, although this is not required in this tutorial. Click the Notes icon and enter a proper name for the preset (once more using the same name you lot used for the sample and instrument due east.yard. Cuckoo).

To adhere the musical instrument to the preset, right click the musical instrument and select Bind to…, selecting the corresponding preset. In our case, exit the preset settings blank, i.e. there is no need to override the instruments key range or root keys – these are picked up from your Instrument settings in the previous step.

Save your SoundFont file, and you should have a new ForestBirdies.sf2 file, set up for utilize in MuseScore. The summary screen from PolyPhone shows the results of creating the SoundFont for this tutorial.

two.3. Using your new SoundFont in MuseScore

As this tutorial is non designed to repeat detailed documentation for MuseScore, we'll simply embrace the steps require to create a new score using your custom SoundFont – refer to MuseScore's documentation for more detailed information on these processes – nosotros'll just list them in summarized format, on the assumption yous can refer to the original MuseScore documentation for more information.

2.three.1. Add your new SoundFont to MuseScore

Identify the location of your MuseScore's SoundFont files by checking your Settings/Preferences and copying your SoundFont file to this directory location. Then, in MuseScore View – Synthesizer, click Add and select your new SoundFont file. Position the SoundFont at the peak of list to ensure the bird audio plays, and not a sound from 1 of your other loaded SoundFonts.

You should now exist able to use the SoundFont file in your next score. Click Salvage to Score if you lot want MuseScore to load the new SoundFont file when your new score is opened. By storing the reference to the SoundFont file in your score, yous tin can avert cluttering up your instrument choice with unneeded SoundFont patches. Notation that SoundFont files disappear from your MuseScore SoundFont directory if y'all delete them in the Synthesizer window – for this reason, it's a good idea to have all your SoundFonts backed up in another location ready to reload if you piece of work on a dissimilar score using different SoundFonts.

two.3.2. Create a score to use your SoundFont file

In this example of a 'bird noise' score, nosotros need a staff for each bird noise (i.e. instrument). The example SoundFont file has 6 bird noises, so we create a staff for each sound. The sample MuseScore file also has a pianoforte musical instrument with a treble and bass staff, making a total of 8 staves.

If you're using the template MuseScore file for this tutorial ForestBirdiesTrack.mscz (available to download below), the score has been prepare with a staff for each instrument (bird dissonance).

If you're creating a new score from scratch, select the 'closest' matching template to make this step easier: I used 'Bluegrass Band' as it independent 7 Staves. In the Instruments window, I then removed the last staff, and replaced information technology with treble/bass Piano staves - you can employ this for accompaniment, and it's also helpful to always accept a playable staff for testing.

2.3.3. Prepare Stave/Role Properties and clefs for each instrument

For each staff, select Stave/Function Backdrop (right click a note or rest in the staff to choose this setting) and give each staff a name matching the specific bird noise e.g. Cuckoo, Owl Long, Owl Curt etc. Note that you will need to do this one-by-1, and select OK each time to update the score equally pressing the up or down arrow to move through the staves does non seem to 'take' the previously set staff property.

Take annotation of the clef settings in the tutorial MuseScore file as well – these have been ready to reflect the cardinal range of the corresponding instrument (bird noise).

Remember that each musical instrument (bird dissonance) has a playable range of merely iv notes because you lot assigned this central range when creating the SoundFont file. Notes outside the key range play silence. To help ensure your notes for an instrument (bird noise) match that instrument'south central range, you can optionally set the 'Useable pitch range' for each staff in the staff settings. To actuate this feature, you'll also need to check Color notes outside of useable pitch range in Preferences – Note Input. At present, if you lot enter a note outside of the playable range, the note volition exist colored red. This has been set upwards in the tutorial score file for you.
Later on following this procedure, you should have a score with 8 staves, with any notes entered outside of the instrument's key range highlighted red (viewable merely subsequently you've unselected a annotation in the bar).

2.3.4. Set up your instrument for each staff using the Mixer window

In the Mixer view, you lot should see eight instruments. Step through each instrument, and assign the corresponding SoundFont patch e.. for Cuckoo, cull the Cuckoo patch. Repeat this process, using the other bird noise patches for each score. The last 2 staves in this example only use 'Grand Piano' - these staves are optional, but could exist used to provide boosted sounds, or a melodic overlay to the sound effect track you are making.

ii.iv. Write your bird sound 'notes'

2.4.1. Inbound notes inside range limits for each instrument

Remember that when creating the SoundFont file, you set a fundamental range east.g. Cuckoo was set to C3 to D# 3. Make sure you enter notes that fit within this range for the relevant instrument, or you won't hear any sounds! The attached MuseScore file shows the ranges for each bird noise – there are four notes per audio, in sequence from C3 to B4. Each sound has a central range of four semitones, raising the frequency slightly higher each time.

2.4.2. Out of primal note range example

If y'all ready the key range settings in step 2.iii.3 higher up, you volition notice that any keys entered outside of the instrument'south key range will be highlighted red - as seen in this example for notes F2 and E3 using the Cuckoo instrument:

3. Next steps - Create your soundtrack score

With your new SoundFont working in your new score, you lot are and then free to use MuseScore to create the rest of your 'music' (or in this example, a soundtrack). The sample score for this tutorial just plays each note for each bird noise within its cardinal range – use these confined to copy and create your own night fourth dimension forest soundtrack, but make sure you stick to the cardinal range for each instrument, or you lot won't hear annihilation!

iv. References

4.1. Files used in this tutorial

File Proper noun	Description
ForestBirdies.naught	Zipped bird noises SoundFont file (sf2 format). This file includes the 6 samples used for the presets
ForestBirdiesTrack.mscz	MuseScore template file showing use of each bird noise in score. If y'all store this file in your MuseScore Templates directory, it will be available when you create new scores

4.two. Sample files used in the SoundFont .sf2 file

File proper noun	Size	Elapsing (seconds)	Description
Cuckoo ane.wav	146 KB	1	Unmarried cuckoo call
Duck one.wav	654 KB	three	Short 'quack'
Duck 2.wav	940 KB	v	Longer 'dishonest'
High pitched bird one.wav	1,842 KB	10	10 seconds of random 'tweets' from small birds
Owl 1 long.wav	543 KB	3	Generic owl – longer 3 second telephone call
Owl two short.wav	252 KB	1	Generic owl – curt 1 2d phone call

Note that these sample files were non uploaded to this tutorial, but can be extracted from the SoundFont file if yous want them.

5. Software used in this tutorial

5.1. PolyPhone SoundFont editing software

https://world wide web.polyphone-soundfonts.com

five.2. Polyphone documentation

https://www.polyphone-soundfonts.com/en/documentation/manual

5.iii. Brazenness sound editing software

https://audacityteam.org

Audacity documentation and support
https://world wide web.audacityteam.org/assistance/

6. Birdsong wooden instruments

6.i Craftsman maker

Fabricated by the woodcrafsman Alain Carpentras, from:

Tournerie sur Bois,
48 Impasse Clos Ste Catherine,
84 700 Sorgues, French republic.

7. Wooden set up website with medal honors

https://world wide web.atelier-castors-appeaux.fr/

Source: https://musescore.org/en/node/293510

Posted by: marquezobarresidde.blogspot.com

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