64-bit Alternative to Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth MIDI Generator?

Anonymous
2010-03-16T09:40:24+00:00

I'm trying to find an alternative to the MIDI synth driver built into Windows 7 64-bit - namely the MS GS Wavetable Synth.

I have a Creative X-Fi card (64-bit drivers of course) but to my woe I discovered that the very nice Creative MIDI synth supports 32-bit systems only.

I do a lot of work with MIDI files and am supremely dissapointed with the Microsoft Synth - it sounds like the instruments haven't been updated since Win 3.11, which is probably true. I'm trying to find a better-sounding alternative that is compatible with a 64-bit operating system, but hours of searching have yielded nothing useful.

Does anybody have any reccommendations?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Music, photos, and video

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Anonymous
2011-06-05T20:03:20+00:00

What I do, is I use this card for my music, games, movies, etc. but for MIDIs, I have an old Pentium III computer with an ISA SoundBlaster AWE64gold sound card. It's a much older card and is not as good with games and media, but it actually has a better synthesizer than the SB X-FI HD.

Yes, all of the AWE32/64 cards *had* near professional quality synthsizers [1], but they are a bit old now.   The super awesome synth of the AWE32 was a benefit Creative Labs got when they bought the professional synth company EMU out years ago.  If you are a professional and you are willing to use a standalone synthesizer, then you can consider getting a rack module for a few hundred dollars off of ebay:

http://www.vintagesynth.com/emu/emuxl1.php   [2]

or you can get the highly recommended EmulatorX3.  EmulatorX3 is without a doubt absolutely awseome and it can run on your main computer or a standalone separate computer:

http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=501&subcategory=168&product=17681

Also recommended is the kx project that Poidude mentioned.  If your emu10kX based sound card/OS is supported by the kx project, then you can do almost anything with it...

[1] - The Wave Table synthesis of the AWE Cards was near awesome, but the cards were a bit lacking in real time filters that are available in the more recent and expensive EmulatorX and stand along rack products for professionals.

[2] - While these stand alone rack modules work well for pro-audio, they probaby won't work that great for gaming because they don't tend to come with a General MIDI bank.  You would have to find such and expansion card and that might be difficult . On the other hand, EmulatorX3 does come with a General MIDI bank if I remember correctly, but it is a software only solution.

Best,

Shawn

Lastly, this whole dicussion is a bit on the silly side since I don't think most modern games actually use MIDI and SoundFonts/Wavetable/SoundBanks anymore.  Instead, I think game writters tend to compress their sound tracks into variations of MP3/OGGs files which are then decompressed by by main CPU and send straight to the Digital to Analog chip on the sound card thereby completely voiding the need for Wavetable or MIDI.  If I understand this correctly, mostly only professional musicians use MIDI these days. 

Note: I am a professional *.NET programmer and hobiest musician.  While I don't know much about writing video games, I do know a bit about music and Creative Labs...

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Anonymous
2011-05-28T07:20:02+00:00

I don't know if you still need help (your post is really old) but I'm having the same problem with my SB X-FI HD card. I have searched high and I have searched low and, sadly, I don't think there's any solution to this. What I do, is I use this card for my music, games, movies, etc. but for MIDIs, I have an old Pentium III computer with an ISA SoundBlaster AWE64gold sound card. It's a much older card and is not as good with games and media, but it actually has a better synthesizer than the SB X-FI HD. You can buy this card on ebay for like $7.00 it's really cheap. I know this doesn't really help at all, but it is a very good synthesizer, and I highly recommend trying it!

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-07-24T12:35:16+00:00

    Please assume "IamTheDonut" speaks on my behalf too when it comes to MIDI synth tables!

    "All I want is for my 64-bit sound card driver to have a built-in MIDI wavetable like every 32-bit driver Creative has ever released."

    FYI, my old 2001 computer system was grinding to a halt and I now have a completely new beastie:-

    Windows 7 professional, 64 bit, AMD Phenon II X2 550, Processor 3.11 GHz, RAM 4.00 GB, NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT, 2x 500GB drives.

    (The old Audigy card remains in the old 32 bit system computer, since I can't use it in my new computer.  It's an Audigy Platinum.)

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-07-24T12:10:06+00:00

    Yes, it does have 64-bit drivers, but that leads me back to the original reason I started this thread: the Manufacturer driver for 64-bit Windows OSes DOES NOT contain any MIDI synth table whatsoever, yet the 32-bit version does. That's the whole reason why I posted this thread in the first place, to try to find a workaround or alternative. So far, everything that I've found or has been suggested here either isn't compatible with 64-bit systems (again, key point of this thread) or is very ungainly and doesn't allow MIDI playback direct from the source program, which was another key problem I was having; the program I wanted to use an alt wavetable with doesn't allow piping into another program, it has to be rendered directly from within the program itself, otherwise I would have just used the synth in QuickTime. *shudder*

    All I want is for my 64-bit sound card driver to have a built-in MIDI wavetable like every 32-bit driver Creative has ever released. Why is that so much to ask?

    ~IAmTheDonut

    EDIT: since everyone else is posting their specs, I figured I would too. (Yes, I know I need to upgrade, I just don't have the money right now.)

    Custom Built myself, so there's no mfg.

    Windows 7 Professional (w/XP Mode VM)

      PS: I've tried using the 32-bit drivers in XP Mode, but the virtual machine handles sound through an virtualized hardware layer, so no manual driver installs.)

    AMD Athlon64x2 3800+ ~2.0GHz

    2GB PC3200 RAM

    nVidia GeForce GTX 260

    1.5TB (total) HDDs (Spread across 4 drives)

    >>Sound Blaster Audigy (Classic, ie Audigy is the full model name)

    ASRock 929Dual-SATA2 Mobo

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-07-24T02:12:43+00:00

    (My old SB Audigy soundcard is not compatible with 64 bit.)

    What is the exact model of your Audigy Card?  The Audigy SE has 64 Bit Windows 7 Drivers available:

    http://support.creative.com/Downloads/searchdownloads.aspx?filename=SBAX_PCDRV_LB_2_18_0011.exe

    For a list of other cards that have Windows 7 drivers look here:

    http://support.creative.com/KB/showarticle.aspx?sid=61105&h=13

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