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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
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...

Was this answer helpful?

4 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
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!

Was this answer helpful?

3 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

43 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
  1. Anonymous
    2010-07-19T03:33:28+00:00

    Question to all who are having poor midi playback using SW synth: what version of Windows 7 64-bit are you using?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2010-07-19T03:30:08+00:00

    Just just bailed out and switched to Windows 7 Ultimate (32 Bit).  Emulator X2  and CDAC11BA.EXE are working when I run Emulator X with Administrator privileges, but I don't know why I couldn't get it running in 64 Bit Mode.   I guess Emulator X2 won't work at all unless CDAC11BA.EXE is running; unfortunately my CDAC11BA.EXE service was apparently 32 bit so Emulator X2 was hosed...  I still haven't gotten my printer to work thougt (even in 32 bit mode....)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2010-07-18T22:41:27+00:00

    On the other hand, I have a very old (but very good) used printer, and there are no 64 Bit drivers for the printer. I had to download XP Compatability mode for Windows 7 and get it running to get my printer working.

    I appreciate your great response.

    I also had problems installing my printer too, but fortunately once I connected to the internet, Windows just downloaded and installed some proper drivers automatically, so I lucked out. I wasn't aware of this XP Compatibility you mentioned, but I looked into it and I'm out of luck (doesn't work on Home Premium). Whenever I run into compatibility issues that I'm unable to solve in Windows 7, VirtualBox has been a lifesaver. I just boot up a virtual machine with Windows XP 32-bit on it and I'm able to use hardware and software that refuses to work in Win7 64-bit.

    I'll keep your reply in mind and look into some of these things you recommend. I'll probably just slap in a new sound card one of these days when I can afford it, right after I replace this horrid on-board video (assuming I have enough PCI slots in this thing). Those $300 PCs you get at Wal-Mart are cheap for a reason. :)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments