Using soundfonts in MaxMSP?
ThomasA
May 14, 2021, 5:57 AM
Hi!
I know we can access soundfonts (.sf2 files) in Max through the vst~ object. But is there anybody that has worked more "directly" with a soundfont? For example built a soundfont player from scratch in Max? Is such a thing at all possible?
pdelges
May 14, 2021, 7:12 AM
There is the fluidsynth~ object.
Check this thread.
ThomasA
May 14, 2021, 12:12 PM
Yes, I've seen that.
Unfortunately as far as I can see only 64-bit on Mac. I'm on 64-bit Windows.
ThomasA
May 14, 2021, 5:04 PM
WOW!
Installed Max 7 32-bit and tried out the fluidsynth~ object. It can do exactly what I was after – namely microtuning a soundfont.
Too bad fluidsynth~ is not available as 64-bit. I really do not want to work in 32-bit Max. Anybody that has an idea how to get a 64-bit version?
yaniki
May 14, 2021, 5:26 PM
vst~ object and your favorite VST plugin capable to play soundfonts?
yaniki
May 14, 2021, 5:29 PM
ah.... sorry... didn’t noticed, you dont want VST
ThomasA
May 14, 2021, 7:00 PM
No, can not microtune individual notes through vst~ ... as far as I can understand at least.
Roman Thilenius
May 15, 2021, 5:56 AM
hilarious, ircam even blocks archive.org. but volkers link works.
ThomasA
May 15, 2021, 7:29 AM
That's all well and good, but can I make this work with Max 8 on a PC with Windows 10 and 64-bit? If so please show me how to install what and where.
Lee Todd Lacks
Aug 21, 2023, 8:54 PM
Thomasa,
The version of fluidsynth~ for Max 7, 32 bit is exactly what I need. Could you tell me how/from where you obtained this version?
Lee Todd
Source Audio
Aug 22, 2023, 6:22 AM
Lee Todd Lacks
Aug 23, 2023, 5:12 PM
Thank you very much, Source Audio. I look forward to seeing how this works! :-)
Shakeeb Alireza
Apr 2, 2025, 7:20 PM
Hi,
I have been trying to update the old fluidsynth~ external and also Volker Böhm's fluidsynth~ working version (which uses a modified version of fluidsynth v.1.0.8 , see: https://github.com/v7b1/max-thirdParty_externals) to use fluidsynth v2.4.x without much success. The recurring problem is that audio is not being generated as expected.
If anyone's interested to help out with this issue, the code for the full external and a simplified external is in: https://github.com/shakfu/fs4m
I have already posted to the fluidsynth github site, https://github.com/FluidSynth/fluidsynth/issues/1525 , as there's a good chance that this is a fluidsynth v2.4 issue..
In any case, any help on this would be greatly appreciated!
Shakeeb
Shakeeb Alireza
Apr 4, 2025, 6:42 AM
Some good news: I managed to update both fluidsynth externals in the project to work with fluidsynth 2.4.4, and these now build without issues and generate sound as expected. Volker Böhm's prior working external and code was a great help!
Further updates will be in the project repo: https://github.com/shakfu/fs4m
Of course, welcome any feedback or comments!
yaniki
Apr 4, 2025, 5:25 PM
Really cool! Thank you!
Now with ability to utilise SoundFonts via FluidSynth~ and Sfz's via sfizz~... I must admit that the situation is much better than I ever expected...