an "instrument" that plays the full-range .mid files?

[mrk.enriquez@gmail.com]

yes...i'm wondering if anyone knows of an VSTi "instrument" (or Ableton only) that is already setup to play the standard .mid files that are available for free on various free-midi sets on the web.

i've been looking for something for two days now, and while i've found a few free players that pound out the sounds, it would be much much better if i could use Ableton to handle that and the other production stuff i need for the flexibility and work-flow i need.

i can't even really find a full-range "note-explanation" guide that gives the standard .mid note ranges and samples. even this would be a great help!

for example, i did find one for the drums here ( http://www.mindwaremusic.com/Soundsette ... MDrums.jpg ), but im trying to use the .mid files as a jumping off point for some live-performance remixes im working on, and having an instrument that is already configured with the proper sample-to-note mapping would be a nice help.

i find it hard to believe that no one hasn't created a freeware VSTi for this yet, but i've been looking for hours and can't find it.

thanks!

[fishmonkey]

when you say "full-range", i am guessing that you are referring to General MIDI files. i don't have any specific recommendations, but searching for "general MIDI vst plugin" should give you some good leads...

General MIDI is a MIDI spec that includes standard instruments, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_MIDI

[dburns]

There are not many good MIDI player VSTs around. Cakewalk's TTS-1 sounds great, and comes with all their DAWs, even the $40 version of Sonar. It's worth buying the whole program just to get the MIDI player, and is probably your best bet.

You can also use a Sound font player. There are some decent sounding players and GM SF banks around for free.

Native Instruments Bandstand sounded great, but was unstable and they dropped it. If it's for non-critical (non-live) work, you may find a cheap copy somewhere.

You'd think there would be plenty of these types of software around, but not so.

[mrk.enriquez@gmail.com]

hey thanks guys...your info is both helpful and appreciated!

sure i'll look into those solutions...i did download the trial version of Synthfont just to see what would be involved in creating my own Ableton-based solution.

not impossible, but a significant amount of work to be sure

i think the $40 Sonar solution is the way to go.

EDIT:

for anyone else perhaps interested in this topic..i ended up using this free 64-bit Soundfont VSTi player

http://www.tx16wx.com/

and a GM Soundfont pack found here

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... sc&start=0

pretty good starting point...again, thanks!

EDIT 2:

and i've discovered that you can use Ableton's Sampler instrument to load Soundfont's directly

http://www.everythingableton.com/2010/1 ... n-ableton/