Installing Sound Fonts

[jukehouse]

I've downloaded several free Sound Fonts. After unzipping I end up with files that end in .SF2 ,some are .SFK ,and some are .sfArk

Where do I place these files so I can acces them from Metro ?

I'm using OS 10.3.7

[Jerm]

I've downloaded several free Sound Fonts. After unzipping I end up with files that end in .SF2 ,some are .SFK ,and some are .sfArk

Where do I place these files so I can acces them from Metro ?

Well the best location is probably MacHD:Library:Audio:Sounds:Banks

This is good for the .sf2 files. I am not sure about the .sfk and the .sfArk must be decompressed before you can use them. There is a free decompressor available online but it only works with version 2 compressed sfark files. A link to the decompressor download can be found on our contact/links page.

[Scoot]

This blurb here is an important issue.

Decompress-only versions of sfArk are available for MacOS X and Linux . Full versions (i.e. including compression) may be made available if there is sufficient demand.

Version 1 sfArk files cannot be uncompressed with these utilities.  This is because the original version of sfArk (released in 1998) used a third-party DLL which has no equivalent on non-Windows platforms.  At that time, the SoundFont format was almost exclusively used on Windows based systems, but of course things have changed.  To remove this limitation we stopped using that DLL with Version 2 of sfArk (released in early 2000) but there are still some sfArk files on the net in the original V1 format.  If you find such files, please ask the WebMaster to convert them to V2 format in order to allow non-Windows users to decompress them.

******************

If you come across the sfark format, your best bet is to get them onto a PC and decompress them there, and then transfer the ones to the Mac which come out as .sf2

If you place soundfonts in metro using the plugin shell DLSMusicDevice, you then open any soundfont you want inside it.......you can have your folder of soundsfonts anywhere.
(I think the library folder allows you to use them as a QT selection).

[kaboombahchuck]

Yes, .sf2 files only..

I seem to have placed all of my sounfonts into desktop / crystal / and then I labled a folder "sound fonts". That is where all of my sound fornt are put. The most important thing is to put them where you can find them. This will make things easer when it comes to choosing the soundfont you want.

BTW I keep my sound fonts near Crystal, I guess, because there is nothing wilder than messing around with soundfonts in Crystal.

[françois]

There is also sfpack compressed format.
You must also get a pc to decompress ?