How does music and sound play in your computer?
How does midi, mp3 and soundfont stuff work?
Do you have a soundfont-compatible soundcard?
What kind of soundcard do you have?

(Use Internet Explorer)

If your soundcard IS soundfont-compatible (such as Creative Labs, among others), someone else here will have to tell you how to load soundfonts and play them from that soundcard (although I will be able to point you to some websites that do a great job of explaining it). However, my own soundcard is not soundfont-compatible, so I don't know anything about playing soundfonts using a soundcard that will play soundfonts.
If, like me, you do NOT have a soundfont-compatible soundcard, you can still listen to midis with your downloaded soundfonts in any one of several software programs. The only one I ever bother recommending to people is SynthFont, because it's free with no adware/spyware and has worked absolutely perfectly for me. It is also extremely easy to use. Go to www.synthfont.com (here) to download the latest version. (You can also find a link to the SynthFont site on the Downloads page of this midi-contest website.)
If you want to play midis using your downloaded soundfonts with either a soundfont-compatible soundcard or a program like SynthFont that will play them regardless of your soundcard, you will still need to decompress them, since all but the very smallest downloadable soundfonts come in a compressed format (like "zipped" files). I will post two more messages here. One will be about how to use soundfont decompression programs and the other will be about how to use SynthFont.

WHY ARE SOUNDFONTS COMPRESSED?
When you download a soundfont from the soundfont page on this website (or from another page on the web), almost always you will find that the soundfont you are downloading is in a "compressed" format. What this means is that whoever posted the font file to the web page has shrunk (compressed) the size of the file so that it takes up less space on the web page and so that it doesnt require as much time to download when someone downloads the font to their hard drive.

USABLE SOUNDFONTS HAVE THE 'SF2' FILE EXTENSION
Almost all (not all, but almost all) midi fonts are in a file format called 'soundfont' and you can see if it's a "soundfont" file by looking at the file extension -- ALL true 'soundfont' files have the file extension ".sf2", which is just a file format created by a company that created the name "soundfont".
In order for your computer to play a midi file using a soundfont file -- either from your soundcard (if your soundcard is "soundfont-compatible") or from your computer's processor using a software synthesizer program like SynthFont -- you MUST have a soundfont with the ".sf2" file extension. (Again, there are other soundfont file types with extensions different from sf2 -- and SynthFont plays all of them-- but almost all soundfonts are soundfont files with the ".sf2" file extension, so I am only going to discuss sf2 files. Besides, the other soundfont file formats work exactly like sf2 files anyway.)

COMPRESSED SOUNDFONT FILES HAVE SFARK, SFPACK, RAR OR ZIP FILE EXTENSIONS
As I said, when you download a soundfont (sf2), almost always you will find that it's NOT in the ".sf2" format. Instead, it has been compressed (shrunk) and it will have a different file extension, like '.sfArk' or '.sfPack' or '.rar' or '.zip'.

WORKING WITH SOUNDFONT DECOMPRESSION PROGRAMS IS EXACTLY LIKE WORKING WITH WINZIP
If you are familiar with the program WinZip, then you already understand all you need to know about programs that compress and decompress soundfont files, because they work EXACTLY like WinZip. In fact, WinZip CAN be used to compress sf2 soundfont files and very often it IS used to compress smaller soundfont files. But I have read that the problem with using WinZip for compressing larger sf2 files is that there is sometimes a loss of data in the process of compressing ('zipping') or decompressing ('unzipping') sf2 files using WinZip (or other similar file compression utility programs). Therefore, programs like sfArk, sfPack and WinRAR were created -- they do EXACTLY what WinZip does, but they are said to be 'lossless', meaning there is no loss of data during the process of compressing and decompressing sf2 files using sfArk, sfPack or WinRAR. These three programs (along with WinZip itself) are the most common compression/decompression programs used with soundfonts (sf2) files. They are all VERY easy to use, just like WinZip. If a compressed soundfont has the file extension '.sfArk', you will need sfArk to decompress ('unpack', 'unzip') it. If a compressed soundfont has the file extension '.rar', you will need WinRAR to decompress ('unpack', 'unzip') it. If a compressed soundfont has the file extension '.sfPack', you will need sfPack to decompress ('unpack', 'unzip') it.

DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE PROGRAMS SFARK, SFPACK AND WINRAR
The first thing to do is download these programs. They are all available for free on the internet. (I think WinRAR is shareware, but it doesn't add any spyware or adware to your computer.) Anyway, a quick search will tell you where you can download them. I think they're even available on this website (at least sfArk and sfPack are, I think, and I believe those two are the only ones you will need to decompress the sf2 files on the soundfont page of this website). It's good to have all three of them if you're going to be downloading lots of the many free soundfonts available on the web, because different soundfonts come compressed with one of these three and eventually you will find that you need them all. But they're all very simple and work the same way (like WinZip). In fact, it's good to have WinZip for this, too, if you don't already have it, since lots of smaller compressed soundfonts are '.zip' files.

CREATE A DIRECTORY ON YOUR HARD DRIVE TO SAVE THE COMPRESSED SOUNDFONTS THAT YOU DOWNLOAD
Before you use these programs, choose or create a directory on your hard drive where you want the COMPRESSED soundfont files that you download to be stored. (On my computer, it happens to be C:/Downloads/MIDI and Sound/Soundfonts.) Whenever you download a soundfont from this website or elsewhere on the web, make sure you save it to this directory, only because it will always be easy to find.

CREATE A DIRECTORY ON YOUR HARD DRIVE TO SAVE DECOMPRESSED SF2 SOUNDFONT FILES
Next, choose or create a directory on your hard drive where you want the DECOMPRESSED soundfonts (the actual usable sf2 files) to go. (On my computer, it happens to be C:/Soundfonts.)

OPEN THE PROGRAMS AND SET THE TARGET DIRECTORY FOR DECOMPRESSED SF2 SOUNDFONT FILES TO BE EXTRACTED AND SAVED
Next, open up the program sfArk. Click on 'File' in the pulldown menus at the top, then click on 'Set Target Folder...' This will open a window entitled 'Browse for Folder' that also says 'Select Target Folder'. In that window, go to the directory that you created for DECOMPRESSED sf2 files. (On my computer, that's C:/Soundfonts, as I said in the previous paragraph.) Highlight that directory and click OK. Close the sfArk program. You have just told sfArk that whenever you decompress a compressed '.sfArk' file, you want the sf2 file that it creates to go in (to be extracted to) that directory. That's it. You're all done.

Now when you download a soundfont from this website (or from some other page on the web) that has been compressed with the sfArk program, all you have to do is doubleclick that file in the directory where you keep your downloaded COMPRESSED soundfonts. When you doubleclick the compressed '.sfArk' file, the sfArk program will automatically open and decompress that '.sfArk' file, extracting it as an .'sf2' file to the directory that you created for your DECOMPRESSED sf2 files. Be patient -- it might take a couple of minutes for sfArk to decompress a 27 Meg sfArk file to a 58 Meg sf2 file. Now when you use SynthFont, this directory for DECOMPRESSED sf2 files is where you will go to load an sf2 file (NOT the directory where you keep your COMPRESSED soundfonts).
The programs sfPack and WinRAR basically work just like sfArk. First open them up and tell them what you want the default target directory to be (where to put the extracted DECOMPRESSED sf2 files). Then close the program. That's it.

When you download a compressed soundfont from the internet, make sure you save it to the directory you created for COMPRESSED fonts. Then double click on those files and the correct decompression program will automatically open and decompress the file to the default directory that you created for DECOMPRESSED sf2 files. Then when you have SynthFont open and want to assign a new default soundfont, or want to change the soundfont for all the instruments of a midi you have open, or want to change the soundfont for a single instrument of a midi you have open, this is the directory you will go to in order to find your sf2 files.

Last thing: For reasons I won't discuss, it's easy to accidentally extract a compressed soundfont to the directory where you keep your compressed soundfonts, instead of extracting to the directory where you want your decompressed sf2 files to go. If this happens, just cut and paste the decompressed sf2 file to the correct directory. I have done this with sf2 files that are over 50 meg and it doesn't create any problems. It's a little easier to cut and paste than it is to decompress and extract the file all over again.

I believe that this post describes EVERYTHING you need to know to use SynthFont to listen to midi files using soundfonts. I've used SynthFont only for a couple of months, so I'm no expert. SynthFont is VERY easy to use, but at first it can be confusing, so don't be discouraged if you haven't figured it out yet. It took me a little while to figure it out. Once you do, you'll see how easy it is to use.

IMPORTANT! SYNTHFONT REQUIRES 'SF2' FILES:
Before you use SynthFont, you will need to be able to load soundfont files ('.sf2' file extension). Soundfont files available on the internet (and on this website) are NOT in the '.sf2' file format. Instead, they are in a compressed format with file extensions like '.sfArk', '.sfPack', '.rar', or '.zip'. You need to decompress and extract them to your hard drive as '.sf2' files. So, read my companion post entitled 'BASICS OF SOUNDFONT DECOMPRESSION PROGRAMS' before you do anything described in the rest of this post below.

OPENING SYNTHFONT
To open SynthFont, go to the 'SynthFont.exe' file. Actually, I created a shortcut to the .exe file elsewhere, so I just click on the shortcut. Anyway, click on that .exe file or your shortcut to that .exe file. That opens SynthFont. Are you able to open SynthFont this way? I will assume the answer is yes. The following instructions will sound complicated when you read them, but when you actually do them you will see that it's ALL very easy, basic Windows stuff. When you're opening SynthFont, if a screen pops up saying 'Nothing to Load' or some other message, just click through it--SynthFont will still open. I've never had a problem getting it to open. There are a couple of messages (like the 'Nothing to Load' message you mentioned) that SynthFont sometimes pops up before it opens, but you can just click through them and the program will open.

SETTING DEFAULT SOUNDFONT
Next, click on 'File' in the pulldown menus and click on 'Set default SoundFont file.' This will open a window that says 'Select default SoundFont file' in the title bar. In that window, click on the down arrow next to the 'Look in' box and go to the directory where you keep your soundfont (sf2) files. Now doubleclick on the soundfont that you want SynthFont to use by default (My_Own, Merlin, or another font) whenever you open a new midi file (OR you can click once on the soundfont of your choice so it appears in the 'File name' box at the bottom of that window and then click the box below that says 'The whole track'). Either way, this will have the effect of closing that window and making that soundfont the default that will automatically be assigned to any new midi that you open in SynthFont. You will only have to do this once, but you can do it again whenever you want to change the default soundfont. Ok. Now you're back at the main SynthFont screen.

OPENING A MIDI FILE IN SYNTHFONT
Next, look at the toolbar across the top of the SynthFont screen. One of the middle icons says 'Open'. Click on that 'Open' button. That will open a window that will say 'Select midi or arrangement file' in the title bar (OR you can go to 'File/Open...' in the pulldown menus at the top to do the same thing). Now use the 'down arrow' next to the 'Look in' box to go to the directory where the midi is located that you want to play in SynthFont. Find the midi you want to play and double click on it (OR you can click once on the midi and then click the 'Open' button at the bottom). Either way, you have just opened the file. Look at the very top of the SynthFont screen; in the title bar at the very top of your screen, the name of the song you have just opened appears. The next five paragraphs are very important but are not obvious at all for someone new to SynthFont

OPENING THE '4 TRACKS' SCREEN
If you don't see the midi file on the SynthFont screen (even though I just told you that you already opened it), CLICK ON THE TAB THAT SAYS '4 Tracks'. This will change the main SyntFont screen to the '4 Tracks' screen, which is the screen you will be using 99% of the time that you are using SynthFont. Once you've used SynthFont to play a midi with the '4 Tracks' window open , it will automatically go to that screen the next time you open SynthFont, because SynthFont remembers which screen you had open when you exited the program the last time. THE '4 TRACKS' SCREEN IS REALLY THE MAIN SCREEN OF SYNTHFONT. Now that you have the '4 Tracks' screen open, you will see each track at the bottom of the SynthFont screen, with the assigned instruments, panning information, channels, banks, volume, etc. You will also see the soundfont (sf2 file) assigned to each track/instrument down there. It is extremely easy to change soundfonts in SynthFont for individual tracks or for all tracks at the same time.

CHANGING SOUNDFONT FOR ONE TRACK/INSTRUMENT
If you want to change the font for one instrument, highlight that instrument (by clicking once on the track), then right click on the default font for that instrument and choose 'Assign SoundFont file.' This will pop up a window where you can assign a new soundfont to the track/instrument.

CHANGING SOUNDFONT FOR ALL TRACKS/INSTRUMENTS
If you want to change the font for all instruments at the same time, then first higlight ALL of the tracks at one time by clicking on the first one, then hold down the shift key and click on the last one in the list. Now all the tracks are highlighted -- basic Windows stuff. On my older version of SynthFont, often it wouldn't let me change fonts if I highlighted the track that says 'Tempo,' so experiment with that. It didn't hurt anything to highlight the 'Tempo' track, but SynthFont just wouldn't let me change fonts with the 'Tempo' track highlighted. But sometimes the 'Tempo' track has an instrument assigned, so highlight it if you can. (I can in my current version of SynthFont). Now that you have highlighted all tracks, click where it says 'File' on the right side just above where the fonts for each track are listed. This will pop up a window where you can assign a new soundfont to all of the tracks/instruments at one time.

CHANGING INSTRUMENTS FOR ONE TRACK/INSTRUMENT
If you want to change the INSTRUMENT assigned to a track (keeping the same soundfont), highlight that track, then right click on it, then choose 'Assign Preset' from the popup menu. This will pop up a list of all the instruments in that soundfont. Just click on one to choose it. As far as I can tell, you can only change instrument assignments one at a time -- you can't assign an instrument to all tracks at the same time, which makes sense when you think about it.

COMPUTER MEMORY AND PROCESSOR POWER
So, you can assign ANY instrument from ANY soundfont to ANY track. I have NEVER had ANY problem with any of this, but if you don't have enough memory or processing power in your computer, I'm guessing that it's possible to run into some problems with assigning several fonts to different tracks of the same song. But as I said, I have not had any problems with this at all.

LISTENING TO MUSIC IN SYNTHFONT: THE 'PROGRESS' BAR
Now, when you are listening to a midi in SynthFont, you can't move forward and backward through the music like you can with WinAmp, MusicMatch, RealPlayer, or other players. As far as I can tell, you can ONLY move forward. To move forward in big chunks (ten measures at a time, I think), hold down the Control key on your keyboard and click the 'triple right arrow' underneath the progress bar.

SAVING SYNTHFONT SETTINGS FOR A MIDI FILE OR EXITING SYNTHFONT
When you are finished listening to a song, you will of course want to either load another midi file or exit the SynthFont program. Either way, a window will pop open asking you if you want to save the song you just played. What this is really asking you is whether you would like to save the changes you might have made to the default soundfont and instrument settings down at the bottom. If you answer Yes ('Save'), then the next time you open that midi file, SynthFont will assign the same fonts and instruments that you assigned to the different tracks. If you answer No ('Cancel'), then the next time you open that song, SynthFont will open the midi and will assign the default soundfont to all the tracks (with the default instruments that the composer assigned when he or she created the midi). So it doesn't matter much whether you answer Yes or No. VOLUME AND MUTE. One other thing. In the volume settings at the top of the '4 Tracks' window, click on the little 'Sync' button in order to make it possible to change both the Right and Left Playback Volume controls at the same time. If you want to change the volume for INDIVIDUAL tracks while you're listening to a song, click on the funny little green icon that you will find above the 'XVol' column of the tracks table at the bottom of the '4 Tracks' screen. This will create little volume sliders for each of the tracks in the tracks table at the bottom of the '4 Tracks' screen. Also, you can MUTE a track by doubleclicking on the track number. You can remove the MUTE setting by doubleclicking on it again. I hope some of this helps.

The program does lots of other things, but what I have described above is 100% of what I use SynthFont for and I've mentioned all the commands that I use all the time, although Karl just posted some information about how to use some of SynthFont's other functions (like adding reverb to midi). So there's a lot I still don't know about SynthFont, but this post describes all you need to know to use the program for its basic purpose: Listening to midi files with the soundfont and instruments of your choice.

HOW TO RECORD A WAV FILE
I am still pretty new to SynthFont, so there's a lot I still don't know about it. There are ways to add reverb, etc., which I believe can also be recorded on your wav file, but I don't know how to do that stuff. This is just the basics of recording a wav file from a midi file in SynthFont. Most sequencing programs can do this, but not everyone has a sequencer. And many of us who do have sequencers don't have soundfont-compatible soundcards, so we have to record midi to wav using a software synthesizer like SynthFont, which does this very quickly and easily.
In SynthFont, to record a midi as a wave file ('.wav' file extension, convertible to an mp3), do the following:

1. Open SynthFont.
2. Go to the '4 Tracks' screen. (The tab or 'button' for this is in the middle of the top of your SynthFont screen.).
3. Load the midi you want to record.
4. Assign the soundfonts and instruments to tracks to suit your taste.
5. Play the midi and set the volumes, etc. the way you want them. (Usually there's nothing to do here, because the composer/sequencer of the song has already taken care to set the volume of the various instruments the way he or she wants it.)
6. RECORD: You can do this two ways. Look at the tool bar at the top of the SynthFont screen. On the right side of the top of the screen, you'll see buttons that say '...To Spkrs' and '...To File'. If you want to listen to the midi playing the song while you're recording the wav file, then leave the '...To Spkrs' button pressed. This will record the song in real time while the midi is playing. If you want to record the midi quickly as a wav file (much faster than real time), then 'depress' (turn off) the '...To Spkrs' button. You won't be able to hear the midi while it's recording, but it will only take seconds (instead of the real time length of the song) to record.
7. Press the '...To File' button. This will open a window where you can tell SynthFont where you want the wav file to be saved on your hard drive.
8. Press the 'Play' button at the top of the SynthFont screen.
9. The song is now recording, so it's probably a good idea to do nothing else on your computer until it's finished. When it's finished, SynthFont will just stop playing and the progress bar will have moved all the way to the end. You won't receive any other indication that the wav file has been created, but if you go to where you saved it, it's there.

You can now play the wav file in any player that plays wav files, or you can edit it to add reverberation or you can convert it to an mp3 in a program that does wav to mp3 conversions (like Soundforge, for example). The free version of MusicMatch ('Basic', not 'Plus') is one such player. In MusicMatch, just go to File/Convert. A window will open where you can select the wav file that you created in SynthFont, assign an mp3 bitrate in a range up to about 320 kbps, and create an mp3 -- all in about five clicks and in less than thirty seconds. The larger the bitrate, the larger the mp3 file -- 128 kbps is considered 'cd quality' and reduces the size of the mp3 to roughly 1 meg per minute of song length and 96 kbps is considered almost cd quality.

The Basics of SoundBlaster Live! SoundFonts

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Tom Key and Others :-)