You see, the very first Ontario Emperor mp3 files - i.e. most of the ones that I uploaded to mp3.com - were all created on a Macintosh. But the final ones - 'Non Sequitur 15' and the entire 'Brevity Is' collection - were created after I got rid of my Mac, and therefore were composed and assembled on various Windows computers.
Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth is the MIDI Synth that is bundled with Windows releases. It is licensed by Roland and based on the first release version of Virtual Sound Canvas, at the time a commercial product. The GS Wavetable Synth is a MIDI player - just like FluidSynth, and Timidity. It could theoretically be used with any sound font, had Microsoft not chosen to use a soundfont format that isn't supported by anything else in the world, FmodEx excluded, meaning there's almost no alternative sound fonts being made on. Re: Disabling MS GS Wavetable Synth Go to Control Panel/Sounds and Audio Devices/Sounds tab/ Take the drop down arrow under Sound Scheme and choose No Sounds.This will stop Windows from using the Wavetable Synth driver. The MS GS synth is a GS compatible synth. As is the TTS-1 which comes with S7. GS was a Roland development of General Midi (GM) and any GM file you put through the TTS-1 will use the same named patches as the Windows synth (which you shouldn't use as it will corrode your ears after a little while.
And they were..lacking.
Finally, after a decade and a half of putting up with this, I thought that maybe I ought to explore the issue and understand why MIDI files on Windows (I convert MIDI to audio) didn't sound all that great.
Ms Gs Wavetable Synth Enable
On Windows, the system used to generate MIDI sounds is called the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. It was a good solution (back in 1991).
![What is microsoft gs wavetable synth windows 10 download What is microsoft gs wavetable synth windows 10 download](http://www.flaterco.com/kb/DOOM/DOOM95_Invis.png)
Microsoft Wavetable Synthesizer Windows 10
Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth is the MIDI Synth that is bundled with Windows releases. It is licensed by Roland and based off of the first release version of Virtual Sound Canvas, at the time a commercial product. It contains its SC-55-based sound set which, while more compact and downsampled, was considered to be high quality at the time. Though its limitations have caused it to age poorly, it is still used as a standard for MIDI composers.It turns out that it's really easy to upgrade to a better MIDI synth on Windows 10 - so easy that I could do it. To do so, you need a different MIDI synth, as well as a different (i.e. bigger) soundfont.
For the MIDI synth, I followed Anvil Studio's recommendation and installed the VirtualMIDISynth from CoolSoft - although there are others available.
![What Is Microsoft Gs Wavetable Synth Windows 10 What Is Microsoft Gs Wavetable Synth Windows 10](https://static.kvraudio.com/i/b/wt01red2.jpg)
![What Is Microsoft Gs Wavetable Synth Windows 10 What Is Microsoft Gs Wavetable Synth Windows 10](https://coolsoft.altervista.org/images/virtualmidisynth/ss_vanbasco.png)
So after that was set up, I played one of my MIDI files through Anvil Studio - and noticed a significant improvement.
![What Is Microsoft Gs Wavetable Synth Windows 10 What Is Microsoft Gs Wavetable Synth Windows 10](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2Jp4o.jpg)
You see, the very first Ontario Emperor mp3 files - i.e. most of the ones that I uploaded to mp3.com - were all created on a Macintosh. But the final ones - 'Non Sequitur 15' and the entire 'Brevity Is' collection - were created after I got rid of my Mac, and therefore were composed and assembled on various Windows computers.
Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth is the MIDI Synth that is bundled with Windows releases. It is licensed by Roland and based on the first release version of Virtual Sound Canvas, at the time a commercial product. The GS Wavetable Synth is a MIDI player - just like FluidSynth, and Timidity. It could theoretically be used with any sound font, had Microsoft not chosen to use a soundfont format that isn't supported by anything else in the world, FmodEx excluded, meaning there's almost no alternative sound fonts being made on. Re: Disabling MS GS Wavetable Synth Go to Control Panel/Sounds and Audio Devices/Sounds tab/ Take the drop down arrow under Sound Scheme and choose No Sounds.This will stop Windows from using the Wavetable Synth driver. The MS GS synth is a GS compatible synth. As is the TTS-1 which comes with S7. GS was a Roland development of General Midi (GM) and any GM file you put through the TTS-1 will use the same named patches as the Windows synth (which you shouldn't use as it will corrode your ears after a little while.
And they were..lacking.
Finally, after a decade and a half of putting up with this, I thought that maybe I ought to explore the issue and understand why MIDI files on Windows (I convert MIDI to audio) didn't sound all that great.
Ms Gs Wavetable Synth Enable
On Windows, the system used to generate MIDI sounds is called the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. It was a good solution (back in 1991).
Microsoft Wavetable Synthesizer Windows 10
Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth is the MIDI Synth that is bundled with Windows releases. It is licensed by Roland and based off of the first release version of Virtual Sound Canvas, at the time a commercial product. It contains its SC-55-based sound set which, while more compact and downsampled, was considered to be high quality at the time. Though its limitations have caused it to age poorly, it is still used as a standard for MIDI composers.It turns out that it's really easy to upgrade to a better MIDI synth on Windows 10 - so easy that I could do it. To do so, you need a different MIDI synth, as well as a different (i.e. bigger) soundfont.
For the MIDI synth, I followed Anvil Studio's recommendation and installed the VirtualMIDISynth from CoolSoft - although there are others available.
For the soundfont, I chose Timbres of Heaven from Don Allen - primarily because it had step-by-step instructions on how to use Timbres of Heaven with VirtualMIDISynth. Again, there are a number of soundfonts out there.
After that, the only thing that I had to do was to go into Anvil Studio and set my MIDI Out Device to be CoolSoft (in the View menu, I chose the 'Synthesizers, MIDI + Audio Devices' menu item).
So after that was set up, I played one of my MIDI files through Anvil Studio - and noticed a significant improvement.
Time to redo some audio files..