FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Free Synth

Question:
I've been giving my friends a link to my website with a few MIDIs on it. The only problem is that most of them have the soundcards that came with their computers, usually the $10 FM synthesis crap. Well, they complain about it all sounding like Nintendo music, but there's not much I can do. I'm not going to tell them to go out and get good soundcards for no good reason. However, I was thinking that there might be some software synth available to them for free on the Net. Are there any?

Answer:
For GM files, the usual sort you'd want to try to play, Apple's Quicktime and Microsoft DirectX (7 and higher) both offer software synths. Both also only use them with their own software. The MS synth is available as a system MIDI device under WinME/2k/XP. There are a few others, but no full GM wavetable sorts that I can think of. But maybe someone else made some? Timidity can do the trick, but it isn't exactly a simple install. Most of the good ones are shareware or commercial. Not too expensive, but not freeware. Yamaha's SY100XG (and its predecessors) do offer a trial period, long enough to let the users know that there is something worth upgrading (or paying for that softsynth).