My favorite soundfonts

by TheOuterLinux (https://theouterlinux.gitlab.io)

Last updated: 2024/11/14

Table of Contents

  1. Best sounding, fully instrumented general MIDI soundfonts...
  2. Everything else...
    1. # | A | C | D | F | G | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V

Best sounding, fully instrumented general MIDI soundfonts...

The following is a short list of what I have found [so far] to be the best sounding, fully instrumented soundfonts. "Large" refers to file-size and usually means very high-quality instrument samples while the small means "good enough" if you have a project that can use custom-made soundfonts but you want to keep the total file-size as small as possible.


  1. Large: General Montage.sf2- ~1.7GB
  2. Medium: FluidR3_GM.sf2 - FluidSynth; ~142MB
  3. Small: gm.sf2 - default Windows MIDI Soundfont (converted from System32's gm.dls); ~3MB
  4. 2-Channel Game Console: wtbeep.sf2 - a ZX Spectrum 48K sounding SF2; ~356KB
  5. 4-Channel Game Console: ProtoSquare_.sf2 - a Sega Master System/GameGear sounding SF2; ~356KB
  6. 8-bit PC/Game Console: GXSCC_gm_033.sf2 - a Nintendo Entertainment System sounding SF2; ~126KB
  7. 16-bit Game Console: pc98_ym2608.sf2 - a NEC PC-8801/PC-9801 sounding SF2; ~29MB; however, if you are an "OPL" person, try OPL-3_FM_128M.sf2 (~128MB) or OPLL_YM2413__Soundfont (MSX; ~18MB).
  8. 16-bit PC: OPL-3_FM_128M.sf2 - sounds like something for older DOS machines; GNU/Linux users may already have this in "/usr/share/sounds/sf2" depending on what is installed ('opl3-soundfont' package)

Everything else...

The following is a list of my favorite soundfonts in alphabetical order. These soundfonts are the typical *.sf2 and *.sf3 formats. Enjoy! By the way, I highly recommend that you listen to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfztYSgRTmg as it is a YouTube video in which 500 different soundfonts are used against the Doom song in E3M1.


    [#]

    1. 8bitSF.sf2 - sounds very 8-bit-like

    [A]

    1. Acapella GM.sf2 - uses voices for instruments
    2. Airfont_330.sf2 - the electric guitar sounds pretty good
    3. Alan WL Chan's Best GS.sf2 - drums sounds good
    4. Aspirin 160 GM GS Bank.sf2 - this one would be great for hard rock
    5. Aspirin Stereo v1.2 Bank.sf2 - really good, punchy snare drum
    6. Atari_SF2.sf2 - 8-bit, Atari-like sounds
    7. atarifixrealgood.sf2 - a GM bank based on Atari 2600 that uses period accurate samples to reproduce GM tunes as if made on Atari 2600
    8. AWE ROM GM.sf2 - a good, clean soundfont

    [C]

    1. Candy Set.sf2 - sort of quiet; might be good for a pause menu
    2. Casio SA-76 GM.sf2 - sounds like the Casio SA-76 keyboard
    3. chiptune_soundfont_4.0.sf2 - 8-bit like sound font; good for older video game console music
    4. ColomboGMGS2 - a really great sounding, complete soundfont

    [D]

    1. DargSori GM 1.03.sf2 - another good hard rock soundfont
    2. Digiband Soundfont.sf2 - another good hard rock soundfont but higher bass sounding; it's a bit more in-your-face
    3. DSK Asian DreamZ - traditional Chinese instruments; pipa, luan, guzhen, erhu, ban-di, and some percussion stuff

    [F]

    1. FluidR3_GM.sf2 + FluidR3_GS.sf2 - soundfonts that come with the 'fluid-soundfont-gm' and 'fluid-soundfont-gs' packages on GNU/Linux

    [G]

    1. Gameboy_GM_Soundfont_2.sf2 - sounds like an original Game Boy
    2. General_Game_Boy_Advance_Soundfont.sf2 - a sound font that uses samples from obscure/less popular Game Boy Advance games like "Kid Paddle," "Open Season," and "Rayman Raving Rabbids"

    [M]

    1. Magical8BitPlugSF2v2.sf2 - a sound font that mimics the 8-bit sounds from Game Boy and Game Boy Color very well

    [N]

    1. Namco_Arcade_WSG_REMAKE.sf2 - various samples from the Namco games (mainly arcade and old NES samples)
    2. NES_Font_Advance.SF2 - a sound font that sounds like something for the Nintendo Entertainment System
    3. nintendo_soundfont.sf2 - contains samples from GXSCC, nintendo games, and FamiTracker

    [O]

    1. OPL-3_FM_128M.sf2 - sounds like something for older DOS machines; GNU/Linux users may already have this in "/usr/share/sounds/sf2" depending on what is installed ('opl3-soundfont' package)

    [P]

    1. PICO-8_1.1.2.sf2 - made to specifically emulate the accuracy and limitations of the Pico-8, using the most common samples from a wide variety of fanmade games and projects
    2. ProtoSquare_.sf2 - SN76489 / SN76496-esqued (Sega GameGear) SoundFont

    [R]

    1. Real Vibes - a realistic vibraphone sound font

    [S]

    1. SMW_Piano_Modelled.sf2 - a "Super Mario World"-like sound font; good for SNES in general
    2. squidfont_orchestral.sf2 - orchestral sound font that sounds more authentic than most and has been around forever; does not include typical instruments or organization; ~61MB in size
    3. Super_Mario_Bros_Soundfont__by_Kirb7890_.sf2 - a sound font that sounds like a "Super Mario Bros." game on the NES
    4. Super Sax Section - really good sounding soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones

    [T]

    1. TimGM6mb.sf2 - a small but complete soundfont that comes from the 'timgm6mb-soundfont' package on GNU/Linux

    [U]

    1. Ultimate Megadrive Soundfont, The - a sound font that emulates the YM2612 and PSG chip found in the Sega Genesis (aka Megadrive)

    [V]

    1. VS Upright Piano Lite - the soundfont version of Versilian Studio's Upright piano virtual instrument



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