SF2TEXT - program to convert SBK or SF2 (SoundFont) files to text format

sf2text SoundFont [outputfile]

txt2sfx [-Bv] [-m mode] [-d sf2file] textfile sfxfile

sfxtext sfxfile

gus2sfx [-Bv] [-m mode] [-d sf2file] textfile sfxfile

This manual page documents briefly the sf2text , txt2sfx , sfxtext , and gus2sfx commands. This manual page was written for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution (but may be used by others), because the original program does not have a manual page.

All these programs are used for converting from various common patch file formats (SoundFont and GUS) into a proprietary format used by older versions of the AWE32 driver. Although newer versions of the driver and utilities are still compatible with these formats, these formats do not support multiple layer voices, and in general, you should use sfxload(1), and gusload(1) to load SoundFonts or GUS patches directly. sf2text is a program which converts SoundFont (.SBK and .SF2) files into an intermediate text format used by txt2sfx. txt2sfx is a program which converts the text format output by sf2text into a binary format "sfx" file. This file can be read by sfxload(1). sfxtext takes an "sfx" file, and converts it back to the text format. gus2sfx is a program which converts from GUS-format patch files into the sfx format handled by

The programs follow the usual UNIX command line syntax, but don't support long options (ones starting with two dashes `-'). sf2text, and sfxtext do not support any options. txt2sfx and gus2sfx support the following options:

-B

Adds a 48-byte blank loop to the end of each sample.

-v

Increases the verbosity level. Using this option more than once causes the output to become increasingly verbose.

-m mode

Sets the instrument usage mode when multiple definitions are found for the same instrument (multi-layered instruments): 0 means to use the first found, 1 means to use the last, and 2 means to merge them.

-d sf2file

Includes raw sample data found in the SoundFont file sf2file .

sfxload(1), gusload(1)

This manual page was written by Tom Lees <tom@lpsg.demon.co.uk>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system.

The AWE32 driver and utilties were written by Takashi Iwai <iwai@dragon.mm.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp>.