What are SoundFonts?
SoundFonts is a technology used by many soundcards and software synthesizers that allow you to customize your instrument sounds for MIDI music playback or MIDI sequencing. Developed by Creative Labs and Emu Systems, SoundFont technology allows the user to improve the sound quality of their MIDI playback by either loading a better sounding General MIDI (GM) wavetable sound-set, or loading new (non-GM) sounds for use in music composition and songwriting.
What is General MIDI (GM)?
Soundcards and software synthesizers often follow an industry standard called General MIDI (GM). This standard is what allows you to play any MIDI (.mid) file on any GM compatible soundcard and have it sound correctly. I.e. The piano part plays a piano; the guitar part plays a guitar, etc. It does this by requiring all GM compatible soundcards to include a GM Wavetable soundset. When your PC plays a MIDI file, it accesses the sounds in your soundcard’s GM wavetable soundset. SoundFonts allow you to replace either the entire GM wavetable set or certain instruments within the set, thus allowing you to customize, upgrade, or stylize how your PC will sound when playing MIDI files. SoundFonts also allow musicians and songwriters to ADD additional sounds to the standard 128 GM wavetable soundset.