Non-iteratively getting the list of instruments in a soundfont using FluidSynth

Question

Is there a function that can return the list of all the instruments (preset names) in a soundfont file in FluidSynth or at least the number of presets in each soundbank?

Did you figure this out? I know [this program](https://github.com/gleitz/MIDI.js/blob/master/soundfont-generator/ruby/soundfont_builder.rb) will output the .wav files but I would like to know if something can analyze the .sf2 file and return instrument names/numbers. — gleitz, Oct 01 '13 at 20:36

score 9 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 01 '13 at 21:33

I was able to get instrument names and banks using fluidsynth. The command you want to send is "inst 1" (obtain all instruments for the soundfont loaded in position 1).

$ echo "inst 1" | fluidsynth /path/to/FluidR3_GM.sf2
FluidSynth version 1.1.6
Copyright (C) 2000-2012 Peter Hanappe and others.
Distributed under the LGPL license.
SoundFont(R) is a registered trademark of E-mu Systems, Inc.

Type 'help' for help topics.

000-000 Yamaha Grand Piano
000-001 Bright Yamaha Grand
000-002 Electric Piano
000-003 Honky Tonk
000-004 Rhodes EP
000-005 Legend EP 2
000-006 Harpsichord
000-007 Clavinet
...
...
...
128-035 Jazz 3
128-036 Jazz 4
128-040 Brush
128-041 Brush 1
128-042 Brush 2
128-048 Orchestra Kit

Yes but how exactly how do you do that within, for instance, a C++ program? — Petru Dimitriu, Oct 17 '13 at 17:29

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 24 '14 at 18:51

This is not exactly "non-iterative", but it's the only way I could find to get a list of all the presets in a soundfont file.

fluid_preset_t* preset = new fluid_preset_t();

// Reset the iteration
sf->iteration_start(sf);

// Go through all the presets within the soundfont
int more = 1;
while (more) {
    more = sf->iteration_next(sf, preset); // Will return 0 if no more soundfonts left
    if (more) {
        // Get preset name
        char* presetname = preset->get_name(preset);
        int banknum = preset->get_banknum(preset);
        int num = preset->get_num(preset);

        // Do something with the presetname, bank number and program number
        // Such as add it to some list so that you can refer to it later
    }
}

... where sf is a soundfont object.

Found this while going through the API documentation at http://fluidsynth.sourceforge.net/api/index.html. Note the menu at the top with links to the data structures, files, etc.

Question. From where do you obtain the `sf2` soundfont object? I only know how to obtain the soundfont id. — Hector Ricardo, Oct 05 '20 at 05:00

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 01 '21 at 16:45

I tried this:

static void inspectsoundfont()
{
    fluid_sfont_t* sfont = fluid_synth_get_sfont_by_id(synth, font_id);

    for (int bank = 0; bank < 16384; bank++)
    {
        for (int num = 0; num < 128; num++)
        {
             fluid_preset_t* preset = fluid_sfont_get_preset(sfont, bank, num);
             if (preset == nullptr)
                  continue;
             const char* name = fluid_preset_get_name(preset);
             std::cout << "bank: " << bank << " index: " << num << " " << name << std::endl;
        }
    }
}

synth is the synthesiser object, and font_id is from fluid_synth_sfload. Gave me a list of banks and preset names.

Non-iteratively getting the list of instruments in a soundfont using FluidSynth

3 Answers3