VSFManager (short for Virtual SoundFont Manager) is a tool for managing and loading instrument presets in the memory of your SoundFont compatible sound card.

It can load a single instrument preset into a single slot of a bank in memory. This means that you don't need to load the whole SF2 file if you need only a single instrument. And the other slots of the bank are still free and you may load presets in them also.

Note: click on the images for a large preview.

The left panel that you see on that snapshot is the virtual soundfont. It exists in the memory of your sound card and you may load into it any instrument preset that you may find from the rest of the tabs on the right.

In fact the virtual soundfont is bank #100 of your sound-card. This means that VSFManager will use bank #100 of your soundcard to load single instrument presets into it. The number #100 is chosen completely random (just a high number that won't interfere with any other softwares or banks). This way you may use the virtual soundfont from other softwares (sequencers, etc). VSFManager will always use the same bank number #100, so next time when you load and continue your saved work things will be exactly the same for your sequencer - all instruments at the same bank and preset positions.

The Explorer tab, is a Windows-Explorer-like panel, that will allow you to navigate through all your disk drives and browse directories. It shows all available SF2 files in current directory and once you click on an SF2 file you will find the list of presets in it. You may load into memory (i.e. into the virtual soundfont) any single preset you want. Loading is easy - click on a preset.

The Files Cache tab shows all SF2 files that you've browsed. Once you browse any SF2 file in the Explorer tab, VSFManager remembers the list of the presets it contains.

Why? Well, if you have thousands (and even tens of thousands) of SF2 files finding the right sound could be very boring. This way VSFManager will remember all preset names and the exact filename of the SF2 file where you may find these presets. So searching the word 'bass' will show the exact SF2 file that has a preset with 'bass' in its name.  And if the preset is available (for example it is on the hard disk or on a CD that is in the CDROM drive) a blue arrow will appear in front to indicate that you may load it immediately.

Loading, you know, is easy - just click on a preset from the Files Cache.

The Collection tab. Some true musicians don't like huge collections with tons of sounds. They stick to a specific list of their favourite SF2 files or even specific instruments in an SF2 file. Here they can create as many collections as they want. The whole collection is just a tree with a list of presets. They may create as many nodes in the tree and put as many presets they like. VSFManager remembers the exact place of the instrument preset without even having to change or save to a new SF2 file.

Well if you want to do that and create your specific SF2 files combining presets from other SF2 files - it is also possible, as you can see.

After you load a preset into memory it becomes available to all other applications. Have a look at the snapshot below.

This image contains two snapshots (from VSFManager and a smaller one - from Cubase, inserted into it) to see and understand the functionality and flexibility that you get with VSFManager. When you change the virtual soundfont (load or remove a preset from it) you may hear that in real time. Start your sequencer and change a sound from VSFManager and see it yourself.

After you load a few presets for your song you will probably want to save them. So next time you load them again and continue your work by adding presets to it (or removing some of them). There are two possible ways to save your work.

Click the snapshot for a bigger image. The red line and red 'Save' image will save the current virtual soundfont to a .VSF file (this will save only the filenames and preset numbers in file, like sf2load does). Later you may load an .VSF file and VSFManager will load the presets from their original position and files.

The blue line and blue 'Save' image will allow you to save the in-memory virtual soundfont into a separate SF2 file. This means all presets that are in memory will be combined together into a single SF2 file. This is useful when you have lots of CDs with instruments. This way you may use sounds from a lot of different CDs and next time you have to load the whole virtual soundfont, you will load from that file. If you saved it to a .VSF file instead - VSFManager will ask you for every single CD to load the presets that are on it.

With VSFManager you can create a specific sound package (SF2 or VSF file) for each single composition that you make. Next time you want to continue your work on a specific song that you've started some time ago, you will have to only load that package and start from just where you have stopped before.

Known limitations:
Because VSFManager is based on official Creative's SoundFont SDK, it cannot load/save presets that contain ROM samples (actually this is a limitation of the official SoundFont interfaces of Creative).

This is the only limitation, known so far. Another limitation could be the limit of your RAM memory (for VSFManager to refuse loading a preset), but this limitation has nothing in common with VSFManager and could be easily fixed by you (add more RAM to your PC to load sounds, or check in the SoundBlaster control panel what is the limit set there). So if VSFManager cannot load an instrument into a bank, make sure it does not contain a ROM sample and you have enough RAM memory to load sounds.

e-mail: tsvetozar@gmail.com