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March 28. 2000 : HammerSound has a new mirror in Europe. This one's located at the SUNSite at the University of Vienna in Austria. A million thanks to Erich Neuwirth for making this happen, without people like him providing the mirror space, there would be no HammerSound (or at least no SoundFont Library). What can I say, this is just EXCELLENT! :-D. |
USA
Mirror |
| HammerSound needs more mirrors! If you have space to spare on your server, please consider helping this site to live on. Mail me for details. |
| Sounds | The SoundFont Library has lots of free SoundFonts available for download. If you have a SoundFont you would like to share with the world, check the 'Sounds' page for instructions. |
| SoundDesign | The SoundDesign section has articles that'll help you design your own sounds. Several of the HammerSound users have contributed articles. Ian Wilson, author of 'Vintage Dreams Waves', the most popular SoundFont on HammerSound, has written an article describing how he created the SoundFont. Recommended reading for anyone interested in creating SoundFonts. |
| Software | Free software for computer musicians. At the moment, this page contains the sf2load program, a small utility that can remember the current set of SoundFonts in memory and is able to reload the SoundFonts later. Watch this page throughout this autumn for updates. If you are a programmer interested in creating sound related software, I'd like to get in touch with you. Mail me. |
| OSC (Code) | This is the home of the OSC (Open Sound Code) Library, a toolkit for programmers creating sound related software. All software developers are very welcome to take a look as well as to join the user forum. |
| Info / FAQ | The HammerSound FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) has answers to common questions. If you have a question, please read this before posting at the MessageBoard. Your question might already be answered in the FAQ. |
| User Forum | At the HammerSound SoundFont Newsgroup and the HammerSound MessageBoard, the HammerSound users can post questions and ideas, discuss sound design, programming, computer music and other subjects related to the HammerSound site. If you have problems of any kind, use the Newsgroup or the MessageBoard instead of mailing your questions to me, chances are someone else knows the solution if I don't. |
| Links | The Links section has links to all the SoundFonts on the net. Take a look if you are looking for SoundFonts you cannot find in the SoundFont Library. This section also has links to some of the HammerSound users. |
| Feedback | Here's your chance to give feedback on this site. There is a guestbook for HammerSound users, and contact information for the site manager, Thomas Hammer. |
| About | This section contains some information about the HammerSound site; history, long-term and short-term goals, as well as some statistics. |
March 28. 2000 : HammerSound has a new mirror in Europe. This one's located at the SUNSite at the University of Vienna in Austria. A million thanks to Erich Neuwirth for making this happen, without people like him providing the mirror space, there would be no HammerSound (or at least no SoundFont Library). What can I say, this is just EXCELLENT! :-D.
January 20. 2000 : There's a new article in the "SoundDesign" section written by Andreas Sumerauer, creator of the Early Patches soundfonts. The article describes a useful technique for removing unwanted noises from audio samples.
January 7. 2000 : We have a new mirror!! This one's in the UK and is provided by Mahn of Hybrid, the UK's No1 SoundFont site. Hybrid is more than just a mirror for HammerSound, it has more free soundfonts, tools, misc. usefull tips & trick etc. Well worth a visit.
December 2. 1999 : The newsserver is back up. Thanks a lot, John!
November 25. 1999 : Unfortunately, the newsserver at silco.com is down due to a harddisk-crash. It might take a while to get it back up. In the mean time, please use the local MessageBoard for discussions instead. And as allways, we could really need some help from those of you who run your own server (mirror space & other services).
October 20. 1999 : Added Rating to the SoundFont Library.
October 13. 1999 : Added a Review-feature to the SoundFont Library. I'd like to encourage everyone who downloads soundfonts to write a couple of reviews. It'll make the SoundFont Library more useful.
August 13. 1999 : HammerSound no longer has the available bandwidth to host the largest GM soundfonts. When 'everybody' starts downloading a new 60MB soundfont simultaneously, the bandwidth requirements are significant. If you are able to provide mirror space for such large soundfonts, please contact me. Until then, the large-GM soundfont authors must find the ftp-space themselves. Feel free to use the soundfont newsgroup or the message board at HammerSound to enquire about ftp-space. A posting at Creative Labs' sblive.music newsgroup (www.sblive.com) requesting ftp-space might also be worth a try. There has to be a lot of cable-modem users out there with bandwidth to spare. If you find the ftp-space, please register the soundfont in the SoundFont Library.
July 11. 1999 : SFExplorer v0.8 beta is released. This version fixes the problem some users had with installing.
July 8. 1999 : Chris Upfield has written a good tutorial for you Cakewalk Pro 8.0 users out there. The article explains how to use soundfonts from within the Cakewalk sequencer. Check out the 'SoundDesign' section.
July 6. 1999 : Just a minor update: Up-to-date statistics are available on the 'About' page for those of you who want to know which soundfonts are the most popular.
June 30. 1999 : I've made two important improvements to the SoundFont Library: First, HammerSound now has an anonymous ftp server, making it a whole lot easier to upload and register new soundfonts in the SoundFont Library. Second, I've finally gotten around to making a "What's New" button which shows the latest 15 updates to the Library.
June 27. 1999 : Joost Boomkamp has written another good article. This one is about audio compression and is titled "Cigar Music".
June 27. 1999 : The OSC Library v1.1 is released. This programmers' library now includes an ActiveX control that can be used from most modern development environments like Delphi, VisualBasic, Visual J++ and more.
June 11. 1999 : SFExplorer v0.7 is released. New in this version is browsing & preview of soundfonts and wave files on disk.
June 5. 1999 : More great news: HammerSound has a new mirror in the USA, thanks to Andrew Sawyers from netcasting.net. There's a lot of cool stuff at the netcasting.net website; e-zines, band-pages, live radio, etc. Well worth a visit!
May 26. 1999 : The HammerSound MessageBoard has 'forked' into a SoundFont Newsgroup. The original MessageBoard still exists, but discussions related to SoundFonts should move on to the newsgroup instead.
May 25. 1999 : The OSC Library is released. The OSC (Open Sound Code) Libary is a toolkit for those of us who are programming sound related software. The source code for the library is OpenSource. If this sound interesting, please have a look.
May 23. 1999 : This has been a really busy month. Anyway, great news: We have another mirror in the USA!! John Fournier of Silicon Services has generously donated space & bandwidth at his server to mirror the SoundFont Library. Thank you very much, John!
April 23. 1999 : SF2LOAD v2.1 is released. New in this release is an option to list preset names in a bank, as well as improved error-checking and a few bugfixes.
April 21. 1999 : SF2Explorer v0.6 beta is released. New features include browsing of directories & CDs and improved error handling and stability.
April 7. 1999 : We have a new article : The Basics of Digital Audio, by Joost Boomkamp. A must-read for anyone who wants to work with digital audio. Check it out.
March 10. 1999 : SF2Explorer v0.5 beta is released. SF2Explorer lets users with SoundFont compatible devices load and browse soundfonts with a explorer-like interface.
March 5. 1999 : Added more links to the 'Links' page. The SoundFont Library is of course constantly growing. There are now more than 200 soundfonts in the database. It also looks like HammerSound will be getting more mirrors soon :-).
January 17. 1999 : SF2LOAD v2.0 is in beta. This version supports the SBLive!, as well as the older SoundFont compatible soundcards. Check it out on the Software page.
December 22. 1998 : The final update before Christmas. Several new soundfonts have been added and some links were added too. Merry Christmas to you all.
December 7. 1998 : The second US mirror is up! The mirror is located at Internet Connect's server. High praise to Steve Kaczkowski for providing the webspace.
December 6. 1998 : Added searching to HammerSound, located below the navigation-pad on the left. Also added several very good new soundfonts to the Library.
December 3. 1998 : Fixed a bug in the SoundFont Library which gave some (Netscape) users problems when downloading.
December 2. 1998 : The new US mirror at SunSITE is now up and running. Thanks a million to Simon, Uzoma, Adam and Paul at SunSITE for their help. The SoundFont Library is now open to the public again. Several new soundfonts have been added.
November 21. 1998 : The SoundFont Library is now installed on the new (second) Norwegian server. We also have two mirrors in the US coming up soon (www.sunsite.unc.edu and ftp.inc.net). The Library has been cleaned up, dead links removed and most files are now stored on the HammerSound mirrors to minimize the risk of dead links in the future. To ease the burden on the Norwegian servers, the Library will be down a couple of more days until one of the US servers are operational. Thanks a lot for your patience. HammerSound still needs more mirrors, especially in other parts of the world than Europe and USA. If you have server space to spare on your server and would like to help, please contact me.
November 12. 1998 : HammerSound has a new mirror in Norway. The mirror is located at the Døstin server at Høgskolen i Bodø. Thanks a lot to Tommy Leivseth (Mr. Fixit ;-) for making this happen.
November 8. 1998 : Houston, we have a problem. The US server at pagepalace.com has been shut down. It seem like Saturn Services, the ISP for Pagepalace are having serious problems. As a result of this the SoundFont Library here at HammerSound has been temporarily closed. The files in the library are being moved to other servers in the next couple of days, and the SoundFont Library should be up again by the end of the week. I apologize for the inconvenience. If you have server space to spare on your server and would like to help me out, please contact me.
November 3. 1998 : HammerSound has a new url: http://www.listen.to/HammerSound/. Please update your bookmarks. Thanks a a lot to Joost Boomkamp (again) for creating the banner for the new url!
November 3. 1998 : There hasn't been any major updates to this site the last month. The SoundFont Library is of course growing steadily, the same goes for the site traffic. Several site-ops have contacted me to offer server-space, so the increased traffic shouldn't be a problem. The new mirrors will hopefully be up soon. Meanwhile, I'm working on some new ideas that will hopefully result in a new main section for software development some time before Christmas.
September 27. 1998 : The Norwegian server is being updated now and then. This may cause temporal problems with accessing the SoundFont Library, the MessageBoard and the Guestbook. I am constantly monitoring these scripts and will try to update them as fast as I can to keep them working. If you should notice problems that are not fixed in a day's time, please send me an e-mail and let me know.
September 19. 1998 : The Norwegian server has been reconfigured. I think I have fixed all the problems with the scripts, but if anyone has any trouble, please let me know.
September 13. 1998 : HammerSound has one more mirror, this one is in Holland. A million thanks to Joost Boomkamp for providing the webspace!! HammerSound still need more mirrors, so please contact me if you can help.
September 11. 1998 : Added 12 new vintage drumkits by Ian Wilson to the SoundFont Library. Added FM Dreams Sampler by Ian Wilson to the SoundFont Library. Traffic is increasing, which is cool of course. But it makes this site more vulnerable too since we currently only have 2 mirrors. If you have space to spare on your server, please consider helping this site survive. Mail me.
September 1. 1998 : Several small updates here and there. A lot of soundfonts have been added to the library. One of these is the Ultimate GM/GS soundfont by Frank Wen. He is working on a SBLive! version of this soundfont. Check out his webpage.
August 16. 1988 : Updated the SoundFont Library script to allow for more than one location for each soundfont, plus did some cosmetic changes. Copied most of the soundfonts in the SoundFont Library to the Page Palace server in the US. Most of the soundfonts can now be downloaded from several different servers.
August 16. 1998 : HammerSound now has a ftp site where users can upload soundfonts. If you have created a good soundfont, share it with the rest of us by uploading. Thanks again to Bob Ricci of Page Palace who provides us with the server space.
August 15. 1998 : Added 'Link to HammerSound' paragraph in the 'About' section. Added some images to accompany the link. I could use some more images if any of you graphical wizards out there would like to have a go at it.
August 13. 1998 : Added a couple of new links in the 'Links' section. Added more soundfonts to the Library.
August 12. 1998 : Added several new soundfonts to the SoundFont Library. Look in the 'Collections' and 'Drumkits and percussive kits' sections.
August 9. 1998 : Added a new SoundFont that I've created to the Library (Collections category), 'HS Synthetic Electronic'; pads, basses and blips.
August 7. 1998 : Added a new section 'Info / FAQ'. Most of the content on this page comes from the 'Awe Hot Spot' site, which is no longer alive. Thanks a lot to the authors, Jesper Nordenberg and Johan Nilsson, for letting me use the content on the HammerSound site.
August 7. 1998 : Updated the front page as well as several of the other pages. The About page now has statistics from the first 1/2 year of HammerSound.
July 20. 1998 : HammerSound now has a mirror in the USA. Bob Ricci of www.pagepalace.com has been kind enough to provide server space for the HammerSound site. If you live in the USA then please try the HammerSound mirror. The soundfonts in the SoundFont Library are currently still stored at the old server (in Norway), but I'm planning on copying them to the US site during the summer.
July 20. 1998 : Several new soundfonts have been added to the SoundFont library the last month. Seems like people besides myself have started adding soundfonts. Great!
June 21. 1998 : Added a new article to the SoundDesign section. A lot of people mail me with questions about soundfonts, how to use them and how to create them. This article (located on Creative's web-server) has the answers.
June 21. 1998 : Added four soundfonts by Jeremy Arsenault to the SoundFont Library. Two collections (Collection #1 and Analogue Heaven) and two drumkits (Hip Hop and TR-909).
June 14. 1998 : Added a Message Board to the HammerSound site. The message board is open for questions, solutions and discussions on computer music, sounds, soundfonts, software and other stuff related to the HammerSound site. Use it!
May 16. 1998 : SF2LOAD v1.3 is released. This version has several new features, and is the ideal tool for distributing songs that uses SoundFonts. Every lazy SoundFont user should take a look.
May 16. 1998 : Added several soundfonts to the SoundFont Library: Ambient Organ and Swept Chimes (Synth Effects) from James Johnson, Goa and Club (Drumkits) from Jeremy Arsenault.
May 3. 1998 : After several weeks of being quite occupied with moving to another city (amazing how much crap I've managed to collect over the years), I've finally had some time to update these pages again. Several users have contributed soundfonts, ideas and suggestions, and these are beginning to merge into HammerSound now. Keep'em coming! As for today's updates:
May 3. 1998 : Added some SoundFonts to the 'Sounds | SoundFont Library' section. Jeremy Arsenault has modified my 'HS TR-808 Drums' soundfont so that it is GM compatible. He has also submitted an Alesis HR-16 Drumset. Both drumsets are available in the SoundFont Library. Thanks a lot Jeremy!
April 19. 1998 : Added a 'Links' section. This section contains links to all the soundfonts available on the net, as well as links to some of the HammerSound users.
March 8. 1998 : SF2LOAD v1.2beta is released. This version 'remembers' all soundfonts in AWE memory and lets you restore them at a later time. Great for storing (references to) all soundfonts required for a song at one place and making it easy to later recall the soundfonts a song needs. Check it out!
March 8. 1998 : Did some script reworking to remove security holes. I have not done extensive testing yet, so please report all script errors to me.
March 4. 1998: Added a new soundfont, 'HS Linn Drums', to the 'Sounds | SoundFonts by Thomas' section.
Feb. 22. 1998 : Created a new section called 'Sound Design'. This section provides articles about designing your own instruments.
Feb. 22. 1998 : Added a new original soundfont, 'HS Pads and Textures II', to the 'Sounds | SoundFonts by Thomas' section.
Feb. 6. 1998 : The HammerSound SoundFont Library is operative! The SoundFont Library is a database containing SoundFonts from all over the net. The database lets users register their own (or somebody else's) SoundFonts and will grow as more people starts using it.
Feedback
I'm really interested in tips & ideas on how to improve this site. I'd also like to get in touch with people with ideas, knowledge, sounds and spare time (or spare ftp-space!) who would like to help make this site great. Email me.
I also have a guestbook where people can put down their name and a comment on this site, on computer music making, or on life in general. Take a look at the feedback page.
The complete HammerSound website, including all text,
images and databases, is copyright (c) 1997-1999 Thomas Hammer
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