Cheezoids

This is the ultimate digital emulation SoundFont Bank, following a path from 1981 to 1984—when analog was fading and the dawn of cheap digital synthesis had arrived.

Did you miss out on the pioneering years of synth music? Did you miss out on Hi-NRG, Eurobeat, or Italo Disco? Do you remember Trans-X, Tapps, The Flirts, People Like Us, Lime, or Fancy? What about Speak & Spell from Depeche Mode, Yazoo (Yaz), Blancmange, OMD, and Dare from The Human League?

This is your chance to get to grips with the type of sounds they used during those groundbreaking synth years. A solid 128 patches of the coolest retro digital sounds—crafted with the usual analog-style warmth. This SoundFont is predominantly pads and leads, but with enough rocking bass to keep it mixed.

This bank was originally designed to provide samplers—specifically E-Mu samplers—with FM sounds and various analog-style waveforms. The waveforms were generated using custom software based on 4-operator FM synthesis, with multiple custom algorithms for modifying the waves and a resonant filter.

To ensure seamless looping and consistent pitch across the keyboard, the software was designed to fade to simple waveforms at a fixed amplitude, with no shifting or FX. It could automatically generate waveforms at pitches A1, A2, A3, A4, and A5, making it easy to create perfectly looping multisamples.

Many of the samples have FM attack transients, giving them a distinct FM character. However, E-Mu samplers allow playback to start at any point in the waveform, enabling a variety of sounds from a single sample by shifting the start point. This means you could even remove the attack altogether by skipping past the complex transient.

Additionally, the loop start point on E-Mu samplers could be adjusted, so you weren’t locked into the original loop. Since these waveforms transitioned from complex to simple tones (close to a sine wave) and were designed for easy looping, you could alter their complexity just by changing the loop start point.

For example, if a waveform fades from a saw to a sine wave, you could position the loop start anywhere in that range—allowing you to choose a bright, harmonically rich sound or a softer tone (or something in between). This extends the usefulness of a single sample beyond expectations, turning it into multiple patches that sound completely different—similar to the “Variation” buttons on modern synths like the Roland System-8, which alter waveforms at the turn of a knob.

This SoundFont has been converted to work as an LV2 plugin, bringing these iconic sounds into a modern workflow.

Instructions:
1. Download the archive
2. Extract the lv2 folder.
3. Copy the folder to your SD card under the folder dspcard/plugins/lv2/
4. Exit usb mode (or place SD card back in your S2400)
5. Press SHIFT + Effects/Quantize and select 'Sync Files'
6. Reboot when prompted.

Copyright (c) Ian Wilson, 1996 (Updated January 1998)

This soundfont is freeware. You may freely use and/or redistribute it subject
to the following terms:
1. It is not altered, edited, modified, ripped, or converted to other formats,
except for private use only.
2. It is distributed with this copyright notice.

This soundfont is distributed WITHOUT WARRANTY, and without the implied
warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. No liability
or damages can be inferred upon the said copyright owner, Ian Wilson.