1. What is this file all about?

If you had downloaded this file then I presumed you already owned a
Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE32 sound card. This SB AWE32 sound card
offers a pretty respectable General MIDI sound set, but the standard drum
kit provided are, urm, on the "wimpy" side. So I decided to do something
about it (after all, the AWE32 is supposed to be "upgradable").

After poking around with the provided SoundFont General MIDI file
(synthgm.sbk) for a couple of days, I had roughly figured out some of the
cryptic and spaghetti format of the file (boy, is it ugly), and I thought
of replacing some of the wimpy percussion sounds with some other meatier
samples from my sample collection. Another week and countless trial and
error debugging sessions later, I had succeeded in poking my samples into
the file. Hooray !

The percussion samples and instruments I replaced in the General MIDI set
are :

    Bass Drum
    Snare Drums
    Crash Cymbals
    Guiro
    Guicas
    Reverse Cymbal

2. How do I load this new wonderful General MIDI sound set for my SB AWE32
?

Before you do anything, BACKUP YOUR EXISTING "SYNTHGM.SBK" FILE. The file
in this archive replaces your synthgm.sbk file, so make sure you back the
original file before you proceed.

Ready?

Okay, here goes. Locate your Sound Blaster AWE32 root directory (usually
called SB16 or SB16AWE). Change into the sub-directory SFBANK. Inside this
directory you should have "SYNTHGM.SBK", "SYNTHGS.SBK", "SYNTHMT.SBK" and
"SAMPLE.SBK". Rename "SYNTHGM.SBK" to "SYNTHGM.ORG" or something like that.
Next, copy the new GM bank provided in this archive, "AWEGM.SBK" to the
SFBANK sub-directory as "SYNTHGM.SBK". Thats all.

How do I use it then ?

Simple. Go into Windoze, activate AWE Control Panel, and switch synth mode
to General MIDI. If you are using the plain ole 512 KB DRAM provided on the
AWE32 card, then you should only see 6% of free DRAM left after loading
this new General MIDI sound set. The rest of the DRAM will be used by the
new percussion samples.

3. Legal issues and disclaimer

The file SYNTHGM.SBK is copyright Creative Labs, so technically speaking,
the file that I had hacked, AWEGM.SBK is copyrighted Creative Labs as well.

In NO WAY shall I be responsible for any damages done to your sound card
by loading AWEGM.SBK. You shall bear all responsibilities should you decide
to try out AWEGM.SBK.

+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------+
|          nullPtr '94           |  Anyone interested in a MOD player for    |
|                                |  the SB AWE32 ?                           |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------+