Vintage Dreams Waves

This freeware SoundFont Bank, created by one of the principal Analoguesque designers, has been around since 1996 and remains one of the most consistently downloaded SoundFonts on the web—alongside Vintage Dreams Drums.

At only 117KB uncompressed, it packs a full 128 presets in the instrument section. The eight drum kits originally included in the percussion section have been removed and are now available separately as Vintage Dreams Drums.

While this SoundFont Bank is now hopelessly outdated and showing its age, some users have compared it to 4MB, 8MB, and even 16MB SoundFont Banks! We wouldn’t go so far as to compare it to a full 16MB bank, but it certainly offers much more than its small 117KB size would suggest.

Is it worth the download? Absolutely.

Is it comparable to commercial SoundFont Banks? Not quite—the quality doesn’t reach that level. However, the design principles behind it remain very similar.

These banks were 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, featuring multiple algorithms for waveform modification 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.

Chock full of really useable synth sounds with many classic house/electronica patches that you will instantly recognize.
This has been created from the original soundfont and converted to work as an LV2 plugin.

Vintage Dreams Waves v 2.0.
Copyright (c) Ian Wilson, 1996 (Updated January 1998)

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.

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.