Ability to load soundfont(.sf2) into speakers

[Ristelle]

TL;DR

Add the Ability to load instruments from soundfont files.

What ?

Firstly let me dive a bit into explaining soundfonts :

A SoundFont is a special type of file (format SF2 or SF3), that contains sound samples of one or more musical instruments.

I do not have any pictures to show but imagine you could select a long list of instruments that could be played on a programmable speakers.
Programmable speakers as of now do not support soundfonts as loading soundfonts require a external depedancy which could not be loaded in lua modding.
Furthermore, Speakers only load samples with the specific note. extracting from soundfont is also not an option as they do not cover the full range of notes. Implementing this elimitates the problem.

Why ?

By adding the ability to add soundfonts, players can play any instrument. which allows to convert midi files into factorio much less of a hassle. Factorio players have a much wider range of instruments at their disposal if they want to creste their own music.
Additionally using soundfonts can make programming music much easier give the greater variety of sounds that could be played.

FAQ

Q : How would it be handled?
A: The dev team shoul only implement the implementation to add sf2 files via lua modding. the modders can make their own wrappers for the sf2 files.
None! Any extra questions can be asked here.

[ssilk]

Nice idea.

I add: Ability to load REX2 files.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REX2

[Roxor128]

Now this would go well with being able to set the instrument via circuit network signals. Just use "chosen instrument signal = General MIDI instrument number" to select instruments.

[JohnyDL]

I'd like to point out one of the reasons why music in minecraft is so impressive is because it's not a music game and not infinitely adaptable. Factorio isn't a music game either and I tip my hat to those who can make awesome music contraptions within the limits of any game. You need to remember the speaker like the note block is something that might benefit 90% of people who play but the only reason to add the mass ability to customise speakers in this way is to reduce the complexity of factorio music contraptions. If I want to experience an infinitely adaptable midi experience I'd rather watch a BobGmbh video that can do exactly that, and they are completely awesome and impressive in their own right. But there's something different about factorio and minecraft music, it is 100% possible to cheat in minecraft, you could change the resource pack to give noteblocks new sounds but in some ways I'd still be working within limits of the game and if you really wanted to cheat just add an entire piece of music just by changing a music disk to play your music but that really seems a lot less impressive.

Something I think is wonderful about games is you can share game saves of awesome things and if you have to add a bunch of extra files or a resource pack or even mod to share these awesome contraptions that in no way diminishes the achievement, people do share briliiant contraptions in modded minecraft and even bob's mods here amongst others, in this case you've still made a great sounding song but it is some how less impressive than working within the limits. It's like the difference between turning a photo into a sketch with a program vs hand sketching something, the program might produce a perfect sketch of the picture but I'm not admiring the picture I'm admiring the skill and I can't praise you for using a program in the same way as I could praise you for hand sketching. Or the difference between making an awesome factory from scratch and making an awesome factory picking and choosing from the blueprint libraries of every factorio player still an awesome factory but you were copying the best sections designed by others.

Think about that while you consider these videos.

MC wintergarten: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X__oo9HptN0 almost as impressive as the original wintergarten machine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q the original guy wrote the song but both of them made wonderful contraptions and music

And in Factorio there's the portal song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1oRQX8xQeg and daft punk's harder better faster stronger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TtA0chzLac amongst others and while not perfect renditions they are absolutely jaw droppingly amazing precisely because they're about as close as you can get to perfect within the limits

[Ristelle]

--Snip--

I certianly agree but at the same time it would be better if we had more instruments and, no i do not meant to undermine the ability of using mass amounts of speakers. but again then again, its still a players choice. .sf2 files are usually not redistributable. the player has to install them manually.

[ssilk]

I think adding them could be made by installing a mod. An code-generator can create such a mod.