To install a soundfont: (I'm assuming an SBLIVE! and a similar interface to win 98se.)

First go to the control panel and click on AudioHQ. From there click on Soundfont. A window should appear with the currently loaded soundfont in a small window. There should be a bar (red usually) indicating how much memory is being used by the currently loaded soundfont. NOTE: You must specify enough memory for the soundfont you are loading. If you have 24megs specified then you can't load a 60 meg soundfont. (duh! ;-)) to change that click on the tab marked "options". There should be a slider bar at the top of the window labelled Soundfont Cache. Slide the bar to the right or left depending on your needs.

EDIT: The FoI 1.6 soundfont takes 85.64 megs of memory. I just loaded it. Also I experienced a crash when trying to do other things while the font was loading. My computer bites when it comes to stability, but I thought I'd let you all know in case you have similar problems.

Ok almost done. Now click on the "configure bank" tab to return to the first page. Either click on load or replace and browse to the directory of the soundfont you want to load. Click on it and it should load up. It may take a few minutes depending on the size. All set! NOTE: If the font you loaded sounds funny or off make sure there are no other soundfonts loaded. To avoid this click on the font in the "configure bank" window and click replace when changing fonts. That's it!

MIDI=>MP3 conversion: The simplest way is to use ACID and open a midi file in the editor window. Then click on either "render as" or "save as" and choose the file type. Mp3 or OGG depending. Then your done! I know this works in ACID PRO 3 I have not checked it with ACID Xpress. (the free version) If some one would test that I'd apreciate it. (If I install the free version it will confict with my ACID Pro 3 settings)

IF that does work then that is the easiest and simplest way to do it hands down. It doesn't get much easier than that. 4 steps...

1. Open file. 2. Paint file. 3. click save as or render as, and pick a file format. 4. specify resolution if using WMA, MP3 or OGG. then click ok and it will render the file! NOTE: unsure about whether mp3 or WMA encoding is included with Xpress. If not then just save as a wav. file and encode with your favourite mp3 encoder. (I got one if anyone needs one.) Sorry Mac people ACID is a windows only program.

Sure thing. I recall writing something like this before. I don't remember if it was in response to you Alex, but I do remember writing something like this. Ah well. Here it is now. This would be a nice addition to the general music FAQ that we are going to compile at some point. (I'd like to see more contributor questions before I, or some one else, really set down to writing one.)