Hi Mg
As you already predicted, I was not able to reproduce a clear pffft symptom.Opened Symphon 3 in Composer,switching forth and back between
my default VSC3 - Soundblaster synth - Maple out to the combi.
In VSC3 using GM2 and GS2
In SB synth various SFbanks ranging from 1 Mb to 160 Mb ( same in the combi ). Audio (SB live )out to my monitors instead of headphones.
In Composer first " solo-ed " : Cymbal,Tympani, Snare-Triangle ( all using same channel and patch Tympani ),than whole orchestra ,but muting
all instruments except the percussion parts.No explicit pffft (like )
symptoms,but (according to my ears) :the output via SB synth missing the clarity and " sustain " compared to the others and getting better using the smaller SFbanks ,which might explain the good
results you have with Merlin Creative and a Soundblaster soundcard regarding the percussion part.But I am not sure about the sound of the other voices in a ( 32 channels ) concerto .
If you would like give the " combi " a try I will wrap up the needed applications and a small " set up " text in a Zip file and and load it up in Senduit.You will get it running before you finished a glass of Merlot.
Sorry if I wasn´t much of help regarding pffft.
Regards
Djim
BTW, I am not sure whether we should move to another thread with this ?