diff --git a/app/static/js/services/soundfontPlayer.js b/app/static/js/services/soundfontPlayer.js
index 1e28d13..e1d5839 100644
--- a/app/static/js/services/soundfontPlayer.js
+++ b/app/static/js/services/soundfontPlayer.js
@@ -81,7 +81,10 @@
                             }
                             return path;
                         },
-                        TOTAL_MEMORY: TOTAL_MEMORY
+                        TOTAL_MEMORY: TOTAL_MEMORY,
+                        printErr: function (msg) {
+                            if (msg.indexOf('stderr') === -1) console.warn('[FluidSynth:err]', msg);
+                        }
                     });
 
                     if (!_fluidModule || !_fluidModule._new_fluid_settings) {
@@ -89,9 +92,13 @@
                     }
 
                     _settingsPtr = _fluidModule._new_fluid_settings();
-                    _fluidModule._fluid_settings_setnum(_settingsPtr, "synth.sample-rate", _audioCtx.sampleRate);
+                    _fluidModule._fluid_settings_setnum(_settingsPtr, "synth.sample-rate", _audioCtx.sampleRate || 44100);
                     _fluidModule._fluid_settings_setnum(_settingsPtr, "synth.gain", 0.5);
                     _fluidModule._fluid_settings_setnum(_settingsPtr, "synth.polyphony", 256);
+                    _fluidModule._fluid_settings_setint(_settingsPtr, "synth.verbose", 1);
+                    _fluidModule._fluid_settings_setint(_settingsPtr, "synth.ladspa.active", 0);
+                    _fluidModule._fluid_settings_setstr(_settingsPtr, "player.timing-source", "audio");
+                    console.log("[SonicSF] FluidSynth settings configured");
 
                     _synthPtr = _fluidModule._new_fluid_synth(_settingsPtr);
                     if (!_synthPtr) throw new Error("Failed to create FluidSynth synthesizer");
@@ -117,6 +124,26 @@
             return _initPromise;
         },
 
+        _allocCStr: function (str) {
+            var ptr = _fluidModule._malloc(str.length + 1);
+            for (var i = 0; i < str.length; i++) {
+                _fluidModule.HEAPU8[ptr + i] = str.charCodeAt(i);
+            }
+            _fluidModule.HEAPU8[ptr + str.length] = 0;
+            return ptr;
+        },
+
+        _tryLoadSFL: function (buf, ext) {
+            var fname = '/' + ext + '_' + Date.now();
+            try { _fluidModule.FS.unlink(fname); } catch (e) {}
+            _fluidModule.FS.writeFile(fname, new Uint8Array(buf));
+            var cPath = this._allocCStr(fname);
+            var handle = _fluidModule._fluid_synth_sfload(_synthPtr, cPath, 1);
+            _fluidModule._free(cPath);
+            try { _fluidModule.FS.unlink(fname); } catch (e) {}
+            return handle;
+        },
+
         loadSoundFont: async function (sfId) {
             if (!_initialized || !_fluidModule) return false;
             if (_currentSfId === sfId) return true;
@@ -137,31 +164,14 @@
                     buf = await resp.arrayBuffer();
                     if (cache) await cache.saveBuffer(sfId, buf);
                 }
-                var ext = '.sf3';
-                var virtualPath = '/soundfonts/' + sfId + ext;
-                console.log("[SonicSF] Writing to MEMFS:", virtualPath, (buf.byteLength / 1024 / 1024).toFixed(2) + 'MB');
-                try { _fluidModule.FS.unlink(virtualPath); } catch (e) {}
-                _fluidModule.FS.writeFile(virtualPath, new Uint8Array(buf));
-                var fsSize = 0;
-                try { fsSize = _fluidModule.FS.stat(virtualPath).size; } catch (e) {}
-                console.log("[SonicSF] MEMFS stat:", fsSize, "bytes");
-                var sfHandle = _fluidModule._fluid_synth_sfload(_synthPtr, virtualPath, 1);
+                var sfHandle = this._tryLoadSFL(buf, '.sf3');
                 if (sfHandle === -1) {
-                    var errPtr = _fluidModule._fluid_synth_error(_synthPtr);
-                    var errMsg = errPtr ? _fluidModule.UTF8ToString(errPtr) : "unknown";
-                    console.warn("[SonicSF] sfload failed for", sfId, "as", ext, "error:", errMsg);
-                    try { _fluidModule.FS.unlink(virtualPath); } catch (e) {}
-                    ext = '.sf2';
-                    virtualPath = '/soundfonts/' + sfId + ext;
-                    _fluidModule.FS.writeFile(virtualPath, new Uint8Array(buf));
-                    sfHandle = _fluidModule._fluid_synth_sfload(_synthPtr, virtualPath, 1);
-                    if (sfHandle === -1) {
-                        var errPtr2 = _fluidModule._fluid_synth_error(_synthPtr);
-                        var errMsg2 = errPtr2 ? _fluidModule.UTF8ToString(errPtr2) : "unknown";
-                        console.error("[SonicSF] FluidSynth failed to parse", sfId, "even as .sf2:", errMsg2);
-                        return false;
-                    }
-                    console.log("[SonicSF] Loaded", sfId, "as .sf2 fallback, handle:", sfHandle);
+                    console.warn("[SonicSF] sfload .sf3 failed, trying .sf2 for", sfId);
+                    sfHandle = this._tryLoadSFL(buf, '.sf2');
+                }
+                if (sfHandle === -1) {
+                    console.error("[SonicSF] FluidSynth failed to parse SoundFont:", sfId);
+                    return false;
                 }
                 _sfHandleMap.set(sfId, sfHandle);
                 _currentSfId = sfId;