15 or so years ago I came across a vb script to extract a presets list from a soundfont2 file, which I adapted to use in various VB.net Fluidsynth projects.
Now that Pure Data has the file handle object to read binary files I decided to give it a go in Pd on Windows 10.
I have also tried it using linux and it seems to work with the latest portable version.
Edit: Thursday 22nd August 2024, I've just updated choose-sf2-example.pd in the zip because it was incorrectly wired an triggered
sf2-presets-reader.zip
contains:
sf2-presets-reader.pd to create soundfont.txt
choose-sf2-example.pd to launch choose-sf2.pd and show index, bank and name extraction from [r $0-chosen]
choose-sf2.pd
soundfont,txt contains the presets from a soundfont I use SGM-V2.01.sf2 (236MB), this will be overwritten with your choice.

My preferred soundfont player to use with Pure Data is RGC-Audio SFZ.dll or SFZ+.dll loaded in @spacechild1 very excellent vstplugin~

Other options are Qsynth via midiout
Fluidsynth,exe via midiout launched with motex/system

Warning Purr-Data will not open sf2-presets-reader.pd because it does not have the file object.

Method;
open the soundfont2 file;
then look for phdr by searching backwards;
one byte at a time from the end of the file and look for p;
then see if the remainder from route is hdr;
then forwards 38 bytes for each instrument preset;
to retrieve bank, index and name until EOP tag;
send to text: (bank as integer, index / 1000 added to bank) and name as symbol;
;
then sort in order:- text define [sort(;
;
next write the text to soundfont, txt;

Cheers
Balwyn

@porres The else load message which prints to the log as shown in Balwyn's screen shot. Curiously I just noticed that my older version of else does mention [declare]

• ALSO NOTE: Loading this binary did not install the ELSE library
  you still need to add it to the "preferences=>path"
  or use [declare -path else]

@porres But this is way cooler and provides a great deal to learn from

Oh, I missed this. Well, sorry then for suggesting an external that does it then? I see now it's not cool and doesn't provide a way for people to learn, maybe I shouldn't have suggested, is that it? Sorry for the sarcasm, but I don't know how to respond to this and I'm just either very surprised or I don't get where this is coming from. Should I should never ever suggest any external, as some random people might say they don't want externals? I'm really trying to understand where this is coming from, please help me understand what you mean...

Vanilla might be more work and less efficient than an external but the efficiency is not that big of a deal these days and that work is rewarded with better understanding of pd and gives the ability to do far more than externals generally allow.

You can't play soundfonts in Vanilla wihtout an external, maybe you missed that part? Note that @Balwyn suggests people to use "RGC-Audio" plugin loaded via the [vstplugin~] eternal.

Anyway, not being sarcastic now, but if I ever suggest other externals in this forum and people, for whatever reason, don't like using externals and want to just be fully Vanilla, I guess it makes sense to keep it to oneself as this is not about this person... you know? If people don't like externals, don't use them and don't criticize people that offer externals. Maybe others in this forum kinda like using externals right? And anyway, if anyone wants use soundfont in Pd, this person definitely need externals!

The else load message which prints to the log as shown in Balwyn's screen shot

You're suggesting that I mention [declare] in that message? Ok, I can do that, sure. I'll add "or use [declare]".

@porres You are reading way to much into it, I did not say or imply those things, sorry if it came off that way. Lets just purge this who digression from the thread, I will start.

cool, thanks for clarifying

@porres I've just reinstalled Plug Data and sfont~ works fine there

@porres I removed else from my startup preferences, declared -lib else in a patch and else/sfont~ now loads successfully

great to hear it's working @Balwyn

the dependencies suck and we may go to dependencies free alternative, see https://github.com/porres/pd-else/pull/2149

But note that Printing preset info doesn't work yet

Nevertheless, we can use your algrithm/patch to include in the code and make it happen, so thanks for that

I've just updated choose-sf2-example.pd in the zip in the original post because it was incorrectly wired and triggered, causing the previous index and current bank to be sent immediately before the current index and current bank often causing an error. I noticed it when I connected a print object to else/sfont~ right outlet
choose-sf2-example.pd

Here is way to get a bit more out of the soundfont generators using NRPN to address them. I've had this info for a very long time and can't seem to find where it came from.
You will need to change the path to your soundfont in [else/sfont~] and use the sf2-presets-reader.pd to create soundfont.txt if you want to use choose-sf2.pd.
Probably not that useful, just a bit of fun

Edit: I found the source of this info in the soundfont 2.04 spec

sf2-toy.zip
Edit: I updated the above zip with some missing patches 24th June 2025

else rc12 is out and sfont~ now also dumps all this info via an outlet