sfz Open Source Drum Kit Project: 600 MB download from Real Music Media

[herodotus]

Is this perhaps an opportunity to 'revive interest' in the SFZ format?
An SFZ creation/editing application with a friendly GUI might win over the non-scripting types and result in a thriving community of sample swappers.
Could even end up as a poor man's kontakt.

I hope so. People really hate the text file thing.

sfz is kind of like the Betamax of sampling. It had a lot of really amazing features at an early stage of the game, but it never caught on, I think largely because of the text file interface.

Hopefully the adoption of the format by Garritan will add some impetus to it's development. I should note, for the record, that the Aria player is to my knowledge the only 3rd party application that loads the Real Snare Drum properly.

Here is my first code

!!!

Some kind of documentation would be nice.

I agree.

Are the samples with multiple digits (for instance 0-10_2) in their names meant as alternate takes for round robin?

Nope. When I first edited these files I was being indecisive about naming conventons. the numbers like '0-10' '10-20' and so indicate amplitude expressed as a percentage of dBFS. I stopped doing this when I realized that perceived amplitude is not necessarily the same as the peak amplitude of the waveform.

The samples are roughly organized, but that is all. If anyone wants to rename them I would be more than happy to host the re-named samples. I have plenty of server space and bandwidth.

[John [Humanoid Sound Sys]]

Here are the SFZ docs:

http://www.cakewalk.com/DevXchange/sfz.asp

[Baard]

Here are the SFZ docs:

Thnx John. I got a printout on my desk

Here is an alternate view, from pljones site: http://www.drealm.info/sfz/plj-sfz.xhtml

There is also some indepth research going on at the linuxsampler bbs, as sfz is to be implemented into LS.

I was referring to an explanation to the sample naming more than a documentation of sfz, but it is always great to gather the info in one thread, in case others jumps on. The kit should also have a documentation in time, but as this is FOSS now, I guess its a job for the community, rather than the fine people who has done 99% of the work for us

Ill see if I can do some snare mappings tonight.

[Baard]

Here is my first go at the snare. I have only used the snare_top and snare_bottom samples so far. Mod wheel x-fades between them. Its easy to split this into seperate files for top and bottom, just remove all the xfin_cc1 and xfout_cc1 opcodes from the groups.

Code: Select all

Code removed for thread readability, see http://realmusicmedia.net/osdrumkit for my mappings

[pljones]

Do neither "loop_mode=one_shot" nor "count=1" work for you, Baard? Much easier than setting the release envelope.

[Baard]

Do neither "loop_mode=one_shot" nor "count=1" work for you, Baard?

Thnx again pljones. I actually turned to loop_mode=one_shot when mapping the snare drum. Quite frankly, I used the ampeg on the ride mainly because the supplied kick and hihat uses those opcodes. I also updated the ride_min_in on the first page btw.

Do you have any views on key mapping, keyswitching, or preferred ways to fade between layers? I am also interested to know how good the mod wheel xfade work, and if there is a way to do xfading that are more cross compatible between samplers and players? Samplelord will not fade on mod wheel, yet it works with gig and nki. Or am I missing something?

[pljones]

I only use sfz player for SFZ files -- I'm no expert on cross-player compatibility, I'm afraid. Someone, but I forget who, was compiling a chart, I think.

Key mapping: I always suggest using the Natural Drum Kit mapping (because that's how I've got my TrapKAT set up ).

In general, I'd avoid cross-fading between layers... mostly because I can never get it sounding natural. xfin_lovel/ xfin_hivel/ xfout_lovel/ xfout_hivel over a short range gives raggedy edge; over a wide range, you never get to hear the individual samples cleanly... My preference is generally for a +/-4 fade if the overall range is 16. It's also worth seeing if gain or power sounds better, I guess: not something I ever remember, myself! (Like I say, I avoid cross-fades.)

Key switching: as a drummer, anything needing something held down is anathema. Unfortunately, that eliminates sw_up and sw_down. And worse, there's no "haven't seen switch" op code opposing sw_last. So you end up with a kit where you've got to hit a switch to get the regions sounding. OK but kind of surprising...

[herodotus]

I used the ampeg on the ride mainly because the supplied kick and hihat uses those opcodes. I also updated the ride_min_in on the first page btw.

Yes, that was a result of an incomplete job on my part. I was going to set ampeg_cc# controls and those were to set the default start point.

Samplelord will not fade on mod wheel, yet it works with gig and nki. Or am I missing something?

In my experience, the only players that fully implement the sfz format are RGC audio/Cakewalk products and the Garritan Aria player. Every other player that claims to load the format that I know of has reported problems with the Real Snare Drum. I was starting to think that maybe the Cakewalk sfz players had some kind of internal error correction and that it was making up for my crappy code, but the Aria player loads it perfectly, leading me to conclude that it wasn't my fault.

[pljones]

Key mapping: I always suggest using the Natural Drum Kit mapping (because that's how I've got my TrapKAT set up ).

Failing that, one <region> per key opcode -- it makes it easier for people to customise. (Don't span multiple notes.)

...and the Garritan Aria player...

Haven't tried that but I understand why they've got it right.

[Baard]

Thanks for the feedback on mapping and switches. I understand your preferences, and agree with them. I think I will consentrate on getting the samples playable before focusing to much on the mapping.

Here is all the ride samples in one program, each group of samples is assigned to their own key (d3-f3), yet I am thinking that perhaps the ride_edge samples could be used as highest velocity layers on the ride_mids. Its hard to find the best mappings without playing some with the samples. Please test it out and share your views. It does sound lively!

Code: Select all

Code removed for thread readability, see http://realmusicmedia.net/osdrumkit for  mappings

[Rathead]

In passing, Lyrical Distortion are now releasing their most excellent guitar and bass samples in a combo form which features, among others, the SFZ format.
Got it, tried it and it is a workable arrangement. Maybe SFZ is on the way back?

See also
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 2a#3967867

[SampleScience]

There is a freeware to map sample & export the result as a sfz compatible text file, it's called SFZ Program Editor, it does have a GUI & it's very simple:

http://carrieres.free.fr/sfz.htm

I have made a couple of simple sfz with it & it works well. I'm not sure if you can tweak deeper parameters though.

[SWTrex]

Here's a mapping for a complete kit. It uses approximately 157 MB of the 600 MB available.

https://www.yousendit.com/download/S1VE ... RlpMWEE9PQ

Place the .sfz file in the parent directory to the samples' subdirectories.

It is strictly a GM mapping. I filled in the missing toms by pitching the existing toms down. Feel free to do with it what you like.

Thanks to herodotus for the samples.

SWTrex

[herodotus]

Wow, great work everyone! We have a great start here.

The enthusiasm is going to shame me into making up a web page for all of this stuff. Hopefully I can get one up in the next week.

[RunBeerRun]

I'm just checking this out now, my impressions; excellent sounding kit, tuning of heads, mic placement, all turned out great.

I'm just dropping in the wavs.