The sfz appreciation thread

[herodotus]

sfz is cool.

sfz is way cool.

sfz is both a sample player and a sample format. Both are completely and totally free!

That is so cool.

The free player-sfz loads not only sfz files but wav sf2 and ogg vorbis as well.

That too is cool.

It works really well, and is supported really well, and is just a joy to use.

It is all cool.

the sample format-sfz is equally cool, being simple, and really reasonable, and as versatile as one could wish.

You can take all the samples you want, and all you have to do is put them in a folder with a simple text file that you can create in any text editor you wish, and you can harness them with simple commands that control:

pitch
pitch eg
pitch lfo
filters (two high pass, two low pass, two band pass, and one band reject, all of which can be manipulated with subtlety beyond the needs of human hearing)
filter eg
filter lfo
amplifier (again, infinitely adjustable at the molecular level)
amplifier eg
amplifier lfo
and a three band parametric equalizer.

I mean, how cool is that??

That is so freaking cool!!!!








And so, to Rene:

[duncanparsons]

sfz is cool.

sfz is way cool.

sfz is both a sample player and a sample format. Both are completely and totally free!

That is so cool.

The free player-sfz loads not only sfz files but wav sf2 and ogg vorbis as well.

That too is cool.

It works really well, and is supported really well, and is just a joy to use.

It is all cool.

the sample format-sfz is equally cool, being simple, and really reasonable, and as versatile as one could wish.

You can take all the samples you want, and all you have to do is put them in a folder with a simple text file that you can create in any text editor you wish, and you can harness them with simple commands that control:

pitch
pitch eg
pitch lfo
filters (two high pass, two low pass, two band pass, and one band reject, all of which can be manipulated with subtlety beyond the needs of human hearing)
filter eg
filter lfo
amplifier (again, infinitely adjustable at the molecular level)
amplifier eg
amplifier lfo
and a three band parametric equalizer.

I mean, how cool is that??

That is so freaking cool!!!!








And so, to Rene:

Me too.

[LIMITAPROACHINGINFINITY]

eh.

[spacefox]

When Jeff McClintock released Synthedit, music software development suddendly became accesible to musicians. This is something that is having a huge impact on independent music makers: more tools are available, for free. More tools are made by musicians, as opposed to programmers. More people can custom-made their own tools.
This changes the way we interact with music software.

sfz is such a product as well, making complete sample libraries accessible to anyone. Human readable, open format and a free player in the world of libraries bundled with players and encrypted samples, it is choises like these that have the potential to change our music making for the better.

[zeoy]

Another sfz fanboy here I use it extensively for all my acoustic drums needs. I usually convert sf2 files to sfz using Sfzed and then edit-tweak-split however I like in a text editor. That simple. My only minor complain is that sometimes when using many sfz instances loaded with lots of MBs it refuses to load more samples without a warning message. Restarting Tracktion (a matter of seconds) always solves this problem. Maybe I should check some memory defragging ustilities ( ... goes to rgc site)

Thanx for the great tool Rene

[pljones]

I think people forget that that list of LFOs and modulators applies per triggered layer. Not just once for the player. But per triggered layer. All of them, as many times as you want to use them.

And, of course, there's the total control you have over when all this power is used based on incoming MIDI messages. In real time, not just when the layer is triggered. And triggering isn't just by MIDI Note events - any MIDI event can trigger a layer.

Above these are two things: simplicity and speed. Open the map file, adjust and save, reload in sfz, play keyboard, repeat until it works right.

Oddly enough, I know of a nice write up on the sfz format.

[rockstar_not]

I want to give a try to making an sfz of a glockenspiel. All of the glockenspiel sf2 files I've found for free on the internet are pretty crummy sounding to my ears.

I have a glockenspiel on loan right now from our church.

I don't want to give any note bending capability to it. I will have stereo 44.1kHz, 16 bit files at probably 5 velocities for each note.

What would be the easiest way to get into making an sfz for this data once I do get around to sampling and trimming the data - no looping, just one-shot samples.

-Scott

[pljones]

A <group> tag with loopmode=oneshot is a good start. Then a <sample> tag for each sample saying what its lovel and hivel are, plus lokey and hikey of course for the pitch. That's it, IIRC.

Watch out for long tails on the samples..............