sfz format and 24bit/44.1kHz wave files

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Is there a known problem with sfz and 24bit/44.1kHz wave files?

I have some very clean wave files here, and I have created maps from them for Kontakt, Wusikstation and sfz.

The sfz maps sound slightly bit and/or sample reduced (can hear that 'fuzz'), even though they call on the exact same wave files as the kontakt maps (which sound crystal clear). I tried two methods of creating the sfz files - first a conversion from kontakt with ESC, and then using the sfzED editor for sfz - same results for each method.

Has anyone noticed such a problem?
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24bit wav files are part of the new soundfont standard. sfz doesn't support them, and probably never will. Your best bet is to get a good program and downsample them to 16bit. They should work fine then.

--Sean

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audiojunkie wrote:24bit wav files are part of the new soundfont standard. sfz doesn't support them, and probably never will. Your best bet is to get a good program and downsample them to 16bit. They should work fine then.

--Sean
?????

I am talking about sfz, not sf2 (soundfont). Maybe I just don't understand what you are saying? Because sfz *format* is supposed to support 24 bit wave files. perhaps you are saying that even though sfz format does support 24bit waves, the sfz player does not?
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Hmm, shot in the dark here: I had a similar problem with some sfz samples and Rene advised me to renormalize the samples to -0.05db (I think) instead of the 0.0 I usually normalize to. Problem solved.

If that doesn't do it.. Not sure. Have you tried downsampling to 16-bit? It shouldn't make a difference though - the .sfz format supports 24-bit perfectly. As does the sfz player afaik.

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Jeremy_NSL wrote:Hmm, shot in the dark here: I had a similar problem with some sfz samples and Rene advised me to renormalize the samples to -0.05db (I think) instead of the 0.0 I usually normalize to. Problem solved.

If that doesn't do it.. Not sure. Have you tried downsampling to 16-bit? It shouldn't make a difference though - the .sfz format supports 24-bit perfectly. As does the sfz player afaik.
Hey Jeremy, thanks for chiming in. The samples aren't normalised to 0dB at all, they are all between -10dB and -1dB max.

I checked out some more things today:

1. I resampled the samples to 16bit, to see if it makes a difference, but it doesn't.

2. I looked at the mapping that ESC created, in the sfzED editor - they look perfectly normal - but they playback in sfzED itself with the resampling noise.

3. I tried again, loading the sfz files into Kontakt, sfz, and Highlife.
(i)Kontakt plays the **sfz** perfectly,
(ii)sfz has the reduction as described, and
(iii)Highlife does weird stuff to the mapping and the root notes :? .

It is too unusual to be a bug with the format - I must be doing something wrong...
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edit: double post.
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Even without the sfz mapping, I get 'artifacts' in sfz with these files:

here is one -

www.babelaudio.net/demos/Tingsha_1.wav

Plays back perfectly (and the same) in:
Kontakt 2.2
Wusikstation 3.xx
XT2 sampler
Highlife
Quicktime

but, not in sfz...
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I can't listen to the wave right now since I'm stuck with laptop speakers... But that does sound very strange that only sfz (the player) exhibits this problem. Do you have access to Rapture or Dimension? Because really, these are the main target instruments for .sfz anyway. If you do have access to them, test there.

FWIW, I create my .sfz files in notepad, and then convert using ESC to different formats. So I'm pretty familiar with how the sfz files look. Can you post one? I may be able to tell if there is an issue in the ESC conversion - though I think this is highly unlikely.

Other thoughts: are you using the best resampling algorithm in the sfz player? Also, you may want to PM or email Rene and get him to have a look. He's the expert after all :)

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Thanks Jeremy, I will try and contact Rene. About the resampling algorithm, I tried at all settings.
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Another shot in the dark: do you have the very latest sfz with the multi-core bug fix?

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pljones wrote:Another shot in the dark: do you have the very latest sfz with the multi-core bug fix?
yep, I just downloaded and re-installed again from the rgc website to make sure I have the latest version - same sound, either using a sfz definition, or just loading the wave files direct.
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