sfizz : An Open-source SFZ Engine/Player in development

[kinwie]

Just saw that it could load DecentSampler files as well, might check it out. I like keeping the clutter to a minimum best I can.

Yes, DecentSampler import is an interesting added feature. Lot of folks might like it.
Second interesting stuff is the implementation of image= opcode, so users can add background image to their instrument, like this :

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[FrettedSynth]

Wow nice! Loaded a bunch of my own sfz files and they are sounding really good.
In "engine" what effect does preload have?
In "quality" what are the effects of Sample and Oscillator?

Thanks to all involved in this project.

[Russell Grand]

Just saw that it could load DecentSampler files as well, might check it out. I like keeping the clutter to a minimum best I can.

Yes, DecentSampler import is an interesting added feature. Lot of folks might like it.
Second interesting stuff is the implementation of image= opcode, so users can add background image to their instrument, like this :

unknown.png

Awesome!

[kinwie]

Wow nice! Loaded a bunch of my own sfz files and they are sounding really good.
In "engine" what effect does preload have?
In "quality" what are the effects of Sample and Oscillator?

Thanks to all involved in this project.

Preload will affect RAM usage for Disk streaming. Larger setting will consumes more memory, but better performance. Disk streaming is the default playback mode in sfizz
To load all samples into RAM can be overide using hint_ram_loading opcode.

Quality in "Sample" is for re-setting the sampler interpolation quality. Linear is the linear interpolation and use lower CPU. sfizz default quality is Polynomial (or Hermit, same as sforzando), which is a better quality than linear and still low CPU. Sinc 8 to Sinc 72 are the higher quality interpolation which also mean will consumes more CPU. They are the implementation following SFZ format v2 specification, can be read here : https://sfzformat.com/opcodes/sample_quality

Quality for "Oscillator" is the same description as above but for oscillator (synth stuff). Sample smaller than 3000 samples will be treated as oscillator by default.

[Auditory]

Hi, I've been all over the place, looking for the ideal place to start as someone who likes to mess around with instrument samples as a hobby. My biggest problem has been looking for a platform to facilitate that without having to go as far as learning the ins and outs of advanced signal processing and C++ programming in JUCE or whatever.

I liked HISE, except for one giant problem: The compiling process is a complete mess and migraine-producer, and I hate having to use Visual Studio even after it's all set up to do things in just a couple clicks. I realized I'd really rather have a sort of 'patch player', ala Kontakt. This was once planned for HISE that I'm aware of, but no longer on the table. Very unfortunate for someone like me, as I'd just use HISE otherwise.

The main reason I would've chosen HISE over any SFZ player is flexibility; it features scripting and a lot of easily automatable parameters that can link to various things, as well as being able to create your own UI.

As I understand it, the only SFZ player to actually support any form of scripting is LinuxSampler, which is very interesting to me; it's even based on Kontakt's scripting language. But LinuxSampler as a whole seems... well, it could use a new skin at least, and the website isn't exactly enlightening. I can't even tell how active development is, or if there's a community around it.

I also understand that Plogue's ARIA player does technically support making a custom user interface, but you have to pay for it or otherwise get approval to do it.

Is there any possibility that you're looking at adding either of these to sfizz; scripting support, and being able to present some kind of interface? I wouldn't even mind just only being able to create a couple buttons and sliders. Scripting support is particularly important to me, because I like to experiment with imitating some instrument behavior, like strumming, tremolo, etcetera. It's that sort of thing that could make the SFZ format really impressive, as it is it's frustratingly like trying to work with somewhat more advanced soundfonts for me.

[JeffLearman]

In "engine" what effect does preload have?

Preload will affect RAM usage for Disk streaming. Larger setting will consumes more memory, but better performance. Disk streaming is the default playback mode in sfizz
To load all samples into RAM can be overide using hint_ram_loading opcode.

By "better performance" Kinwie means that it's less likely to get a dropout due to the disk drive being slow at delivering the rest of the sample. How it works is, when you play a note, it starts playing from the "preloaded" start of the sample, which is in RAM, while fetching the rest of it from disk. If your system can't deliver the data before the preloaded part runs out, you'll get a dropout (not sure how sfizz handles that, but silence is what I would expect, possibly with a click.) If you're not getting any dropouts even when playing lots of notes at once, you can try less preload. But if you're not short on RAM, why bother?

The default probably works fine for most cases. The only times most people would need to mess with this are:

• Getting dropouts: increase preload. You're either playing lots of notes in a short interval, or your system isn't getting fast response from your disk.
• Huge sample sets loaded and running short of RAM: try decreasing preload. Better yet, get more RAM.

If you run into both problems and can't find a middle ground, you either need more/better hardware, or you need to lower your expectations (100 GB of samples and playing thousands of notes probably won't work yet, try again next decade.)

[JeffLearman]

oops

[audiojunkie]

So, is sfizz essentially the best multi-platform (ie Windows, Mac, Linux) sfz1 and sfz2 direct to disk player available?

[enroe]

So, is sfizz essentially the best multi-platform (ie Windows, Mac, Linux) sfz1 and sfz2 direct to disk player available?

Well here are all known sfz-sampler: https://sfzformat.com/software/players/
So which one is "the best" is up to you to decide for yourself!

In any case, sfizz is a new player here - and the features are very
interesting. A big "thank you" to the developers of sfizz!

[audiojunkie]

I think it ranks very high for its direct from disk and opcode support. Plus, it has controls for things such as attack and release time. I think it is definitely one of the better players!

[kinwie]

So, is sfizz essentially the best multi-platform (ie Windows, Mac, Linux) sfz1 and sfz2 direct to disk player available?

For what it had been accomplished until now, is very good. The devs are great guys and smart dudes. It still very young and hope it will grow better and better.

[kinwie]

Is there any possibility that you're looking at adding either of these to sfizz; scripting support, and being able to present some kind of interface? I wouldn't even mind just only being able to create a couple buttons and sliders. Scripting support is particularly important to me, because I like to experiment with imitating some instrument behavior, like strumming, tremolo, etcetera. It's that sort of thing that could make the SFZ format really impressive, as it is it's frustratingly like trying to work with somewhat more advanced soundfonts for me.

Actually I'm not the right guy to answer this but I see it's very possible. Everything is depend on the devs afaik.
You can try to suggest what you want at their issue tracker at github. Though I'm no more active for sfz but I'm pretty sure they'll hear you.

[audiojunkie]

To my knowledge, there are only 3 SFZ-native sample players that support direct from disk (very large sample sets): LinuxSampler, Sforzando, and sfizz. Of those, Sforzando is Windows-only, closed-source, and doesn't have any interface (unless you pay). LinuxSampler has a "custom" OpenSource license. All three support a higher than usual number of opcodes. Only sfizz uses a true opensorce license.

[kinwie]

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[alcomposer]

Sforzando is MacOS AU/VST & Windows VST (to be clear)

It is possible to also run Sforzando using a wine VST loader for Linux, such as Yabridge.

The direction of sfizz is not to simply create an open SFZ player, but allow a conversation to happen about the future of the format by creating a reference like implementation which developers can experiment with, and freely include their own plugins/standalones easily.