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

[Logga]

Other than being open source and cross-platform, does sfizz do anything that sforzando, Zampler, or other programs can't do?

I've been using Sforzando for a while and I'm trying out Sfizz now.

One big advantage of Sfizz is the resampling quality. This becomes relevant every time you play a sample at a different pitch or when your project runs at a different sample rate.
In Sfizz you can choose some high quality Sinc interpolation to make it sound better. It also has oversampling, but that's currently disabled, apparently due to a bug (even though it's still there in the GUI, confusingly).
From what I've seen, Sforzando devs have no intention of adding better quality modes or OS, so I guess I'll be migrating to Sfizz.

The main thing I miss currently is an easy way to browse through SFZ folders/presets (like that context menu in Sforzando) and the Sforzando-specific custom GUIs for certain programs. It would be nice if those could be ported over to Sfizz.

[Ikaz7]

Other than being open source and cross-platform, does sfizz do anything that sforzando, Zampler, or other programs can't do?

I've been using Sforzando for a while and I'm trying out Sfizz now.

One big advantage of Sfizz is the resampling quality. This becomes relevant every time you play a sample at a different pitch or when your project runs at a different sample rate.
In Sfizz you can choose some high quality Sinc interpolation to make it sound better. It also has oversampling, but that's currently disabled, apparently due to a bug (even though it's still there in the GUI, confusingly).
From what I've seen, Sforzando devs have no intention of adding better quality modes or OS, so I guess I'll be migrating to Sfizz.

The main thing I miss currently is an easy way to browse through SFZ folders/presets (like that context menu in Sforzando) and the Sforzando-specific custom GUIs for certain programs. It would be nice if those could be ported over to Sfizz.

The advantage of Sfizz is that it is being actively developed, while development for Sforzando pretty much stopped. Sforzando has served a stellar job as a sample library playback engine and Sfizz is picking up the baton.

The Sfizz developers are very accessible and open to user feedback and feature suggestions (GitHub). I've been an avid Sforzando user, but unfortunately there is an issue with Sforzando using some proprietary elements owned by another company. The part of Sforzando that allows implementation of GUIs for libraries is proprietary, that's why only a few Sforzando libraries come with a GUI (those developers received a license for the GUI thing years ago).

Personally I don't need a GUI to use a sample library, but I guess the missing GUIs in most SFZ libraries are also the reason why SFZ has not become as popular as it should have: the average user is accustomed to using sample libraries with GUI elements, not generic looking interfaces with numerical parameter values. This also explains the popularity of the Decent Sampler format, which internally is very similar to SFZ (in syntax), but the player offers the possibility to create simple, custom GUIs to the sample developers. Many of the Pianobook libraries have been converted to the Decent Sampler format for example.

As far as I know the Sfizz team is also working on a feature allowing custom GUIs in the near future. This and other currently missing features (such as multi-output for drums or a visual sample mapping feature for developers) will make Sfizz a great tool for the SFZ format. Sfizz and Decent Sampler to me are close contenders, both are great and promising projects developed by talented and productive developers with an understanding of the users needs.

[Logga]

The part of Sforzando that allows implementation of GUIs for libraries is proprietary, that's why only a few Sforzando libraries come with a GUI (those developers received a license for the GUI thing years ago).

It sucks that they require a license for that. Does Plogue also have an exclusive right to those library GUIs, or can they be freely converted for another player, by anyone?
Because technically it shouldn't be hard to do that, it's just some pictures and XML files.

As far as Decent Sampler is concerned... I have a few issues with it, which I won't get into right now.
So I hope that Sfizz succeeds and gets that GUI feature and that more stuff is available in SFZ format.

[kinwie]

sfizz now has "output" opcode implemented already for multi-out routing.
So, currently sfizz has 2 version of the plugin, stereo out and multi-out.
The multi-out version currently has 8 pairs of stereo output.
I briefly tested and it's works basically.
Though in Seib's VST Host, the VST3 format (shell-style), the multi-out paths not yet listed all outputs but yet only per-pair of stereo output, but they can be re-routed already. So I guess its still WIP as the devs are in busy life lately and hope it finalized in some future.

[kinwie]

I created a prototype Multimics SFZ Drumkit and it loads fine in sfizz :

sfizz_newdrums.png

So hopefully, with the multi-output finally implemented, we can have a nice sfz drumkit with output flexibility

[billybuck]

Does sfizz support FLAC samples?

[DSmolken]

Multi-output, that is big news, especially for drums.

[pljones]

Does it do self-muting in a way compatible with Sforzando yet?

[kinwie]

Does sfizz support FLAC samples?

Yes, it also support loop info within the flac file.
The metadata that you enabled when converting wav to flac.

[kinwie]

Does it do self-muting in a way compatible with Sforzando yet?

Again, to make sure, are you talking about this? Example :

<region>
sample=crash.wav
loop_mode=one_shot
key=60
group=5
off_by=5

[kinwie]

Multi-output, that is big news, especially for drums.

Yes, and better one if we have "output_onccN".
A new opcode and it will be much more flexible.
I will be requesting it later and I believe it won't be hard to implement it.

[enroe]

Mmmh ... does sfizz also support ogg and mp3-samples?

The reason for this question is: Sforzando does exactly that
and some of my multisamples are based on ogg, some even on mp3s.

[DSmolken]

Yes, and better one if we have "output_onccN".
A new opcode and it will be much more flexible.
I will be requesting it later and I believe it won't be hard to implement it.

Agree. Would let users set whether they just want the kick mic separate or if they want to really process each mic separately.

[kinwie]

Mmmh ... does sfizz also support ogg and mp3-samples?

The reason for this question is: Sforzando does exactly that
and some of my multisamples are based on ogg, some even on mp3s.

mp3 - yes
ogg - not yet, but can be requested I guess

[pljones]

Does it do self-muting in a way compatible with Sforzando yet?

Again, to make sure, are you talking about this? Example :
...

More like this:

Code: Select all

<group> key=60 lo_cc4=0 hi_cc4=63 group=1 off_by=2
<region> lovel=1 hivel=63 sample=open_quiet.wav
<region> lovel=64 hivel=127 sample=open_loud.wav

<group> key=60 lo_cc4=64 hi_cc4=127 group=2 off_by=1
<region> lovel=1 hivel=63 sample=closed_quiet.wav
<region> lovel=64 hivel=127 sample=closed_loud.wav

i.e. where multiple regions exist for the same note range with multiple different range criteria. In the above example, the open and closed groups mute each other but the quiet and loud samples do not mute each other.