sforzando

This is a SFZ file player that has tremendous potential. Directly dependent on Aria Engine (used for sound banks Garritan) this player plays perfectly the SFZ 1.0 and SFZ 2.0 versions. The forum engine is very reactive, competent people can quickly respond to simple or advanced topics (some of the developers of the engine are themselves on the forum).

A SFZ file can be placed on the player (with drag & drop possibility) that reads and instantly updates the SFZ file when it has been changed. The parser of SFZ opcodes indicates whether the file contains errors or unkown opcodes.

Tested with up to 15 simultaneous instances I have not had a complaint from any slowdown in my machine (Dual Core CPU 2.6 GB).It is available on several platforms (Mac and PC) that really boring for the developer of sound bank.

Specificity of Sforzando is that it contains a panel MIDI controls. This panel makes the SFZ file dépendent player but brings a lot of control over the patch.

The biggest flaw is that it has no effect and is not multitimbral but it is difficult to find a synthesizer / sampler of this quality for free.

I think this player is the SFZ player of choice because it is reliable, robust and accurate and there is more and more high quality sound bank in SFZ format.