SFZwiki - jlearman/sfzwiki GitHub Wiki

Welcome to the sfzwiki, collecting quality SFZ instruments, tools, and tips.

This is an experiment; let's see how well it works. If you want to edit this wiki, all you need is a (free) GitHub account. As the site grows I will reorganize to put topics below on their own pages or sets of pages.

I'd particularly like to see people create their own pages on this wiki, like my example at the bottom, collecting their favorites. If you create one, just follow my page name convention. We can also have how-to pages or FAQs.

What's SFZ?

SFZ is a format for sampled instruments. This allows a computer program to emulate an instrument or manage a collection of sound effects, that can be played using MIDI input (from a digital audio workstation or MIDI keyboard, for example.) SFZ sample sets can be played by standalone players, or as players that are plugins in Digital Audio Workstations, or "live host" programs like Cantabile.

Info about SFZ

Sites for Free, High Quality SFZ Instruments

These are sites with multiple free, high-quality SFZ instruments.

SFZ Players

First, see https://sfzformat.com/software/players/ for the master list.

I'm starting with a list but eventually we may have a page per player with more details, pros & cons, etc.

  • Plogue Sforzando VSTi and standalone player, with built-in MDA effects and a nice control panel. Supports only one SFZ file per instance, but of course you can create an SFZ file that contains multiple instruments on different MIDI programs. To have different instruments on different MIDI channels I believe you need multiple instances (one per MIDI channel, and you have to filter the MIDI channels in your host, for the VSTi.) This is a player only.
  • sfizz is the new kid on the block, an open-source SFZ engine/player in active development, for Linux, Windows, and MacOS. Find out more about it on this KVR forum discussion . Download it here
  • sfz.exe and sfz.dll - These were the original SFZ players from RGCAudio, which was purchased by Cakewalk. Cakewalk provided these for free, but they're no longer on their website. Single channel, single SFZ (or SF2) file, limited FX and controls.
  • sfz+.exe and sfz+.dll -- These were enhanced versions of sfz.*, supporting multiple SFZ/SF2 files and a number of performance controls. They were free but are no longer available at Cakewalk site.

Commercial Sample Players that support SFZ format

First, see https://sfzformat.com/software/players/ for the master list.

Kontakt is missing from that list, though it allegedly does support SFZ import. The free version from Kontakt Start does not.

Tools for building and/or editing SFZ sample sets

  • Extreme Sample Converter Translates between many formats, supports editing of sample set parameters, and has an excellent looping tool. (It supports auto-looping, but I don't find that useful due to the cross-fade. But it has a simple but effective graphical tool that really helps visual prediction of potential loop points.)

Discussions

For discussions, see http://kvraudio.com forums, especially Samplers, Sampling & Sample Libraries

If you have any questions about this Wiki or want to comment on info you find here, you can use the Discussions link at the top of this page. But if you want to engage a big audience for a more general question, use the KVR forum.

Links

Tips & Techniques

Individual Favorites