SFZ instruments

Link to good samples/soundfonts at http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/wiki/free_audio_data

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j_e_f_f_g
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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

You'd think it would be easy to find a good electric guitar freebie. It's an easy instrument to record. And yet i've encountered more bad eg's than anything else. The problem seems to be that guitarists are doing the recording, and they tend to:

1) Be fine with cheap, low fidelity tech. They record with really cheesy equipment like a Sound Blaster, resulting in distortion and hiss (overloaded mismatched impedance on inputs).

2) Record badly maintained guitars. Old strings and warped necks yield lots of buzzes, rattles, and nasty harmonics.

I finally came across a well-recorded freebie, and massaged into an even better shape. It's pretty much a standard clean Les Paul sound. I did about 17 different mappings, so consult the ReadMe.txt for details.

http://www.bandshed.net/sounds/sfz/yamahagtr.zip
Last edited by j_e_f_f_g on Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

Here are 3 instruments I made. License them as you wish:

Orchestral violins
http://www.bandshed.net/sounds/sfz/jg_violins.zip

A better B3 organ with slow leslie
http://www.bandshed.net/sounds/sfz/b3_organ.zip

1960's (vox/farfisa) organ
http://www.bandshed.net/sounds/sfz/60s_organ.zip
Last edited by j_e_f_f_g on Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

Last edited by j_e_f_f_g on Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

Alto sax (the sax I posted earlier was a tenor)
http://www.bandshed.net/sounds/sfz/altosax.zip
Last edited by j_e_f_f_g on Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by ssj71 »

Jeffg this is awesome! Thanks.

I ought to pitch in my 2 cents too. I made an sfz for a korg m1 piano sample set I found. The samples are free but I don't know the license. You can find the link to the samples and sfz source at:
http://mountainbikesandtrombones.blogsp ... n-sfz.html

Thought it might be nice to have all these in one thread.
_ssj71

music: https://soundcloud.com/ssj71
My plugins are Infamous! http://ssj71.github.io/infamousPlugins
I just want to get back to making music!
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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

Acoustic (upright/double) bass:
http://www.bandshed.net/sounds/sfz/acousbass.zip
Last edited by j_e_f_f_g on Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: SFZ instruments

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Last edited by j_e_f_f_g on Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: SFZ instruments

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Last edited by j_e_f_f_g on Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by varpa »

Thanks for all the great samples. I'm impressed with the quality of sound considering the often modest size of the instruments. I think your SFZ files could also be good references for others writing SFZ files. I do notice you use some opcodes not supported by linuxsampler but these do not seem to cause problems with linuxsampler.

I also have converted all your samples to flac which saves about 50% of the disk space. Linuxsampler now supports flac and I cannot detect any loss in performance using flac samples compared to wav. I've attached a script to convert wav and sfz files to flac (study carefully before use because it deletes the wav files when done). I had to make it a gzipped tar file to be uploaded here. Untar with "tar xzf wavtoflac.tgz"
Attachments
wavtoflac.tgz
script to convert wav, sfz to flac
(657 Bytes) Downloaded 164 times
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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

varpa wrote:the quality of sound
The real key there is in all the processing of the waveforms before making the sfx. I often apply lots of noise reduction and filtering techniques, and other processing to clean up the waves. (Adobe Audition is my choice here). I've had many years working with samplers, so I've learned how to eye up a waveform to pick similiar points for loop start and end. You have to be able to "see" the cycles, and notice any similiarities in slopes and harmonics, to choose the best loop. That will minimize the telltale "pumping" of a loop. Then usually hand editing of amplitude (volume) will minimize any click. Finally, after producing a good loop manually, a decent crossfade algorithm will hopefully eliminate any trace of the loop (although with some content will introduce phasing issues). (The free Wavosaur is my choice here).
you use some opcodes not supported by linuxsampler
Yeah in the early files. They're harmless, but I've stopped using them recently.
flac saves about 50% disk space.
Yes, but most all soundcard DACs require waveform data uncompressed, so it has to be ultimately decompressed in ram. Disk space isn't a concern of mine, but ram efficiency definitely is.

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GMaq
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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by GMaq »

Hi Jeff,

I could probably host them on my AV Linux webspace if you want a more permanent home, I can't really provide you FTP write access but I can host them in a more permanent FTP folder for folks to download. I have almost all of them on my dev box here anyway. PM me or let me know if you are interested.
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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by nils »

I will host all with a clear and good license (allow-everything with or without copyleft) on linuxaudio.org

http://download.linuxaudio.org/musical- ... libraries/

So, jeff, if you forgot to mention a license detail, please add it now.
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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

Whatever you guys want to do is fine with me. Licence the ones I made myself at will. I don't need any ftp access. I'll just continue as I've been doing, and you guys can archive what you want.

It will be useful to have a permanent archive, because after I finish my upcoming "E-Drummer Gig" program, I'll be doing a series of lightweight "MIDI Instruments" for gigging keyboardists using these waveforms. The goal is to produce a sort of lightweight, turn-key batch of "patches" that can each be used/played either standalone (hopefully squeezed into something cheap/portable like a Raspberry or Pandaboard), or used collectively with a gig-oriented "patch loader/selector gui" like Cantabile. (I'll be doing a very simple loader/selector).

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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by nils »

So from the samples in this thread you have made these three yourself, right? You recorded the samples and wrote the sfz file.
For the license and README I am going to use: What name and website or mail address of yours should I present to the downloader?
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Re: SFZ instruments

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

You recorded the samples and wrote the sfz file.
Correct. And also the solo violin.

Well actually, none of the waveforms had any sfz mappings, so I've done all the sfz files.
What name and website or mail address of yours should I present to the downloader?
Just use your own. It doesn't matter to me. I just make things.

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