I've done a lot of thinking, and believe I have determined the best format for future-proofing your sample collection. Obviously, the original sampler format that the samples were created for would be best, but that's not always possible.
#MusicProduction #LinuxAudio #WindowsAudio #MacAudio #Music #Samplers #Audio
This thread continues... Page 2/
For example, monolithic formats don't give easy access to the samples. One doesn't want to be stuck with the inability to access the samples, or else the sample collection is useless. So formats that exclusively use monolithic formats are not appropriate.
#MusicProduction #LinuxAudio #WindowsAudio #MacAudio #Music #Samplers #Audio
This thread continues... Page 3/
Also, some formats, even if they do have the ability to include stereo samples, end up summing them to mono--for example, Soundfonts (sf2). Furthermore, sf2 doesn't allow for round-robins, and other nice essentials. So, I one can safely rule out sf2 as the ideal format.
#MusicProduction #LinuxAudio #WindowsAudio #MacAudio #Music #Samplers #Audio
This thread continues... Page 4 of...
I did some searching and spoke with Jürgen, developer of ConvertWithMoss, and found a handful of sample formats that keep the samples open and available:
https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9036638#p9036638
TAL Sampler, TX16w, Akai Keygroups, also Bitwig Multisamples and DecentSampler, along with SFZ.
These are among the best formats for keeping a long term sample collection.
#MusicProduction #LinuxAudio #WindowsAudio #MacAudio #Music #Samplers #Audio
This thread continues... Page 5 of...
Now honestly, when it comes right down to it, the most important thing for your sample collection are the samples. The second most important thing is having each sample properly looped and labeled with useful information on what the sample is and what it is to be used for.
#MusicProduction #LinuxAudio #WindowsAudio #MacAudio #Music #Samplers #Audio
This thread continues... Page 6 of...
After those things, the format itself is the most important. I believe the most useful format for long term storage is: SFZ.
Back in 2023, I laid out my arguments for SFZ in a thread at KVRAudio:
https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8691650#p8691650
#MusicProduction #LinuxAudio #WindowsAudio #MacAudio #Music #Samplers #Audio
This thread continues... Page 7 of...
SFZ has many advantages for future-proofing:
* There are many available SFZ parsers--most of which are open source
* There are many sets of tools for editing and creating SFZ files
* The Samples themselves are available
* SFZ can be imported into many samplers
etc...etc...etc...
#MusicProduction #LinuxAudio #WindowsAudio #MacAudio #Music #Samplers #Audio
This thread continues... Page 8 of...
There is one drawback that people complain about with SFZ, and today I want to share a discovery I have made that resolves this one problem. Most SFZ instruments are unexpressive. This is not because of the format itself, but rather it is because of the difficulty of adding MIDI CC information into the SFZ instrument file.
#MusicProduction #LinuxAudio #WindowsAudio #MacAudio #Music #Samplers #Audio
This thread continues... Page 9 of...
If when creating new instruments in SFZ format, the creator of the instrument doesn't know how to add the needed information to make the SFZ file capable of expression, then the instrument remains unexpressive...lifeless. This is not the fault of the SFZ, but because the creator doesn't have the programming skills.
#MusicProduction #LinuxAudio #WindowsAudio #MacAudio #Music #Samplers #Audio
This thread continues... Page 10 of...
But, what if someone created a template that everyone could use? What if all a SFZ creator had to do was append this template to the top of the SFZ text file that the instrument creator defined? What if this template not only made the SFZ instrument MIDI CC capabile, but also provided GUI controls to the Sforzando or Sfizz plugin? Wouldn't this make SFZ more expressive?
#MusicProduction #LinuxAudio #WindowsAudio #MacAudio #Music #Samplers #Audio
This thread continues... Page 11 of...
The thread continues here: