Q: native Linux Sampler

[Penguin Pyrate]

There’s also Decent Sampler.

https://www.decentsamples.com/produc...ampler-plugin/

It comes in Vsti and Vst3i for Linux.

It supports multisampling, round robbins, instrument groups, velocity layers, filters, midi cc expression etc.. Even has a basic reverb built in.

You can make your own instruments with it, that’s what it was made for, as a free resource for participants in the pianobook project. And by now there’s a fair amount of instruments for it over there, many of which are very high quality.

https://www.pianobook.co.uk/sampler/decent-sampler/

It’s definitely a huge step up from SFZ type samplers, but it’s not exactly kontakt either, and it doesn't support multiouts, so you have to run a separate instance of DS for every instrument in your project.

The main downside is that you have to make your instruments by typing up a xml document in a text editor, which can be quite tedious and time consuming if you have a lot of groups, velocity layers and round robins.

Definitely worth checking out though.

[mrbumpy409]

I wouldn't call Decent Sampler a "huge step up" from SFZ, as it is missing a lot of advanced features that SFZ has. It is pretty decent, though

[Penguin Pyrate]

Originally Posted by mrbumpy409

I wouldn't call Decent Sampler a "huge step up" from SFZ, as it is missing a lot of advanced features that SFZ has. It is pretty decent, though

Fair enough, I shouldn't have phrased it like that. Subjective opinions and what not.. But in my opinion, it is. So I gues we'll have to agree to disagree.

Decent sampler has always worked well for me, apart for the occational bug, and is purpose-built for acoustic sample libraries. Where's SFZ has always been a pain, terrable GUI's, absolute cpu hogs, and I have never once come across a SFZ instrument that didn't sound like a screetchy synth ca 1981.

I'm happy to be proven wrong though, and I always have more room in the toolbox.

Do you have any suggestions for a SFZ player/editor that works well, low cpu imprint, and has a proper gui?

[mrbumpy409]

Originally Posted by Penguin Pyrate

Where's SFZ has always been a pain, terrable GUI's,

Being able to create a custom GUI is the #1 advantage to DecentSampler for now. At least sforzando/sfizz has a functional GUI for whatever parameters the user needs to control, and you can customize what controls are available and how they are labeled.

absolute cpu hogs,

What plugins have you had CPU issues with? I haven't noticed any problems with Sforzando or sfizz, though I've only used the latter for less than a year. The ARIA engine (used in sforzando, ARIA Player) have been used in commercial products for years, and I've never heard of CPU issues with them.

and I have never once come across a SFZ instrument that didn't sound like a screetchy synth ca 1981.

All of the Garritan virtual instruments, including the famous CFX Concert Grand were done using SFZ. I think you might be underestimating SFZ's capabilities for recreating acoustic instruments.

Do you have any suggestions for a SFZ player/editor that works well, low cpu imprint, and has a proper gui?

The ARIA Engine is considered the best SFZ renderer and is available in the free sforzando plugin by Plogue. It has a functional GUI, though you can't custom skin it without commercial registration. No Linux version, but it runs great in Wine/yabridge if you can live with lagged GUI screen refresh.

For Linux, the best plugin is sfizz. It doesn't support all of the opcodes that ARIA does, but it's pretty comprehensive at this point. Last I checked, even without 100% SFZ 2.0 opcode coverage, sfizz still supports more advanced sound design features than DecentSampler.

There's also LinuxSampler, but I don't recommend it above the aforementioned options.

Regarding CPU use: I just don't know as I've never done any measurement comparisons between plugins.

And lastly, regarding SFZ vs DecentSampler: they are both fantastic options, each with their own strengths, and both with fully cross-platform support. For now, if I want to release an instrument with a custom skinned GUI, I'd probably pick DecentSampler (or HISE, potentially), and if I need more advanced features, I'll probably go with SFZ. Either way, I know that people will be able to easily use my instrument in their DAW with a free plugin download.

[MikeLacey]

Tad frustrated with Linuxsampler, I'm sure it's something I haven't done but still...

I spent "a while" compiling and installing pre-reqs etc for LS and can sort of add the VSTi to a track, it's not what I was expecting though and I'm not sure where to go from here, unless it's back to sfizz.

Screenshot attached.

[mrbumpy409]

Linuxsampler isn't the best DAW experience, IMO. It's really designed to run standalone. Also, if you're looking to use SFZ or SF2 files, sfizz/sforzando for SFZ and juicysfplugin (based on the excellent FluidSynth) for SF2 all have much better support for their respective formats. This leaves GIG files as the only real advantage for Linuxsampler.

juicysfplugin doesn't currently have a Linux version, but the Windows version runs flawlessly in wine/yabridge. SF2 files can also be loaded into Carla, which uses FluidSynth.