Running a SFZ instrument

Patchbox OS
1

New here, so hi all.

My goal is to play the Salamander Piano (Alexander Holm). Already tried samplerbox, but found that it has to much latency to play it comfortably. So then I tried Patchbox OS since it has a realtime kernel, and is build for audio projects and thus low latency requirements. on top of Patchbosx OS, I tried Sfizz (to run the SFZ-format), and came really close to a working result. I was able to run the sfz with sfizz-jack, and did some linking with Pipewire from the midi interface to the audio output. I also could see the notes coming by when pushing the keys, however, couldn’t get it to make any sound.

I was wondering (since I might be re-inventing the wheel here) if there is anyone that had succes trying sort of the same, or if there are better ideas to achieve the same?

2

Try GitHub - swesterfeld/liquidsfz: SFZ Sampler and use Jack as the audio backend.

1 Like
3

Thank you, that brings me a lot further. I can actually hear sound when pressing the keys (albeit very distorted and transformed trough the headphone, however it doe not sound like a piano at all). But this might have to do with jack and the headphone output not beïng friends. Will try it soon with an hifiberry (when I receive it).

4

I now can confirm that liquidsfz works perfectly for my needs!
I today received an hifiberry dac+ dsp. After fiddling around with it (dsptoolkit and an initial flat profile with no automute) it worked awesomely without notable latency. So I’m happy with that.

I will setup some automation, and then share all steps to get to this point.

My setup:

  • old studiologic sl880 pro master keyboard
  • raspberry pi 4b
  • hifiberry dac+ dsp
  • iloud micro monitor speakers

Result is a reasonable priced setup with a really great sampleset. (and btw capable to load any sfz lib)

5

I got excited by liquidsfz.lv2 as an sfz player for MODEP. Tried to copy the lv2 but doesn’t seem to work. Seems there’s only sf2 via fluidsynth.
Any clues for sfz on MODEP?

6

You can use any LV2 plugin in MODEP, even if it has no UI specifically made for MOD UI. You have to copy it to /var/modep/lv2, and restart the MODEP services or the whole system.

7

I thought so as well and while I can copy and find the plugin in MODEP I am getting an error when trying to load the liquidsfz.lv2. Sometimes this indicates that a required folder or dependency is missing but here I’m clueless and open to any tips :slight_smile:

8

Check the service logs for any more information:

9

Thanks @Giedrius
Seems the so file was not found which could be fixed by rebuilding so that the liquidsfz lv2 now successfully loads in MODEP.

Next (and hopefully last?) step seems to be getting the presets to work in order to load files from the user-files/SFZ Instruments folder. Tried to change the liquidsfz.ttl with a mod:fileTypes but that just seems to break the plugin.

<http://spectmorph.org/plugins/liquidsfz#sfzfile>
  a lv2:Parameter;
  #mod:fileTypes "sfz";
  rdfs:label "SFZ File";
  rdfs:range atom:Path .

Again any tips are very welcome.

p.s. as a side note the journalctl revealed several plugins with broken manifest.ttl files where removal seems to make the modep-ui much more responsive