Whither the SFZ spec?

Cakwalk used to host the "official" SFC 1.0 opcode list at: 
http://www.cakewalk.com/DevXchange/sfz.asp
 
That link now re-directs to the Cakewalk Blog which, if it still hosts it seems to be pretty much unsearchable. Anyone know where this stuff is now?

The page was lost during a major site reorg around April. The page from April 17th is available at the Wayback Machine http://archive.org/web/. To bring up the page, enter http://www.cakewalk.com/DevXchange/sfz.asp in the entry to the right of

then click the "Browse History" button to the right of the URL entry. When the calendar page is displayed, click on the April 17 blue dot
 
Simon Cann's book "Cakewalk Synthsizers: from Presets to Power User" contains v2.0 of the sfz spec. http://noisesculpture.com/cakewalk-synthesizers

You could try:  http://www.sfzformat.com/
 
Which seems to have the content as it used to appear on the Cakewalk site - don't know if it is current or not, but it is at least there.  :)
 
Bob Bone
 

robert_e_bone
You could try:  http://www.sfzformat.com/
 
Which seems to have the content as it used to appear on the Cakewalk site - don't know if it is current or not, but it is at least there.  :)
 

Thank you!!!!!!!!

Paul P
 
I recently posted some links in this message
 
I've seen no suggestion that Cakewalk plans any future support of sfz or sfz-based instruments.
 

CAL Links? The future of CAL has been repeatedly commented on by Cakewalk.


 
To the OP, missing pages on the Cakewalk site may be reported here http://www.cakewalk.com/About/Email/1 

scook
CAL Links?

Thanks for bringing this to my attention
 
Getting back to sfz, do we know if anything from Cakewalk supports the 2.0 version that appears in Cann's book ?
 
A quick search of these forums only brings up a lot of confusion about this.
 

robert_e_bone
Thanks, Keni - that was a nicely put together page on the SFZ spec, as well.
 
Bob Bone
 

Hi Bob...
 
I'm glad I could help. I remember struggling through some of this to learn how to make some changes to some sfz files I was using in Session Drummer... A bit daunting to the average musician who's not also computer savvy to that level, but a needed tool in many situations...
 
Keni
 

Paul P
So we have a programming language that has no official specification

 
Like MIDI it does have a specification (SFZ 2.0), but is not an official standard - companies can modify it if they want. Unfortunately I am not aware of any standards committee that has the SFZ spec on its docket. Remember, back in the dawn of time itself, when dinosaurs ruled the earth, SFZ was intended simply as a better option than Sound Fonts and DLS when moving audio files and mappings from one environment to another. The extra opcodes are a bonus.
 
According to Patch Arena, Plogue's Sforzando handles all Dim Pro supported opcodes. If you design something for Dim Pro, it should work in Sforzando. Camel Audio's Alchemy and Alchemy Player recognize the 'region' and 'group' headers and various opcodes (sample, pitch_keycenter, lokey, hikey, key, lovel, hivel, loop_mode, cutoff, fil_veltrack, default_path, volume, tune, pan, seq_position, trigger, sw_last).
 
Those are the main needed upcodes anyway. If you design for that minimum set, your file will play back as expected in the common SFZ players (assuming the file paths are correct).
 
For those reading this who are curious about SFZ files, here's a link to an article I wrote in Keyboard magazine that covers the basics.

robert_e_bone
Here is a link to both the SFZ 1 and 2 specifications: 
 
http://ariaengine.com/overview/sfz-format/
 

The link to the SFZ 1 spec is broken (it's Cakewalk's).
 
The link to the SFZ 2 spec is just a link to Cann's book.
 
Here's a link to a thread in which Chad graceously makes available a test suite for SFZ version 2
(originally "sfz v2 test suite 1" produced by René Ceballos, creator of certain cakewalk synths)
 
If you are archeologically inclined, and you have to be if you're interested in sfz, the Wayback Machine is a great tool.
Searching ancient cakewalk forum posts is also very useful as René was a frequent participant.
 
 

I think it is a quite useful format - it IS great for creating playable mappings of samples that are freely available on the web.
 
Bob Bone