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.
 

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

One advantage of the SFZ spec (other than not being proprietary) is its flexibility, and the ability to make decisions about whether you want to "bake" parameter values into the SFZ script or not. For example, you can script an attack time into an SFZ script, but if you're loading it into Dimension Pro or Rapture, it's easier just to adjust the attack control on the UI's envelope generator. 
 
When creating Expansion Packs, my scripts basically involve key placement and maybe a few tweaks like having a fixed sample offset, or loading multiple layers as a single SFZ file so only one element is needed. The instruments take care of the rest. Instruments like Garritan's and Plogue's bring out many parameters to the UI so you don't have to do lots of scripting with them, either.

Paul P 
Getting back to sfz, do we know if anything from Cakewalk supports the 2.0 version that appears in Cann's book ?
 

The SFZ Player supported 1.0. Subsequent instruments, including Dimension Pro and Rapture (and I think Session Drummer as well) support SFZ 2.0. Whether they support all elements of SFZ 2.0 I don't know, because as has been mentioned, manufacturers can choose to support whatever aspects they want...same as with VST 3 or MIDI.

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
 

Anderton
Subsequent instruments, including Dimension Pro and Rapture (and I think Session Drummer as well) support SFZ 2.0. Whether they support all elements of SFZ 2.0 I don't know, because as has been mentioned, manufacturers can choose to support whatever aspects they want...same as with VST 3 or MIDI.

So we have a programming language that has no official specification and interpreter/instrument implementations that may or my not handle the various opcodes, and may even invent some of their own.  Not the most appealing programming environnement.
 
I'll (with regret) limit myself to the basic stuff that has a chance of working.
 

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.

Here is a link to both the SFZ 1 and 2 specifications: 
 
http://ariaengine.com/overview/sfz-format/
 
And a SFZ editor:
 
http://audio.clockbeat.com/sfZed.html
 
And a good SFZ player:
 
http://www.plogue.com/products/sforzando/
 
Bob Bone
 

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.
 
 

Paul P
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.

 
Here's a more contemporary forum. Not super-active, but not dead either. Here's an archive of the forum that was moved to ariaengine.com, it has lots of useful reference material.
 
SFZ has actually had a resurgence of late owing to its use in the ARIA engine, as well as the relatively recent introduction of players from Camel Audio, Garritan, and Plogue. However I doubt you'll see much push on the spec itself. It does what it does, and doesn't make any money for anyone, so there are no resources to push it. At least for me, though, it remains the fastest way to map a bunch of wav samples across a keyboard and make noises.