Optimizing Sforzando?

[Mr. Lumbergh]

I've gotten the Sforzando VST2 running pretty well in LMMS on Debian 10 using wine-staging 5.6. It took a bit to start the first time and seemed to hang, but after restarting LMMS it seems to be much better and I've installed Piano 162 on it with good-sounding results that have so far proven stable. The problem is, it takes a LOT of CPU; if I try a fast run or complex chords, the meter in LMMS spikes into the red and I get distortion, and this is on a pretty decent processor (Ryzen 7 3800X). When it spikes the CPU meter into the red, it distorts pretty badly. This is also true of other instruments such as the TableWarp2, so I don't think it's just the instrument.
I'm just curious if any others out there are using Sforzando under wine, and if so, do you have any tips for optimizing it so it isn't quite as CPU-intensive? I've already upped the max RAM allocation to 1.25 (the max it would let me) and disk precache to 64KB, but this doesn't seem to have helped the high CPU demand much. This looks like it could be a great tool, I don't want to give up on it.
Here's the site for those that are wondering what the heck I'm talking about: https://www.plogue.com/products/sforzando.html

[Michael Willis]

I haven't used Sforzando, but a few years back I tried running some other windows vst2 plugins with a wine bridge. It kind of worked but was mostly a big headache, so these days I only run native Linux plugins. I'm wondering if a native plugin might work better for you. Three options are LinuxSampler, LiquidSFZ, and sfizz. Do you need features from Sforzando that are missing from these native plugins?

[GMaq]

There is also SFZero as a LinuxVST... but it doesn't support all opcodes

Sforzando is a nice bit of software but it's VST Plugin has a long history of being cranky with Wine on Linux systems, lol it runs just well enough that you start having expectations but it doesn't quite seal the deal... What's more it could work quite well and then with a program or Wine update go back to eating CPU or be even worse..

I don't go as far as eliminating Windows VST's, I have some like Fabfilter and sknote that work as seamlessly as Linux native plugins but to be honest Sforzando has been a problem child for a long time... As far as optimizing Wine, Wine staging is about as optimized as you can hope for, running Audio plugins is a very niche thing for the Wine developers to get to specific about..

[Mr. Lumbergh]

I haven't used Sforzando, but a few years back I tried running some other windows vst2 plugins with a wine bridge. It kind of worked but was mostly a big headache, so these days I only run native Linux plugins. I'm wondering if a native plugin might work better for you. Three options are LinuxSampler, LiquidSFZ, and sfizz. Do you need features from Sforzando that are missing from these native plugins?

Which of these three if any have you had success installing? I tried to install Sfizz yesterday, first from git then I found a repo for Debian and installed with apt. It doesn't appear in my applications launcher however and searches for it lead back to the cloned git repo instead of the installed version that Synaptic assures me is installed.
Are there any tricks to this I'm missing, or is your recommendation for a different player of these three?

I appreciate any suggestions you might have.

[Mr. Lumbergh]

There is also SFZero as a LinuxVST... but it doesn't support all opcodes

Sforzando is a nice bit of software but it's VST Plugin has a long history of being cranky with Wine on Linux systems, lol it runs just well enough that you start having expectations but it doesn't quite seal the deal... What's more it could work quite well and then with a program or Wine update go back to eating CPU or be even worse..

I'm trying to get Sfizz running as per my reply above, and am having some trouble with it. Apt says it's installed but I can't locate the standalone or plugin player for it, so I'm trying to determine if it's something I did wrong.
I agree that it's nice, but the high CPU is proving to be a bit of a deal-breaker due to the distortion issue, so I'm really hoping a native plugin will perform better in my environment.

I don't go as far as eliminating Windows VST's, I have some like Fabfilter and sknote that work as seamlessly as Linux native plugins but to be honest Sforzando has been a problem child for a long time... As far as optimizing Wine, Wine staging is about as optimized as you can hope for, running Audio plugins is a very niche thing for the Wine developers to get to specific about..

Yes, unfortunately I don't reasonably think one can; that eliminates too many options that I just don't see an alternative for on Linux. It's just a bummer that all too often you encounter several plugins, even commercial ones from Soundspot and Tubeohm for example, that run almost seamlessly and get your hopes up only to run into others that run poorly or not at all.

[Michael Willis]

Which of these three if any have you had success installing? I tried to install Sfizz yesterday, first from git then I found a repo for Debian and installed with apt. It doesn't appear in my applications launcher however and searches for it lead back to the cloned git repo instead of the installed version that Synaptic assures me is installed.
Are there any tricks to this I'm missing, or is your recommendation for a different player of these three?

Oh, I should have been more clear. I used LinuxSampler for years, and then switched to sfizz recently. I use the sfizz LV2 plugin, mostly in Ardour, occasionally in Carla. I don't think that sfizz has a stand-alone app.

[Mr. Lumbergh]

What method did you use to install Sfizz and where was the folder for the plugin located? Apt tells me it's installed, but I haven't been able to located where or get it running.

[Michael Willis]

What method did you use to install Sfizz and where was the folder for the plugin located? Apt tells me it's installed, but I haven't been able to located where or get it running.

Download the latest release from GitHub:
https://github.com/sfztools/sfizz/releases/

It turns out I was wrong, there is a stand-alone app, but I find more utility in plugins anyway, so I suggest downloading sfizz-plugins-0.3.2-linux-amd64.tar.gz.

Extract the lv2 from the tar.gz file and put it in a directory that your DAW will find it, like /use/local/lib/lv2/ or ~/.lv2/

Then launch your DAW and try to use sfizz as a plugin on a midi track.

[Mr. Lumbergh]

What method did you use to install Sfizz and where was the folder for the plugin located? Apt tells me it's installed, but I haven't been able to located where or get it running.

Download the latest release from GitHub:
https://github.com/sfztools/sfizz/releases/

It turns out I was wrong, there is a stand-alone app, but I find more utility in plugins anyway, so I suggest downloading sfizz-plugins-0.3.2-linux-amd64.tar.gz.

Extract the lv2 from the tar.gz file and put it in a directory that your DAW will find it, like /use/local/lib/lv2/ or ~/.lv2/

Then launch your DAW and try to use sfizz as a plugin on a midi track.

Hey man, I wanted to say thank you. That second link extracted just fine. In LMMS LV2's do need a wrapper, but loading it into Carla Rack did the trick. So far it does look like it's much easier on the CPU than Sforzando under WINE.

[Michael Willis]

Hey man, I wanted to say thank you. That second link extracted just fine. In LMMS LV2's do need a wrapper, but loading it into Carla Rack did the trick. So far it does look like it's much easier on the CPU than Sforzando under WINE.

Yes! Long-distance non-infectious high five.