Sf2 piano fonts under 30MB

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amc252
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Sf2 piano fonts under 30MB

Post by amc252 »

Hi everybody,

I've been trying the following piano sf2 fonts on fluidsynth:

74MB Nice-Steinway-Lite-v3.0.sf2
53MB Yamaha_C5_Pianoteq.sf2
34MB VS_Upright_Piano_lite.sf2
25MB SalC5Light2.sf2
14MB Wii Grand Piano.sf2

I was wondering if anyone knows other lightweight sf2 piano fonts under 30MB that sound good.

Thanks.

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Re: Sf2 piano fonts under 30MB

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

I could make you an acceptable piano patch, but it would be in sfz format.

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amc252
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Re: Sf2 piano fonts under 30MB

Post by amc252 »

j_e_f_f_g wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 4:09 am

I could make you an acceptable piano patch, but it would be in sfz format.

Thanks for your answer.

I'm a total beginner at digital music, don't even know what a piano patch is.
I use fluidsynth, and I think it can't play sfz files, only sf2.

I'm trying to get a lightweight yet realistic sounding font to record my midi keyboard.
Those on the list work okay, but do not sound completely realistic, especially at mid-range.

If you mean sfz samples, I tried them on linuxsampler, but those that work are biggish and seem to cause more x-runs than fluidsynth.

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Re: Sf2 piano fonts under 30MB

Post by tavasti »

amc252 wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 6:28 am

I'm trying to get a lightweight yet realistic sounding font to record my midi keyboard.
Those on the list work okay, but do not sound completely realistic, especially at mid-range.

Smaller the size less realism you get. If you need to get it fit under 30MB, then take some of those light ones, and edit with Polyphone, removing some samples and stretching range of note or range of velocity. But sure, it will sound worse after it.

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Re: Sf2 piano fonts under 30MB

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

amc252 wrote:

what a piano patch is.

Any piano sound (instrument), regardless of how it's produced. It could be produced on a synth using oscillators, or digital waveforms stored in sf2 format, or the same stored in sfz or kontakt format, It could be physically modeled. Whatever. If it's the sound of a piano created via some electronic device, then it's a piano patch.

fluidsynth can't play sfz

Right. You'd either have to use a sfz plugin like Linuxsampler or sfizz, or Szorfzando. Or if you're using a DAW that handles LV2 plugins (QTractor, Muse, Ardour, etc),, what I'd do is make you a plugin that has its player built in. Then you just load it into a track, and it's ready to go.

Actually, if you're just looking for a piano sound to play, and not record, then I already have a standalone piano program for you.

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Re: Sf2 piano fonts under 30MB

Post by amc252 »

tavasti wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:08 am
amc252 wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 6:28 am

I'm trying to get a lightweight yet realistic sounding font to record my midi keyboard.
Those on the list work okay, but do not sound completely realistic, especially at mid-range.

Smaller the size less realism you get. If you need to get it fit under 30MB, then take some of those light ones, and edit with Polyphone, removing some samples and stretching range of note or range of velocity. But sure, it will sound worse after it.

Yeah, that makes sense, less data less details.
However, my laptop only has 4GB or RAM, and I'm trying to keep things as light as possible.
My present setup is launching fluidsynth from the terminal and connecting my midi with aconnect. I record in OBS Studio, no DAW.

Sound "quality" is of course a matter of personal preference, and I have noticed distinct differences within the fonts I used.
Yamaha_C5_Pianoteq.sf2, VS_Upright_Piano_lite.sf2, and Wii Grand Piano.sf2 are too bright for my taste, and I liked the Nice-Steinway-Lite-v3.0.sf2 and SalC5Light2.sf2 better.
These two last fonts are satisfactory, so what I'm looking for are fonts of similar size that might sound better but with a similar soft sound.
I think editing soundfonts is way beyond my skill level, I'm a total beginner at this stuff.

j_e_f_f_g wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 8:06 am
amc252 wrote:

what a piano patch is.

Any piano sound (instrument), regardless of how it's produced. It could be produced on a synth using oscillators, or digital waveforms stored in sf2 format, or the same stored in sfz or kontakt format, It could be physically modeled. Whatever. If it's the sound of a piano created via some electronic device, then it's a piano patch.

fluidsynth can't play sfz

Right. You'd either have to use a sfz plugin like Linuxsampler or sfizz, or Szorfzando. Or if you're using a DAW that handles LV2 plugins (QTractor, Muse, Ardour, etc),, what I'd do is make you a plugin that has its player built in. Then you just load it into a track, and it's ready to go.

Actually, if you're just looking for a piano sound to play, and not record, then I already have a standalone piano program for you.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I'm a total beginner at this stuff and learning something new everyday.

I'd rather stick to fluidsynth for now. I have tried linuxsampler, but several SFZ samples do not seem to work, and those that work tend to cause x-runs very easily.
Fluidsynth + aconnect + obs studio is a simple setup that keep RAM usage low.

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