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SFZ

An open text format that plays almost anywhere.

What you get

A plain text .sfz file next to the WAV files it maps.

Kit Name/
  Kit Name.sfz
  Kick 01.wav
  Snare 03.wav
  ...

SFZ is a text format. You can open the file in any editor and read the mapping, which makes it the easiest export to check when something looks wrong. Each region names its sample, its key range and its velocity range.

Where it goes

Nowhere in particular. SFZ players load the file from wherever you keep it, so put the folder somewhere in your own library and point the player at it. Keep the WAV files beside the .sfz.

Players that read it

SFZ is an open format with several independent implementations. Plogue sforzando is free and is the most common way to audition an SFZ on a Mac. sfizz is open source. TAL-Sampler and a number of hardware and software samplers import SFZ as well.

Why this export is useful even if you do not use SFZ

SFZ is readable, so it is the fastest way to confirm that the grouping and the key mapping came out the way you expected before you commit the same instrument to a binary format. If the SFZ looks right, the EXS24 and MPC versions of the same instrument will be right too.

The format itself

This guide covers getting the file onto your sampler. For what is actually inside a .sfz, what else reads it and where its limits are, see the SFZ instrument format.