Decent sampler deletes my sounds (useful info as well)

[The Kid]

I put my libraries in /home/javier/.config/DecentSampler/Sample Libraries
and only a Rhodes sound stays there. The rest of the sounds get deleted.
What's going on?

[PMan]

I have no idea, but you can try this to get more info from your computer:

First, put your samples back in the location you want. Then, open a terminal window and type "reaper" (without the quotes).

Reaper will start, and as it does, text will appear in the terminal window (which will be behind Reaper, so you can't see it). As you do stuff in Reaper, text will be added in the terminal window.

Start DecentSampler in Reaper. Then just close Reaper, and see what is in the terminal window. I can't predict what it will reveal, but it may give you a hint as to whats going on.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by PMan

I have no idea, but you can try this to get more info from your computer:

First, put your samples back in the location you want. Then, open a terminal window and type "reaper" (without the quotes).

Reaper will start, and as it does, text will appear in the terminal window (which will be behind Reaper, so you can't see it). As you do stuff in Reaper, text will be added in the terminal window.

Start DecentSampler in Reaper. Then just close Reaper, and see what is in the terminal window. I can't predict what it will reveal, but it may give you a hint as to whats going on.

Good idea, I'll give it a try, thanks!

[The Kid]

Most of the sounds are useless anyway. I just need a rhodes, a hammond and a clavinet from a sampler VI.
At least the rhodes that doesn't get deleted is decent. So, rhodes plugin...

[4duhwinnn]

There are over 240 sounds out of 600+, converted for the linux decentsampler's format, and I have a couple dozen so far that to me are the opposite of useless. Many genres are isolated, and their audio characteristics may grind and gouge on some, but shine and polish for others.
Cheers

[elcalen]

One thing you could try is storing the sample libraries somewhere else and loading through DecentSampler's "File..." menu, see if that makes any difference. (You should only need to load the sample library once that way, after that it should show up under "My Libraries".)

That's how I've always used it, and haven't encountered issues. (Except if I recall correctly, one time after an update it had cleared the "My Library" section, but I only needed to reload them, the files were fine...)

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by elcalen

One thing you could try is storing the sample libraries somewhere else and loading through DecentSampler's "File..." menu, see if that makes any difference. (You should only need to load the sample library once that way, after that it should show up under "My Libraries".)

That's how I've always used it, and haven't encountered issues. (Except if I recall correctly, one time after an update it had cleared the "My Library" section, but I only needed to reload them, the files were fine...)

That worked, thanks!

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by 4duhwinnn

There are over 240 sounds out of 600+, converted for the linux decentsampler's format, and I have a couple dozen so far that to me are the opposite of useless. Many genres are isolated, and their audio characteristics may grind and gouge on some, but shine and polish for others.
Cheers

I didn't know about so many sounds! The ones I've found are almost useless TO ME (sorry about making it sound like they are BAD sounds)
The rhodes I have is OK but a bit weak when you hit it hard.
Hammond, I had to sample an old hardware Korg in ReaSamplomatic5000 to do the job.
Clavinet, I use from a General MIDI plugin with effects.
I don't know where to find DecentSampler amazing sounds.

[elcalen]

https://www.pianobook.co.uk/ is the best place for DecentSampler libraries. The only issue is, you can't (as of yet) filter for DecentSampler format, and they have libraries in many different formats. I hope they'll add a filter in the future... (You could try filtering for EXS24, because a lot of those have been converted to DecentSampler, but that won't hit quite all of them...)

[4duhwinnn]

There is a google search string at the David Hilowitzt website


https://www.decentsamples.com/blog/


that finds the DecentSampler sounds, scroll down just below the 103 free samples video, and click the link.

Yoshimi synth is great for ePiano, being 16 part multi-timbral, you can layer up many subtlties quite easily. The Folderol Collection sounds have some good starter sounds, the more banks you get familiar with, the more intricate your sound sculpting will become.

Dexed free DX7 synth is great for ePianos, and a dedicated Frenchman sorted out the hordes of duplicate sysex files found around the net, and archived the whole lot in a collection of unique sysex files usable in Dexed, and likely the other DX7 type plugins:

http://hsjp.eu/downloads/Dexed/Dexed_cart_1.0.zip

Cheers

[Glennbo]

Plus 1 for Dexed. I used to have an original brown DX7, and had tons of system exclusive banks including my own patches saved to disk. They all load up and sound essentially the same as the physical hardware unit I used to own.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by 4duhwinnn

There is a google search string at the David Hilowitzt website


https://www.decentsamples.com/blog/


that finds the DecentSampler sounds, scroll down just below the 103 free samples video, and click the link.

Yoshimi synth is great for ePiano, being 16 part multi-timbral, you can layer up many subtlties quite easily. The Folderol Collection sounds have some good starter sounds, the more banks you get familiar with, the more intricate your sound sculpting will become.

Dexed free DX7 synth is great for ePianos, and a dedicated Frenchman sorted out the hordes of duplicate sysex files found around the net, and archived the whole lot in a collection of unique sysex files usable in Dexed, and likely the other DX7 type plugins:

http://hsjp.eu/downloads/Dexed/Dexed_cart_1.0.zip

Cheers

I installed Dexed and the patches. Thank you!
I used to have a DX5, ages ago. It was a beast!
Still, I could really use a good Rhodes, a Hammond, a Clavinet, a Wurly and a Piano. For the jobs, you see, not for my own music.
I guess I'd have to save up for Pianoteq, but the dolar is expensive in my country, so, I'd rather invest in hardware that I can resell. Maybe a Korg workstation, or something like that.
I have an old Triton LE with the keyboard not working, and it saves me a lot. I just use the sounds. I sample some. I don't like the piano sound though.

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by The Kid

I installed Dexed and the patches. Thank you!
I used to have a DX5, ages ago. It was a beast!
Still, I could really use a good Rhodes, a Hammond, a Clavinet, a Wurly and a Piano. For the jobs, you see, not for my own music.

LinuxSampler, https://www.linuxsampler.org/

and the free 932 MB sample set of a Yamaha CF3 piano,

https://www.linuxsampler.org/instruments.html

is a native Linux solution for a very high quality acoustic grand. The Mellotron samples on that page are also great sounding.

LinuxSampler will load .gig files for GigaSampler, for which some commercial libraries are still available, plus it will open SF2/SFZ files.

[The Kid]

Great!
I need Qsampler as well, don't I?
Is it a plugin or standalone?

EDIT: I can't figure out how to get LinuxSampler and install it.
I don't want to compile it.

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by The Kid

Great!
I need Qsampler as well, don't I?
Is it a plugin or standalone?

Yeah, you need either Qsampler or Jsampler to assign sounds to channels and midi busses.

LinuxSampler is a headless plugin like a black box you put on a track. Qsampler and Jsampler are front ends that will see and connect to a running instance of LinuxSampler. Once connected, you use the front end to select sounds and assign them to a midi channel and a midi bus.

Once a project has had all the instruments selected and assigned, you no longer need to load a front end, as REAPER will remember and load the samples in the state they were in on the last save.

EDIT: I can't figure out how to get LinuxSampler and install it.
I don't want to compile it.

Try your repository. Something like this in 'Buntu flavors.

sudo apt-get install linuxsampler

or in Manjaro just find it in Pacmac.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by Glennbo

Yeah, you need either Qsampler or Jsampler to assign sounds to channels and midi busses.

LinuxSampler is a headless plugin like a black box you put on a track. Qsampler and Jsampler are front ends that will see and connect to a running instance of LinuxSampler. Once connected, you use the front end to select sounds and assign them to a midi channel and a midi bus.

Once a project has had all the instruments selected and assigned, you no longer need to load a front end, as REAPER will remember and load the samples in the state they were in on the last save.



Try your repository. Something like this in 'Buntu flavors.

sudo apt-get install linuxsampler

or in Manjaro just find it in Pacmac.

unfortunately linuxsampler is not in my repos. Qsampler is. Weird.

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by The Kid

unfortunately linuxsampler is not in my repos. Qsampler is. Weird.

You can get a compiled version of the LV2 and VSTi at the KXStudio plugins page.

https://kx.studio/Repositories:Plugins

.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by Glennbo

You can get a compiled version of the LV2 and VSTi at the KXStudio plugins page.

https://kx.studio/Repositories:Plugins

.

I got it working! Maestro Concert Grand v2. I saved it as a track template. Reaper remembers it. Life is good.
Thanks!

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by The Kid

I got it working! Maestro Concert Grand v2. I saved it as a track template. Reaper remembers it. Life is good.
Thanks!

Veddy cool. I think that piano is a really great one and have used it over others I have in Kontakt and ToonTrack Piano Essentials.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by Glennbo

Veddy cool. I think that piano is a really great one and have used it over others I have in Kontakt and ToonTrack Piano Essentials.

I tried it first with an Alesis controller and wasn't great, but when I played it with my M-Audio Keystation Pro 88 it rocked!
I was able to play Tango, which is very demanding.

[JamesPeters]

Install Sfizz (LV2 or VST) and try Salamander Grand Piano (SFZ). I think it sounds easily as good as Maestro especially if you use the controls in Sfizz to preload more than the default bit into RAM. I'm not a pianist but I prefer Salamander's sound and it's really nice to have the controls in Sfizz's panel.

You'll find Sfizz handy for other SFZ files, some of which you can download from sites that have Decentsampler files (since they usually use the same samples).

Sfizz hasn't deleted anything on my computer either.

PS. Surge has some great electric piano and patches included.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

Install Sfizz (LV2 or VST) and try Salamander Grand Piano (SFZ). I think it sounds easily as good as Maestro especially if you use the controls in Sfizz to preload more than the default bit into RAM. I'm not a pianist but I prefer Salamander's sound and it's really nice to have the controls in Sfizz's panel.

You'll find Sfizz handy for other SFZ files, some of which you can download from sites that have Decentsampler files (since they usually use the same samples).

Sfizz hasn't deleted anything on my computer either.

PS. Surge has some great electric piano and patches included.

Downloading, thanks!
I just need a Wurly and a Hammond now.
Maybe some SFZ?

[JamesPeters]

For a Hammond organ sound: try CollaB3.

For a Wurlitzer type sound: I haven't noticed anything yet but it could be just under my radar.

Oh I forgot to mention that I'm using the version of the Salamander Grand Piano from their Github repo (click the green "code" button, then "download zip"). It has the samples as FLAC files. It seems to sound the same to me, it's smaller in size than the WAV version, and takes less CPU as well (plus has the keyswitch for natural/retuned in the SFZ file, instead of separate SFZ files).

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

Install Sfizz (LV2 or VST) and try Salamander Grand Piano (SFZ). I think it sounds easily as good as Maestro especially if you use the controls in Sfizz to preload more than the default bit into RAM. I'm not a pianist but I prefer Salamander's sound and it's really nice to have the controls in Sfizz's panel.

You'll find Sfizz handy for other SFZ files, some of which you can download from sites that have Decentsampler files (since they usually use the same samples).

Sfizz hasn't deleted anything on my computer either.

PS. Surge has some great electric piano and patches included.

Salamander works great with my cheapo Alesis controller, which takes less space than the M-Audio.
Maestro Concert Grand is good for proper piano playing (tango, etc) but for other stuff Salamander is better. It's different, I can use both for sure, so thanks

EDIT: Sfizz doesn't play that nicely, after all. It has some glitches, maybe I have to set it up better. LinuxSampler is a lot smoother. But for specific parts in a recording I don't mind. It's another color I can use.

[JamesPeters]

There's also an SFZ of the Maestro piano on Github (click the green "code" button, then "download zip"). It seems to work properly in Sfizz. Since it's FLAC files instead of WAV, it's significantly reduced in size but not in quality.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

There's also an SFZ of the Maestro piano on Github (click the green "code" button, then "download zip"). It seems to work properly in Sfizz. Since it's FLAC files instead of WAV, it's significantly reduced in size but not in quality.

I just edited the post before yours.

[JamesPeters]

Sfizz hasn't glitched on me at least for the SFZs that I used with it. Be sure to try the specific SFZ (with FLAC files) I mentioned and not the WAV ones, since those WAV versions are older. Also you'll want to preload more than the default 32 kb (hit the gear icon, and look under "engine"). Note any key switch options marked in red on the piano, since if you're accidentally using any of those it might sound strange. Check the settings for the SFZ once it's loaded (the two horizontal fader icon) for more aspects to control.

Your Reaper settings might need some adjustment too, I guess. And if you haven't optimized Linux for DAW use, you might have to change a few things.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

Sfizz hasn't glitched on me at least for the SFZs that I used with it. Be sure to try the specific SFZ (with FLAC files) I mentioned and not the WAV ones, since those WAV versions are older. Also you'll want to preload more than the default 32 kb (hit the gear icon, and look under "engine").

Your Reaper settings might need some adjustment too, I guess. And if you haven't optimized Linux for DAW use, you might have to change a few things.

My Reaper/Linux is tip-top. I run a lot of virtual instruments, a dozen in a session, for instance, never had any trouble.
I'll try the FLAC SFZ. I already set the preload to 256 kb.

[JamesPeters]

After a bit of poking around: it seems Linuxsampler is the more stable/mature option. Sfizz has some bugs which might cause issues depending on what you're doing (versus what I'm not doing, since I'm probably not doing as much with the instrument while it's playing). Plus its SFZ 2 implementation isn't complete, which might affect some SFZ instruments depending on what opcodes they use. The main dev seems to be actively working on it, anyway, so that's good.

[elcalen]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

For a Hammond organ sound: try CollaB3.

Another option is setBfree by x42: https://x42-plugins.com/x42/setBfree

[moss]

I implemented a free tool to convert several open multisample formats.
In the latest release it supports now Decent Sampler as well.

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewt...f=268&t=522786

Other formats: WAV creator, SF2, SFZ, (Bitwig) multisample.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by elcalen

Another option is setBfree by x42: https://x42-plugins.com/x42/setBfree

That saved me, thanks!

I had CollaB3-installer.sh or something like that and I couldn't do anything with it.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by moss

I implemented a free tool to convert several open multisample formats.
In the latest release it supports now Decent Sampler as well.

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewt...f=268&t=522786

Other formats: WAV creator, SF2, SFZ, (Bitwig) multisample.

I'll check it out, thanks!

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by Glennbo

Plus 1 for Dexed. I used to have an original brown DX7, and had tons of system exclusive banks including my own patches saved to disk. They all load up and sound essentially the same as the physical hardware unit I used to own.

The DX7 E.piano 1 took me right back to the 80's, when I was a teenager lol

Amazing sound!

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by The Kid

The DX7 E.piano 1 took me right back to the 80's, when I was a teenager lol

Amazing sound!

There's a patch called "GrandClav" that I used a lot with my real DX7, and I've used that patch with the virtual DX7 on a couple of projects. It's like a very nice clav sound, but more clangorous and buzzy when you bear into it velocity wise.

[JamesPeters]

Originally Posted by elcalen

Another option is setBfree by x42: https://x42-plugins.com/x42/setBfree

I'd forgotten about that one, since the last time I saw it, Reaper didn't run LV2 plugins. It's definitely good. I had to EQ it significantly to make it sound similar to CollaB3, but it's quite possible. It takes around 1/10 the CPU of CollaB3, so I don't mind running a single instance of ReaEQ after it if I want it to sound that warm.

[JamesPeters]

Originally Posted by The Kid

(Sfizz issues...)

Someone reported an issue with Sfizz in Reaper, and a fix was implemented. With any luck, it solves the issues you were experiencing.

You can download the "current" (development) version from this page:

https://sfz.tools/sfizz/downloads

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

Someone reported an issue with Sfizz in Reaper, and a fix was implemented. With any luck, it solves the issues you were experiencing.

You can download the "current" (development) version from this page:

https://sfz.tools/sfizz/downloads

Thanks James, the version number is the same than before, sfizz_1.0.0-0_amd64
so I don't think there's the fix over there. At least for the direct binarys.
There's the option to add the repository (maybe it's more up to date), but I don't know if I want to do that.

[JamesPeters]

That's the version number that shows on the first page, but if you follow the links you end up with a development version if you start by selecting the current version and not the stable version.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

That's the version number that shows on the first page, but if you follow the links you end up with a development version if you start by selecting the current version and not the stable version.

Right, I've installed the current version and it has the same glitches. The sound cuts off randomly when you play it like a piano.
Thanks anyway for the info, It could have worked!