SFZ+MIDI to audio via command line

Question

I am an algorithmic composer with a library of over one hundred .SFZ files. I have been generating a bunch of single-track MIDI files using midiutil in python, and then manually opening up Sforzando in a DAW to play the midi tracks using SFZ soundfonts.

Is there a way for me to automate this process? I can think of two possibilities, neither of which I've found the solution for. I could convert all the .SFZ to .SF2 and then use fluidsynth or timidity, but I haven't found a way to do that in an efficient manner given that I'd be converting 100+ files (there is an unanswered question on this site regarding how to do this). Alternatively, I'd like to find a MIDI rendering software that is a) usable via command line and b) compatible with SFZ. Do either of those things exist? I am on OS X, but could work with virtual box linux.

Thanks!

Answer 1

This can be solved using sfizz, specifically the sfizz_render program they include. I couldn't find a packaged version of that program but you can build it from source as follows:

git clone https://github.com/sfztools/sfizz.git
cd sfizz
git submodule update --init --recursive
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DSFIZZ_RENDER=ON -DSFIZZ_VST=ON -DSFIZZ_AU=ON -DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=14 ..

The build should include a folder called clients which contains an executable named sfizz_render. You can give that a path you your sfz, midi and output wav like so:

./sfizz_render --sfz "/path/to/Virtuosity_Drums-924/Programs/01-basic-kit.sfz" --wav /path/to/sfizz_render_test.wav --midi /path/to/midi/path.mid

This should work on Linux as well. Hope that helps.