StageLight sfz Tutorial

[Deleted User]

Here’s a brief screen recording of how to import an sfz file into StageLight.

The description in the YouTube video has instructions and links that will be useful which I’m also updating.

You can place the sfz files and folders with your samples in your sfz user folder inside of StageLight via the Files app.

If you download a compressed file for your SFZ, there are two components, the sfz file itself and the collection of samples referred to in the sfz file. They’re usually compressed together in one file.

This app will uncompress zip and tar files plus other formats.
iZip - Zip Unzip Unrar Tool by ComcSoft Corporation

You may end up needing to create a folder for your sfz file and samples after they’ve been decompressed to keep things tidy. In the video, there’s a collection of different types of sfz files (e.g. bass, strings, percussion). The sfz files are outside of the samples folder which has the same name as the sfz to avoid confusion

I’ve posted this question on the StageLight forum too and will post any additional information I discover.

Thank you in advance for any assistance!

Jumpercollins

@InfoCheck said:
Have any of the beta testers been able to add their own sfz files and samples to StageLight and use them in the instruments? If so, could you provide us with details on where they need to go in the StageLight file structure using the Files app?

I’ve posted this question on the StageLight forum too and will post any additional information I discover.

Thank you in advance for any assistance!

Good question if you put them in the user SFZ folder which you expect them to be put they show up whited out like this

Jumpercollins

@InfoCheck said:
Have any of the beta testers been able to add their own sfz files and samples to StageLight and use them in the instruments? If so, could you provide us with details on where they need to go in the StageLight file structure using the Files app?

I’ve posted this question on the StageLight forum too and will post any additional information I discover.

Thank you in advance for any assistance!

I’ve asked Matthew again over on the forum will report back what he sayes.

_ki

@Jumpercollins The files in your screenshot are still in packed form (tar archive) - you probably need to unpack these first on a desktop computer.

Jumpercollins

@_ki said:
@Jumpercollins The files in your screenshot are still in packed form (tar archive) - you probably need to unpack these first on a desktop computer.

Ok cheers

Jumpercollins

@_ki said:
@Jumpercollins The files in your screenshot are still in packed form (tar archive) - you probably need to unpack these first on a desktop computer.

@_kiI take it there isn’t a app that can unpack these files

gregsmith

Does this help? When I press import sfz nothing happens mind

Samu

@Jumpercollins said:

@_ki said:
@Jumpercollins The files in your screenshot are still in packed form (tar archive) - you probably need to unpack these first on a desktop computer.

@_kiI take it there isn’t a app that can unpack these files

There's a few apps on the Appstore that can extract *.tar archives (iZip) is one of them.

It's been a long time since I bumped into *.tar files but it might be worth to alert the Readle team to add *.tar support to Documents since they seem to be pretty responsive in adding support for new file-types.(Still waiting for audio-file editor they promised to add a few years back but it never happened).

gregsmith

Oh I see what you mean now, I restarted and it opened but sfz files are greyed our in files app

[Deleted User]

@Jumpercollins the files you have above are compressed files. When I put an sfz file in the sfz folder along with the folder of samples they reference, they still don’t appear in the menu for the instrument. In the Files app, iOS recognizes it’s an sfz file.

Littlewoodg

Ima mess with this now that Files app stabilized for me after the last iOS update...will check in if I get that W

Jumpercollins

@Samu said:

@Jumpercollins said:

@_ki said:
@Jumpercollins The files in your screenshot are still in packed form (tar archive) - you probably need to unpack these first on a desktop computer.

@_kiI take it there isn’t a app that can unpack these files

There's a few apps on the Appstore that can extract *.tar archives (iZip) is one of them.

It's been a long time since I bumped into *.tar files but it might be worth to alert the Readle team to add *.tar support to Documents since they seem to be pretty responsive in adding support for new file-types.(Still waiting for audio-file editor they promised to add a few years back but it never happened).

Cheers @Samu for all the info. Will give it a go.

Jumpercollins

@Samu said:

@Jumpercollins said:

@_ki said:
@Jumpercollins The files in your screenshot are still in packed form (tar archive) - you probably need to unpack these first on a desktop computer.

@_kiI take it there isn’t a app that can unpack these files

There's a few apps on the Appstore that can extract *.tar archives (iZip) is one of them.

It's been a long time since I bumped into *.tar files but it might be worth to alert the Readle team to add *.tar support to Documents since they seem to be pretty responsive in adding support for new file-types.(Still waiting for audio-file editor they promised to add a few years back but it never happened).

Just tried izip oh well.

[Deleted User]

I’ve been able to import an sfz successfully by loading an instrument and selecting the four squares icon, selecting import sfz, navigating to the file in the Files app, and then selecting the sfz file. Will do a short video later once I figure what aspects of sfz are supported in StageLight.

Littlewoodg

There’s two parts to sfz like those that Auria’s loads, and 2 parts to the Stagelight instruments too:the folder of .wav (which I think Stagelight calls the [Source] and the sfz file itself- Ima ser what can be done

Samu

@Jumpercollins said:

Just tried izip oh well.

Maybe try to rename the file first so it actually ends with *.tar and try again?
(Just a guess, but some apps do not scan the content of the files but rely on correct extension).

Jumpercollins

@Samu said:

@Jumpercollins said:

Just tried izip oh well.

Maybe try to rename the file first so it actually ends with *.tar and try again?
(Just a guess, but some apps do not scan the content of the files but rely on correct extension).

Still no joy after trying that !

Jumpercollins

@InfoCheck said:
I’ve been able to import an sfz successfully by loading an instrument and selecting the four squares icon, selecting import sfz, navigating to the file in the Files app, and then selecting the sfz file. Will do a short video later once I figure what aspects of sfz are supported in StageLight.

Great stuff will look out for your video glad you sorted it.

Korakios

I am in the desktop right now so if you share them I can convert them to zip if you want
Just a random google search (tar to zip)

http://www.convertfiles.com/convert/archive/TAR-to-ZIP.html

Jumpercollins

@Korakios said:
I am in the desktop right now so if you share them I can convert them to zip if you want
Just a random google search (tar to zip)

http://www.convertfiles.com/convert/archive/TAR-to-ZIP.html

Thanks for that will try tomorrow on my desktop as got a early start so time to hit the sack !

Samu

@Jumpercollins said:

@Samu said:

@Jumpercollins said:

Just tried izip oh well.

Maybe try to rename the file first so it actually ends with *.tar and try again?
(Just a guess, but some apps do not scan the content of the files but rely on correct extension).

Still no joy after trying that !

Files from this page http://freepats.zenvoid.org/Piano/acoustic-grand-piano.html
Are not clean *.tar files they seen to be *.xz which is a variant of 7z etc. etc...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xz

These files may have to take a trip thru the computer for extraction...

Could be worth to try extracting the file with Documents by Readle as it has a fairly new version of *.rar engine baked in which might support other formats too...

_ki

@Samu The file you had in your screenshot is an tar.xz file, so a tar file that is compresses with xz .

tar itself is just an unix archive format without compression (tar = tape archive) . Nomally these files will be further compressed using gzip (gnu version of zip) and gets the extension tar.gz

On windows the WinZip can uncompress the tar.xz into a tar file and then decompose the tar file into the contained files.

.

Hupps - too late you figured it out yourself. The 7zip app probably also can handle xz and tar

[Deleted User]

Posted a brief video at the top of the thread on how to import sfz files into StageLight. I selected a string sfz and imported it into the ElectroGuitar instrument.

pauly

[Deleted User]

@Jumpercollins said:

@Korakios said:
I am in the desktop right now so if you share them I can convert them to zip if you want
Just a random google search (tar to zip)

http://www.convertfiles.com/convert/archive/TAR-to-ZIP.html

Thanks for that will try tomorrow on my desktop as got a early start so time to hit the sack !

This app will uncompress zip and tar files plus other formats.
iZip - Zip Unzip Unrar Tool by ComcSoft Corporation

You may end up needing to create a folder for your sfz file and samples after they’ve been decompressed to keep things tidy.

rs2000

@pauly said:

[Deleted User]

I still haven’t received any more information from StageLight about which SFZ specifications they support. Here’s a tiny piano SFZ zip file that works in StageLight. See the video at the beginning of the thread for information on how to load it into StageLight.

The TinyPiano.sfz file can be edited in a text editor. You may need to change the name of the file to TinyPiano.txt (e.g. the Notes app) and back again to see or edit the text. The TinyPiano.sfz file maps every 3 notes from G#0 through C#8 using 30 piano samples located in the TinyPiano folder starting from Piano-A0.wav through Piano-C8.wav. It uses the most basic SFZ code to map the samples to notes and can be used as a template for making your own SFZ files from samples where you’d just use the appropriate note ranges along with sample file and folder names for your SFZ instrument.

You can do a lot more with SFZ than this, and as I figure out what is compatible with StageLight, I’ll post that information here.

Rodolfo

I have managed to import several SFZ files after some trial and error.
Key steps:
1) The soundfont file must be unziped first (on a PC/Mac or iPad with the proper uzip/tar tool)
2) The .sfz file and the wav files folder have to be in a single folder
3) That folder must be copied to the folder /On My iPad/StageLight/StageLight User/SFZ
4) When importing from the app, point to the sfz file in previous mentioned folder

[Deleted User]

1. The Sforzando app available for free on plague.com for macOS or Windows can create SFZ files.
2. I’ve successfully loaded in an SF2 with lots of instruments into Sforzando and converted it into a series of SFZ files.
3. Zipped the converted folder, transfer it to iOS, and unzipped it.
4. Transferred the unzipped folder into the appropriate StageLight SFZ location via the Files app.
5. Did an sfz Import of the grand piano, worked well in the StageLight ElectroKeys instrument.
6. Did an sfz Import of the steel guitar, worked in the ElectroGuitar instrument.
7. Tried a jazz drum sfz Import into the SampleVerse instrument and it failed.

[Deleted User]

A list of sites with free SFZ files you can download.

Audiojunkie

This is great info guys! Does anyone know if DFD is supported?