sforzando

sforzando is a software application whose purpose is to help you play SFZ, DLS, and WAV files, as well as modify SFZ files in order to test or share instruments.

Clean feature lineup

The tool reveals a well-organized layout where you can drag and drop audio files directly in the main window. A help manual cannot be found in the package so you need to experiment with the built-in parameters in order to get an idea about how the utility works.

Audio playback capabilities

sforzando offers you the possibility to get information about SFZ files, namely section, quantity, and last triggered item. What’s more, you can make use of basic audio playback capabilities and play, pause, or stop the current audio selection, and adjust the volume.
Other important configuration settings worth being mentioned enable you to alter the sound with the aid of a built-in piano, import MIDI files, add WAV files, press pedals-like buttons, set the polyphony level, configure the panning mode, as well as reload the current audio file.
The application hides several advanced configuration settings under the hood which are meant to help you configure the maximum RAM allocation to a certain value, specify the user file path, and pick the directory where the converted files are stored.
Plus, you can view performance monitoring details about the RAM, disk, used layers, LFOs, and filters, check out the current host rendering settings (like sample rate), as well as set tuning parameters, namely SCL file, SCL center, and tuning standard. In addition, you may keep track of input MIDI devices and tweak the audio device, stereo pain, sample rate, and buffer size.
Another smart featured included in the package lets you drag and drop SF2, DLS, and WAV files directly in the program’s interface in order to automatically convert them to SFZ 2.0 file format (which can be tweaked according to your preferences).
Tests have pointed out that sforzando carries out a task quickly and provides very good output quality. It is quite friendly with system resources so the overall performance of the computer is not hampered.

Final remarks

The bottom line is that sforzando may mislead you into thinking that it’s nothing more than a simple SFZ 2.0 compliant sample player. It comes bundled with powerful and advanced features which are suitable especially for professionals.