We (@riban and @jofemodo) are thinking of removing the internal FXs from fluidsynth. We have good reasons for doing this:
The fluidsynth implementation doesn’t fit our needs, as we are forced to spawn FXs processes for every channel (16 reverbs + 16 choruses = 32 processes), wasting resources . OK, that is not totally true, as we only spawn 8 reverbs + 8 choruses, so some channels share reverb and chorus (1 & 9, 2 & 10, etc.), what reduces the CPU load, but it adds complexity and it’s difficult to explain and remember. In other words, it’s a mess and it’s still wasting resources!!!
Fluidsynth internal FXs are not very good. We have much better reverbs and choruses available on the list.
The other soundfont engines (sfizz and linuxsampler) have no internal FXs and it doesn’t seem an issue. We like the idea of having the same behaviour for all soundfont engines because it simplifies implementing a “unified soundfont wrapper”
Anyway, we don’t want to make this movement without asking the community, specially those who are actively using fluidsynth. So, please, what do you think about it?
I say, “let them go”. If Fluidsynth is used as a standalone device then the effects are handy and fit with General MIDI but our use case is different. Let’s offer FS as a SF2 player and allow adding LV2 plugins - consistent behaviour.
I think it’s a good idea. From my limited experience the reverb from FS is not so good. When I installed a Graphic Equaliser (recent separate post), and I lost the FS reverb, I then added an extra reverb from the list of plugins. It was much more adjustable than the FS reverb and sounded way better.
How would you compensate for the reverb built in to each soundfont? Would it just not work?
OK @zynthianers! Your opinions sound as glory bells to my ears. Fluidsynth internal FX’s are gone and you can say goodby to them by simply updating (on testing),
BTW, fluidsynth now can run smoothly 16 channels keeping the CPU-load quite low. Supernice!!!
