FluidSynth, formerly named iiwusynth, is a free open source software synthesizer which converts MIDI note data into an audio signal using SoundFont technology without need for a SoundFont-compatible soundcard. FluidSynth can act as a virtual MIDI device, able to receive MIDI data from any program and transform it into audio on-the-fly. It can also read in SMF (.mid) files directly. On the output side, it can send audio data directly to an audio device for playback, or to a Raw or Wave file. It can also convert a SMF file directly to an audio file in faster-than-real-time.[2] The combination of these features gives FluidSynth the following major use cases:

  • Synthesizing MIDI data from another application directly to the speakers,
  • Synthesizing MIDI data from another application, recording the output to an audio file,
  • Playing a MIDI file to the speakers,
  • Converting a MIDI file to a digital audio file.
FluidSynth
Developer(s)Peter Hanappe, Conrad Berhörster, Antoine Schmitt, Pedro López-Cabanillas, Josh Green, David Henningsson and others
Stable release
2.4.1[1] Edit this on Wikidata / 1 December 2024; 27 days ago (1 December 2024)
Repository
Written inC
Operating systemUnix-like operating system, Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, Microsoft Windows, OS/2
Available inEnglish
TypeSoftware synthesizer
LicenseGNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 or later
Websitewww.fluidsynth.org Edit this on Wikidata
Qsynth frontend

The size of loaded SoundFont banks is limited by the amount of RAM available. There is a GUI for FluidSynth called Qsynth, which is also open source. Both are available in most Linux distributions, and can also be compiled for Windows. Windows binary installers are not distributed alone and are bundled with QSynth.

It features microtonal support and was used in the MicrotonalISM project of the Network for Interdisciplinary Studies in Science, Technology, and Music.[3] A Max/MSP plugin is available from IRCAM.[4]

The core synthesizer is written as a C library with a large application programming interface (API). Partial bindings for Python,[5] Ruby,[6] Haskell,[7] and .NET Framework[8] are available. It has also been converted into a LV2 plugin,[9] which has enabled it to run in LV2 plugin-based open-source effects pedals such as Mod Duo and Zynthian[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Release 2.4.1". 1 December 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  2. ^ Green, Josh (2009-11-02). "FluidSynth 1.1.0 - "A More Solid Fluid"". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-09-02.
  3. ^ "MicrotonalISM". N-ism.org. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  4. ^ "FluidSynth for Max/MSP - IMTR". Imtr.ircam.fr. 2007-05-01. Archived from the original on 2016-09-21. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  5. ^ Whitehead, Nathan. "GitHub: pyFluidSynth". GitHub. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  6. ^ steinbro. "steinbro/ruby-fluidsynth: Ruby bindings for FluidSynth". GitHub.com. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  7. ^ "bindings-fluidsynth: Haskell FFI bindings for fluidsynth software synthesizer". Hackage.haskell.org. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  8. ^ "FluidSynth Wrapper for .NET - Z-Systems". Z-sys.org. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  9. ^ Coelho, Filipe (December 12, 2020). "DIE-Plugins: Fluidsynth". GitHub. a collection of plugins imported into the DISTRHO project for easy packaging.
  10. ^ "DIE Fluid SynthDIE Fluid Synth". ModDevices pedalboards.
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