FluidSynth
More info
- Creator
- Peter Hanappe
- Released
- c. 2000
- Type
- Software synthesizer (library)
- License
- LGPL 2.1
- Website
- fluidsynth.org
Open-source real-time synthesizer that plays MIDI through SoundFont files, quietly embedded in a long list of programs that need to sound like a sound card.
Peter Hanappe started the project around 2000 under the memorable name iiwusynth before settling on FluidSynth. It loads instruments from SoundFont 2 files and accepts MIDI from files, keyboards or other software. It runs standalone, behind the Qsynth GUI, or as a library.
The library is where it earns its keep. The LGPL licence makes it easy to embed, so it turns up in game engines like ScummVM, in notation software and in Linux distributions as the default way to play MIDI files. With a decent General MIDI bank it sounds considerably better than the sound cards it replaced — which, admittedly, is not a high bar.