smplr
is a collection of sampled instruments for Web Audio API ready to be used with no setup required.
Examples:
import { Soundfont } from "smplr";
const context = new AudioContext();
const marimba = new Soundfont(context, { instrument: "marimba" });
marimba.start({ note: 60, velocity: 80 });
import { DrumMachine } from "smplr";
const context = new AudioContext();
const dm = new DrumMachine(context);
dm.start({ note: "kick" });
import { SplendidGrandPiano, Reverb } from "smplr";
const context = new AudioContext();
const piano = new SplendidGrandPiano(context);
piano.output.addEffect("reverb", new Reverb(context), 0.2);
piano.start({ note: "C4" });
See demo: https://danigb.github.io/smplr/
smplr
is still under development and features are considered unstable until v 1.0
Read CHANGELOG for changes.
- No setup: specifically, all samples are online, so no need for a server.
- Easy to use: everything should be intuitive for non-experienced developers
- Decent sounding: uses high quality open source samples. For better or worse, it is sample based 🤷
You can install the library with a package manager or use it directly by importing from the browser.
Samples are stored at https://github.com/smpldsnds and there is no need to download them. Kudos to all samplerist 🙌
Use npm or your favourite package manager to install the library to use it in your project:
npm i smplr
You can import directly from the browser. For example:
<html>
<body>
<button id="btn">play</button>
</body>
<script type="module">
import { SplendidGrandPiano } from "https://unpkg.com/smplr/dist/index.mjs"; // needs to be a url
const context = new AudioContext(); // create the audio context
const marimba = new SplendidGrandPiano(context); // create and load the instrument
document.getElementById("btn").onclick = () => {
context.resume(); // enable audio context after a user interaction
marimba.start({ note: 60, velocity: 80 }); // play the note
};
</script>
</html>
The package needs to be serve as a url from a service like unpkg or similar.
All instruments follows the same pattern: new Instrument(context, options)
. For example:
import { SplendidGrandPiano, Soundfont } from "smplr";
const context = new AudioContext();
const piano = new SplendidGrandPiano(context, { decayTime: 0.5 });
const marimba = new Soundfont(context, { instrument: "marimba" });
You can start playing notes as soon as one audio is loaded. But if you want to wait for all of them, you can use the load
property that returns a promise:
piano.load.then(() => {
// now the piano is fully loaded
});
Since the promise returns the instrument instance, you can create and wait in a single line:
const piano = await new SplendidGrandPiano(context).load;
loaded()
function was exposed instead.
All instruments share some configuration options that are passed as second argument of the constructor. As it name implies, all fields are optional:
volume
: A number from 0 to 127 representing the instrument global volume. 100 by defaultdestination
: AnAudioNode
that is the output of the instrument.AudioContext.destination
is used by defaultvolumeToGain
: a function to convert the volume to gain. It uses MIDI standard as default.disableScheduler
: disable internal scheduler.false
by default.scheduleLookaheadMs
: the lookahead of the scheduler. If the start time of the note is less than current time plus this lookahead time, the note will be started. 200ms by default.scheduleIntervalMs
: the interval of the scheduler. 50ms by default.onStart
: a function that is called when starting a note. It receives the note started as parameter. Bear in mind that the time this function is called is not precise, and it's determined by lookahead.onEnded
: a function that is called when the note ends. It receives the started note as parameter.
This package should be compatible with standardized-audio-context:
import { AudioContext } from "standardized-audio-context";
const context = new AudioContext();
const piano = new SplendidGrandPiano(context);
However, if you are using Typescript, you might need to "force cast" the types:
import { Soundfont } from "smplr";
import { AudioContext as StandardizedAudioContext } from "standardized-audio-context";
const context = new StandardizedAudioContext() as unknown as AudioContext;
const marimba = new Soundfont(context, { instrument: "marimba" });
The start
function accepts a bunch of options:
piano.start({ note: "C4", velocity: 80, time: 5, duration: 1 });
The velocity
is a number between 0 and 127 the represents at which velocity the key is pressed. The bigger the number, louder the sound. But velocity
not only controls the loudness. In some instruments, it also affects the timbre.
The start
function returns a stop
function for the given note:
const stopNote = piano.start({ note: 60 });
stopNote({ time: 10 });
Bear in mind that you may need to call context.resume()
before playing a note
Instruments have a global stop
function that can be used to stop all notes:
// This will stop all notes
piano.stop();
Or stop the specified one:
// This will stop C4 note
piano.stop(60);
You can schedule notes using time
and duration
properties. Both are measured in seconds. Time is the number of seconds since the AudioContext was created, like in audioContext.currentTime
For example, next example plays a C major arpeggio, one note per second:
const now = context.currentTime;
["C4", "E4", "G4", "C5"].forEach((note, i) => {
piano.start({ note, time: now + i, duration: 0.5 });
});
You can loop a note by using loop
, loopStart
and loopEnd
:
const sampler = new Sampler(audioContext, { duh: "duh-duh-ah.mp3" });
sampler.start({
note: "duh"
loop: true
loopStart: 1.0,
loopEnd: 9.0,
});
If loop
is true but loopStart
or loopEnd
are not specified, 0 and total duration will be used by default, respectively.
Instrument output
attribute represents the main output of the instrument. output.setVolume
method accepts a number where 0 means no volume, and 127 is max volume without amplification:
piano.output.setVolume(80);
volume
is global to the instrument, but velocity
is specific for each note.
Two events are supported onStart
and onEnded
. Both callbacks will receive as parameter started note.
Events can be configured globally:
const context = new AudioContext();
const sampler = new Sample(context, {
onStart: (note) => {
console.log(note.time, context.currentTime);
},
});
or per note basis:
piano.start({
note: "C4",
duration: 1,
onEnded: () => {
// will be called after 1 second
},
});
Global callbacks will be invoked regardless of whether local events are defined.
onStart
is not exact. It triggers slightly before the actual start time and is influenced by the scheduleLookaheadMs
parameter.
An packed version of DattorroReverbNode algorithmic reverb is included.
Use output.addEffect(name, effect, mix)
to connect an effect using a send bus:
import { Reverb, SplendidGrandPiano } from "smplr";
const reverb = new Reverb(context);
const piano = new SplendidGrandPiano(context, { volume });
piano.output.addEffect("reverb", reverb, 0.2);
To change the mix level, use output.sendEffect(name, mix)
:
piano.output.sendEffect("reverb", 0.5);
If you use default samples, they are stored at github pages. Github rate limits the number of requests per second. That could be a problem, specially if you're using a development environment with hot reload (like most React frameworks).
If you want to cache samples on the browser you can use a CacheStorage
object:
import { SplendidGrandPiano, CacheStorage } from "smplr";
const context = new AudioContext();
const storage = new CacheStorage();
// First time the instrument loads, will fetch the samples from http. Subsequent times from cache.
const piano = new SplendidGrandPiano(context, { storage });
CacheStorage
is based on Cache API and only works in secure environments that runs with https
. Read your framework documentation for setup instructions. For example, in nextjs you can use https://www.npmjs.com/package/next-dev-https. For vite there's https://github.com/liuweiGL/vite-plugin-mkcert. Find the appropriate solution for your environment.
An audio buffer sampler. Pass a buffers
object with the files to be load:
import { Sampler } from "smplr";
const buffers = {
kick: "https://smpldsnds.github.io/drum-machines/808-mini/kick.m4a",
snare: "https://smpldsnds.github.io/drum-machines/808-mini/snare-1.m4a",
};
const sampler = new Sampler(new AudioContext(), { buffers });
And then use the name of the buffer as note name:
sampler.start({ note: "kick" });
A Soundfont player. By default it loads audio from Benjamin Gleitzman's package of pre-rendered sound fonts.
import { Soundfont, getSoundfontNames, getSoundfontKits } from "smplr";
const marimba = new Soundfont(new AudioContext(), { instrument: "marimba" });
marimba.start({ note: "C4" });
It's intended to be a modern replacement of soundfont-player
Use getSoundfontNames
to get all available instrument names and getSoundfontKits
to get kit names.
There are two kits available: MusyngKite
or FluidR3_GM
. The first one is used by default: it sounds better but samples weights more.
const marimba = new Soundfont(context, {
instrument: "clavinet",
kit: "FluidR3_GM", // "MusyngKite" is used by default if not specified
});
Alternatively, you can pass your custom url as the instrument. In that case, the kit
is ignored:
const marimba = new Soundfont(context, {
instrumentUrl:
"https://gleitz.github.io/midi-js-soundfonts/MusyngKite/marimba-mp3.js",
});
You can enable note looping to make note names indefinitely long by loading loop data:
const marimba = new Soundfont(context, {
instrument: "cello",
loadLoopData: true,
});
A sampled acoustic piano. It uses Steinway samples with 4 velocity groups from SplendidGrandPiano
import { SplendidGrandPiano } from "smplr";
const piano = new SplendidGrandPiano(new AudioContext());
piano.start({ note: "C4" });
The second argument of the constructor accepts the following options:
baseUrl
:detune
: global detune in cents (0 if not specified)velocity
: default velocity (100 if not specified)volume
: default volume (100 if not specified)decayTime
: default decay time (0.5 seconds)notesToLoad
: an object with the following shape:{ notes: number[], velocityRange: [number, number]}
to specify a subset of notes to load
Example:
const piano = new SplendidGrandPiano(context, {
detune: -20,
volume: 80,
notesToLoad: {
notes: [60],
velocityRange: [1, 127],
},
});
A sampled electric pianos. Samples from https://github.com/sfzinstruments/GregSullivan.E-Pianos
import { ElectricPiano, getElectricPianoNames } from "smplr";
const instruments = getElectricPianoNames(); // => ["CP80", "PianetT", "WurlitzerEP200"]
const epiano = new ElectricPiano(new AudioContext(), {
instrument: "PianetT",
});
epiano.start({ note: "C4" });
// Includes a (basic) tremolo effect:
epiano.tremolo.level(30);
Available instruments:
CP80
: Yamaha CP80 Electric Grand Piano v1.3 (29-Sep-2004)PianetT
: Hohner Pianet T (type 2) v1.3 (24-Sep-2004)WurlitzerEP200
: Wurlitzer EP200 Electric Piano v1.1 (16-May-1999)
Samples from The Versilian Community Sample Library
import { Mallet, getMalletNames } from "smplr";
const instruments = getMalletNames();
const mallet = new Mallet(new AudioContext(), {
instrument: instruments[0],
});
Samples from archive.org
import { Mellotron, getMellotronNames } from "smplr";
const instruments = getMellotronNames();
const mallet = new Mellotron(new AudioContext(), {
instrument: instruments[0],
});
Sampled drum machines. Samples from different sources:
import { DrumMachine, getDrumMachineNames } from "smplr";
const instruments = getDrumMachineNames();
const context = new AudioContext();
const drums = new DrumMachine(context, { instrument: "TR-808" });
drums.start({ note: "kick" });
// Drum samples could have variations:
const now = context.currentTime;
drums.getVariations("kick").forEach((variation, index) => {
drums.start({ note: variation, time: now + index });
});
import { Smolken, getSmolkenNames } from "smplr";
const instruments = getSmolkenNames(); // => Arco, Pizzicato & Switched
// Create an instrument
const context = new AudioContext();
const doubleBass = await new Smolken(context, { instrument: "Arco" }).load;
Versilian is a sample capable of using the Versilian Community Sample Library.
import { Versilian, getVersilianInstruments } from "smplr";
// getVersilianInstruments returns a Promise
const instrumentNames = await getVersilianInstruments();
const context = new AudioContext();
const sampler = new Versilian(context, { instrument: instrumentNames[0] });
Sampler capable of reading .sf2 files directly:
import { Soundfont2Sampler } from "smplr";
import { SoundFont2 } from "soundfont2";
const context = new AudioContext();
const sampler = new Soundfont2Sampler(context, {
url: "https://smpldsnds.github.io/soundfonts/soundfonts/galaxy-electric-pianos.sf2",
createSoundfont: (data) => new SoundFont2(data),
});
sampler.load.then(() => {
// list all available instruments for the soundfont
console.log(sampler.instrumentNames);
// load the first available instrument
sampler.loadInstrument(sampler.instrumentNames[0]);
});
Still limited support. API may vary.
MIT License