I was looking around a bit for free samples yesterday and now I’ve realized it’s probably time also for me to start using some multi-samples. I found many SF2’s, but also some gigasampler (GIG) instruments and a couple of AKAIs…
So… are there any good free VSTi players for these formats? It doesn’t matter if it plays one of these formats or several. My top priorities are low CPU usage and ease of use.
I remember the day when I discovered SF2 files… All those free drumkits, pianos, synthpads and just waiting to be used … 
And all that thanks to the sfz, the freeware soundfont player by rgc:audio. Grab it here. As far as I remember, the commercial version - sfz+ - played GIGs a while ago, but for some reason the functionality was removed (probably copyright issues). Up till now I haven’t seen any good freeware GIG player, but to be honest I haven’t really looked for it.
By the way, if you haven’t been to the rgc:audio website yet, they also have two top notch freeware monophonic synths - Triangle I and II. I strongly recommend you to check them out!
–P/\ULiE PHONiCK
I personally use XS-1 from Jeskola, because it’s the only one who has the Sample Offset knob, as well as very precise vibrato and volume control. It allows you to simulate pitch up/down, and most of the Renoise effects in fact.
The only real problem about XS1 is that it doesn’t manage memory as well as SFZ (when you load twice the same soundfont in two different VSTi instances, the soundfont is loaded twice, which is a bit ridiculous…).
XS1 is not free though (almost), but it’s a very good investment.
Getting nostalgic now, are we…? 
Thanx Paulie! It’s really easy and consumes little CPU. Just what I wanted in other words And I use the Triangles… just haven’t gotten into SF2 until now for some obscure reason… Now I just have one problem. I’m stuck downloading gigs of soundfonts and can’t stop myself 
However it would be nice to incorporate it into Renoise more. Of course SF2 support would be the ultimate solution, but maybe there could be a workaround. It would be nice with for example a shortcut that sets a specified VSTi to the current instrument and opens its editor. Hmm… I should probably post this in the ideas section.
Don’t worry, that’s normal. I have downloaded around 5 GB of soundfonts till now. I haven’t even checked all of them out yet, but still, when I see some good rated sf2s, I can’t resist 
You might already know that, but a good place to get totally overfloodded by soundfonts is The Infinite Free Soundfont List. I really found some invaluable soundfonts there.
Isn’t sfz thee workaround?
I find it quicker to double click the right instrument in the instrument list, but for all the peeps tracking in lazy positions with no mouse around this would be a blessing I suppose
–P/\ULiE PHONiCK
That is because you shouldn’t run the exe file, SFZ should be run as a VSTi from within Renoise. To do this point Renoise VST dir (a button in the config) to where the sfz dll-file is. Now it will pop up in the VSTi list in Renoise.
or better yet, copy the sfz.dll file into your renoise-vst dir 
Just put the sf2’s anywhere. Sfz will bring up a normal file requester when you press the file field in sfz.
In SampleTank you have to load up the instruments just as you load soundfonts in sfz. The difference is only that sfz will let you browse anywhere while SampleTank asks for creating a sound library folder where you store the provided sounds and lets you choose from there. Still, even when you set up the library folder, the sounds from the library won’t appear as programs (VSTi presets) - you akways have to load them through the interface.