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FluidSynth generates audio by reading and handling MIDI events from MIDI input devices by using aSoundFont. It is the software analogue of a MIDI synthesizer. FluidSynth can also play MIDI files.

The central place for documentation and further links is ourwiki here at GitHub:

If you are missing parts of the documentation, let us know by writing to our mailing list.Of course, you are welcome to edit and improve the wiki yourself. All you need is an account at GitHub. Alternatively, you may send an EMail to our mailing list along with your suggested changes. Further information about the mailing list is available in the wiki as well.

Latest information about FluidSynth is also available on the web site athttps://www.fluidsynth.org/.

The source code for FluidSynth is distributed under the terms of theGNU Lesser General Public License, see theLICENSE file. To better understand the conditions how FluidSynth can be used in e.g. commercial or closed-source projects, please refer to theLicensingFAQ in our wiki.

For information on how to build FluidSynth from source, pleaserefer to our wiki.

• FluidSynth's Home Page,https://www.fluidsynth.org

• FluidSynth's wiki,https://github.com/FluidSynth/fluidsynth/wiki

• FluidSynth's API documentation,https://www.fluidsynth.org/api/

The synthesizer grew out of a project, started by Samuel Bianchini andPeter Hanappe, and later joined by Johnathan Lee, that aimed atdeveloping a networked multi-user game.

Sound (and music) was considered a very important part of the game. Inaddition, users had to be able to extend the game with their ownsounds and images. Johnathan Lee proposed to use the Soundfontstandard combined with intelligent use of midifiles. The argumentswere:

• Wavetable synthesis is low on CPU usage, it is intuitive and it canproduce rich sounds

• Hardware acceleration is possible if the user owns a Soundfontcompatible soundcard (important for games!)

• MIDI files are small and Soundfont2 files can be made small thru theintelligent use of loops and wavetables. Together, they are easier todownloaded than MP3 or audio files.

• Graphical editors are available for both file format: variousSoundfont editors are available on PC and on Linux (Smurf!), andMIDI sequencers are available on all platforms.

It seemed like a good combination to use for an (online) game.

In order to make Soundfonts available on all platforms (Linux, Mac,and Windows) and for all sound cards, we needed a software Soundfontsynthesizer. That is why we developed FluidSynth.

The synthesizer was designed to be as self-contained as possible forseveral reasons:

• It had to be multi-platform (Linux, macOS, Win32). It was thereforeimportant that the code didn't rely on any platform-specificlibrary.

• It had to be easy to integrate the synthesizer modules in variousenvironments, as a plugin or as a dynamically loadable object. Iwanted to make the synthesizer available as a plugin (jMax, LADSPA,Xmms, WinAmp, Director, ...); develop language bindings (Python,Java, Perl, ...); and integrate it into (game) frameworks (CrystalSpace, SDL, ...). For these reasons I've decided it would be easiestif the project stayed very focused on its goal (a Soundfontsynthesizer), stayed small (ideally one file) and didn't dependenton external code.