FluidSynth ~ A SoundFont Synthesizer


FluidSynth is a real-time software synthesizer based on the SoundFont 2 specifications and has reached widespread distribution. FluidSynth itself does not have a graphical user interface, but due to its powerful API several applications utilize it and it has even found its way onto embedded systems and is used in some mobile apps.

Features:

  • Cross platform support (Linux, macOS and Windows to name a few)
  • SoundFont 2 support
  • SoundFont 3 support (vorbis-compressed SF2)
  • Realtime effect control using SoundFont 2.01 modulators
  • Playback of MIDI files
  • Shared library which can be used in other programs
  • Built in command line shell
FluidSynth

www.fluidsynth.org

QSynth ~ FluidSynth GUI Front-end

QSynth is a fluidsynth GUI front-end application written in C++ around the Qt framework using Qt Designer.

qsynth-screenshot1

qsynth.sourceforge.io

FluidPatcher ~ GUI & Automation

FluidPatcher is a performance-oriented interface for FluidSynth built using wxpython to create a simple GUI that allows live editing, selecting, and playing of patches. A patch is a collection of settings such as soundfont presets for each MIDI channel, control-change/sysex messages to send when the patch is selected, and midi router or effects settings. Groups of patches are stored in banks, which are saved as human-readable and -editable YAML files. This allows a musician to easily create complex combinations of synthesizer settings ahead of time and switch between them on the fly during a performance.

Features:

  • Live playing: Play on your MIDI controller and hear the results
  • Customization: Create your own combinations of instruments/effects
  • Extendability: Use the included libraries to design your own implementations/software

sourceforge.net/projects/fluidpatcher

Nighthawk ~ Stealthy Unobtrusive Player


A stealthy, simple, unobtrusive open source multi-platform music player that stays out of your way in your Menubar / Taskbar.

github.com/quantumkv/nighthawk

MuseScore ~ Open Source Music Notation


Create, play and print beautiful sheet music.

MuseScore_2.0_in_full_screen

musescore.org
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MuseScore

eSpeak ~ Open Source Speech Synthesizer


eSpeak is a compact open source Linux and Windows speech synthesizer for English and other languages. eSpeak uses a “formant synthesis” method. This allows many languages to be provided in a small size. The speech is clear, and can be used at high speeds, but is not as natural or smooth as larger synthesizers which are based on human speech recordings.

eSpeak is available as:

  • A command line program (Linux and Windows) to speak text from a file or from stdin.
  • A shared library version for use by other programs. (On Windows this is a DLL).
  • A SAPI5 version for Windows, so it can be used with screen-readers and other programs that support the Windows SAPI5 interface.
  • eSpeak has been ported to other platforms, including Android, Mac OSX and Solaris.

speak.sourceforge.net

NINJAM ~ Host An Internet Jam


NINJAM is open source (GPL) software to allow people to make real music together via the Internet. Every participant can hear every other participant. Each user can also tweak their personal mix to their liking. NINJAM is cross-platform, with clients available for Mac OS X, Linux and Windows. REAPER (our digital audio workstation software for Windows and OS X) also includes NINJAM support (ReaNINJAM plug-in).

ninjam_win32

www.cockos.com/ninjam
github.com/justinfrankel/ninjam

Exaile ~ GTK+ Music Player


Simple interface. Powerful music management. Smart Playlists. Advanced track tagging. Automatic album art. Lyrics. Streaming Radio. Podcasts. Secondary output device support. Cross-platform. Easily extensible with 50+ plugins available.

exaile-3.4

www.exaile.org

ocenaudio ~ Powerful, Fast & Easy Audio Editor


ocenaudio is a cross-platform, easy to use, fast and functional audio editor. It is ideal for people who need to edit and analyze audio files without complication. ocenaudio also has powerful features that will satisfy more advanced users including VST plugin support.

ocenaudio editor image

www.ocenaudio.com

Jukes ~ Cross-platform Music Organizer & Player


Jukes was created for the serious music lover. This program was created for people who rip full CD’s or possibly their entire CD collection to their hard drive. Jukes allows you to have all of your CD’s at your fingertips and play them like a real jukebox. Perfect for DJ’s, whether in your house or for parties or whatever, spin all of your favorite tunes anytime you want. No more loading the files in to play them and removing them to add more to the list, now all of your CD’s are at your disposal! Jukes is cross-platform and operates on Windows, Solaris, Linux, and Mac OSX.

jukes-screenshot

code.google.com/archive/p/jukes
Downloads

DFasma ~ Compare Audio Files In Time & Frequency


DFasma is free open-source software which is used to compare audio files in time and frequency. The comparison is first visual, using waveforms and spectra. It is also possible to listen to time-frequency segments in order to allow perceptual comparison. It is basically dedicated to analysis. Even though there are basic functionalities to align the signals in time and amplitude, this software does not aim to be an audio editor.

Features:

  • Can load about 25 different audio formats (thanks to libsndfile or libsox).
  • Shows spectrogram, amplitude, phase spectra and group delay.
  • Can play a filtered sound given a selected frequency band.
  • Rectification of the spectrogram tilt (cepstral lifting).
  • Can create and edit segmentation files.
  • Can create and edit fundamental frequency (F0) files (thanks to REAPER).
  • Runs under Linux, Mac OSX and Windows.

dfasman - ss1.4_2comparison

gillesdegottex.github.io/dfasma

Meson ~ A Player With No GUI


Meson Player is a very convenient music player if you don’t need a GUI to control playback or manage playlists. You just run it and then forget about it. The player runs in the background. Switching tracks, volume control, loading and saving playlists, all of this is performed by using hotkeys, therefore you can control the player while working in any application.

Meson Player supports gapless playback, Last.FM, a lot of music file formats (stream and tracker), Internet radio and playlist management.

Linux  /  MacOS  /  Windows

sourceforge.net/projects/mesonplayer

Audacious ~ Open Source Audio Player


Audacious is an open source audio player. A descendant of XMMS, Audacious plays your music how you want it, without stealing away your computer’s resources from other tasks. Drag and drop folders and individual song files, search for artists and albums in your entire music library, or create and edit your own custom playlists. Listen to CD’s or stream music from the Internet. Tweak the sound with the graphical equalizer or experiment with LADSPA effects. Enjoy the modern GTK-themed interface or change things up with Winamp Classic skins. Use the plugins included with Audacious to fetch lyrics for your music, to set an alarm in the morning, and more.

Audacious

audacious-media-player.org
audacious-media-player.org/download
VU Meters

Amarok ~ Cross Platform Audio Player


Amarok is a powerful music player, with multi-language support, for Macs, Unix/Linux and Windows. It has an intuitive interface and makes playing the music you love, and discovering new music, easier than ever before – and it looks good doing it!

Features:

  • Dynamic playlists matching different criteria
  • Collection managing with rating support
  • Support for basic iPod, MTP and UMS music player devices
  • Integrated Internet services: last.fm, Magnatune, Ampache and more.
  • Scripting support
  • Cover manager
  • Replaygain support

apps.kde.org/amarok
amarok.kde.org
Downloads
Documentation