About the author
Background
Organist in my spare time and computer enthusiast, one of my wishes was to be able to play the organ at home with sounds generated by a computer. After doing some research on the internet and reviewing several types of synthesizers, I opted for the use of soundfonts allowing the construction of realistic instruments through the replaying of samples recorded from real instruments. This solution is free, accessible, proven and very widespread.
I started assembling sound samples and modifying various parameters to create different organ stops, but the result did not meet my expectations. Voicing the organ - an instrument that can be compared to a complete orchestra - was too tedious, if not impossible, to achieve by modifying parameters one by one. I then understood that the existing soundfont editing tools were not appropriate.
The birth of Polyphone
The Polyphone development began when I chose to leave biotechnology to pursue a career in IT. Polyphone was thus not only a tool to meet my organ editing needs: this project also constituted a complete exercise in learning the profession of developer. Initially in French, I translated Polyphone into English and then published it online for everyone to enjoy. Subsequently, other people helped me test, add translations and improve the software. The website has been supplemented with a forum and a soundfont repository and this is how Polyphone users now number in the thousands.
For more information…
My professional experience is detailed on LinkedIn , and my contributions in the open-source world are visible on GitHub . If you want to contact me, this contact form can be used or you can email me directly at contact@polyphone.io (for bug reports or development requests please use the forum or GitHub).
Polyphone is free but there are costs associated with its website and development. A small donation will help a lot.
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