The Audio group sets how Orfeo sounds: the sound engine, extra sound sets, and automatic loudness balancing. Setup has the sound engine; everything is in Settings → Audio. The master volume itself is the knob in the top bar.
Sound engine
Option | What it does |
GM (default) | A light, synthetic General MIDI synth built into Orfeo. Instant and easy on the computer. |
Studio | Realistic recorded instruments from a soundfont. Recommended for practice. |
Native (beta) | The same soundfonts as Studio, played by Orfeo’s own engine straight to the sound card: in Exclusive mode, what you play on a MIDI keyboard is heard in under 10 ms. It mixes songs like Studio. See Native engine. |
Low latency mode appears with Native (beta) as two buttons, each explaining what it does. Shared goes through Windows, so other apps keep playing. Exclusive takes the whole sound card for Orfeo alone, for the shortest delay, and warns you first. A connected MIDI keyboard switches Native to Exclusive by itself, and unplugging the last keyboard returns it to Shared.
Under the buttons you see your sound card, its mode with sample rate and buffer, and the latency, and a description of the engine you picked only. Setup shows the same buttons and rows. Setup and the Settings window also show which sound set is loaded and, in amber, the measured output delay: the real gap between your sound card being told to play a note and it actually reaching the speakers. Every machine answers this differently. Pointing at GM, Studio or Native shows a one-line hint of what each is best for, and a long sound card name scrolls instead of being cut off. The first time you choose Studio in Setup, the Settings window opens on Audio so you can watch the sounds load. More in Audio and sound engines.
Sound Fonts
The soundfont the Studio and Native engines play. GeneralUser GS is included; FluidR3 GM (142 MB) and MuseScore General (38 MB) can be downloaded from the list, and Import your own .sf2/.sf3 adds your own. You can also move a .sf2 or .sf3 file straight into the soundfonts folder and restart Orfeo; the page above explains how. A downloaded or imported soundfont is selected automatically. Use remove to delete one you no longer need. More in Soundfonts.
Auto-Level on Load
Off by default. When on, Orfeo checks each file as it opens and, if loud and quiet passages differ a lot, turns on the mixer’s compressor to balance them. Works with the Studio and Native engines.