A device (1) is arranged for synthesizing sound represented by sets of parameters, each set comprising noise parameters (NP) representing noise components of the sound and optionally also other parameters representing other components, such as transients and sinusoids. Each set of parameters may correspond with a sound channel, such as a MIDI voice. In order to reduce the computational load, the device comprises a selection unit (2) for selecting a limited number of sets from the total number of sets on the basis of a perceptual relevance value, such as the amplitude or energy. The device further comprises a synthesizing unit (3) for synthesizing the noise components using the noise parameters of the selected sets only.