what Notes said!

I think it can be hard to wrap the brain around Midi, so let me say the same thing about GM in a slightly different way.

1) BIAB MIDI is presented to the synth using the General Midi patch numbers. So if you start with a GM synth, your piano parts will be played by a piano patch. string parts will be played by a string patch etc. In other words, a GM synth makes it easy to get your songs to sound right when used with BIAB or RB. Really no learning curve at all.. it just works.

2) Hardware synths that have a GM bank also typically have several NON GM banks... which means they probably include patches for lots of other instruments as well as many variations of the GM instruments.

3) If you like one of the non GM pianos better than the GM one, BIAB, RB and just about every other DAW provides a way to select any of the patches available in the synth. If you use a patch map, its as easy as picking the patch from a list (same as the GM patch map, only a lot more choices)

so it doesn't have to be any more complicated than picking a patch right now if you use patch maps. And this is one advantage hardware synths have over soft synths: for most hardware synths you can find a patch map that's already made and ready to use in BIAB or RB.

Sonar/Cakewalk users have compiled a huge list of patch maps (they call them "instrument definitions", or "INS files") but BIAB has a built-in conversion utility that can make a sonar INS file work as a BIAB patch map.

quoting Notes Norton again:
Quote:
Ketron SD-2 is probably your best all-around choice for a reasonable price.

Joe, you and I have talked in the past, and I feel like I know where you are coming from pretty well. If you want the convenience of good sounding MIDI in BIAB and RB without any learning curve at all, the Ketron is a good choice for you. And later, if you want more, it also has the non GM banks that will give you more options and many more instruments from which to choose. And I'm sure somebody here on the forum already has the Ketron's patch map, so you wouldn't have to search for it.