For starters most any VSTi (synth) can be triggered by either a keyboard or a computer.
They are just 2 different ways of getting the MIDI signal to the synth.

The trickier side is understanding MIDI is just messages (no sound).
So on one synth patch 4 could be a bass guitar sample, on another it could be a string section .. often it depends on how you assign each MIDI channel to a sound inside the synth, manually.

The big feature of GM (General MIDI) synths is that GM specifies a set of sounds for each patch number (the synth sound). So patch 1 is always Piano, though it could be played on any MIDI channel that sends a message to use that sound. In GM it is also unique that drums are always on MIDI channel 10, though you can assign any drums sound to that channel. If you dig in you can often assign other sounds too, but it is meant for drums in the GM spec.

https://www.midi.org/specifications-old/item/gm-level-1-sound-set

Soundfonts are different. They are a set of samples made up by someone somewhere. Again it is a recognized format, but is not regulated to be GM. A font player like sForzando can play any font, but in the case of the sForzando the number of patches (sounds) you can play at once is limited since it is not really mutitimbral (able to play multiple patches at once).
You can do it with workarounds, but it's not meant for it.

There are GM compliant soundfonts out there that have all the GM patches, but the synth being used needs to be able to handle multiple MIDI channels at once in order to make it work.
For instance I have Chaos 12 meg GM soundfont installed in a VSTi that handles the multiple sounds and MIDI channels just fine, but not all of font players do.
The universal patch nature of GM is what makes it easy to use and a fit for BiaB, etc.

Thay also have tutorials and such -
https://www.midi.org/categories-new/midi-tutorials?start=45

Last edited by rharv; 11/24/18 05:35 AM.
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