GM synths have an unjustified bad name with a few users - mostly users who have never had a good one.

GM simply assigns standard patch numbers with the same instruments so that sound (patch) #1 is a piano #33 is an acoustic bass and so on on all synths.

Some synths with GM banks are lame, and others sound excellent.

Some synths without GM banks are lame while others are excellent.

The presence of a General MIDI bank has absolutely nothing to do with sound, simply a standardization of the numbers used to call up various instrument sounds.

The Ketron SD2 and the Edirol SD90 both have excellent GM banks along with other sounds. I own those, that's how I know. Plus I'm sure there are plenty of others.

And if you don't want to learn to use continuous controllers, that's OK, but when making your own music, you will be limited by the sounds and not necessarily the nuances that make those instruments expressive. It's like learning to play guitar but not learning to bend the strings, adjust the angle of the pick on the strings, or use the pedals and whammy bar.

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Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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