Hi props2,

Like David I have been using MIDI for a long time, probably longer. He has offered some extremely good advice in these columns, so good that I had nothing to add, until now.

Adding to his synths, string ensembles and pianos sounding great I will add drums and percussion. These two are one hit samples thus they can sound realistic. Even some of the GM drums can sound ok, not great like some of the dedicated drum patches but some can be passable.

Horns and brass can sound great if one uses a wind controller, breath controller, or samples that use the mod wheel for breath, i.e. volume.

Solo violins and solo acoustic guitars can sound great but the patches are very expensive and you must learn about MIDI CC numbers. Electric guitars, especially with distortion, not so good.

One thing to remember is that good MIDI sound sources cost money and getting realistic results from them require learning MIDI and learning how to emulate the real instrument. This is especially true for horns, brass, solo instruments. In other words think and play like a trumpet player and not a keyboard, guitarist or whatever your MIDI controller is player.

But don't fret as all of us started with inexpensive sounds and collected better ones over the years. My advice would be to learn MIDI first, apply the knowledge to the sounds you have now before purchasing more costly patches. A typical BiaB MIDI track can sound static and not realistic on any sound source without learning MIDI.

YMMV

You might want to listen to some of my music in the showcase forum as I use virtually all MIDI in my songs.

My momma didn't raise a fool. And if she did it, was one of my brothers.

64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware