Midi is actually pretty simple once you understand it. But yep... it seems colossal when you are starting with it.

Essentially, you have a synth that plays either patches or samples. Patches are oscillators that are tuned to sound like a specific instrument and samples are actually audio notes recorded and triggered by the midi data.... or notes played.

The lower quality synths use patches and sound ok but not really great or convincing generally. General Midi falls into this category as well as Coyote and TTS....and a few others too. But a lot of the end result quality is based on the skill of the composer.

Better quality synths use samples and samples vary in quality from the SFZ (Sforzando) fonts on the low end to libraries that cost thousands of dollars. I personally consider SFZ to be an intermediate step between the patches and dedicated samples. Reason being is that the SFZ synth is free or inexpensive and there are tons of fonts to be found online for free. I believe you generally get what you pay for and this is very true in regards to samples. Was it recorded in some guy's bedroom with a cheap condenser mic as single layer sample, or in Carnegie Hall by an experienced engineer in multi-layer samples with $3000 mics and a nice budget?

All the synths are capable ( to my knowledge ) of working in a DAW and playing live. iN other words you hear as you play. Some will work as a stand alone outside of a DAW host as well.

As far as there being a reference.... probably yes. DO a search with your favorite search engine and be sure to look it up on YouTube. Everything is on YouTube.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.