Ok John, you are persistent I will give you that. smile And I can be a bit slow on the uptake at times. crazy But I think I am starting to understand a bit of the issue here.

I stated earlier that " none of this has really changed in the past decade...", but in fact it has. It used to be so much simpler then it is now.

Back circa 2000, when I first explored "making midi melody to sound real in BIAB", there were only three options 1) Internal computer sounds from the sound card (horrible), 2) External GM hardware synth (I still one in the closet) and 3) Coyote Forte GM software syth. That Coyte Forte GM software synth served me well for 20 years. In fact, I would still be using it today, and telling you to use it now, if it were not for the fact that BIAB killed it when they released BIABx64. So if you are working only with BIABx32, purchase a copy of Coyote Forte (not coyote wave) for $35 and call it a day.

Today working with Midi sounds in BIAB can be a horrendous chore to find a good sounds. Some of us solved this by taking our BIAB midi to our DAW where none GM sounds are the norm along with the tools to manage them. In my case, it was not until I started working with a midi control keyboard that I really appreciated the value of the midi creation (front-end). Otherwise, there are several GM sound players and VSTsynths, with very good sounds, which are being used in BIAB and have been mentioned in this thread. Unfortunately, they border on needing a audio engineering degree to comprehend and setup. The good news is that there are folks here in the forum who can help direct.

So, I agree, better schooling and training is needed for us all on this topic. Problem is, that is generally not the priority (well at least for me) for making music. But like you said "we do what we have to do".

Good luck my friend.

Dan

BIAB – 2025, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, 1TB WD Black NVMe SSD, 2TB WDC Blue SSD, 1TB WD Blue, 2 TB SK NVMe, 6 TB External, Motu Audio Express 6x6