make computer sound better ??

[bubinski]

I want to play midi files with my comp but they sound like a Casio.....I used to have the yamaha xg 50 soft synth on my old comp and it sounded pretty ok.. it had a sequenser to which you could mute and mix parts. I used it for pratibating. Anyone know of a free program to make my comp not sound casio and I can mute parts ??
bubbaroid

[TimOBrien]

MIDI 101:

http://www.tweakheadz.com/how_to_get...with_midi.html

[Whale Bone]

Regarding the sound, not sequencing: Does your soundcard's synth support sound fonts? If so, find some better sound sets and have the soundcard use them instead. Older Soundblasters used to use a light set (low memory req.) but they'd include larger (better) files that you could optionally use. Many soft synths use sound fonts, so there are plenty available, though not all free.

[altitude909]

I would look for a GM (general midi) softsynth. NI Bandstand is a good example but there should be a fair amount of different ones out there both as hardware (like your Yamaha) devices and softsynths. The key thing is that they are multitimberal and conform to GM since standard midi files will have the instruments mapped according to the GM spec