|What is a MIDI port?
A MIDI port can be either a synthesizer that's "built-in" to your computer, or a physical port (a connector) on your computer to which a keyboard or synthesizer module may be connected. MIDI ports are first classified by their "direction." Either they are "input" ports (for recording) or "output" ports (for playback). If your computer has no built-in physical MIDI ports, a USB "MIDI interface" is commonly used to provide them. The Setup/MIDI Ports menu command will show you your MIDI ports:
What are the three types of Output ports?
MIDI output ports are classified as either Internal, External, or VST. Internal ports are hardware or software synthesizers that are built into your sound card or its drivers. External ports are physical connectors on your PC's sound card (or MIDI interface devices) that may be used to connect keyboards or sound modules. VST ports are software synthesizers that convert MIDI data into waveform audio. The sound that is produced by Internal and VST synthesizers is processed by your computer's sound card, and is heard through your computer's speakers. MIDI data that is sent to an External port travels through the MIDI interface, into a keyboard or sound module, and is there converted to waveform audio and is heard through whatever amplification system you have connected.
The picture above shows three Internal ports. The Wavetable Software Synth provides the most basic MIDI sounds from your computer's speakers. The other two are "sound font" devices, which allow you to load sounds into them from files on your computer. The External port is a UART port (a physical connector). The VST port is a free, high-quality VST software synthesizer called "sfz!" which allows you to load sound fonts as well.
How do I tell MIDI Maestro which ports I want to use?
MIDI Maestro uses the ports that appear on the "numbered devices" list. By default, this list is populated with all "available ports." To remove a port from the "numbered devices" list, use your mouse to "drag" it back to the "available ports" list. To add a port, drag from the "all available ports" list to the "numbered devices" list. When you add an output port, the port setup window will appear:
What if I just cancel out of the port setup window?
Nothing bad will happen. MIDI Maestro uses the "patch names/synth" setting to display the correct patch names on the track list, and allows you to search for patches by name instead of number. However, even without the patch names, your songs will still sound the same. You can always return to this screen to set the synthesizer later.
The Mixing, Chorus, Reverb, and Tuning settings use GM2 (General MIDI 2) commands to configure your synthesizer according to GM2 standard for these digital effects. Your particular synthesizer may not even support GM2 commands, and you may want to use buttons and knobs on the synthesizer to configure these things yourself. However, in the case of software synthesizers that do not have physical control panels, it's nice to be able to configure these things here.
What do the numbers represent on the Numbered Devices list?
These will be the "port numbers" that are used elsewhere in MIDI Maestro. When you are configuring a track in a song, you will see boxes to specify the input port and the output port. The default output port for songs is 0, so you should put your default output port/synthesizer at the top of the "numbered devices" list. If you've just installed MIDI Maestro, opened a song, pressed "play" but don't hear anything, you probably have the wrong port/synthesizer at the top of this list.
How do I add or remove a VST port?
When you right-click your mouse over the "VST" label, a menu will appear containing the options Add, Remove, and Control Panel. When you select Add, you will be asked to locate the VST program (a DLL file) on your system. Once a VST synthesizer has been added, you can open its control panel by right-clicking on the synthesizer's name, or by double-clicking it.
How do I make changes to a port in the numbered devices list without removing and re-adding it?
Right-click or double-click on it.