i dont have a great soundcard its an ess something or other can u please suggest to me how i could improve this with software or hardware thanks. ps its a laptop so no question of upgrading the board thanks
First step would be to be sure you have the most recent drivers (http://www.soundcard-drivers.com/companies/382.htm) for your operating system.
Depending on which operating system you have, and the speed of the computer's CPU, you might be able to run either Wingroove (http://www.cc.rim.or.jp/~hiroki/english/) or Yamaha Softsynth (http://www.yamaha.co.uk/xg/html/midplug/m_mid8.htm) versions such as the S-YXG50 linked here. Either will give better midi sounds than the defaults that come with the ESS chipsets.
What does the music sound like when you play a CD on the laptop? Without headphones? With headphones? If it's poor sound, and you aren't using speakers, consider adding some speakers - they plug into your laptop earphone jack, and usually have their own amplifier. Prices start around $10 for a pair, and they may be quite satisfactory depending on how much of an audiophile you are.
You may find midi files don't sound as good as CD recordings. They won't. But if the computer is capable of producing good sound, you could download and install a decent soundfont for free. Mine's from Hammersound, I think. I just searched the web for soundfont to find one. A trumpet will sound like a trumpet, a sax sort of like a sax, a piano will sound real.
Someone else was kind enough to post the link in another thread today:
http://www.hammersound.net.
you could download and install a decent soundfont for free
As far as I know, none of the ESS chipsets support soundfonts. They have their own proprietary midi drivers, a step up from the FM synths of the SB16 era, but not even up to SB-PCI128 (Ensoniq) quality.
However, you can probably use soundfonts with "Timidity", if your computer is screaming fast. Do a search on this forum for "Timidity" for links and instructions.
I just have a few questions about soundfonts. What exactly are they? How do they work? and i tried downloading one but it sounded the same how do i get them to work after i download them?
Rather than answer the question about soundfonts (someone else will, I'm sure), let me make a related comment:
A MIDI file may simply specify note pitch and duration, for each note played. If that's all there is, then when played, it will sound like a kid practicing.
There are professionally-made MIDI files (and NWC will allow many professional features) where each note is adjusted. That is, if a live instrument would have varied pitch or volume for a single note, the MIDI makes those instructions. Such files sound spectacularly good.
What I am saying is that the quality of the instrument definition database (soundfonts) is only one component of the result.