Newbie: Oxygen 8 + Metro 5 + Koblo, help Options

[jeb52]

Sorry to be a newbie-nightmare, but I have exhausted my patience for finding these answers online or in manuals. I have an ibook.

Can I get Koblo (the free, excellent softsynth) to work with Metro 5? Simultaneously???

Will I get nowhere using the original ibook soundcard? If not, can I find a suitable one for free?

Any recommendations for a free drum program?

(It gets worse:) Is Oxygen 8 using 'General MIDI'?
What in tarnation is VST?

Thank you.

[Synthetic]

GM or genreal midi is just a format for midi that determines how a multi-timberal sound generator like a synth will read the different channels relating to the different instruments. For instance, GM assumes that drum tracks are on channel 10 I think and then other intruments are preassinged to the other 15 channels of a 16 part multi-timberal synth setup. This allows you to transfer a midi file of a score between different workstations or synths but still keep the same channel and instrument assignemnts and thus midi playback should be "almost" the same from one midi player (that supports GM files) to another.

The Oxigen 8 isn't a multi-timberal sound generator so no it really doesn't support GM but it can be used in the development of GM files. It all depends on what midi channel you assign your instruments in a midi-sequencer like Metro. You can find more info on these instrument channel arrangements by doing a search for midi on the net... I am sure you will find a site that details this a little more but I don't know any URL's right off hand.