QUESTION :
I am looking for a small MIDI synthesizer for Windows. It must accept MIDI notes from MIDI ports. On Mac I’ve found this
http://notahat.com/simplesynth/
which works nicely. Anything for Windows?
Note: I’m looking for something free and compact, so how it sounds is not important in this context.
ANSWER :
While I don’t know of a freeware all-in-one synth for Windows, you could roll one yourself by using Tobybear’s MiniHost together with a free VST plugin, such as Oatmeal.
It’s been awhile since I used MiniHost, but I recall that it can interface with the system MIDI ports, and that you can also instruct it to automatically reload the last plugin on startup. This way, you get a standalone synth without the hassle of a sequencer.