SoundFont creation vs. other sampling

[Len911]

hey Tom, a soundfont is just a format for use in a soundfont sampler, or player. A daw is more versatile. the soundfont was primarily used as a cheap sampler in the day when samplers were expensive and usually limited to 16 bit. today there is usually some sort of integrated samplers in most daws. Before you go the route of soundfonts or vi, I would suggest loop-based recording. loops are phrase based instead of note by note, and you can pitch shift, time stretch, edit, all in your daw.

[Len911]

a great orchestral instrument is usually packaged as a vst, Au, or other package your daw is programmed to use sometimes depending on the operating system, that uses a format, wav, aif, soundfont.... one that your daw can use and usually
encrypted.

topic142777.html this is a similar and related topic

[Len911]

https://www.samplemodeling.com/en/technology.php this sort of explains why many virtual instruments don't sound realistic, the ones sampled note by note without the use of sampled phrases. Loops are phrases. the advantage of this type of
vi is that you can play it like a real instrument without any editing in the daw like you would do with loops. Percussive instruments like drums or pianos or even pizzicato strings don't suffer in terms of realism as do more legato style instruments using note by note virtual instruments.