I had decided to give Linuxsampler a thorough try, since many here recommend it.  After FINALLY getting it to output actual sound, I realize that I also need the editor part (gigaedit), which of course, is NOT included in my distro's repositories.  So, I wander over to the web site and find it in source format, which I can't get to compile yet.  I need to figure out what all I need to get to compile it.

However, which I was on the web site, I notice that there is a Windows version of both the sampler and editor.  I figure I would give it a try.  As much as I really want to get away from Windows, I also really wanted to try the sampler and editor in an environment that I know works (audio and MIDI work flawlessly on my XP setup).

After installing it, it can't find any sound cards, and I can't force it to find either of the two that are available (1 usb and 1 on-board), even though every other program I use on Windows (Sonar, Soundforge) finds both.  Apparently, linuxsampler insists on using asio, while everything else I use is happy with wdm.

I give up.  I'm not too enthusiastic about breaking my entire Windows audio system to try out the sampler.  I'm not a total noob, but this is just too frustrating.