In Max, there are basically three ways to make sound (though I will admit that there are blurry edges between them);
MIDI
Electronic Synthesis
Sampling
MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is, essentially, a standard computer language for communicating data between musical devices, whether they be instruments, mixers, recorders, computers, effects, etc. The beauty of MIDI is that it is a standard protocol that is built in to an amazing variety of hardware, sorftware and instruments. Indeed, the computer you are using right now understands MIDI. How do I know? Well, Max is going to access the MIDI capabilities of your computer. It's worth keeping in mind that it will be your computer that is actually generating the sounds in the case of MIDI, not the Max program itself. Your computer has a library of sounds, called a GM (General Midi) Soundfont Library.
