Wow, it's been awhile since I posted here. Looks like most of the old regulars are gone. (I guess that makes any of you NEW regulars?)

I am at this point MUCH more knowledgable about music than about the technical side of producing it. I major in piano/keyboards. I write/compose a fair amount and would like to know the feasibility of my plan, outlined below:

In the past, I was always on the hunt for "THE PERFECT WORKSTATION", but soon figured out what a losing battle that was. No matter what's out there, there's always something I don't like about it... As soon as you buy something it's obsolete... Every manufacturer has their own strengths and weaknesses (and why should I pay $2000 for a board if I only want the guitar sounds, for example)... So you see why I decided to give up looking for everything I wanted on ONE board.

Here's what I want to do: I want to do all my sequencing/mixing/etc. from a PC, which of course is standard. But if I just picked up a simple MIDI controller, is there any way to buy just patches/banks from manufacturers and download them onto my PC, rather than having to buy whole keyboards from them (which are full of overpriced features I will never use)? Then I can pick and choose: I want Yamaha's pianos, Korg's electronic sounds, and so on.

I have no way of knowing whether this is common practice, or whether it's unheard of. Or impossible. Or a stroke of genius.

If it is possible, how does one go about purchasing patches? (I've tried to figure it out and I can't.) I am looking for ALL KINDS, from orchestral to funk to psychadelic.

And if it's not a good idea and you know why, please enlighten me so I don't waste my money.

Please help the poor clueless boy!