Instruments are not playing their correct sounds

I am using the standard font (well, the HQ one) and can reproduce the issue.
Locking into the mscx shows no traces of a non-standard font.
Piccolo uses port 4 and channel 8, no other instrument does.
The score uses 132 instruments, but 311 channels and ports (due to some instruments having more than just one). that is clearly more than 256, so there got to be duplicates, and quite many.

Edit: no there are not, the score uses ports 0-20, so 21 ports!
Not sure whether that is legal though, the Mixer doesn't allow for more than 16

This code seems to indicate that 16 is the max. for either:

                              int nm = getNextFreeMidiMapping();
                              midiPort    = nm / 16;
                              midiChannel = nm % 16;

Sorry the fix so far hasn't worked.

Still sounds a bit like a technical problem in MS, but if you could reduce the number of instruments or channels it might help. That's beyond my level of knowledge and expertise in MS - so keep pushing the technical experts.

Re DAWs - there is a way of working in which tracks are grouped together. This still allows individual tracks to have levels adjusted, but also allows control of groups. It is perhaps unlikely that you'll want to micro-manage the levels of all the instruments all the time, so maybe some group level control would do that for you.

Example - you want a trumpet to sound out over other brass instruments. You have a string accompaniment which starts off quiet. You want to turn all the brass down so as not to swamp the strings - but the trumpet should still stand out. You don't need to control all the individual instruments. You might want to have short periods of swell in both the brass and string sections - not necessarily at the same time.

Seer https://www.harmonycentral.com/articles/recording/how-to-use-track-grou…

Unfortunately I don't think the Mixer in MS works in that way at the moment - but my point is that grouping might reduce the number of instruments (or channels) you think you need.

"No. I can't just remove all the extra instruments. I need to be able to control the individual dynamics of each instrument to get accurate sounds"
I know what you are trying to do. I think the problem is that it's not going to work. You think that if you have 50 string parts that it will sound like a full orchestra. But there is only one solo violin sound in the default font. So if you load that sound for each player in the 1st violin section, all you get is that sound louder, not the sound of a section. Why? A string section sounds like it does because it is made up of, in your case, 16 different players that all play differently. Their vibrato and tone quality are not the same. Even if you pan them to 16 different places, it will always sound like one player, just louder.
And consider that even if you succeed in getting all 130 or so instruments to sound just the way you want , it will only do on your system and to your ears.
Not to mention that there is no solo horn or trumpet sound.
Good luck.