General MIDI

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General MIDI (GM) is a definition of the MIDI interface assignment for electronic musical instruments .

General MIDI standardizes far more than the general MIDI standard. If this is more or less a hardware and protocol specification, General MIDI also defines content. GM sets a minimum standard for the assignment of the instruments to the 128 program slots. According to GM, a compatible sound generator must be able to play at least 24 notes simultaneously. Further control parameters are also defined according to GM, such as B. the effect control.

GM was established in 1991 by the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) and the Japan MIDI Standards Committee (JMSC) as an extension of the MIDI standard. GM was revised in 1999 , which then led to General MIDI 2 (GM 2). In 2001 the General MIDI Lite (GM Lite) standard was published, which was developed for devices that cannot realize the full range of functions of General MIDI.

In addition to GM, there are manufacturer's own standards for a similar purpose, such as the GS standard from Roland or the XG standard from Yamaha . Both offer options that go beyond General MIDI (XG, for example, provides 615 instead of 128 instruments as well as more extensive sound manipulations), but are still fully downward compatible with the GM standard. It is thus possible to play XG, GS and GM composed pieces with some quality restrictions on any GM device.

Minimum properties

General MIDI (version 1) compatible devices must be able to:

• 24-part parallel sound generation with at least 16 melody and 8 percussion parts
• Reception on all 16 MIDI channels with percussion on channel 10
• Polyphony on all 16 channels

Parameter implementation

GM compatible devices must comply with the following standards for program and controller properties:

Program change

The following is a list of the assignment of the program locations according to the GM standard:

No.	Hex	English	German
Piano = pianos
1	00	Acoustic piano	Concert grand
2	01	Bright piano	Light wing
3	02	Electric grand piano	Electric wing
4th	03	Honky-tonk piano	Honky Tonk piano
5	04	Electric piano 1	Electronic piano 1
6th	05	Electric piano 2	Electronic piano 2
7th	06	Harpsichord	harpsichord
8th	07	Clavi	Clavichord
Chromatic Percussion = Chromatic percussion instruments
9	08	Celesta	Celesta
10	09	Carillon	Carillon
11	0A	Musical box	Music box
12	0B	Vibraphone	Vibraphone
13	0C	Marimba	Marimba
14th	0D	Xylophones	xylophone
15th	0E	Tubular Bell	Tubular bells
16	0F	Dulcimer	dulcimer
Organ = organs
17th	10	Drawbar organ	Electronic organ (drawbar)
18th	11	Percussive organ	El. Organ with percussion register
19th	12	Rock organ	Rock organ ( Hammond organ )
20th	13	Church organ	Church organ
21st	14th	Reed organ	harmonium
22nd	15th	Accordion	accordion
23	16	Harmonica	harmonica
24	17th	Tango Accordion	Bandoneon
Guitar = guitars
25th	18th	Acoustic Guitar (nylon)	Acoustic guitar (nylon strings )
26th	19th	Acoustic Guitar (steel)	Acoustic guitar (steel strings)
27	1A	Electric Guitar (jazz)	Electric guitar (jazz)
28	1B	Electric Guitar (clean)	Electric guitar (clear)
29	1C	Electric Guitar (muted)	Electric guitar ( muted )
30th	1D	Overdriven guitar	Overdriven guitar
31	1E	Distortion Guitar	Distorted guitar
32	1F	Guitar harmonics	Guitar with harmonics
bass
33	20th	Acoustic bass	Acoustic bass guitar
34	21st	Electric bass (finger)	Electric bass (finger)
35	22nd	Electric bass (pick)	Electric bass ( plectrum )
36	23	Fretless bass	Fretless guitar
37	24	Slap Bass 1	Bass struck 1
38	25th	Slap Bass 2	Bass struck 2
39	26th	Synth Bass 1	Synthetic bass 1
40	27	Synth Bass 2	Synthetic bass 2
Strings = string instruments
41	28	Violin	violin
42	29	viola	viola
43	2A	cello	violoncello
44	2 B	Double bass	double bass
45	2C	Tremolo strings	Tremolo strings
46	2D	Pizzicato strings	Pizzicato strings
47	2E	Orchestral Harp	Orchestral harp
48	2F	timpani	Timpani
ensemble
49	30th	String Ensemble 1	String Ensemble 1
50	31	String Ensemble 2	String Ensemble 2
51	32	Synth strings 1	Synthetic strings 1
52	33	Synth strings 2	Synthetic strings 2
53	34	Voice aahs	Voice "Aah"
54	35	Voice oohs	Voice "Ooh"
55	36	Synth Voice	Synthetic voice
56	37	Orchestra hit	Orchestra hit , orchestral sample ( staccato / chord)
Brass = brass instruments
57	38	Trumpet	Trumpet
58	39	Trombones	trombone
59	3A	tuba	tuba
60	3B	Muted Trumpet	Muted trumpet
61	3C	French horn	horn
62	3D	Brass Section	Brass ensemble
63	3E	Synth Brass 1	Synthetic brass instruments 1
64	3F	Synth Brass 2	Synthetic brass 2
Reed = tongue instruments
65	40	Soprano sax	Soprano saxophone
66	41	Alto Sax	Alto saxophone
67	42	Tenor sax	Tenor saxophone
68	43	Baritone Sax	Baritone saxophone
69	44	oboe	oboe
70	45	English horn	English horn
71	46	Bassoon	bassoon
72	47	Clarinet	clarinet
Pipe = pipes , woodwind instruments
73	48	Piccolo	Piccolo
74	49	Flood	flute
75	4A	recorder	recorder
76	4B	Pan flute	pan flute
77	4C	Blown bottle	Blown bottle
78	4D	Shakuhachi	Shakuhachi
79	4E	Whistle	Pipes
80	4F	Ocarina	ocarina
Synth Lead = Synthesizer - Lead
81	50	Lead 1 (square)	Lead 1 ( square wave )
82	51	Lead 2 (sawtooth)	Lead 2 ( sawtooth oscillation )
83	52	Lead 3 (calliope)	Lead 3 ( steam organ )
84	53	Lead 4 (chiff)	Lead 4 (chiff)
85	54	Lead 5 (charang)	Lead 5 (charang)
86	55	Lead 6 (voice)	Lead 6 (choir)
87	56	Lead 7 (fifths)	Lead 7 (with fifths )
88	57	Lead 8 (bass + lead)	Lead 8 (with bass)
Synth Pad = synthesizer accompaniment
89	58	Pad 1 (Fantasia)	Pad 1 (Fantasia)
90	59	Pad 2 (warm)	Pad 2 (warm)
91	5A	Pad 3 (polysynth)	Pad 3 (multiple synths)
92	5B	Pad 4 (choir)	Pad 4 (choir)
93	5C	Pad 5 (bowed)	Pad 5
94	5D	Pad 6 (metallic)	Pad 6 (metallic)
95	5E	Pad 7 (halo)	Pad 7
96	5F	Pad 8 (sweep)	Pad 8
Synth Effects = synthesizer effects
97	60	FX 1 (rain)	FX 1 ( rain )
98	61	FX 2 (soundtrack)	FX 2
99	62	FX 3 (crystal)	FX 3 ( crystal )
100	63	FX 4 (atmosphere)	FX 4 ( atmosphere )
101	64	FX 5 (brightness)	FX 5
102	65	FX 6 (goblins)	FX 6 ( goblins )
103	66	FX 7 (echoes)	FX 7 ( echoes )
104	67	FX 8 (sci-fi)	FX 8 ( science fiction )
Ethnic = traditional instruments
105	68	Sitar	Sitar
106	69	banjo	banjo
107	6A	Shamisen	Shamisen
108	6B	Koto	Koto
109	6C	Kalimba	Lamellophone
110	6D	Bagpipe	Bagpipes
111	6E	Fiddle	Fiddle
112	6F	Shanai	Shehnai
Percussive = percussion
113	70	Tinkle Bell
114	71	Agogo	Agogô
115	72	Steel drums	Steel drum
116	73	Woodblock	Block of wood
117	74	Taiko drum	Taiko
118	75	Melodic Tom	Tomtom
119	76	Synth drum	Synthetic drum
120	77	Reverse cymbal	Cymbals , played backwards
Sound effects = sound effects
121	78	Guitar fret noise	Noise of fingers on the strings above the fret
122	79	Breath noise	Breath sounds
123	7A	Seashore	Sea sounds
124	7B	Bird tweet	Birds chirping
125	7C	Telephone ring	Telephone rings
126	7D	Helicopter	helicopter
127	7E	Applause	applause
128	7F	Gunshot	Pistol shot

The drum kits in GM standard (always on channel 10):

Drums: 1 Standard Kit 9 Room Kit 17 Power Kit 25 Electronic Kit 26 TR-808 Kit 33 Jazz Kit 41 Brush Kit 49 Orchestra Kit 57 Sound FX Kit 128 Percussion 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Percussion sounds

GM standard drum map

Channel 10 is reserved for percussion and drum sounds:

35 Bass Drum 2 36 Bass Drum 1 37 Side Stick 38 Snare Drum 1 39 Hand Clap 40 Snare Drum 2 41 Low Tom 2 42 Closed Hi-hat 43 Low Tom 1 44 Pedal Hi-hat 45 Mid Tom 2 46 Open Hi-hat 47 Mid Tom 1 48 High Tom 2 49 Crash Cymbal 1 50 High Tom 1 51 Ride Cymbal 1 52 Chinese Cymbal 53 Ride Bell 54 Tambourine 55 Splash Cymbal 56 Cowbell 57 Crash Cymbal 2 58 Vibra Slap

59 Ride Cymbal 2 60 High Bongo 61 Low Bongo 62 Mute High Conga 63 Open High Conga 64 Low Conga 65 High Timbale 66 Low Timbale 67 High Agogo 68 Low Agogo 69 Cabasa 70 Maracas 71 Short Whistle 72 Long Whistle 73 Short Guiro 74 Long Guiro 75 Claves 76 High Wood Block 77 Low Wood Block 78 Mute Cuica 79 Open Cuica 80 Mute Triangle 81 Open Triangle

Controller parameters

GM also specifies the controller parameters:

001 Modulation
007 Volume
010 Pan
011 Expression
064 Sustain
121 Reset all controllers
123 All notes off

The following Registered Parameter Numbers (RPNs) are also standardized:

000 Pitch bend range
001 Fine tuning
002 Coarse tuning

System Exclusive News

Two GM System Exclusive (“sysex”) messages are defined: One to turn the GM functionality on or off, the other to control the overall volume of the device.

Web links

• About General MIDI . MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA)