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.

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