General MIDI
General MIDI (GM) is a standard set of sounds that allows exchange of MIDI files and sequences between anyone that has a GM instrument. Before GM was implemented, if you played a sequence on a different instrument than the one it was created on, the sounds you heard were not necessarily correct. You might have drum sounds where a piano part should have been. This could make listening to a sequence very confusing. GM has solved that problem.
GM is a standard set of 128 sounds, in 16 families, plus drum kits. This set of sounds is divided into groups of eight by family or type of sound. Below is the list of GM (level 1) sounds arranged by patch number and family, followed by the drum kit key map.
| Piano | Chromatic Percussion | Organ |
| 1.Acoustic Grand Piano 2.Bright Acoustic Piano 3.Electric Grand Piano 4.Honky-tonk Piano 5.Electric Piano 1 6.Electric Piano 2 7.Harpsicord 8.Clavi |
9.Celesta 10.Glockenspiel 11.Music Box 12.Vibraphone 13.Marimba 14.Xylophone 15.Tubular Bells 16.Dulcimer |
17.Drawbar Organ 18.Percussive Organ 19.Rock Organ 20.Church Organ 21.Reed Organ 22.Accordion 23.Harmonica 24.Tango Accordion |
| Guitar | Brass | Strings |
| 25.Acoustic Guitar (nylon) 26.Acoustic Guitar (steel) 27.Electric Guitar (jazz) 28.Electric Guitar (clean) 29.Electric Guitar (muted) 30.Overdriven Guitar 31.Distortion Guitar 32.Guitar Harmonics |
33.Acoustic Bass 34.Electric Bass (finger) 35.Electric Bass (pick) 36.Fretless Bass 37.Slap Bass 1 38.Slap Bass 2 39.Synth Bass 1 40.Synth Bass 2 |
41.Violin 42.Viola 43.Cello 44.Contrabass 45.Tremolo Strings 46.Pizzicato Strings 47.Orchestral Harp 48.Timpani |
| Ensemble | Brass | Reed |
| 49.String Ensemble 1 50.String Ensemble 2 51.Synth Strings 1 52.Synth Strings 2 53.Choir Aahs 54.Voice Oohs 55.Synth Voice 56.Orchestra Hit |
57.Trumpet 58.Trombone 59.Tuba 60.Muted Trumpet 61.French Horn 62.Brass Section 63.Synth Brass 1 64.Synth Brass 2 |
65.Soprano Sax 66.Alto Sax 67.Tenor Sax 68.Baritone Sax 69.Oboe 70.English Horn 71.Bassoon 72.Clarinet |
| Pipe | Synth Lead | Synth |
| 73.Piccolo 74.Flute 75.Recorder 76.Pan Flute 77.Blown Bottle 78.Shakuhachi 79.Whistle 80.Ocarina |
81.Lead 1 (square) 82.Lead 2 (sawtooth) 83.Lead 3 (calliope) 84.Lead 4 (chiff) 85.Lead 5 (charang) 86.Lead 6 (voice) 87.Lead 7 (fifths) 88.Lead 8 (bass+lead) |
89.Pad 1 (new age) 90.Pad 2 (warm) 91.Pad 3 (polysynth) 92.Pad 4 (choir) 93.Pad 5 (bowed) 94.Pad 6 (metallic) 95.Pad 7 (halo) 96.Pad 8 (sweep) |
| Synth Effects | Ethnic | Percussive |
| 97.FX 1 (rain) 98.FX 2 (soundtrack) 99.FX 3 (crystal) 100.FX 4 (atmosphere) 101.FX 5 (brightness) 102.FX 6 (goblins) 103.FX 7 (echoes) 104.FX 8 (sci-fi) |
105.Sitar 106.Banjo 107.Shamisen 108.Koto 109.Kalimba 110.Bagpipe 111.Fiddle 112.Shanai |
113.Tinkle Bell 114.Agogo 115.Steel Drums 116.Woodblock 117.Taiko Drum 118.Melodic Tom 119.Synth Drum 120.Reverse Cymbal |
| Sound Effects | ||
| 121.Guitar Fret Noise 122.Breath Noise 123.Seashore 124.Bird Tweet 125.Telephone Ring 126.Helicopter 127.Applause 128.Gunshot |
General MIDI Level 1 Percussion Key Map
On MIDI Channel 10, each MIDI Note number ("Key#") corresponds to a different drum sound, as shown below. GM-compatible instruments must have the sounds on the keys shown here. While many current instruments also have additional sounds above or below the range show here, and may even have additional "kits" with variations of these sounds, only these sounds are supported by General MIDI Level 1 devices.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| 35 | Acoustic Bass Drum | 51 | Ride Cymbal 1 | 67 | High Agogo | ||
| 36 | Bass Drum 1 | 52 | Chinese Cymbal | 68 | Low Agogo | ||
| 37 (C2) | Side Stick | 53 | Ride Bell | 69 | Cabasa | ||
| 38 | Acoustic Snare | 54 | Tambourine | 70 | Maracas | ||
| 39 | Hand Clap | 55 | Splash Cymbal | 71 | Short Whistle | ||
| 40 | Electric Snare | 56 | Cowbell | 72 | Long Whistle | ||
| 41 | Low Floor Tom | 57 | Crash Cymbal 2 | 73 (C5) | Short Guiro | ||
| 42 | Closed Hi Hat | 58 | Vibraslap | 74 | Long Guiro | ||
| 43 | High Floor Tom | 59 | Ride Cymbal 2 | 75 | Claves | ||
| 44 | Pedal Hi-Hat | 60 | Hi Bongo | 76 | Hi Wood Block | ||
| 45 | Low Tom | 61 (C4) | Low Bongo | 77 | Low Wood Block | ||
| 46 | Open Hi-Hat | 62 | Mute Hi Conga | 78 | Mute Cuica | ||
| 47 | Low-Mid Tom | 63 | Open Hi Conga | 79 | Open Cuica | ||
| 48 | Hi Mid Tom | 64 | Low Conga | 80 | Mute Triangle | ||
| 49 | Crash Cymbal 1 | 65 | High Timbale | 81 | Open Triangle | ||
| 50 (C3) | High Tom | 66 | Low Timbale |
