General MIDI Level 2 explained
General MIDI Level 2 or GM2 is a specification for synthesizers which defines several requirements beyond the more abstract MIDI standard and is based on General MIDI, GS extensions, and XG extensions. It was adopted in 1999 by the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA).
General requirements
- Number of Notes: 32 simultaneous notes
- MIDI Channels: 16
- Simultaneous Melodic Instruments – up to 16 (all Channels)
- Simultaneous Percussion Kits – up to 2 (Channel 10/11)
Parameters
Program and bank change events
General MIDI 2 compatible synthesizers access all of the 256 instruments by setting cc#0 (Bank Select MSB) to 121 and using cc#32 (Bank Select LSB) to select the variation bank before a Program Change. Variation bank 0 contains the full GM — that is, General MIDI 1 — sound set. Variations using other bank numbers are new to General MIDI 2, and correspond to variation sounds introduced in Roland GS and Yamaha XG.
Melodic sounds
Piano
| Patch Number | Bank Number | Instrument Name |
|---|
| 1 | 0 | Acoustic Grand Piano |
| 1 | Wide Acoustic Grand |
| 2 | Dark Acoustic Grand |
| 2 | 0 | Bright Acoustic Piano |
| 1 | Wide Bright Acoustic |
| 3 | 0 | Electric Grand Piano |
| 1 | Wide Electric Grand |
| 4 | 0 | Honky-tonk Piano |
| 1 | Wide Honky-tonk |
| 5 | 0 | Rhodes Piano |
| 1 | Detuned Electric Piano 1 |
| 2 | Electric Piano 1 Variation |
| 3 | 60's Electric Piano |
| 6 | 0 | Chorused Electric Piano |
| 1 | Detuned Electric Piano 2 |
| 2 | Electric Piano 2 Variation |
| 3 | Electric Piano Legend |
| 4 | Electric Piano Phase |
| 7 | 0 | Harpsichord |
| 1 | Coupled Harpsichord |
| 2 | Wide Harpsichord |
| 3 | Open Harpsichord |
| 8 | 0 | Clavinet |
| 1 | Pulse Clavinet | |
Chromatic Percussion
Organ
Guitar
Bass
Orchestra Solo
Orchestra Ensemble
| Patch Number | Bank Number | Instrument Name |
|---|
| 49 | 0 | String Ensemble |
| 1 | Orchestra Strings |
| 2 | 60's Strings |
| 50 | 0 | Slow String Ensemble |
| 51 | 0 | Synth Strings 1 |
| 1 | Synth Strings 3 |
| 52 | 0 | Synth Strings 2 |
| 53 | 0 | Choir Aahs |
| 1 | Choir Aahs 2 |
| 54 | 0 | Voice Oohs |
| 1 | Humming |
| 55 | 0 | Synth Voice |
| 1 | Analog Voice |
| 56 | 0 | Orchestra Hit |
| 1 | Bass Hit |
| 2 | 6th Hit |
| 3 | Euro Hit | |
Brass
Reed
Wind
Synth Lead
Synth Pad
| Patch Number | Bank Number | Instrument Name |
|---|
| 89 | 0 | Fantasia Pad |
| 90 | 0 | Warm Pad |
| 1 | Sine Pad |
| 91 | 0 | Polysynth Pad |
| 92 | 0 | Space Voice Pad |
| 1 | Itopia |
| 93 | 0 | Bowed Glass Pad |
| 94 | 0 | Metal Pad |
| 95 | 0 | Halo Pad |
| 96 | 0 | Sweep Pad | |
Synth Sound FX
| Patch Number | Bank Number | Instrument Name |
|---|
| 97 | 0 | Ice Rain |
| 98 | 0 | Soundtrack |
| 99 | 0 | Crystal |
| 1 | Synth Mallet |
| 100 | 0 | Atmosphere |
| 101 | 0 | Brightness |
| 102 | 0 | Goblin |
| 103 | 0 | Echo Drops |
| 1 | Echo Bell |
| 2 | Echo Pan |
| 104 | 0 | Star Theme | |
Ethnic
Percussive
Sound Effect
Drum sounds
These are the same patch numbers as defined in the original version of GS. Drum bank is accessed by setting cc#0 (Bank Select MSB) to 120 and cc#32 (Bank Select LSB) to 0 and PC (Program Change) to select drum kit.
| 1 | Standard Kit | The only kit specified by General MIDI Level 1 |
| 9 | | Drums recorded with room ambience |
| 17 | | More powerful kick and snare sounds |
| 25 | | Sounds of various electronic drums |
| 26 | | Analog drum kit similar to Roland TR-808 |
| 33 | | Softer kick and snare sounds than the Standard Kit |
| 41 | | Many brush sounds added |
| 49 | | A collection of concert drums and timpani |
| 57 | | A collection of sound effects |
|
Additional percussion notes
These are the same GS drum notes and span Drum Kits 1 to 49:
| 27 | High Q | 34 | Metronome Bell |
| 28 | Slap | 82 | Shaker |
| 29 | Scratch Push | 83 | Jingle Bell |
| 30 | Scratch Pull | 84 | Belltree |
| 31 | Sticks | 85 | Castanets |
| 32 | Square Click | 86 | Mute Surdo |
| 33 | Metronome Click | 87 | Open Surdo | |
Supported Control Change messages
| CC | Function |
|---|
| 0/32 | Bank Select (MSB/LSB) |
|---|
| 1 | Modulation Wheel |
|---|
| 2 | Breath Controller |
|---|
| 4 | Foot Controller |
|---|
| 5 | Portamento Time |
|---|
| 7 | Channel Volume |
|---|
| 10 | Pan |
|---|
| 64 | Damper Pedal On/Off (Sustain) |
|---|
| 65 | Portamento On/Off |
|---|
| 66 | Sostenuto On/Off |
|---|
| 67 | Soft Pedal On/Off |
|---|
| 70 | Sound Variation |
|---|
| 71 | Timbre/Harmonic Intensity (filter resonance) |
|---|
| 72 | Release Time |
|---|
| 73 | Attack Time |
|---|
| 74 | Brightness (cutoff frequency) |
|---|
| 75 | Decay Time |
|---|
| 76 | Vibrato Rate |
|---|
| 77 | Vibrato Depth |
|---|
| 78 | Vibrato Delay |
|---|
| 91 | Effect 1 Depth (reverb send level) |
|---|
| 92 | Effect 2 Depth (formerly tremolo depth) |
|---|
| 93 | Effect 3 Depth (chorus send level) |
|---|
| 94 | Effect 4 Depth (formerly detune depth) |
|---|
| 95 | Effect 5 Depth (formerly phaser depth) |
|---|
| 6/38 | Data Entry (MSB/LSB) |
|---|
| 100/101 | Registered Parameter Number (MSB/LSB) | |
|---|
Supported Registered Parameter Numbers (RPNs)
- Pitch Bend Sensitivity
- Channel Fine Tune
- Channel Coarse Tune
- Modulation Depth Range (Vibrato Depth Range)
- RPN NULL
Supported Universal System Exclusive (SysEx) messages
- Master Volume
- Master Fine Tuning
- Master Coarse Tuning
- Reverb Type
- Reverb Time
- Chorus Type
- Chorus Mod Rate
- Chorus Mod Depth
- Chorus Feedback
- Chorus Send to Reverb
- Controller Destination Setting
- Scale/Octave Tuning Adjust
- Key-Based Instrument Controllers
- GM2 System On
See also
External links
