General MIDI Level 2 or GM2 is a specification for

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...

s which defines several requirements beyond the more abstract

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, an ...

standard and is based on

General MIDI General MIDI (also known as GM or GM 1) is a standardized specification for electronic musical instruments that respond to MIDI messages. GM was developed by the American MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) and the Japan MIDI Standards Commi ...

and GS extensions. It was adopted in 1999 by the

MIDI Manufacturers Association The MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) is a non-profit trade organization where companies work together to create MIDI standards that assure compatibility among MIDI products. The MMA is a U.S. organization established in 1985 by the original d ...

(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.

Melodic sounds

= Piano

= Chromatic Percussion

= Organ

= Guitar

= Bass

= Orchestra Solo

= Orchestra Ensemble

= Brass

= Reed

= Wind

= Synth Lead

= Synth Pad

= Synth Sound FX

= 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.

Additional percussion notes

These are the same GS drum notes and span Drum Kits 1 to 49:

Supported Control Change messages

Supported Registered Parameter Numbers (RPNs)

* Pitch Bend Sensitivity * Channel Fine Tune * Channel Coarse Tune * Modulation Depth Range (Vibrato Depth Range) * Velocity

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

References

External links

MIDI Manufacturers Association
(MMA) * {{cite journal , last = Smithers , first = Brian , title = General MIDI Redux , journal =

Electronic Musician ''Electronic Musician'' is a monthly magazine published by Future US featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians. History and profile ''Electronic Musician'' began as ''Polyphony'' magazine in 1975, publis ...

, url = http://www.emusician.com/news/0766/general-midi-redux/144351 MIDI standards