General Midi

Musicians often make midi clips to be played on a particular synth with particular choice of instruments - just as an intermediate step towards realising it as an audio file. If you play the midi clip on another synth, the voices might be completely different - the original piano may now be an oboe and so forth. To deal with this issue so that midi clips could be easy to share the General Midi format was developed.

In a GM synth, the first voice is always going to be some variety of acoustic piano for instance, so even if your piece maybe mightn't get played with the exact timbre of acoustic piano you heard when you created it, it will be played on a piano voice of some description.

General Midi Voices


Intro, Some of the more unusual midi voices, with links, General Midi voice numbers

Intro
You can select any of these voices into a part using the   Voices  menu, - see Parts

For an overview of General Midi, have a look at this on-line page General Midi (GM) and the Roland GS standard from the Midi Musical Interface manuals at the Computer Lab for Image and Sound web site.

If you use the Roland GS sound set - as you have with QuickTime or the Roland Sound Canvas then you have a wider range of standard instruments, which you can select from by changing the bank number in the Parts window in FTS.

See The Roland GS Compatible Instrument List (on-line).

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Some of the more unusual midi voices, with links
Some general sites: Musical Instruments resources, Glossary of Folk Musical Instruments & Styles from Around the World

Clavinet - modern electric version of clavichord. Clavinet home page

Koto - Japanese plucked instrument in the zither family.

Shakuhachi - Japanese end blown bamboo flute.

Shamizen - Japanese banjo like lute.

See Reiko Obata's Koto page - About the instruments.

Taiko drum - Japanese drum.

Kalimba - African thumb piano, Same instrument as the Mbira of the Shona people of Zimbabwe.

This page has some information about it: Kalimbas - African thumb piano.

You can find a virtual Mbira here - Tuning your Mbira.

Agogo - african double cowbell. Some pictures on this page of african instruments (scroll down), or here.

Shanai - Indian shawm, oboe family. This page has a picture of one

This page has pictures, and descriptions of Sitar, Kalimba, and ocarina,

This page recommends General Midi voices for the sounds of early music

Rhodes piano - vintage electric piano, Rhodes piano, from Melmusic vintage articles, by Brad Coates

Rhodes piano history / description

SynthMuseum - Rhodes Piano, Synthzone Rhodes links.

Hammond organ - vintage electric organ. See pictures and links from the theatre organs site.

The standard musicians reference on music is the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians which you will find in most libraries - it is now on-line as well, on a subscription basis.

Many instruments links (with emphasis on unusual ones)

This site has many pictures of the various instruments with information about them: Lark in the Morning on-line Catalog.

The English horn is the same as the Cor anglais, which you may know it as instead - a member of the oboe family.

. .. to be continued...

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General Midi voice numbers
Piano

Acoustic Grand Piano 0

Bright Acoustic Piano 1

Electric Grand Piano 2

Honky-tonk Piano 3

Rhodes Piano 4

Chorused Piano 5

Harpsichord 6

Clavinet 7

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Chromatic Percussion

Celesta 8

Glockenspiel 9

Music Box 10

Vibraphone 11

Marimba 12

Xylophone 13

Tubular Bells 14

Dulcimer 15

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Organ

Hammond Organ 16

Percussive Organ 17

Rock Organ 18

Church Organ 19

Reed Organ 20

Accordian 21

Harmonica 22

Tango Accordian 23

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Guitar

Acoustic Guitar (nylon) 24

Acoustic Guitar (steel) 25

Electric Guitar (jazz) 26

Electric Guitar (clean) 27

Electric Guitar (muted) 28

Overdriven Guitar 29

Distortion Guitar 30

Guitar Harmonics 31

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Bass

Acoustic Bass 32

Electric Bass (finger) 33

Electric Bass (pick) 34

Fretless Bass 35

Slap Bass 1 36

Slap Bass 2 37

Synth Bass 1 38

Synth Bass 2 39

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Strings / Orchestral

Violin 40

Viola 41

Cello 42

Contrabass 43

Tremolo Strings 44

Pizzicato Strings 45

Orchestral Harp 46

Timpani 47

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Ensemble

String Ensemble 1 48

String Ensemble 2 49

Synth Strings 1 50

Synth Strings 2 51

Choir Aahs 52

Voice Oohs 53

Synth Voice 54

Orchestra Hit 55

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Brass

Trumpet 56

Trombone 57

Tuba 58

Muted Trumpet 59

French Horn 60

Brass Section 61

Synth Brass 1 62

Synth Brass 2 63

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Reed

Soprano Sax 64

Alto Sax 65

Tenor Sax 66

Baritone Sax 67

Oboe 68

English Horn 69

Bassoon 70

Clarinet 71

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Pipe

Piccolo 72

Flute 73

Recorder 74

Pan Flute 75

Bottle Blow 76

Shakuhachi 77

Whistle 78

Ocarina 79

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Synth Lead

Lead 1 (square) 80

Lead 2 (sawtooth) 81

Lead 3 (caliope lead) 82

Lead 4 (chiff lead) 83

Lead 5 (charang) 84

Lead 6 (voice) 85

Lead 7 (fifths) 86

Lead 8 (brass + lead) 87

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Synth Pad

Pad 1 (new age) 88

Pad 2 (warm) 89

Pad 3 (polysynth) 90

Pad 4 (choir) 91

Pad 5 (bowed) 92

Pad 6 (metallic) 93

Pad 7 (halo) 94

Pad 8 (sweep) 95

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Synth Effects

FX 1 (rain) 96

FX 2 (soundtrack) 97

FX 3 (crystal) 98

FX 4 (atmosphere) 99

FX 5 (brightness) 100

FX 6 (goblins) 101

FX 7 (echoes) 102

FX 8 (sci-fi) 103

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Ethnic

Sitar 104

Banjo 105

Shamisen 106

Koto 107

Kalimba 108

Bagpipe 109

Fiddle 110

Shanai 111

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Percussive

Tinkle Bell 112

Agogo 113

Steel Drums 114

Woodblock 115

Taiko Drum 116

Melodic Tom 117

Synth Drum 118

Reverse Cymbal 119

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Sound Effects

Guitar Fret Noise 120

Breath Noise 121

Seashore 122

Bird Tweet 123

Telephone Ring 124

Helicopter 125

Applause 126

Gunshot 127

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