General MIDI – GM Sounds

editor — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 07:38:21 +0000

General MIDI or GM is a compliant standard set of sounds and controls which are used in music equipment or software applications. Those products usually have the branding of the image to the right.

The GM sounds are allocated a unique program number between 0-127, 128 sounds in total. Below is a chart of the sounds and their respective numbers.

The GM sound set was created so that musicians who were using computers to write their music could enter simple program changes into their MIDI software which would bring up the proper sound. After saving their songs and then re-opening them – the original sound used would be called up and played back.

Not only could the song retrieve the correct sounds, it could be transferred to another musicians computer and played back correctly on their setup – providing it was also GM compatible. By saving the songs as MIDI files with the .mid extension, musicians are able to transfer tiny files to each other.

MIDI files

If you have ever downloaded and played a professionally programmed MIDI file from the internet you will hear that the sounds are usually correct when playing back. Normally, drums, bass, piano, strings, brass etc. This is because the MIDI file will initiate a setup on your sound card and playback the correct sounds, FX to give you the best possible recreation of a programmed song or instrumental as intended by the original musician.

Sounds & General MIDI Numbers

Piano

0 Acoustic Grand Piano
1 Bright Acoustic Piano
2 Electric Grand Piano
3 Honky-tonk Piano
4 Electric Piano 1
5 Electric Piano 2
6 Harpsichord
7 Clavinet

Chromatic Percussion

8 Celesta
9 Glockenspiel
10 Music Box
11 Vibraphone
12 Marimba
13 Xylophone
14 Tubular Bells
15 Dulcimer

Organ

16 Drawbar Organ
17 Percussive Organ
18 Rock Organ
19 Church Organ
20 Reed Organ
21 Accordion
22 Harmonica
23 Tango Accordion

Guitar

24 Acoustic Guitar (nylon)
25 Acoustic Guitar (steel)
26 Electric Guitar (jazz)
27 Electric Guitar (clean)
28 Electric Guitar (muted)
29 Overdriven Guitar
30 Distortion Guitar
31 Guitar Harmonics

Bass

32 Acoustic Bass
33 Electric Bass (finger)
34 Electric Bass (pick)
35 Fretless Bass
36 Slap Bass 1
37 Slap Bass 2
38 Synth Bass 1
39 Synth Bass 2

Strings

40 Violin
41 Viola
42 Cello
43 Contrabass
44 Tremolo Strings
45 Pizzicato Strings
46 Orchestral Harp
47 Timpani

Ensemble

48 String Ensemble 1
49 String Ensemble 2
50 Synth Strings 1
51 Synth Strings 2
52 Choir Aahs
53 Voice Oohs
54 Synth Choir
55 Orchestra Hit

Brass

56 Trumpet
57 Trombone
58 Tuba
59 Muted Trumpet
60 French Horn
61 Brass Section
62 Synth Brass 1
63 Synth Brass 2

Reed

64 Soprano Sax
65 Alto Sax
66 Tenor Sax
67 Baritone Sax
68 Oboe
69 English Horn
70 Bassoon
71 Clarinet

Pipe

72 Piccolo
73 Flute
74 Recorder
75 Pan Flute
76 Blown Bottle
77 Shakuhachi
78 Whistle
79 Ocarina

Synth Lead

80 Lead 1 (square)
81 Lead 2 (sawtooth)
82 Lead 3 (calliope)
83 Lead 4 (chiff)
84 Lead 5 (charang)
85 Lead 6 (voice)
86 Lead 7 (fifths)
87 Lead 8 (bass + lead)

Synth Pad

88 Pad 1 (new age)
89 Pad 2 (warm)
90 Pad 3 (polysynth)
91 Pad 4 (choir)
92 Pad 5 (bowed)
93 Pad 6 (metallic)
94 Pad 7 (halo)
95 Pad 8 (sweep)

Synth Effects

96 FX 1 (rain)
97 FX 2 (soundtrack)
98 FX 3 (crystal)
99 FX 4 (atmosphere)
100 FX 5 (brightness)
101 FX 6 (goblins)
102 FX 7 (echoes)
103 FX 8 (sci-fi)

Ethnic

104 Sitar
105 Banjo
106 Shamisen
107 Koto
108 Kalimba
109 Bagpipe
110 Fiddle
111 Shanai

Percussive

112 Tinkle Bell
113 Agogo
114 Steel Drums
115 Woodblock
116 Taiko Drum
117 Melodic Tom
118 Synth Drum

Sound effects

119 Reverse Cymbal
120 Guitar Fret Noise
121 Breath Noise
122 Seashore
123 Bird Tweet
124 Telephone Ring
125 Helicopter
126 Applause
127 Gunshot

Sibelius 7 – Notation Software

editor — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:51:41 +0000

Sibelius 7 is more than just a notation software program. It plays back scores in the correct instrumentation, it can also play back high quality samples from various 3rd party sound developers and has a host of other unique features which should appeal to the more traditional form of score-writing composers.

Although it is primarily a very smart scoring program it’s fairly hard to enter incorrect note values when creating a score – any rests, ties etc are put in automatically – just like an automatic spell checker!

I’m not sure if Sibelius can add any more features to future upgrades apart from adding a full blown production and mastering package onto it – although this would have to be better than the market leaders – namely Pro tools and Cubase and would take a heck of a lot of development. Maybe that’s why Sibelius or AVID have extended their original direction towards notation.

You can of course record directly into Sibelius via the more common ways of playing along to a click from a MIDI keyboard. Musicians have always had difficulty with latency – mainly because there are so many contributing factors to think about when setting up your music environment. If you’ve had problems with delay problems – you may like to read our article on what is latency?

ReWire opens up all kinds of possibilities for using Sibelius with other audio software. For example, you could add an acoustic solo instrument line to your Sibelius playback by recording your score into your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), or by making Sibelius and your DAW play back simultaneously.

ReWire is so widely used that you can connect Sibelius 6 to almost any audio program—not just Pro Tools, but also Cubase, Logic, Digital Performer, Cakewalk, Reaper, GarageBand, and more. And again, no other notation program can do this.

Sound Cards Recommended by Sibelius

The M-Audio Fast Track USB is a good basic interface that provides good performance with Sibelius. It does not have built-in MIDI inputs, but works well with all USB MIDI controller keyboards. If you are using a keyboard that uses standard MIDI cables, you will need to purchase a separate MIDI to USB cable such as the M-Audio Uno.

Alternatively, if you prefer to have your Audio and MIDI interface in one unit, the Fast Track Pro has built-in MIDI capability and therefore a separate MIDI to USB cable is not required with this device.

If you prefer to have an internal sound card in your desktop machine, any Audiophile or Delta series sound card is recommended. Alternatively any card aimed towards the Audio Recording market with good ASIO drivers would also be suitable.

If you are buying Sibelius 7 in the UK – Lowest price here – Sibelius 7

If you are buying Sibelius 7 in the US – We have still to find the lowest price….Retailers can send us their lowest price to sibeliusprice@canmoremedia.com

Academic Status to Buy Sibelius 7

Don’t be fooled by the different flavors of Sibelius 7 boxes – those are primarily for the following and all contain the same software:

Sibelius 7 Academic for Teachers
Sibelius 7 Academic for Students
The Professional Edition – If you don’t qualify for academic status

Academic Verification Process

The version you should buy depends on your educational status - whether you qualify for the discount or not. All dealers will ask for educational / academic verification via registration documents with a college, university or school. Parents may also buy on behalf of their children or students attending further education. Full details of buying Sibelius at academic price are supplied by every dealer.