General MIDI – GM Sounds

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