What gear or software yall think has the best General MIDI soundset?

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quote:

Dr.DRE "It's not the equipment....it's the muthaf@#%r running it"

quote:

Originally posted by Pagan-za Fighting online is like winning the special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.

I don't think i understand your question dude, could you elaborate please?

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quote:

Originally posted by Ry Thomas I don't think i understand your question dude, could you elaborate please?

General MIDI Level 1 Sound Set

General MIDI's most recognized feature is the defined list of sounds or "patches". However, General MIDI does not actually define the way the sound will be reproduced, only the name of that sound.

Though this can obviously result in wide variations in performance from the same song data on different GM sound sources, the authors of General MIDI felt it important to allow each manufacturer to have their own ideas and express their personal aesthetics when it comes to picking the exact timbres for each sound.

Each manufacturer must insure that their sounds provide an acceptable representation of song data written for General MIDI. Guidelines for developing GM compatible sound sets and song data are available through the MMA.
General MIDI Level 1 Instrument Patch Map

* The names of the instruments indicate what sort of sound will be heard when that instrument number (MIDI Program Change or "PC#") is selected on the GM1 synthesizer.
* These sounds are the same for all MIDI Channels except Channel 10, which has only percussion sounds and some sound "effects". (See "GM1 Percussion Key Map")

GM1 Instrument Families

The General MIDI Level 1 instrument sounds are grouped by families. In each family are 8 specific instruments.

PC# Family PC# Family
1-8 Piano 65-72 Reed
9-16 Chromatic Percussion 73-80 Pipe
17-24 Organ 81-88 Synth Lead
25-32 Guitar 89-96 Synth Pad
33-40 Bass 97-104 Synth Effects
41-48 Strings 105-112 Ethnic
49-56 Ensemble 113-120 Percussive
57-64 Brass 121-128 Sound Effects

GM1 Instrument Patch Map

Note: While GM1 does not define the actual characteristics of any sounds, the names in parentheses after each of the synth leads, pads, and sound effects are, in particular, intended only as guides).

PC# Instrument
1. Acoustic Grand Piano 65. Soprano Sax
2. Bright Acoustic Piano 66. Alto Sax
3. Electric Grand Piano 67. Tenor Sax
4. Honky-tonk Piano 68. Baritone Sax
5. Electric Piano 1 69. Oboe
6. Electric Piano 2 70. English Horn
7. Harpsichord 71. Bassoon
8. Clavi 72. Clarinet
9. Celesta 73. Piccolo
10. Glockenspiel 74. Flute
11. Music Box 75. Recorder
12. Vibraphone 76. Pan Flute
13. Marimba 77. Blown Bottle
14. Xylophone 78. Shakuhachi
15. Tubular Bells 79. Whistle
16. Dulcimer 80. Ocarina
17. Drawbar Organ 81. Lead 1 (square)
18. Percussive Organ 82. Lead 2 (sawtooth)
19. Rock Organ 83. Lead 3 (calliope)
20. Church Organ 84. Lead 4 (chiff)
21. Reed Organ 85. Lead 5 (charang)
22. Accordion 86. Lead 6 (voice)
23. Harmonica 87. Lead 7 (fifths)
24. Tango Accordion 88. Lead 8 (bass + lead)
25. Acoustic Guitar (nylon) 89. Pad 1 (new age)
26. Acoustic Guitar (steel) 90. Pad 2 (warm)
27. Electric Guitar (jazz) 91. Pad 3 (polysynth)
28. Electric Guitar (clean) 92. Pad 4 (choir)
29. Electric Guitar (muted) 93. Pad 5 (bowed)
30. Overdriven Guitar 94. Pad 6 (metallic)
31. Distortion Guitar 95. Pad 7 (halo)
32. Guitar harmonics 96. Pad 8 (sweep)
33. Acoustic Bass 97. FX 1 (rain)
34. Electric Bass (finger) 98. FX 2 (soundtrack)
35. Electric Bass (pick) 99. FX 3 (crystal)
36. Fretless Bass 100. FX 4 (atmosphere)
37. Slap Bass 1 101. FX 5 (brightness)
38. Slap Bass 2 102. FX 6 (goblins)
39. Synth Bass 1 103. FX 7 (echoes)
40. Synth Bass 2 104. FX 8 (sci-fi)
41. Violin 105. Sitar
42. Viola 106. Banjo
43. Cello 107. Shamisen
44. Contrabass 108. Koto
45. Tremolo Strings 109. Kalimba
46. Pizzicato Strings 110. Bag pipe
47. Orchestral Harp 111. Fiddle
48. Timpani 112. Shanai
49. String Ensemble 1 113. Tinkle Bell
50. String Ensemble 2 114. Agogo
51. SynthStrings 1 115. Steel Drums
52. SynthStrings 2 116. Woodblock
53. Choir Aahs 117. Taiko Drum
54. Voice Oohs 118. Melodic Tom
55. Synth Voice 119. Synth Drum
56. Orchestra Hit 120. Reverse Cymbal
57. Trumpet 121. Guitar Fret Noise
58. Trombone 122. Breath Noise
59. Tuba 123. Seashore
60. Muted Trumpet 124. Bird Tweet
61. French Horn 125. Telephone Ring
62. Brass Section 126. Helicopter
63. SynthBrass 1 127. Applause
64. SynthBrass 2 128. Gunshot


General MIDI Level 1 Percussion Key Map

On MIDI Channel 10, each MIDI Note number ("Key#") corresponds to a different drum sound, as shown below. GM-compatible instruments must have the sounds on the keys shown here. While many current instruments also have additional sounds above or below the range show here, and may even have additional "kits" with variations of these sounds, only these sounds are supported by General MIDI Level 1 devices.

Key#


Drum Sound


Key#


Drum Sound

35


Acoustic Bass Drum


59


Ride Cymbal 2

36


Bass Drum 1


60


Hi Bongo

37


Side Stick


61


Low Bongo

38


Acoustic Snare


62


Mute Hi Conga

39


Hand Clap


63


Open Hi Conga

40


Electric Snare


64


Low Conga

41


Low Floor Tom


65


High Timbale

42


Closed Hi Hat


66


Low Timbale

43


High Floor Tom


67


High Agogo

44


Pedal Hi-Hat


68


Low Agogo

45


Low Tom


69


Cabasa

46


Open Hi-Hat


70


Maracas

47


Low-Mid Tom


71


Short Whistle

48


Hi-Mid Tom


72


Long Whistle

49


Crash Cymbal 1


73


Short Guiro

50


High Tom


74


Long Guiro

51


Ride Cymbal 1


75


Claves

52


Chinese Cymbal


76


Hi Wood Block

53


Ride Bell


77


Low Wood Block

54


Tambourine


78


Mute Cuica

55


Splash Cymbal


79


Open Cuica

56


Cowbell


80


Mute Triangle

57


Crash Cymbal 2


81


Open Triangle

58


Vibraslap


NOW WHAT KEYBOARD OR SOFTWARE HAS THE BEST GM SOUNDSET?

___________________
Trance Addict 4 LIFE!

quote:

Dr.DRE "It's not the equipment....it's the muthaf@#%r running it"

quote:

Originally posted by Pagan-za Fighting online is like winning the special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.

Last edited by atxbigballer1 on Jul-14-2008 at 15:12

What the hell?

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Okay I Have a Yamaha ez-250i keyboard i put all my midi files in it by usb and it plays all my midi songs files that i download off the internet and it sounds good but im looking to upgrade to some thing with better GM sounds for my studio! i just want to ask yall what keyboard,refill or software has the best GM SOUNDS!?

___________________
Trance Addict 4 LIFE!

quote:

Dr.DRE "It's not the equipment....it's the muthaf@#%r running it"

quote:

Originally posted by Pagan-za Fighting online is like winning the special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.

Last edited by atxbigballer1 on Jul-14-2008 at 15:40

I'm just curious why you want a GM soundset specifically, since the GM soundsets I've heard suck compared to a lot of modern sample libraries.

Why not just use a decent sample pack and play your MIDIs through your DAW?

I think that the reason you're getting these types of responses is because this is a music producers forum and very few, if any, of us use or rely on GM. We generally create our own music using either non-GM synth presets/samples and/or patches that we've created ourselves. That said, I'll attempt to answer your question.

Most of the high-end workstation offerings from Roland, Korg, Alesis, Kurzweil, and Yamaha have pretty good sounding GM patches. Personally, I'd go with a Roland or Kurzweil for GM because, of the few GM tracks I've heard through them, they sounded pretty good and less cheesy than most GM tracks. But, I have no idea why anyone would base their purchase to buy such a synth on GM patches. That's sorta like basing the decision for which luxury car to buy on the color of the steering wheel, IMO.

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Well i want some thing to play all my midi song files that i make and download off the internet! i dont want have to load any patches! i want to just load the song on the keyboard and hit play and the song plays. When i play the midi file off my pc useing the GM set off my pc it sounds okay but on my yamaha ez-250i keyboard it sounds a lot better! Also its nice to play a midi song with out the need of a pc!

___________________
Trance Addict 4 LIFE!

quote:

Dr.DRE "It's not the equipment....it's the muthaf@#%r running it"

quote:

Originally posted by Pagan-za Fighting online is like winning the special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.

Last edited by atxbigballer1 on Jul-14-2008 at 17:06

I agree that having a gm sound bank can be very useful at times especially when not producing dance.

I use Native Instruments Bandstand - http://www.native-instruments.com/i...hp?id=bandstand
It got some pretty mixed reviews mostly bad from what I’ve read however it’s cheap and easy to use and in my personal opinion it’s the best.

As an added bonus you can load the wave samples into kontakt 2 for further manipulation and effects giving you a pretty solid base for all general sounds.

Another one is Colossus from east west. http://www.dv247.com/invt/25935/pro...vxIcg_a_3d_a_3d

This features 32gb!! Of data and a pretty decent GM Bank and it’s now only 206.00 uk pounds. The ****** was three times that price when I brought it. It’s one of the few software romplers that can be considered a standard for all your bread and butter sounds. (Not sure if this is due to east west’s massive influence in the rompler market)

My personal opinion is that it’s pretty good but for the above price it’s an excellent choice.

Also check out some of the other software samplers / romplers with a large library as they should have some gm features


And isn’t there a general gm synth built into windows? Apparently produced by Roland some time ago? I’ll have a look later.

quote:

Originally posted by Jason_R I agree that having a gm sound bank can be very useful at times especially when not producing dance. I use Native Instruments Bandstand - http://www.native-instruments.com/i...hp?id=bandstand It got some pretty mixed reviews mostly bad from what I’ve read however it’s cheap and easy to use and in my personal opinion it’s the best. As an added bonus you can load the wave samples into kontakt 2 for further manipulation and effects giving you a pretty solid base for all general sounds. Another one is Colossus from east west. http://www.dv247.com/invt/25935/pro...vxIcg_a_3d_a_3d This features 32gb!! Of data and a pretty decent GM Bank and it’s now only 206.00 uk pounds. The ****** was three times that price when I brought it. It’s one of the few software romplers that can be considered a standard for all your bread and butter sounds. (Not sure if this is due to east west’s massive influence in the rompler market) My personal opinion is that it’s pretty good but for the above price it’s an excellent choice. Also check out some of the other software samplers / romplers with a large library as they should have some gm features And isn’t there a general gm synth built into windows? Apparently produced by Roland some time ago? I’ll have a look later.

Native Instruments Bandstand looks cool Thanks!

___________________
Trance Addict 4 LIFE!

quote:

Dr.DRE "It's not the equipment....it's the muthaf@#%r running it"

quote:

Originally posted by Pagan-za Fighting online is like winning the special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.