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General MIDI (also known as GM or GM 1) is a standardized specification for electronic musical instruments that respond to MIDI messages. Sound fonts names that include _GM, like FluidR3_GM.sf2, adhere to this standard.

MIDI uses the term channel to signify the identity of a device on its network. Similarly the term program, represents the voice requested on a particular channel. General MIDI reserves channel 10 for extended percussion voices. All other channels are required to obey the non-percussion voicings for General MIDI Instruments.

Piano | Chromatic Percussion | Organ
Guitar | Bass | Strings | Ensemble | Brass
Reed | Pipe | Synth Lead | Synth Pad | Synth Effects
Ethnic | Percussive | Sound Effects | Percussion

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Piano

Program Voice Aliases
1 Acoustic Grand Piano acoustic_grand_piano, piano, piano0
2 Bright Acoustic Piano bright_acoustic_piano, piano1
3 Electric Grand Piano electric_grand_piano, piano2
4 Honky-tonk Piano honkytonk_piano, piano3
5 Electric Piano 1 electric_piano_1, epiano, epiano0
6 Electric Piano 2 electric_piano_2, epiano1
7 Harpsichord harpsichord
8 Clavinet clavinet

Chromatic Percussion

Program Voice Aliases
9 Celesta celesta
10 Glockenspiel glockenspiel
11 Music Box music_box
12 Vibraphone vibraphone
13 Marimba marimba
14 Xylophone xylophone
15 Tubular Bells tubular_bells
16 Dulcimer dulcimer

Organ

Program Voice Aliases
17 Drawbar Organ drawbar_organ, organ, organ0
18 Percussive Organ percussive_organ, organ1
19 Rock Organ rock_organ, organ2
20 Church Organ church_organ, organ3
21 Reed Organ reed_organ, organ4
22 Accordion accordion
23 Harmonica harmonica
24 Tango Accordion tango_accordion

Guitar

Program Voice Aliases
25 Acoustic Guitar (nylon) acoustic_guitar_nylon, guitar, guitar0
26 Acoustic Guitar (steel) acoustic_guitar_steel, guitar1
27 Electric Guitar (jazz) electric_guitar_jazz, guitar2
28 Electric Guitar (clean) electric_guitar_clean, guitar3
29 Electric Guitar (muted) electric_guitar_muted, guitar4
30 Overdriven Guitar overdriven_guitar, guitar5
31 Distortion Guitar distortion_guitar, guitar6
32 Guitar Harmonics guitar_harmonics, guitar7

Bass

Program Voice Aliases
33 Acoustic Bass acoustic_bass, bass, bass0
34 Electric Bass (finger) electric_bass_finger, bass1
35 Electric Bass (pick) electric_bass_pick, bass2
36 Fretless Bass fretless_bass, bass3
37 Slap Bass 1 slap_bass_1, bass4
38 Slap Bass 2 slap_bass_2, bass5
39 Synth Bass 1 synth_bass_1, bass6
40 Synth Bass 2 synth_bass_2, bass7

Strings

Program Voice Aliases
41 Violin violin
42 Viola viola
43 Cello cello
44 Contrabass contrabass
45 Tremolo Strings tremolo_strings, strings, strings0
46 Pizzicato Strings pizzicato_strings, strings1
47 Orchestral Harp orchestral_harp, harp
48 Timpani timpani

Ensemble

Program Voice Aliases
49 String Ensemble 1 string_ensemble_1, strings2
50 String Ensemble 2 string_ensemble_2, strings3
51 Synth Strings 1 synth_strings_1, strings4
52 Synth Strings 2 synth_strings_2, strings5
53 Choir Aahs choir_aahs
54 Voice Oohs choir_oohs
55 Synth Voice synth_voice, voice, voice0
56 Orchestra Hit orchestra_hit

Brass

Program Voice Aliases
57 Trumpet trumpet, trumpet0
58 Trombone trombone
59 Tuba tuba
60 Muted Trumpet muted_trumpet, trumpet1
61 French Horn french_horn, horn
62 Brass Section brass_section, brass, brass0
63 Synth Brass 1 synth_brass_1, brass1
64 Synth Brass 2 synth_brass_2, brass2

Reed

Program Voice Aliases
65 Soprano Sax soprano_sax, sax0
66 Alto Sax alto_sax, sax1
67 Tenor Sax tenor_sax, sax2
68 Baritone Sax baritone_sax, sax3
69 Oboe oboe
70 English Horn english_horn
71 Bassoon bassoon
72 Clarinet clarinet

Pipe

Program Voice Aliases
73 Piccolo piccolo, flute1
74 Flute flute, flute0
75 Recorder recorder
76 Pan Flute pan_flute, flute2
77 Blown bottle blown_bottle, flute3
78 Shakuhachi shakuhachi, flute4
79 Whistle whistle, flute5
80 Ocarina ocarina

Synth Lead

Program Voice Aliases
81 Lead 1 (square) lead_1_square, synthlead1
82 Lead 2 (sawtooth) lead_2_sawtooth, synthlead2
83 Lead 3 (calliope) lead_3_calliope, synthlead3
84 Lead 4 (chiff) lead_4_chiff, synthlead4
85 Lead 5 (charang) lead_5_charang, synthlead5
86 Lead 6 (voice) lead_6_voice, synthlead6, voice1
87 Lead 7 (fifths) lead_7_fifths, synthlead7, fifths
88 Lead 8 (bass + lead) lead_8_bass__lead, synthlead8

Synth Pad

Program Voice Aliases
89 Pad 1 (new age) pad_1_new_age, pad1
90 Pad 2 (warm) pad_2_warm, pad2
91 Pad 3 (polysynth) pad_3_polysynth, pad3
92 Pad 4 (choir) pad_4_choir, pad4, choir, voices
93 Pad 5 (bowed) pad_5_bowed, new_age, pad5
94 Pad 6 (metallic) pad_6_metallic, pad6
95 Pad 7 (halo) pad_7_halo, pad7
96 Pad 8 (sweep) pad_8_sweep, pad8

Synth Effects

Program Voice Aliases
97 FX 1 (rain) fx_1_rain, fx1
98 FX 2 (soundtrack) fx_2_soundtrack, fx2
99 FX 3 (crystal) fx_3_crystal, fx3
100 FX 4 (atmosphere) fx_4_atmosphere, fx4
101 FX 5 (brightness) fx_5_brightness, fx5
102 FX 6 (goblins) fx_6_goblins, fx6
103 FX 7 (echoes) fx_7_echoes, fx7
104 FX 8 (sci-fi) fx_8_scifi, fx8

Ethnic

Program Voice Aliases
105 Sitar sitar
106 Banjo banjo
107 Shamisen shamisen
108 Koto koto
109 Kalimba kalimba
110 Bag pipe bagpipe
111 Fiddle fiddle
112 Shanai shanai

Percussive

Program Voice Aliases
113 Tinkle Bell tinkle_bell, bell
114 Agogô agogo
115 Steel Drums steel_drums
116 Woodblock woodblock
117 Taiko Drum taiko_drum
118 Melodic Tom melodic_tom, tom
119 Synth Drum synth_drum
120 Reverse Cymbal reverse_cymbol

Sound Effects

Program Voice Aliases
121 Guitar Fret Noise guitar_fret_noise, fx11
122 Breath Noise breath_noise, fx12
123 Seashore seashore, fx13
124 Bird Tweet bird_tweet, fx14
125 Telephone Ring telephone_ring, fx15
126 Helicopter helicopter, fx16
127 Applause applause, fx17
128 Gunshot gushot, fx18

Percussion

These voices are associated with note numbers of MIDI channel 10. Many programmable systems employ 0-indexed channels. In those cases, the percussion channel will be found on channel 9. In the table below, MIDI note numbers are 0-127.

Voice alias Note abc MIDI
Snare Roll sr0 C#1 ^C,,, 25
Finger Snap fs0 D1 D,,, 26
High Q hq0 D#1 ^D,,, 27
Slap sl0 E1 E,,, 28
Scratch Push sc0 F1 F,,, 29
Scratch Pull sc1 F#1 ^F,,, 30
Sticks st0 G G,,, 31
Square Click clk0 G#1 ^G,,, 32
Metronome Click clk1 A A,,, 33
Metronome Bell mbell0, bell2 A#1 ^A,,, 34
Acoustic Bass Drum bd1 B B,,, 35
Electric Bass Drum (Kick) bd0, bd, kick C2 C,, 36
Side Stick ss0, rim0, rim C#2 ^C,, 37
Acoustic Snare sd1 D2 D,, 38
Hand Clap clap, cp0, cp D#2 ^D,, 39
Electric Snare sd0, sd E2 E,, 40
Low Floor Tom lt0, td0 F2 F,, 41
Closed Hi-hat hh, hh0 F#2 ^F,, 42
High Floor Tom ht0, td1 G2 G,, 43
Pedal Hi-hat hh2 G#2 ^G,, 44
Low Tom lt1, td2 A2 A,, 45
Open Hi-hat hh1, oh A#2 ^A,, 46
Low-Mid Tom mt0, td3 B2 B,, 47
Hi-Mid Tom mt1, td4 C3 C, 48
Crash Cymbal 1 cr0, cr C#3 ^C, 49
High Tom ht1, td5 D D, 50
Ride Cymbal 1 rd0, rd D#3 ^D, 51
Chinese Cymbal sp0 E3 E, 52
Ride Bell rd2, bell1 F3 F, 53
Tambourine tb0 F#3 ^F, 54
Splash Cymbal sp0, sp G3 G, 55
Cowbell bell, bell0 G#3 ^G, 56
Crash Cymbal 2 cr1 A3 A, 57
Vibra Slap vs0 A#3 ^A, 58
Ride Cymbal 2 rd1 B3 B, 59
High Bongo bongo1 C4 C 60
Low Bongo bongo0, bongo C#4 ^C 61
Mute High Conga conga2 D4 D 62
Open High Conga conga1 D#4 ^D 63
Low Conga conga0 E4 E 64
High Timbale timbale1 F4 F 65
Low Timbale timbale0 F#4 ^F 66
High Agogô agogo1 G4 G 67
Low Agogô agogo2 G#4 ^G 68
Cabasa cabasa0 A4 A 69
Maracas maracas0 A#4 ^A 70
Short Whistle wh0 B4 B 71
Long Whistle wh1 C5 c 72
Short Guiro guiro0, guiro C#5 ^c 73
Long Guiro guiro1 D5 d 74
Claves claves0, claves D#5 ^d 75
High Woodblock wb0, woodblock E6 e 76
Low Woodblock wb1 F6 f 77
Mute Cuica cuica1 F#6 ^f 78
Open Cuica cuica0 G6 g 79
Mute Triangle tri1 G#6 ^g 80
Open Triangle tri0, triangle A6 a 81
Shaker sh0 A#6 ^a 82
Jingle Bell bell3 B6 b 83
Belltree bell4 C7 c' 84
Castanets cast0 C#7 ^c' 85
Mute Surdo surdo1 D7 d' 86
Open Surdo surdo0 D#7 ^d' 87