General MIDI Level 2


General MIDI Level 2 or GM2 is a specification for synthesizers which defines several requirements beyond the more abstract MIDI standard and is based on General MIDI, GS extensions, and XG extensions. It was adopted in 1999 by the MIDI Manufacturers Association.

General requirements

  • Number of Notes: 32 simultaneous notes
  • MIDI Channels: 16
  • Simultaneous Melodic Instruments – up to 16
  • Simultaneous Percussion Kits – up to 2

Parameters

Program and bank change events

General MIDI 2 compatible synthesizers access all of the 256 instruments by setting cc#0 to 121 and using cc#32 to select the variation bank before a Program Change. Variation bank 0 contains the full GM — that is, General MIDI 1 — sound set. Variations using other bank numbers are new to General MIDI 2, and correspond to variation sounds introduced in Roland GS and Yamaha XG.

Melodic sounds

Piano
Chromatic Percussion
Organ
Guitar
Bass
Orchestra Solo
Orchestra Ensemble
Brass
Reed
Wind
Synth Lead
Synth Pad
Synth Sound FX
Ethnic
Percussive
Sound Effect

Drum sounds

These are the same patch numbers as defined in the original version of GS. Drum bank is accessed by setting cc#0 to 120 and cc#32 to 0 and PC to select drum kit.

Additional percussion notes

These are the same GS drum notes and span Drum Kits 1 to 49:

Supported Registered Parameter Numbers (RPNs)

Supported Universal System Exclusive (SysEx) messages

  • Master Volume
  • Master Fine Tuning
  • Master Coarse Tuning
  • Reverb Type
  • Reverb Time
  • Chorus Type
  • Chorus Mod Rate
  • Chorus Mod Depth
  • Chorus Feedback
  • Chorus Send to Reverb
  • Controller Destination Setting
  • Scale/Octave Tuning Adjust
  • Key-Based Instrument Controllers
  • GM2 System On