General MIDI instrument and drum kit lists

Last updated:  Tuesday, 01 May 2012

General MIDI Instrument List

General MIDI Drum Kit Map

MIDI channel 10 is the drum channel on most MIDI synthesizers. On the drum channel, different notes are interpreted as different drum sounds, instead of being different pitches of a particular instrument. Instead of using Program Change messages to switch between different instruments, on the drum channel they are used to choose a drum kit. Program Change 1 is the Standard Drum Kit on most synthesizers. Below is a Drum kit patch map for the GM Standard Drum Kit. Note that most synths have additional drum sounds below and above this range of notes.

In addition to note numbers (for example, 60,61,62), PG Music software often refers to note names (for example, C5, Db5, E5). For reference, note 60 = C5 = middle C.

Other Drum Kits

Many General MIDI compatible synths have additional drum kits, often the eight listed below. Other drum kits are often similar to the Standard Drum Kit but have variations of the same drum sounds. For example, note 38 is an Acoustic Snare in the Standard Drum Kit. When you are using the Room Drum Kit, you still hear a snare with note 38 but it will be a "Room Snare".

Program #	Drum Kit
1	Standard Drum Kit
9	Room Drum Kit
17	Power Drum Kit
25	Electric Drum Kit
26	Rap TR808 Drums
33	Jazz Drum Kit
41	Brush Kit

A special note about the Brush Kit

The Brush Kit is usually the same as the Standard Drum Kit with the following three exceptions:

• Note #38 is a Brush Tap instead of a Snare Drum.
• Note #39 is a Brush Slap instead of a Hand Clap.
• Note #40 is a Brush Swirl instead of a Snare Drum.

Some Yamaha synths use a somewhat different map for the brush sounds. On these synths:

• Note #25 is a Brush tap.
• Note #27 is a Brush Slap.
• Note #26 is a Brush swirl.