General MIDI instrument and drum kit lists

Last updated:  Friday, 09 November 2018

General MIDI Instrument List

Piano

Program # Instrument
1 Acoustic Grand Piano
2 Bright Piano
3 Electric Grand Piano
4 Honky-tonk piano
5 Electric Piano 1
6 Electric Piano 2
7 Harpsichord
8 Clav

Chromatic Percussion

Program # Instrument
9 Celesta
10 Glockenspiel
11 Music Box
12 Vibraphone
13 Marimba
14 Xylophone
15 Tubular Bells
16 Dulcimer

Organ

Program # Instrument
17 Drawbar Organ
18 Percussive Organ
19 Rock Organ
20 Church Organ
21 Reed Organ
22 Accordian
23 Harmonica
24 Tango Accordian

Guitar

Program # Instrument
25 Nylon String Guitar
26 Steel String Guitar
27 Jazz Guitar
28 Clean Electric Guitar
29 Muted Electric Guitar
30 Overdrive Guitar
31 Distortion Guitar
32 Guitar Harmonics

Bass

Program # Instrument
33 Acoustic Bass
34 Fingered Bass
35 Picked Bass
36 Fretless Bass
37 Slap Bass 1
38 Slap Bass 2
39 Synth Bass 1
40 Synth Bass 2

Strings

Program # Instrument
41 Violin
42 Viola
43 Cello
44 Contrabass
45 Tremolo Strings
46 Pizzicato Strings
47 Orchestral Harp
48 Timpani

Ensemble

Program # Instrument
49 String Ensemble 1
50 String Ensemble 2
51 Synth Strings 1
52 Synth Strings 2
53 Choir Ahh
54 Choir Oohh
55 Synth Voice
56 Orchestral Hit

Brass

Program # Instrument
57 Trumpet
58 Trombone
59 Tuba
60 Muted Trumpet
61 French Horn
62 Brass Section
63 Synth Brass 1
64 Synth Brass 2

Reed

Program # Instrument
65 Soprano Sax
66 Alto Sax
67 Tenor Sax
68 Baritone Sax
69 Oboe
70 English Horn
71 Bassoon
72 Clarinet

Pipe

Program # Instrument
73 Piccolo
74 Flute
75 Recorder
76 Pan Flute
77 Blown Bottle
78 Shakuhachi
79 Whistle
80 Ocarina

Synth Lead

Program # Instrument
81 Square Wav
82 Sawtooth Wav
83 Caliope
84 Chiff
85 Charang
86 Voice
87 Fifth's
88 Bass&Lead

Synth Pad

Program # Instrument
89 New Age
90 Warm
91 Polysynth
92 Choir
93 Bowed
94 Metallic
95 Halo
96 Sweep

Synth Effects

Program # Instrument
97 FX Rain
98 FX Soundtrack
99 FX Crystal
100 FX Atmosphere
101 FX Brightness
102 FX Goblins
103 FX Echo Drops
104 FX Star Theme

Ethnic

Program # Instrument
105 Sitar
106 Banjo
107 Shamisen
108 Koto
109 Kalimba
110 Bagpipe
111 Fiddle
112 Shanai

Percussive

Program # Instrument
113 Tinkle Bell
114 Agogo
115 Steel Drums
116 Woodblock
117 Taiko Drum
118 Melodic Tom
119 Synth Drum
120 Reverse Cymbal

Sound Effects

Program # Instrument
121 Guitar Fret Noise
122 Breath Noise
123 Seashore
124 Bird Tweet
125 Telephone Ring
126 Helicopter
127 Applause
128 Gunshot

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.

Note # Note Name Drum Sound
35 B2 Acoustic Bass Drum
36 C3 Bass Drum 1
37 Db3/C#3 Side Stick
38 D3 Acoustic Snare
39 Eb3/D#3 Hand Clap
40 E3 Electric Snare
41 F3 Low Floor Tom
42 Gb3/F#3 Closed Hi-Hat
43 G3 High Floor Tom
44 Ab3/G#3 Pedal Hi-Hat
45 A3 Low Tom
46 Bb3/A#3 Open Hi-Hat
47 B3 Low-Mid Tom
48 C4 Hi-Mid Tom
49 Db4/C#4 Crash Cymbal 1
50 D4 High Tom
51 Eb4/D#4 Ride Cymbal 1
52 E4 Chinese Cymbal
53 F4 Ride Bell
54 Gb4/F#4 Tambourine
55 G4 Splash Cymbal
56 Ab4/G#4 Cowbell
57 A4 Crash Symbol 2
58 Bb4/A#4 Vibraslap
Note # Note Name Drum Sound
59 B4 Ride Cymbal 2
60 C5 (middle C) Hi Bongo
61 Db5/C#5 Low Bongo
62 D5 Mute Hi Conga
63 Eb5/D#5 Open Hi Conga
64 E5 Low Conga
65 F5 High Timbale
66 Gb5/F#5 Low Timbale
67 G5 High Agogo
68 Ab5/G#5 Low Agogo
69 A5 Cabasa
70 Bb5/A#5 Maracas
71 B5 Short Whistle
72 C6 Long Whistle
73 Db6/D#6 Short Guiro
74 D6 Long Guiro
75 Eb6/D#6 Claves
76 E6 Hi Wood Block
77 F6 Low Wood Block
78 Gb6/F#6 Mute Cuica
79 G6 Open Cuica
80 Ab6/G#6 Mute Triangle
81 A6 Open Triangle
82 Bb6/A#6 Shaker

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 an Electric 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.
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