Getting Started • MIDI
46
The Arrangement channel
The Arrangement channel is used to receive the pro-
gram change messages for the arrangement. The
reception of a program change message will cause the
selection of an Arrangement.
For information on the programming of the Arrange-
ment channel, see “ARNG (Arrangement)” on
page 140.
What is General MIDI?
General MIDI (abbreviated GM) is a series of added
MIDI specifications, that allow you to play a song on
different instruments without any modifications.
Until General MIDI appeared, there were no standards
that governed the organization of sounds and how to
select them. When a song was played by a different
MIDI instrument to the original, the sound could dif-
fer entirely from the original ones. For example, a
snare might play instead of a hi-hat, a crash cymbal
instead of a bass drum, or a synth brass instead of a
piano, and so on.
Therefore, in order to play a song on a different instru-
ment, you needed to prepare a comparison table,
which allowed you to identify the sounds on the new
instrument that corresponded to those on the old one.
In addition to the sounds, you also had to adjust other
parameters, for example the volume and the effects.
General MIDI standardizes the organization of
sounds, in such a way that the piano track is always
played by a piano and the drum kit track by a drum
kit; it also standardizes the setup of the drums in a
drum kit, the main sound parameters (attack, sustain,
release…), volume values and controls for the effects
and effect send functions. The song can be played in
the same way on any General MIDI compatible instru-
ment.
In the i40M the General MIDI sounds are contained in
the A and B banks. There are 128 General MIDI sounds
altogether; the A bank contains programs 0-63,
whereas the B contains programs 64-127. There are
two General MIDI compatible Drum kits (Dr11 and
Dr12).
To program MIDI songs compatible with any GM
instrument, you need to use these programs and these
Drum kits.
What are Standard MIDI Files?
“Standard MIDI File” format (abbreviated as SMF) is a
standard that allows you to exchange songs between
different sequencers, meaning incorporated sequenc-
ers in musical instruments, or computer software. SMF
are not necessarily GM compatible.
The i40M sequencer is compatible with SMF 0 and 1
formats. It can read SMF in the Song Play mode (see
page 106) and edit them in the Song Edit mode (see
page 113). In the Backing Sequence mode it can save a
backing sequence in standard SMF format 0 (see
page 105).
The i40M can also show on the display the lyrics of the
SMF in Solton, M-Live (Midisoft), Tune1000 and com-
patible (Edirol, GMX, KAR, HitBit, XF) format (see
page 22).
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