Comparison of MIDI standards

This table provides summary of comparison of various MIDI enhancement standards by various parameters.

	MPU	MT-32	GM	GS	XG level 1	XG level 2	XG level 3	GM level 2	XGlite
Entry date	1984[1][2]	1987	1991	1991	1994	1997	1998	1999	2002
Organization	Roland		JMSC (AMEI) MMA	Roland	Yamaha			MMA	Yamaha
Minimum equipment requirements
Simultaneous melodic voices		8+ combined (up to 32 partials)	16	16	32 combined	64 combined	128 combined	16	32 combined
Simultaneous percussion voices			8	8				16
MIDI melodic channels		8	15	15[lower-alpha 1]	16 combined	32 combined (on 2 ports)	64 combined (on 4 ports)	14	16 combined
Rhythm/percussion channels		1	1 (#10)	1				2 (#10 & #11)
Channel recommendations			#10: drums[3]		#1: melody; #2: melody (duet); #3: bass; #4: pad; #5: riff; #10: drums[4]
Sounds banks available
Melodic instruments		128	128	226	480	1074	1149	256	360
Drum kits		1	1	8 + 1 SFX kit	9 + 2 SFX kits	34 + 2 SFX kits	35 + 2 SFX kits	9	12 kits
Drum sounds per kit		30	47	61	72			61	53
Controls available
Special CC[lower-alpha 2]		2[5]	6 (MT32+4)					6 (GM)
Parametric effect CC[lower-alpha 3]		4[5]	5	16 (GM+11)	51 (GM+46)			12 (GM+7)
RPNs		0[5]	5[6]					6 (GM+1) [6]
SysEx messages			2					14

Notes

1. 16 with no drum kit.
2. Special CCs are CCs that don't correspond to the parameter of any particular effect. Most usually they represent special one-shot control commands for the device (these ones are usually represented by a button on a console), or used internally for bank selection, RPN or data entry, etc.
3. Parametric CCs (also known as continuous controller) correspond to the parameter of some particular effect (i.e. depth, strength, delay of effect, etc). Such CCs are usually represented by a rotating knob or fader in mixers.

References

1. MIDI INTERFACES FOR THE IBM PC, Electronic Musician, September 1990
2. David Trubitt (1993), Making Music with Your Computer, page 22
3. "GM 1 Sound Set". www.midi.org. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
4. "TheWhippinpost article on MIDI XG STANDARD". Archived from the original on 2017-02-06. Retrieved 2006-03-28.
5. youngmonkey Roland MT-32 MIDI/SYSEX reference
6. "Table 3a: Registered Parameter Numbers". Control Change Messages (Data Bytes). MIDI Reference Tables. Specifications. MIDI Manufacturers Association. Retrieved 2017-10-17.

• Yamaha Corporation (1996). "Yamaha XG format specifications, v1.26" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
• Yamaha Corporation (1999-02-02). "Recommendations for producing XG song data, v2.00" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
• "Roland Sound Cards". Archived from the original on December 25, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2010., an extensive guide to various models and their capabilities
• GM modules for the masses, a comparison article