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Topic: Roland GS Patches (Read 3679 times) previous topic - next topic

Roland GS Patches

I'm confused. Doesn't the GS patch bank have about 256 patches (at least more than GM)? Why doesn't NoteWorthy include all of them? If GS has 128--like GM, what is different?

Re: Roland GS Patches

Reply #1 –
As I understand it, Roland's GS and Yamaha's XG are extensions to the GM protocol, allowing things like additional patches, DSP (digital signal processing), and additional controllers. However, since these are supersets of GM, files that make extensive use of GS or XG may not play back properly on a "bare bones" GM synthesizer.

The idea behind GM in the first place was to improve compatibility between synths by different manufacturers. You could, in principle, compose a GM file on any synth, and have it play back more-or-less faithfully on any other GM synth.

In the "more or less" lies the rub: even within General Midi there are wide variations in the timbre and other characteristics of allegedly identical instrument patches. Also, some are harder to do justice to than others... most synths do pianos and string sections alright, but do a miserable job on other solo instruments like violins and oboes. GS and XG can greatly improve the expression in such instruments, but at the expense of no longer being exactly GM-compatible.

Incidentally, even GM allows "system exclusive" (SysEx) controllers ... however, these should be avoided if you want your files to be playable on other peoples' synthesizers.

Re: Roland GS Patches

Reply #2 –
How would I add GS patches in Noteworthy? The patch listing is just a different wording than the GM patch listing. There aren't any more patches than the GM in the GS listing, but there should be. Anyone know more than me?

Re: Roland GS Patches

Reply #3 –
You should be able to select a different bank (see the "instrument patch" dialog), then use the numeric instrument patch entry option to specify any bank/patch combination your synth supports.

If you're lucky, your instrument's instruction manual will have a set of tables listing the various sound available in each bank.

As I understand it, most instruments allow you to re-map sounds, so that you could (for instance) replace the GM "harpsichord" sound with, say, "chorus dulcimer", or even an edited or newly created sound.

Re: Roland GS Patches

Reply #4 –
I was playing around with the help file of my Yamaha yxg software synth last night, and happened to find instructions on getting all 256 sounds accessed. Fred is right, as long as you know the bank number, you can access all the sounds. You just have to have a list of what all the sounds are and where they are located. i.e: standard violin is patch 41, no bank number, slow violin is patch 41, bank number 8. Experiment with it and see how you go.
Adam