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Program & Bank Changes Explained
The original GM MIDI specification catered for only 128 voices, numbered from
In order to expand on the GM set of voices, Bank changes were devised. Each bank contains 128 patches, that can be accessed using a program change. There are 16,384 banks available, accessible by sending a
You will find almost all MIDI devices respond to the program change, but some that do not conform to the GM set of voices use the program change message for other purposes. Many VST instruments have adopted this approach, allowing you to use a program change to change the instrument patch. The FM7 by Native Instruments is a good example of this.
Bank changes are more rarely used, although they do exist. Bank changes are useful in manufacturer’s extensions to the MIDI specification, such as Roland’s GS specification and Yamaha’s XG specification. Both of these require you to specify a Bank change, in order to access the extra voices and effects that these specifications provide.
Sending Program, Bank LSB and Bank MSB data is made simple using the
RPN/NRPN’s Explained
MIDI controllers 98 and 99 represent the NRPN LSB and MSB respectively, while 100 and 101 represent the RPN LSB and MSB. This can be seen from the MIDI controllers list in Appendix D. To transmit an NRPN/RPN, these two controller messages are sent along with their
A list of NRPN’s will always be given in the User Manual of a device that receives NRPN messages. It is always necessary that the NRPN MSB and LSB are sent together. Both will be specified in the device’s manual. You may find the manufacturer’s have only specified the numbers in Hexadecimal format. In this case, use Appendix C to translate the value to Decimal.
The
Sys Ex Explained
System Exclusive (Sys Ex) messages were defined in the MIDI specification to allow individual devices to have individual control via MIDI. The format of Sys Ex messages allows for virtually any function to be performed via MIDI – so long as the receiving device is able to translate the message, and act accordingly. This allows devices to send audio sample memory data, memory dumps, controller settings, and much more. It also allows the controllers of one device to be controlled by another.
It is not possible to program your own specified Sys Ex message into the
Device ID’s run from 00 to 127. 127 is the default device number setting on the
Although it is not possible to program the controllers of the
The Evolution Librarian Software
About The Evolution Librarian Software
The Evolution Librarian Software is a Windows PC librarian program developed for Evolution products. The program not only works with the
And even better, you can swap patches between Evolution products that are supported by the Librarian so you never have to create the same patch twice.
The librarian itself, allows you to send and receive the 10 patches to and from the
English
The Evolution Librarian Software • 9