Is there any standard format for MIDI drum lines?
I'm getting the impression that the answer to this is probably no, but I'm wondering if there is any standard for writing drum tracks in MIDI format? For example, I downloaded a MIDI file for a (rock) song I want to create a vocal backing track for and applied the built-in preset drum kit to the drum track (this is with LMMS in Linux). However, the resulting sounds didn't seem to resemble what I would expect to be coming from a real drum kit.
The problem seems to be incompatible mapping between the 'piano' keys and the drum sounds. So, I'm wondering if there is any official/unofficial standard for how drum/percussion tracks should be represented in MIDI files? For example, which drums/cymbals should be mapped to which notes?
If the answer is 'yes', then perhaps I just downloaded a bad MIDI file. However, if the answer is 'no', then I'm guessing my only option is to figure out which notes on the MIDI track correspond to which drums/cymbals and re-map the sampled drum sounds to those notes? (which means I would have to do that over again for every MIDI drum track that I download)
Or is there any simpler way to do this?
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here's some stuff I wrote up about that on my personal website: pianocheetah.com/midi/drum.html
A synthesizer can remap sounds, but these are the "standard"-EST mappings that I've found (after a lot of research).
I guess I should paste it in here. But I don't know how the formatting will turn out :(
Here goes...
2C KickKick BassDrum1Electric 1B KickKik2 BassDrum2Acoustic
2D SnarSnar Snare1Acoustic 2E SnarSnr2 Snare2Electric
2Gb HHatHHCl HiHatClosed 2Ab HHatHHPd HiHatPedal
2Bb HHatHHOp HiHatOpen 3Eb CymbRide CymbalRide1(Edge)
3B CymbRid2 CymbalRide2 3F CymbRdBl CymbalRideBell
3Db CymbCras CymbalCrash1 3A CymbCra2 CymbalCrash2
3G CymbSpla CymbalSplash 3E CymbChin CymbalChinese
2F TomsTFlL TomFloorLo(1) 2G TomsTFlH TomFloorHi(2)
2A TomsTomL TomLo(3) 2B TomsTMdL TomMidLo(4)
3C TomsTMdH TomMidHi(5) 3D TomsTomH TomHi(6)
3Ab MiscCowB Cowbell 3Gb MiscTamb Tambourine
5Ab MiscTriM TriangleMute 5A MiscTriO TriangleOpen
5B MiscBelJ BellJingle(GS) 6C MiscBelT BellTree(GS)
1Eb MiscHiQu HighQ(GS) 1G MiscStik Sticks(GS)
2Db MiscStkS SideStick 2Eb MiscClap HandClap
1E MiscSlap Slap(GS) 3Bb MiscVbra Vibraslap
5Bb MiscShak Shaker(GS) 6Db MiscCast Castanets(GS)
1F MiscScPs ScratchPush(GS) 1Gb MiscScPl ScratchPull(GS)
1Ab MiscMtSq MetronomeSquare(GS) 1A MiscMtCl MetronomeClick(GS)
1Bb MiscMtBl MetronomeBell(GS) 4Db LatnBonL BongoLo
4C LatnBonH BongoHi 4E LatnConL CongaLo
4Eb LatnConO CongaHiOpen 4D LatnConM CongaHiMute
4Gb LatnTimL TimbaleLo 4F LatnTimH TimbaleHi
4Ab LatnAgoL AgogoLo 4G LatnAgoH AgogoHi
4A LatnCaba Cabasa 4Bb LatnMara Maracas
5C LatnWhiL WhistleLong 4B LatnWhiS WhistleShort
5D LatnGuiL GuiroLong 5Db LatnGuiS GuiroShort
5Eb LatnClav Claves 5F LatnBlkL WoodBlockLo
5E LatnBlkH WoodBlockHi 5G LatnCuiL CuicaLo
5Gb LatnCuiH CuicaHi 6D LatnSurM SurdoMute(GS)
6Eb LatnSurO SurdoOpen(GS)
Two of the most common drum maps are GM - General Midi - & XG or GS which were Yamaha & Roland standards, I think eventually rolled together into GM2.
General Midi Drum map
Source: Midi Association GM1 Sound Set
Key# Drum Sound
35 Acoustic Bass Drum
36 Bass Drum 1
37 Side Stick
38 Acoustic Snare
39 Hand Clap
40 Electric Snare
41 Low Floor Tom
42 Closed Hi Hat
43 High Floor Tom
44 Pedal Hi-Hat
45 Low Tom
46 Open Hi-Hat
47 Low-Mid Tom
48 Hi-Mid Tom
49 Crash Cymbal 1
50 High Tom
51 Ride Cymbal 1
52 Chinese Cymbal
53 Ride Bell
54 Tambourine
55 Splash Cymbal
56 Cowbell
57 Crash Cymbal 2
58 Vibraslap
59 Ride Cymbal 2
60 Hi Bongo
61 Low Bongo
62 Mute Hi Conga
63 Open Hi Conga
64 Low Conga
65 High Timbale
66 Low Timbale
67 High Agogo
68 Low Agogo
69 Cabasa
70 Maracas
71 Short Whistle
72 Long Whistle
73 Short Guiro
74 Long Guiro
75 Claves
76 Hi Wood Block
77 Low Wood Block
78 Mute Cuica
79 Open Cuica
80 Mute Triangle
81 Open Triangle
The GM2 Spec is available from them too - but they want you to register to download - www.midi.org/specifications-old/item/general-midi-2
XG Drum map
Source: PDF linked at the bottom of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_XG
Compulsory XKCD link on 'standards'.
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