The Mu5 - What It Is And What It Can Do; About General Midi - Yamaha MU5 Owner's Manual

The MU5 — What It Is and What It Can Do
What It Is...
The MU5 is a compact, highly portable and easy-to-use tone generator. It
features full General MIDI Level 1 compatibility with 128 General MIDI
Voices and 8 drum kits. The MU5 has 28-Voice polyphony and is 16-Part
multi-timbral. In other words, the MU5 has 16 different Parts, each with its
own Voice, so that up to 16 different Voices can be sounded simultaneously.
With the built-in two-octave keyboard, you can play any of the Voices directly
from the MU5 itself. Or you can play them from a connected MIDI keyboard.
In addition, the MU5 also has a TO HOST terminal for easy interfacing with a
computer, allowing you to play the Voices using your favorite music software.
This is where the advanced multi-timbral capabilities come in, letting you play
up to 16 different Voices at the same time.

About General MIDI

General MIDI is a new addition to the worldwide MIDI standard. MIDI, as
you know, stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and makes it
possible for various electronic musical instruments and other devices to
"communicate" with each other. For example, by connecting a sequencer to
the MU5's MIDI IN terminal, you could play back a song on the sequencer
using the Voices of the MU5.
So, where does General MIDI fit in all of this? One of the most important
features of General MIDI is in the standardization of Voices. This means that
a song recorded in the General MIDI format can be played back on any Gen-
eral MIDI compatible tone generator and sound just as the composer intended.
For example, if there is an alto sax solo in the song, it will be played by an alto
sax Voice on the General MIDI tone generator (and not by a tuba or harpsi-
chord!). Since the MU5 is fully compatible with General MIDI, you can take
advantage of the vast wealth of musical material recorded in that format.
The MU5 — What It Is and What It Can Do
11