Hammond Skx PRO Reference Manual page 751

Appendix
731
What Is "Bank Select?"
"Bank Select" is closely related to "Program Change." As explained on page 729, General MIDI provides
for a variety of different sounds, called Programs and grouped by instrument type. However, General MIDI
only allows 128 separate Programs and does not allow for variations of instruments. Thus, if you want,
say, an Acoustic Piano, you would have no choice but to use the one Acoustic Piano sound provided for
by General MIDI, whereas actual acoustic pianos differ greatly in sound and timbral character.
In order to satisfy the requirement for different variations in tone quality within a specific sound category,
several methods have been devised to allow one Program Number to represent multiple varieties or
Variations of a basic sound such as Piano, Vibes, Trumpet, etc. The method employed on the SKX PRO
provides the means to have up to 16,384 different sounds instead of only 128. This is accomplished by
providing up to 128 banks of voices for each of the 128 Program Numbers in General MIDI (128 × 128
= 16,384). It should be noted that this is a theoretical limit - the actual number is typically much less
(anywhere from 300 ~ 900 sounds and/or drum samples).
A method called Bank Select is used to select the different sound banks. It does this by sending two
additional Controller Numbers ahead of the Program Number so that the instrument will know which
sound to play. Controller #32 (Bank Select LSB - Least Significant Bit) is used to select a particular bank
scheme or "family," while Controller #0 (Bank Select MSB - Most Significant Bit) is used to set a particular
voice variation within that bank. For more information about Bank Select on the SKX PRO please consult
the MIDI chapter of this Guide.
SPECIAL NOTE: The number of available voices will depend on the particular MIDI instrument you are
using. Please consult the documentation provided with the MIDI instrument you are using to find which
additional voices are available. This information will usually be found in either the Owner's Manual or an
additional Reference Guide.
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SKX PRO Reference Guide