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4. About The GS Format
(1) Parts
The primary advantage of the GS Format
is that song data written for one GS Format
sound source can be reproduced almost exactly on any other GS Format
sound source.
We'll be explaining more about the GS Format and MIDI
later, but even
if you're not
familiar with these things, it's still possible to use the GS Format sound source to create
your own music.
A sound
module
(or sound
source)
that can
handle GS Format
data will have
the GS
trademark on it.
We'll call them
"GS sound sources" from now on.
The GS Sound Source can play 16 "parts".
Part number
10 is for playing the rhythm
instrument.
A part is something like an orchestral part; think of it as a group of musicians
all playing a particular instrument.
The big difference from a regular orchestra is that
you are completely
free to decide what
kind of instrument
they will be playing.
In
addition, you can change that instrument midway through a song (as many times as you
want)
for every different part.
You could think of this group
as being made
up of
incredible multi-instrumentalists who can play any instrument you give them.
There are many different kinds of performance data in MIDI, but probably the most basic
is the note message determining which key to play, how hard, for how long, and when to
start.
Every part has its own MIDI
"channel"
over which it receives performance data
and, unless you reset it for some reason, the channel number is the same as the part number.
Each part plays by following the instructions in the performance data on its own channel,
and pays no attention to the data in other channels intended for other parts.
So thanks to
this MIDI channel scheme, you can play each part completely independently of the others,
like on multitrack recorder.
(2) Number of Sounds That Can Be Played At The
Same Time (Maximum Polyphony)
`
10
Just as there are limits to the number of people in an orchestra, there are limits to the
number
of sounds that can be played at the same
time on a GS sound source.
If note
message is received asking for more notes than are possible, some parts are going to lose
their note.
With the GS Format, you can count on a certain minimum number of voices always being
available.
These should be used for the most
important
parts in your music
(like the
melody line) so that they don't accidentally lose their note when some less important part
comes in later.
If you rank your parts ahead of time in "Part Sounding Priority" order.
the GS sound source will know what the most important parts are.
Then, if you try to send
data for more notes than can be played at one time, the lower priority parts will be the first
to lose their note.
Dart Sounding Priority is set up as follows:
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