Roland HP 337 Owner's Manual page 9

Getting Started
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About the HP 337 Sound Generator
The HP 337 come equipped with GM2/GS sound generators.
General MIDI
The General MIDI ( Mf) system is a set of recommendations which seeks to provide a
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way to go beyond the limitations of proprietary designs, and standardize the MIDI]
capabilities of sound generating devices. Sound generating devices and music files that
meet the General MIDI standard bear the General MID] logo. Music files bearing the
General MIDI logo can be played back using any General MIDI sound generating unit
to produce essentially the same musical performance.
General MIDI 2
The upwardly compatible General MIDI 2 ( ffilit2 ) recommendations pick up where
the original General MIDI left off, offering enhanced expressive capabilities, and even
greater compatibility. Issues that were not covered by the original General MIDI
recommendations, such as how sounds are to be edited, and how effects should be
handled, have now been precisely defined. Moreover, the available sounds have been
expanded. General MIDI 2 compliant sound generators are capable of reliably playing
back music files that carry either the General MIDI or General MIDI 2 logo. In some
cases, the conventional form of General MIDI, which does not include the new
enhancements, is referred to as "General MIDI 1" as a way of distinguishing it from
General MIDI 2.
GS format
The GS Format ( oe ) is Roland's set of specifications for standardizing the
performance of sound generating devices. In addition to including support for
everything defined by the General MIDI System, the highly-compatible GS Format
additionally offers an expanded number of sounds, provides for the editing of sounds,
and spells out many details for a wide range of extra features, including effects such as
reverb and chorus. Designed with the future in mind, the GS Format can readily include
new sounds and support new hardware features when they arrive. Since it is upwardly
compatible with the General MIDI System, Roland's GS Format is capable of reliably
playing back GM Scores equally as well as it performs GS Music Data (music data that
has been created with the GS Format in mind).