General MIDI SoundFonts: the best GM, GS and SC-55 banks

What General MIDI, GS and XG mean

General MIDI (GM) is a 1991 standard that fixed which instrument sits on which program number: 1 is Acoustic Grand Piano, 25 is Nylon Guitar, 49 is String Ensemble and so on, up to 128, with drums on MIDI channel 10 and a standard key for each drum. It names the instruments but says nothing about how they should sound. That's why the same MIDI file sounds different on every device, and why there is no official General MIDI SoundFont: a GM SoundFont is anyone's set of samples laid out in that order.

Roland's GS and Yamaha's XG are supersets from the same era. They kept GM's 128 sounds and added variations on other banks (a detuned piano, a second set of strings), extra drum kits, and messages for effects and sound editing. GS arrived with Roland's Sound Canvas modules, and a huge number of 90s MIDI files and DOS game soundtracks were written on one. A SoundFont can copy a GS layout, with variations on banks 1 to 127 and kits on bank 128, but the extra GS and XG messages are up to the player, not the SoundFont.

The General MIDI SoundFonts worth using

I opened each of these and counted what's inside, so the table shows the file as you get it rather than what its description promises. "Variations" are the extra GS-style sounds on banks other than 0.

GeneralUser GS

S. Christian Collins has worked on this bank since the late 90s, and it was built for exactly this job: playing General MIDI and GS files, old game music included. It's small because the instruments are programmed carefully rather than stacked with samples. It follows the GS layout, so files that ask for a GS variation or kit get one. Its licence lets you use it in your own music, including music you sell. Its author does say he can't trace the origin of every sample, which matters if you want to ship it inside a commercial product rather than make music with it.

It leans on SoundFont modulators more than most banks, so the player matters. Its documentation rates FluidSynth- and BASSMIDI-based players as the accurate ones. I compared all of its GM presets in simpleSF2 against FluidSynth while adding modulator support to simpleSF2, and they now match closely on all but a handful of synth effects. Get it from schristiancollins.com.

FluidR3 GM and MuseScore General

Frank Wen's FluidR3 is the long-standing open GM bank, released under the MIT licence, so you can use and share it for anything. It's bigger and plainer than GeneralUser GS, and its median sample is about a second long against TimGM6mb's few hundredths of a second, which you hear in sustained strings and pianos. Debian and Ubuntu package it, and TimGM6mb, as system General MIDI sounds. MuseScore General is a reworked FluidR3 that MuseScore used as its default sound, also MIT. If a licence you can hand to anyone matters more than size, pick one of these.

TimGM6mb

Tim Brechbill's 6 MB bank has the full GM set and eight kits, with short samples and no variations. It's the one to use when size matters, on a phone, in a web player or for a quick sketch. It's GPL-2, which covers sharing the file; the music you make with it is yours.

Arachno SoundFont

Maxime Abbey's bank is a favourite for old game MIDI files, but it's for private, non-commercial use because parts of it come from other people's libraries. Listen with it; don't release with it. The best free SoundFonts guide covers single instruments and the rest of the field.

SC-55 SoundFonts: what they are, and the catch

The Roland SC-55 Sound Canvas is the sound most people mean when they say "90s MIDI". It's a 24-voice GS module with 317 sounds and 9 drum kits, and the SC-55mkII that followed has 354 sounds and 28 voices. Plenty of DOS games were composed on one, so for many people it is what those soundtracks sound like.

The SoundFonts shared as "SC-55" are fan-made, and they come in two kinds:

• Converted from the SC-55's own sound ROM. The best known converts the whole SC-55mkII bank with tools written by members of the VOGONS retro PC forum, then tunes each instrument by ear. It's under 10 MB, because the original ROM is tiny.
• Built from the Windows sound set. Others take their samples from Microsoft's GS Wavetable Synth, which is Roland's own GS sound set licensed to Microsoft (more on that below), arranged to imitate the SC-55.

Either way, the samples belong to Roland, and none of these banks comes with Roland's permission. They're fine for playing old games or MIDI files at home. Don't use them in music you release, or ship them with a game. If you want the 90s GS feel in something you'll publish, GeneralUser GS is the safe choice.

They also never sound exactly like the module. A SoundFont has the samples, but the SC-55 also had its own filters and envelopes, its built-in reverb and chorus, which most 90s files leaned on, and a 24-voice limit that cut off old notes in busy passages. A SoundFont player brings its own versions of all of those.

Getting the real SC-55 sound

• The hardware. A used SC-55, SC-55mkII or SC-88 plugged into a USB MIDI interface is still the reference. Your DAW sends it MIDI and records its audio output like any outboard synth.
• Nuked SC-55. An open-source emulator that runs the module's actual firmware, so it behaves like the hardware. You need ROM files dumped from a unit you own, because Roland's firmware isn't free to share. John Novak's plugin version (0.8.0 at the time of writing) is CLAP only, for Windows, macOS and Linux, and is meant for personal use; early users report it has no interface and works in some DAWs better than others.
• Sound Canvas VA. Roland's own software Sound Canvas, with SC-55, SC-88, SC-88Pro and SC-8820 sound maps. Roland stopped selling it in September 2024. See Sound Canvas VA alternatives for what's left.

The Windows MIDI SoundFont

When Windows plays a MIDI file or an old game's music on its own, the sound comes from the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. Its samples are Roland's GS Sound Canvas set, which Microsoft licensed in 1996, packed into a file of about 3 MB called gm.dls. That's why it sounds like a thin, slightly crunchy Sound Canvas. Windows has no setting to swap it for a SoundFont.

To hear MIDI through a SoundFont of your choice, install a virtual MIDI synth:

1. Install CoolSoft VirtualMIDISynth (free). It adds a MIDI output device that plays through any .sf2.
2. Open its configuration and add your SoundFont, for example GeneralUser GS.
3. Pick "VirtualMIDISynth" as the MIDI output in your MIDI player, game or DOSBox. For programs that always use Windows' default MIDI device, CoolSoft's MIDI Mapper lets you choose what that default is.

OmniMIDI does the same job, and Falcosoft's VST MIDI Driver does it with any VST instrument. On a Mac or on Linux, play MIDI files through a SoundFont player in your DAW instead, as below, or with FluidSynth.

How to play MIDI files with a GM SoundFont in your DAW

1. Install a SoundFont player. simpleSF2 is free, with AU, VST3 and CLAP on Mac, VST3 and CLAP on Windows and a Linux installer.
2. Import the MIDI file into your DAW. Many DAWs offer to split it into one track per MIDI channel.
3. Give each track an instrument. With free simpleSF2, put an instance on each track, load the SoundFont and choose the preset the file asks for. Drum tracks use the kits on bank 128.
4. Or play the whole file from one instance. Keep the file on one track and send all 16 channels to one player that follows program changes and treats channel 10 as drums. simpleSF2 does that in its 16-channel mode, part of the £9.99 unlock. The REAPER guide shows this import step by step.

One honest limit: simpleSF2 plays General MIDI files properly, but not every GS extra. It ignores GS system messages such as a drum part moved to another channel, and switches to a variation sound only when a file selects its bank in the simplest way. Most files still play right, because they fall back to the main GM sound. For full GS playback, use the hardware or Nuked SC-55 above.

Common questions

What's the best General MIDI SoundFont?

GeneralUser GS for most people: it's small, made for GM and GS files, and free for music you sell. Choose FluidR3 GM or MuseScore General if you need the MIT licence, and TimGM6mb if you need something tiny.

Can I legally use an SC-55 SoundFont?

Using one at home to play games and MIDI files is common, but the samples are Roland's and no licence covers them. For a release or a game you sell, use an openly licensed bank.

Is there an SC-88 or Roland SoundFont?

There are fan banks under those names, with the same catch as the SC-55 ones. Roland itself never released its Sound Canvas samples as SoundFonts. Its own SC-88 and SC-88Pro sound maps were in Sound Canvas VA, which is no longer sold.

Do GM SoundFonts work in FL Studio, Ableton or Logic?

Yes, through a SoundFont player plugin. Steps for each DAW: FL Studio, Ableton Live, Logic Pro, GarageBand, Cubase, Studio One and LMMS.

Is simpleSoundbank connected to Roland?

No. simpleSF2 is an independent plugin. Roland, Sound Canvas and GS are Roland Corporation's trademarks.

More SoundFont guides

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• The best free SoundFonts
• Video game SoundFonts
• Free SoundFont player plugins
• What is an SF2 file?
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