File Formats ⇝ Roland GS

Roland GS stands for General Standard and is a proprietary extension to the MIDI standard. It adds 98 tonal instruments, 15 drum and percussion instruments, 8 drum kits, plus reverb, chorus, and variation effects.

The first synthesizer to support Roland GS was the SC-55 SoundCanvas, released in 1991.

Yamaha XG was created to compete with GS.

Roland GS Hardware

This is a partial list of hardware that supports Roland GS.

Roland

• Boss DS-330
• Roland CM-300
• Roland CM-500
• Roland M-GS64
• Roland SC-33
• Roland SC-50
• Roland SC-55
• Roland SC-55 Mk II
• Roland SC-155
• Roland SC-88
• Roland SC-88 Pro
• Roland SC-88ST
• Roland SC-88ST Pro
• Roland SC-88VL
• Roland SC-8820
• Roland SC-8850

Yamaha

• Yamaha MU1000EX
• Yamaha MU2000EX

GS is no longer widely marketed, used, or supported. This is mainly due to the creation of General Midi 2, which actually includes GS compatibility.