Hammond Sk PRO, Reference Manual

Page: 621 / 624

Appendix
603
What Is “Bank Select?”
“Bank Select” is closely related to “Program Change.” As explained on page 601, 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 SK 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 Signicifant 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 SK PRO please consult the MIDI
chapter of this Guide starting on page 69, 519.
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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SK PRO Reference Guide