GM–GS–XG quick reference

This is a help page listing which MIDI messages can be used for common things across General MIDI, Roland GS and Yamaha XG.

Note that there doesn't seem to be a formal GS standard that is publicly available, so the Roland SC-55mkII manual is the best reference for GS.

Control Change messages
Ctrl #	Function				Notes
0	Bank Select MSB	❌	*️⃣^[1]	*️⃣	On GS, this selects variation instruments. On XG, this selects banks. Common numbers: 0 = most normal instruments 126 = SFX 127 = drumkits (sets part to drum mode)
1	Modulation	✅^[2]	✅	✅	Vibrato by default
5	Portamento time	❌	✅^[1]		Value 0 is fastest
6	Data entry MSB	*️⃣	*️⃣	*️⃣	(Used for RPNs and NRPNs)
7	Volume	✅^[2]	✅	✅
10	Pan	✅^[2]	✅	✅
11	Expression	✅^[2]	✅	✅
32	Bank Select LSB	❌	❌^[1]	✅	On GS/the SC-55, this does nothing. But the SC-88 onwards use this to select maps: 0 = default 1 = SC-55 2 = SC-88 3 = SC-88 Pro 4 = SC-8850/SC-8820 On XG, this selects variation instruments.
38	Data entry LSB	*️⃣	*️⃣	*️⃣	(Used for RPNs and NRPNs)
64	Sustain	✅^[2]	✅	✅	AKA Hold
65	Portamento	❌	✅^[3]
66	Sostenuto	❌	✅^[3]
67	Soft	❌	✅^[3]
84	Portamento Control	❌	✅^[3]
91	Effect 1 depth	❌	✅^[3]	✅	GS and XG: Reverb send level
93	Effect 3 depth	❌	✅^[3]	✅	GS and XG: Chorus send level
84	Portamento Control	❌	✅^[3]
98	NRPN LSB	❌	*️⃣^[3]	*️⃣	(Used for NRPNs)
99	NRPN MSB	❌	*️⃣^[3]	*️⃣	(Used for NRPNs)
100	RPN LSB	*️⃣	*️⃣^[3]	*️⃣	(Used for RPNs)
101	RPN MSB	*️⃣	*️⃣^[3]	*️⃣	(Used for RPNs)

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Roland SC-55mkII Owner's Manual, page 90.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 General MIDI System Level 1 Specification, page 2
↑ ^3.00 ^3.01 ^3.02 ^3.03 ^3.04 ^3.05 ^3.06 ^3.07 ^3.08 ^3.09 ^3.10 Roland SC-55mkII Owner's Manual, page 91.