The General MIDI standard assigns names to all 128 programs (or voices/timbres).
| PIANO | CHROMATIC PERCUSSION | ORGAN | GUITAR |
| 1 Acoustic Grand | 9 Celesta | 17 Drawbar Organ | 25 Nylon String Guitar |
| 2 Bright Acoustic | 10 Glockenspiel | 18 Percussive Organ | 26 Steel String Guitar |
| 3 Electric Grand | 11 Music Box | 19 Rock Organ | 27 Electric Jazz Guitar |
| 4 Honky-Tonk | 12 Vibraphone | 20 Church Organ | 28 Electric Clean Guitar |
| 5 Electric Piano 1 | 13 Marimba | 21 Reed Organ | 29 Electric Muted Guitar |
| 6 Electric Piano 2 | 14 Xylophone | 22 Accordion | 30 Overdriven Guitar |
| 7 Harpsichord | 15 Tubular Bells | 23 Harmonica | 31 Distortion Guitar |
| 8 Clavinet | 16 Dulcimer | 24 Tango Accordion | 32 Guitar Harmonics |
| BASS | SOLO STRINGS | ENSEMBLE | BRASS |
| 33 Acoustic Bass | 41 Violin | 49 String Ensemble 1 | 57 Trumpet |
| 34 Electric Bass (fingered) | 42 Viola | 50 String Ensemble 2 | 58 Trombone |
| 35 Electric Bass (picked) | 43 Cello | 51 Synth Strings 1 | 59 Tuba |
| 36 Fretless Bass | 44 Contrabass | 52 Synth Strings 2 | 60 Muted Trumpet |
| 37 Slap Bass 1 | 45 Tremolo Strings | 53 Choir Aahs | 61 French Horn |
| 38 Slap Bass 2 | 46 Pizzicato Strings | 54 Voice Oohs | 62 Brass Section |
| 39 Synth Bass 1 | 47 Orchestral Strings | 55 Synth Voice | 63 SynthBrass 1 |
| 40 Synth Bass 2 | 48 Timpani | 56 Orchestra Hit | 64 SynthBrass 2 |
| REED | PIPE | SYNTH LEAD | SYNTH PAD |
| 65 Soprano Sax | 73 Piccolo | 81 Square Lead | 89 New age |
| 66 Alto Sax | 74 Flute | 82 Sawtooth Lead | 90 Warm Pad |
| 67 Tenor Sax | 75 Recorder | 83 Calliope | 91 Polysynth |
| 68 Baritone Sax | 76 Pan Flute | 84 Chiff | 92 Choir Pad |
| 69 Oboe | 77 Blown Bottle | 85 Charang | 93 Bowed Pad |
| 70 English Horn | 78 Skakuhachi | 86 Synth Voice | 94 Metallic Pad |
| 71 Bassoon | 79 Whistle | 87 Fifths | 95 Halo Pad |
| 72 Clarinet | 80 Ocarina | 88 Bass + Lead | 96 Swept Pad |
| SYNTH EFFECTS | ETHNIC | PERCUSSIVE | SOUND EFFECTS |
| 97 FX 1 (rain) | 105 Sitar | 113 Tinkle Bell | 121 Guitar Fret Noise |
| 98 FX 2 (soundtrack) | 106 Banjo | 114 Agogo | 122 Breath Noise |
| 99 FX 3 (crystal) | 107 Shamisen | 115 Steel Drums | 123 Seashore |
| 100 FX 4 (atmosphere) | 108 Koto | 116 Woodblock | 124 Bird Tweet |
| 101 FX 5 (brightness) | 109 Kalimba | 117 Taiko Drum | 125 Telephone Ring |
| 102 FX 6 (goblins) | 110 Bagpipe | 118 Melodic Tom | 126 Helicopter |
| 103 FX 7 (echoes) | 111 Fiddle | 119 Synth Drum | 127 Applause |
| 104 FX 8 (sci-fi) | 112 Shanai | 120 Reverse Cymbal | 128 Gunshot |
Channel 10 is reserved for drums and behaves differently to the other channels. Each note on the keyboard triggers a different drum or other percussion sound. The Drums associated with each note number are:
| 35 Acoustic Bass Drum | 47 Low-Mid Tom | 59 Ride Cymbal 2 | 71 Short Whistle |
| 36 Bass Drum 1 | 48 Hi-Mid Tom | 60 Hi Bongo | 72 Long Whistle |
| 37 Side Stick | 49 Crash Cymbal 1 | 61 Low Bongo | 73 Short Guiro |
| 38 Acoustic Snare | 50 High Tom | 62 Mute Hi Conga | 74 Long Guiro |
| 39 Hand Clap | 51 Ride Cymbal 1 | 63 Open Hi Conga | 75 Claves |
| 40 Electric Snare | 52 Chinese Cymbal | 64 Low Conga | 76 Hi Wood Block |
| 41 Low Floor Tom | 53 Ride Bell | 65 High Timbale | 77 Low Wood Block |
| 42 Closed Hi-Hat | 54 Tambourine | 66 Low Timbale | 78 Mute Cuica |
| 43 High Floor Tom | 55 Splash Cymbal | 67 High Agogo | 79 Open Cuica |
| 44 Pedal Hi-Hat | 56 Cowbell | 68 Low Agogo | 80 Mute Triangle |
| 45 Low Tom | 57 Crash Cymbal 2 | 69 Cabasa | 81 Open Triangle |
| 46 Open Hi-Hat | 58 Vibraslap | 70 Maracas |
Although there are potentially 128 different controllers, only a handful are commonly used. The General MIDI standard assigns definitions to many of the controller numbers, the most important ones are: