To load a song from a file, click the menu in the upper-left corner of the page.
Then click the Open Song menu item.
To rewind, play, or stop the song, press one of the buttons above.
To play the same song over and over again, click the play button with the right mouse button.
To play several songs, one after the other, please read the section titled Creating a Playlist in the Help / How do I... menu.
To turn the metronome on or off, click on its image above.

To create a song, select New Song from the File. Initially, every song file is created with one MIDI Instrument track.
To record that track, press the button above.

To record Audio from your computer's microphone instead of MIDI from your synthesizer, see the Audio Tracks section below.

To erase, rewind, and re-record a track, press the button above.

If you would prefer to control Anvil Studio's Record/Play/Stop functions remotely from your external MIDI keyboard, select Options from the View menu.

To create a new track, choose Create from the Track menu. Your song will then contain multiple tracks, that are all played together when you play the song. When you create a new track, you need to decide what kind of track to create.
  • If you create an Instrument track, the track contains MIDI events that can be recorded from a synthesizer keyboard connected to your computer.
  • If you create a Rhythm track, the track contains MIDI events for Drums and other rhythm instruments, as well as Audio Samples.
  • If you create an Audio track, the track contains audio that can be recorded from a microphone, an electric guitar, a tape deck or a music-CD.
    • Many actions on this and other pages only affect the active track.
    The active track is the one that has a green dot to the left of it in the track list above.
    To make another track active, select it by clicking on its name or number on this page.
    To change a track's name, either click in the Track Name field, or click the Comments page.
    To erase or delete a track, select the track and then choose Erase Notes or Delete from the Track menu.
    To edit the contents of a track, select the track that you want to edit by clicking on its name or number above, then click the Compose button, or select Composer from the View menu.

    To see a symbolic list of the active track's MIDI events, select Event List from the View menu.

    To edit comments that you want to associate with the active track, select Comments from the View menu.

    Initially, the songs current position is displayed in the time field in SMPTE format (Minutes:Seconds:Frames). If you would prefer to see time displayed in Measures:Beats:MidiTicks format, click the time field with the mouse.

    To move to a different position in the song, drag the position scroll bar in the upper-left corner.
    To remember the song's current position with a new Cue Point, push the New button above the Cue Point list:
    You can quickly return to the same position later by selecting the desired Cue Point from the Cue Point list.

    You can change the MIDI and Audio hardware that Anvil Studio uses to record and play songs by clicking the button, or by selecting Synthesizers from the View menu. Then, to return to this page, click the Back menu item at the top of the screen.

    You can edit the active track's synthesizer's properties by clicking the button.

    There is a set of indicators below the metronome that looks like . They describe the current state of your MIDI Input port, which is used to record MIDI data from synthesizers connected to your computer. Each light turns red when the port receives certain information as described in this table:
    Light Turns red when:
    1st port is currently listening for incoming MIDI data.
    2nd port has received any MIDI data in the past second.
    3rd port is receiving MIDI Sync messages (F8), which may be sent by a MIDI Master device and can be used to control the tempo of Anvil Studio. Press the SYNC button for details.
    4th port is receiving MIDI SMPTE Time Code messages (F1), which may be sent by a MIDI Master device and can be used to control the tempo of Anvil Studio. Again, press the SYNC button for details.
    5th port is receiving Active Sensing messages (FE), which are sent by some MIDI devices and ignored by Anvil Studio.


    You can experiment with a song by changing any of the following track properties while a song is stopped, or playing.
  • To change which synthesizer you want to play an Instrument track, click the track's Device column. To add more synthesizer's to this list, select Synthesizers from the View menu.
  • To change which instrument the synthesizer should use to play a track, click the track's Instrument column.
  • To temporarily disable a single track during playback, click the Track's On column with the left mouse button.
    To temporarily make a track the SOLO track, or the only track played, click the Track's On column with the right mouse button.
  • To control a track's Pan (similar to Stereo balance), or volume, click on those columns for the track you want to change.
    • To adjust the width of any of a track-property column, drag the edge of the column right or left while holding the left mouse button.

    To change the song's tempo, or to adjust the tempo or sound of the metronome, select Metronome from the View menu.
    If the metronome is turned on when you record a track, a three-count lead-in will be displayed before recording begins.

    To copy or paste measures from one track to another, select the track's measures in the right-most column, and then choose an item from the Edit menu.
    Select Paste Over if you want the clipboard to replace sound on the current track.
    Select Paste Mix if you want the clipboard to be mixed with the current track. For audio tracks, Paste Mix reduces the volume, preventing the possibility of distortion. If you want to preserve the volume, and accept the possibility of distortion, hold the Shift key while selecting the Paste Mix menu item.
    To edit individual notes or samples, press the Compose button or select Composer from the View menu.

    Audio Tracks

    To record Audio from your computer's microphone instead of MIDI from your synthesizer, click on Instrument in the active track's Type column to change the track-type from Instrument to Audio.

    Click the Quality field to change quality and memory requirements of your recording. One Mono track consumes memory at the following rates:
    Quality Bytes per second Bytes per minute Sample
    CD 88,200 5.2 million 16 bit @ 44 kHz
    Video Game 44,100 2.6 million 8 bit @ 44 kHz
    Phonograph 44,100 2.6 million 16 bit @ 22 kHz
    FM Radio 22,050 1.3 million 16 bit @ 11 kHz
    Radio 22,050 1.3 million 8 bit @ 22 kHz
    Phone 11,025 661,500 8 bit @ 11 kHz
    Old Radio 8,000 480,000 8 bit @ 8 kHz
    Stereo tracks consume memory twice as fast as Mono tracks.

    To change which device Audio will be played on, press the  button beside the Compose button. field and select a device from the list.

    To change which device an Audio track will be recorded from, click the track's Device and/or Channel columns.

    To switch that device's audio source between Mic/Line, Audio CD, etc.,
  • Press the  button beside the Compose button.
  • Select the sound card you want to use if it is not already selected.
  • The audio sources listed below the  button control which hardware devices contribute to the audio signal that will get recorded. Different SoundCards support different audio sources. Most SoundCards can only record from a single audio source at one time. They, have a Selected box beside each audio source like this:


  • If you want to record from a Microphone, make sure the Mic's Selected box is set, and its Volume control is set to full (all the way to the right).
  • If you want to record from a guitar or an audio tape deck, make sure the Line-In's Selected box is set, and its left and right volume controls are set to full.
  • If you want to record from a Music CD, make sure the Music CD's Selected box is set, and its left and right volume controls are set to full.
  • Some SoundCards can record from a mixture of audio sources. They have a Mute box beside each audio source to control which sources are not to be recorded. Find the audio source you want and make sure its Select box is set (or its Mute box is unchecked). Adjust that source's Volume.
    • To test microphone levels before recording an Audio track, press the VU button. A VU meter will appear in the track's Instrument column, showing the microphone's peak volume. If the VU meter goes into the red zone, you should adjust the Mic's volume slider down (to the right), or turn the microphone's pre-amp down unless you want to record a distorted sound. Pressing the VU button before the REC button can also be used to warm up the sound card, which eliminates the popping sound that some sound cards introduce when they start to record.

    Normally, audio tracks are mixed as needed when the Record or Play button is pressed. Pressing the Mix button pre-mixes all enabled Audio tracks, filling all available buffers, so that the Record or Play button will respond immediately. When all Audio tracks have already been mixed, the Pre-Mix button is disabled (grey). You can change the number of available Audio Output Buffers by selecting Options from the View menu and clicking the Audio tab.

    If you make a mistake while recording Audio, you can Punch In, or re-record over just the mistake. Select Composer from the View menu while an audio track is active, and then read the Punch In help information.
    To add a non-destructive Reverb, Delay or Echo effect to an Audio track, click the fx column for the track you want to change.

    If your song has Audio tracks, you can use DirectX audio Effects Processor pluggins provided by any software vendor. Press the fx button to select which effects you want to use in this song, or to adjust their properties. To install DirectX Effects Processors, go to your favorite shareware site and search for DirectX.

    To cause one audio track to play later than the other tracks, change its Time Shift column.

    If you notice that audio tracks are not played back in sync with Instrument or Rhythm tracks, please select MIDI / Audio device latency from the View menu, press that window's Help button, and follow its directions.


    The free version of Anvil Studio limits you to a single audio track, that can last no longer than 1 minute.

    The optional Multi-Audio 1/8 accessory allows you to create songs with up to 8 audio tracks. If your computer has at least 32 meg of RAM, each track can be up to 60 minutes long, limited only by the amount of free disk space on your computer.
    This accessory also allows you to create up to 10 sampled audio sounds on a rhythm track where the free version of Anvil Studio only supports rhythm tracks up to two sampled sounds per song.

    The optional Multi-Audio 4/8 accessory allows you to simultaneously record up to 4 audio tracks. When that accessory is installed, you can enable recording on multiple tracks by pressing the Shift key while clicking on each track to be recorded. All tracks with Green dots at their left will be recorded when the record button is pressed.

    Please select     Catalog from the Help menu for information about ordering accessories.

    If you have trouble with recording or playing back songs, please select How do I... or Common Problems from the Help menu for more specific information.