PC World 2002 October

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<HTML> <BODY BACKGROUND="bgnd.jpg" BGCOLOR= "#C0D9D9"> General Tab <dir> <li>If Save Settings on Exit is checked, then whenever Anvil Studio starts, it loads the song file you last loaded and turns to the page you were last working on. <li>If Enable HTML Help is checked, Anvil Studio uses Internet Explorer to display help information at the bottom of each page. <li>If Always create a trouble-shooting log file is checked, Anvil Studio generates a trouble-shooting log file every time it is run. This causes Anvil Studio to run a little slower, so it should only be used when trying to track down an problem that seldom occurs. <li>If All volumes range from 0 to 127 is checked, all volume controls range from 0 to 127, the true MIDI standard. If it is not checked, all volume controls range from 0 to 100, but are converted to range from 0 to 127 before being sent to MIDI devices. <li>If Enable Full-Duplex Soundcard test is checked, Anvil Studio checks your audio/MIDI hardware every time a configuration change occurs, and reports possible problems. You can uncheck this if you think you have a full-duplex sound card, but Anvil Studio says that you do not, but do this with caution as problems may go undetected. <li>If Show notes for all tracks on Mixer page is checked, a zoomed out view of notes for all tracks appears on the Mixer page. You can drag the mouse over the notes to hear them played, which can be useful when trying to locate a desired position in the song. It can also be used to copy and paste measures between tracks. <li>If Printing Option 1 is checked, Only set this if told to by an Anvil Studio technical support person. <li>Set the Number of levels of Undo to any number between 0 and 50. Higher numbers let you undo more edits with the Edit/Undo menu item. Setting this number higher also consumes more memory. <li>It isn't always easy to reach the mouse and computer keyboard while you are trying to record at your Synthesizer. This page lets you control some parts of Anvil Studio's user interface from your MIDI keyboard. For example, you can use it to start/stop recording when you step on a MIDI foot-switch, or wiggle a Modulation wheel, or press the lowest note on the keyboard. First, select the Anvil Studio Action you want to control remotely. Then, press a note, step on a foot switch, or trigger any other MIDI event. If the MIDI event you select is a switch, like Sustain, then a On starts, Off stops checkbox appears. For example, if this box is checked for Sustain controlling Stop/Start Recording, then you need to press the sustain pedal to star recording, and release the pedal to stop recording. If it is not checked, then you need to press the pedal once to start recording, and then press it again to stop recording. Any of the actions listed in the lower Anvil Studio Action field can be assigned to a keyboard shortcut. For example, if you need to change several note stem directions on the Composer page, assign keyboard shortcut Ctrl+U to Note Stem Up and Ctrl+D to Note Stem Down. Then you can simply press Ctrl+D or Ctrl+U to change the stem direction of the selected note when you are on the composer page. </dir> <hr> Audio Tab <dir> <li>Increasing the Number of audio buffers makes Audio output more smooth on slow systems, or systems that have other programs running. <li>If Warn if memory limits record time is checked, Anvil Studio warns when starting to record an Audio track if recording time will be limited by available memory. <li>If Enable master playback VU meter is checked, it causes the Mixer page to show a Master playback VU meter if the song has any Audio tracks. <li>If Enable DirectX Audio is checked, DirectX effects audio pluggins can be added to a song to alter the audio output. Select Links from the Help menu to see some sites that provide DirectX effects, or search the Web for DirectX pluggins. <li>If Allow very long audio tracks is checked, audio tracks can be longer than 60 minutes, assuming that your machine has enough disk space. <li>The Test for Full-Duplex Soundcard button will tell you if your soundcard can Record and Play MIDI and Audio at the same time. This is an important feature for multi-track recording. <li>Press the Create Audio Diagnostic File button to create a diagnostic file that you can email to support@AnvilStudio.com along with a description of any audio problems you are having. <li>The Mixer Output field lets you select the Audio Input device that lets you record the output of your soundcard's audio mixer. This field is different for each SoundCard, but should say something like Mixer, Stereo Mixer Input, or What U Hear. Some soundcards have no such audio input device. This helps the File / Export Mixed Audio menu item know how to do its work. <li>The Synth Output field lets you select the Audio Input device that lets you record the output of your soundcard's internal MIDI synthesizer. It should be called something like MIDI. Some soundcards have no such audio input device. This helps the File / Export Mixed Audio and Export Active Track as WAV file menu items know how to do their work. </dir> <hr> MIDI Tab <dir> <li>New files created by Anvil Studio are always saved in MIDI-Format-1, where each track has its own MIDI channel/instrument. If Save song files in MIDI 1 format is checked, any file loaded gets converted to MIDI-Format-1 when saved, regardless what its format was before it was loaded. Files are saved in this format can be edited by other MIDI editing programs, however editing song files with another MIDI editor may cause loss of some important information. Anvil Studio stores Sequencer-Specific MIDI events to remember things like links to audio files and some staff note properties. These special events are part of the MIDI standard and do not interfere with how the song gets played by other MIDI player programs. Some other MIDI editors delete these Sequencer-Specific MIDI events from song files. Anvil Studio preserves Sequencer-Specific MIDI events created by other editors. It is always a great idea to create backup copies of your song files, but it is especially important to do so before editing them with another editor. <li>If Echo incoming MIDI events to all synthesizers is checked, This has no effect if your computer has no external MIDI port. When Anvil Studio runs for the first time, Echoing MIDI events is initially disabled. You will want to turn this on if you are recording a MIDI track, and you want to play notes on one synthesizer keyboard, but have them played by a different synthesizer or your computer's sound card. In this case, the synthesizer keyboard you are playing will remain silent, and the recorded notes will be echoed, and later played back, on the synthesizer assigned to the track being recorded. For example, try turning this check box on and then select Mixer from the View menu and create a Rhythm track. Now, press keys on an external synthesizer to hear drum sounds. While still on the Mixer page, press the Record button and press keys on your synthesizer to record a rhythm track. You will want to turn this off for any of the following reasons: <dir> <li>If your computer's Sound Card is not Full Duplex, that is, it cannot send and receive MIDI events at the same time. <li>If your computer's Sound Card is the type that cannot listen to the MIDI port and Audio-in port at the same time. <li>If you do not have enough MIDI cables to connect: <dir> <li>the synthesizer's MIDI OUT port to the computer's MIDI IN port, and <li>the computer's MIDI OUT port to the synthesizer's MIDI IN port. </dir> In this case, you need to re-connect a MIDI cable to different ports depending on whether you are recording or playing back. <li>If you notice delays between the time you press a note and when you hear the note played. <li>If you don't here anything when you press a key on the synthesizer keyboard. </dir> <h4>Program behavior when Echo MIDI Events is enabled</h4> During start-up the program opens MIDI OUT and MIDI IN ports, and immediately sends LocalControlOff messages to all channels. When not recording, it simply echoes any MIDI event to all MIDI OUT ports. When recording, it echoes the received notes, after changing the channel number to the active track's channel number. <h4>Program behavior when Echo MIDI Events is disabled</h4> The program only opens MIDI IN ports when recording a MIDI track, or when Anvil Studio is turned to a page that needs to listen to MIDI events. The program only opens MIDI OUT ports when playing one or more MIDI tracks, or when Anvil Studio is turned to a page that needs to play MIDI notes. <li>If Show notes on staff while recording is checked, notes are displayed on the staff while your record an Instrument track. machines slower than a 100-mHz Pentium, this can cause synchronization problems. <li>If Record no Rests is checked, the duration of notes is not determined by when a note is released, but by which notes are still down when a new note is pressed. This sometimes produces more pleasing results when recording a score for display as sheet music. <li>If Record Multi-track MIDI is checked, When recording MIDI, this causes each MIDI channel to be recorded to a different track, instead of all channels getting recorded to the active track. For example, when a note is recorded on MIDI Channel 3, that note is inserted in the track whose channel is 3. This also causes the File / New menu item to create 16 tracks, each with its own MIDI channel. <li>If Record and Play SysEx MIDI Events is checked, MIDI System Exclusive messages are recorded to the track being recorded, and sent to MIDI devices during play back. Otherwise, System Exclusive messages are ignored by Anvil Studio. <li>If Enable SoundFont support is checked, it enables SoundFont support if your sound card supports it. This allows Anvil Studio recognize which instruments are currently loaded into your sound card. It also allows you to load different .SF2 files into your sound card, just like a stand-alone MIDI Sampler. For more information, please select How do I... from the Help menu, and then read the section on SoundFont ® support. SoundFont ® is a registered trademark of E-mu Systems, Inc. <li>If Anvil Studio is the player of .MID files is checked, when you double-click on a .MID file from the Windows Explorer, Anvil Studio is launched to play the song. Since the Anvil Studio program is larger and slower to load than simple MIDI file players, you might not want to do this. <li>If Play notes when mouse moves over staff is checked, Anvil Studio plays notes when you drag the mouse over them on the Composer and Mixer pages. <li>If Show Dotted Rests is checked, dotted rests are drawn on the staff. Otherwise, quarter-note, 8th-note, 16th-note rests are used. <li>If Enable Beam lines on Compose page is checked, notes on the Composer page are drawn with beams between notes 8th and smaller. <li>The MIDI Ticks per quarter note allows you to control the MIDI ticks per second that get sent to MIDI devices. It is initially set to 240. </dir> </body> </HTML>