(It is very small and just take a few seconds to download.)
<br><br><hr>
<h3><a name="NoSound">What to do if you hear no sound</h3>
<dir>
<li>View the <b>Mixer</b> page.
<li>If the REC or Play buttons are yellow,
it is waiting for an external Sync MIDI event to begin recording.
You probably set this by mistake.
Click the Mixer page's <b>Sync</b> button. Uncheck the check box. Press the OK button. Try to record or play again.
</dir>
<dir>
<LI>
Load the song you are trying to play by selecting <b>Open</b> from the <b>File</b> menu.
<LI>
Click the <IMG align=absMiddle border=1 hspace=0 src="speak.gif"> to the right of the Record
page's Duration field.
<BR>This brings up the <B>Volume Control</B> window.
This window controls the relative volume that various devices contribute
to the the sound card's Line-Out signal.
<LI>Select <B>Properties</B> from the <B>Volume Control</B> window's <B>Options</B> menu.
<LI>Select the sound card you want to use in the field named <B>Mixer device:</B>.
<LI>Click the <B>o Playback</B> button and check all boxes in the field named
<B>Show the following volume controls:</B>
<LI>Press the <B>OK</B> button.
Examine the various volume controls in the <B>Volume Control</B> window.
These determine which audio sources contribute to sound produced by the speakers connected to your sound card.
<LI>Make sure that the <B>Mute</B> check boxes under <B>Wave</B> and <b>Synthesizer</b> are NOT checked.
<LI>Set the balance for <B>Wave</B> and <b>Synthesizer</b> in the middle.
<LI>Set the volume for <B>Wave</B> and <b>Synthesizer</b> about half way up.
<LI>If you are recording from a high-impedance microphone, like the ones designed to be plugged directly
into a computer's sound card, make sure that it is plugged into your sound card's
<b>mic</b> jack.
<LI>If you are recording from a low-impedance dynamic or condenser microphone, like the ones designed
to be plugged into a PA system, you need to either run them through a microphone pre-amp
or mixer with <i>line level</i> output, and connect its output to your computer's <b>line</b> jack.
<LI>If you are recording another audio source, such as the output of a tape deck,
connect its <i>line level</i> output to your sound card's <b>line</b> jack.
<LI>Press the Play [>] button on the Mixer page.
</dir><br>
If you are trying to play a song with <b>Audio Tracks</b>:
<dir>
<LI>View the <b>Synthesizers</b> page.
<LI>Try selecting different <b>Audio In port</b> or a different <b>Audio Out port</b>.
<LI>View the Mixer page
<LI>Click on <b>Instrument</b> in the active track's <b>Type</b> column to change the track-type
from Instrument to Audio.
<LI>Press the <b>REC</b> button to start recording.
<LI>Press the stop button or the <b>REC</b> button again to stop recording.
<LI>Press the play [>] button to play back the recorded track.
</dir>
If you are trying to record an <b>Audio Track</b>, and are unable to monitor what you are recording through your headphones:
<dir>
<li>Click the <IMG align=absMiddle border=1 hspace=0 src="speak.gif"> to bring up the <B>Volume Control</B> window.
<li>Make sure the Microphone's and Line-In's select box is checked.
Adjust the volume to a level that sounds good for monitoring.
<li>Make sure you are using head phones instead of a speaker if the microphone
is close to your speakers, or you will hear feedback.
</dir>
If you are trying to play a song with <b>Instrument and Rhythm Tracks</b> (MIDI):
<dir>
<LI>You need to decide if you trying to get songs to play on an external Synthesizer attached to your computer by a MIDI cable,
or through your computer's sound card.
<LI>View the <b>Synthesizers</b> page and try changing the <b>Midi Out Port</b>
to a different value.
<LI>This field controls which device on your system to send MIDI songs to.
<LI>Values like <i>MIDI Out</i> would send it to synthesizers connected to your computer
by MIDI cables.
<LI>Values like <i>MIDI Synth</i> would send it to the internal synthesizer built into your
computer's sound card.
<LI>Also on the Synthesizers page, try increasing the value for Master Volume controls.
<li>You may have MIDI Sync set.
That should only be set if you want to start recording/playing
when you press the Start button on your synthesizer.
To turn it off,
<dir>
<li>Select Mixer from the View menu.
<li>Press the <b>Sync</b> button just below the <b>Time:</b> field.
<li>Uncheck the box named
<b>Record and Play wait for external MIDI Start event to begin</b>.
<li>Press the OK button.
</dir>
</dir>
If you cannot get a song to play on an <b>external synthesizer</b> after installing the <b>MIDI Manager</b> accessory:
<dir>
<LI>If you want to hear the music played on a synthesizer connected to
one of your external MIDI ports, you need to do the following:
<LI>View the "Synthesizers" page
<LI>Click on the MidiPort your synthesizer is connected to
<LI>Now, click the New Patch Library button.
<LI>In the dialog window, type the name of your synthesizer in the field named
"Unique name you want to use when referring to this synthesizer"
<LI>Click the OK button.
<LI>Repeat the above steps for every synthesizer you want to add.
<LI>View the Mixer page
<LI>Next to each track, click on the Synthesizer you want the track to be played on.
<LI>Press the Play button.
</dir>
If this does not fix the problem, <a href="#ReportBug">please send us a diagnostic log file</a>
<br><br><hr>
<h3><a name="AudRec">Audio recording does not seem to work</h3>
<OL><LI>
View the <B>Mixer</B> page.
<LI>Add a new Audio track to your song by selecting <b>Create Audio Track</b> from the <b>Edit</b> menu.
<LI>Click the <IMG align=absMiddle border=1 hspace=0 src="speak.gif"> to the right of the Record
page's Duration field.
<BR>This brings up the <B>Volume Control</B> window.
<LI>Select <B>Properties</B> from the <B>Volume Control</B> window's <B>Options</B> menu.
<LI>Select the sound card you want to use in the field named <B>Mixer device:</B>.
<LI>Click the <B>o Recording</B> button and check all boxes in the field named
<B>Show the following volume controls:</B>
<LI>Press the <B>OK</B> button.
<LI>This causes the window's title to change from <B>Volume Control</B> to
<B>Recording Control</B>.
<br>
This window now controls which hardware devices contribute to the Audio signal that will get recorded.
<LI>Examine the various volume controls in the <B>Recording Control</B> window.
<LI>Make sure that the <B>Selected</B> check box under <B>Mic/Line</B> is checked.
<BR>
The <B>Selected</B> check boxes under all other sources like <B>CD/Aux, Mixed Input</B>, and <B>Synthesizer</B> are
NOT checked.
<LI>Set the balance for <B>Mic/Line</B> in the middle.
<LI>Set the volume for <B>Mic/Line</B> about half way up.
<LI>Return to Anvil Studio's Mixer page, but don't close the <B>Recording Control</B> window yet.
<LI>Select the Audio Track by clicking on it and making a green dot appear at its left.<BR>This makes it the active track
- the track that will get recorded.
<LI>Erase the track by selecting <B>Erase track notes</B> from the <B>Edit</B> menu.
<LI>Press the <B>VU</B> button to <EM>warm up</EM> the audio device, so you don't record <EM>power-on</EM> noise.
<LI>Press the <B>Rec</B> button.<BR>Because of the settings in the <B>Recording Control</B> window, this
causes the audio source plugged into your sound card's Mic or Line jack to be recorded onto the new Audio track.
<LI>Press the stop button, or the <B>Rec</B> button again when you are ready to stop recording.
<LI>Right-click the audio track's <B>On</B> field so that it changes to <B>solo.</B>
<LI>This makes it the only track that will be played when the Play button is pressed.
<LI>Press the Play button.
<LI>Press the stop button and right-click on the track's <B>solo</B> field,
so that all tracks are enabled again.
<LI>If the track is too quiet, go back to the <B>Recording Control</B> window and
increase the Synthesizer's volume and go back up to step 13.
<LI>If the track has static noise, go back to the <B>Recording Control</B> window and decrease the Synthesizer's
volume and go back up to step 13.
</OL>
<br><hr>
<h3><a name="RecCD">Recording from an Audio CD to an Audio track</h3>
<OL><LI>
View the <B>Mixer</B> page.
<LI>Add a new Audio track to your song by selecting <b>Create Audio Track</b> from the <b>Edit</b> menu.
<LI>Click the <IMG align=absMiddle border=1 hspace=0 src="speak.gif"> to the right of the Record
page's Duration field.
<BR>This brings up the <B>Volume Control</B> window.
<LI>Select <B>Properties</B> from the <B>Volume Control</B> window's <B>Options</B> menu.
<LI>Select the sound card you want to use in the field named <B>Mixer device:</B>.
<LI>Click the <B>o Recording</B> button and check all boxes in the field named
<B>Show the following volume controls:</B>
<LI>Press the <B>OK</B> button.
<LI>This causes the window's title to change from <B>Volume Control</B> to
<B>Recording Control</B>.
<LI>Examine the various volume controls in the <B>Recording Control</B> window.
<LI>Make sure that the <B>Selected</B> check box under <B>CD/Aux</B> is checked.
<BR>The <B>Selected</B> check boxes under all other sources like <B>Mic/Line, Mixed Input</B>, and <B>Synthesizer</B> are
NOT checked.
<LI>Set the balance for <B>CD/Aux</B> in the middle.
<LI>Set the volume for <B>CD/Aux</B> about half way up.
<LI>Return to Anvil Studio's Mixer page, but don't close the <B>Recording Control</B> window yet.
<LI>Select the Audio Track by clicking on it and making a green dot appear at its left.<BR>This makes it the active track
- the track that will get recorded.
<LI>Erase the track by selecting <B>Erase track notes</B> from the <B>Edit</B> menu.
<LI>Press the <B>VU</B> button to <EM>warm up</EM> the audio device, so you don't record <EM>power-on</EM> noise.
<LI>Put an Audio CD into your computer's CD-ROM drive.
<LI>Press the <B>Rec</B> button on the Mixer page.
<BR>
Because of the settings in the <B>Recording Control</B> window, this
causes the audio CD in your computer's CD-ROM drive to be recorded onto the new Audio track.
<LI>Press the stop button, or the <B>Rec</B> button again when you are ready to stop recording.
<LI>Right-click the audio track's <B>On</B> field so that it changes to <B>solo.</B>
<LI>This makes it the only track that will be played when the Play button is pressed.
<LI>Press the Play button.
<LI>Press the stop button and right-click on the track's <B>solo</B> field,
so that all tracks are enabled again.
<LI>If the track is too quiet, go back to the <B>Recording Control</B> window and
increase the Synthesizer's volume and go back up to step 13.
<LI>If the track has static noise, go back to the <B>Recording Control</B> window and decrease the Synthesizer's
volume and go back up to step 13.
</OL>
<br><hr>
<h3><a name="MixToWav">Mixing all tracks down to a single .WAV file</h3>
<br>
After your song sounds the way you want it, you can mix the entire song, even Instrument and Rhythm tracks, down to a single .WAV file by following these steps.
<OL>
<LI>View the <B>Mixer</B> page.
<LI>Open the song you want to work on using the <b>File</b> menu.
<LI>Add a new Audio track to your song by selecting <b>Create Audio Track</b> from the <b>Edit</b> menu.
<LI>Name the new track something like <b>Mix</b> by clicking the track's left-most field.
<LI>If you want to produce a stereo mix, click the track's <b>mono</b> field and change it to <b>stereo</b>.
<LI>Click the <IMG align=absMiddle border=1 hspace=0 src="speak.gif"> to the right of the Record
page's Duration field.
<BR>This brings up the <B>Volume Control</B> window.
<LI>Select <B>Properties</B> from the <B>Volume Control</B> window's <B>Options</B> menu.
<LI>Select the sound card you want to use in the field named <B>Mixer device:</B>.
<LI>Click the <B>o Recording</B> button and check all boxes in the field named
<B>Show the following volume controls:</B>
<LI>Press the <B>OK</B> button.
<LI>This causes the window's title to change from <B>Volume Control</B> to
<B>Recording Control</B>.
<LI>Examine the various volume controls in the <B>Recording Control</B> window.
<LI>Make sure that the <B>Selected</B> check box under <B>Synthesizer</B> is checked.
<BR>
The <B>Selected</B> check boxes under all other sources like <B>CD/Aux, Mixed Input</B>, and <B>Mic/Line</B> are
NOT checked.
<LI>Set the balance for <B>Synthesizer</B> in the middle.
<LI>Set the volume for <B>Synthesizer</B> about half way up.
<LI>Return to Anvil Studio's Mixer page, but don't close the <B>Recording Control</B> window yet.
<LI>Select the Audio Track by clicking on it and making a green dot appear at its left.<BR>This makes it the active track
- the track that will get recorded.
<LI>Erase the track by selecting <B>Erase track notes</B> from the <B>Edit</B> menu.
<LI>Press the <B>VU</B> button to <EM>warm up</EM> the audio device, so you don't record <EM>power-on</EM> noise.
<LI>Press the <B>Rec</B> button.<BR>Because of the settings in the <B>Recording Control</B> window, this
causes all synthesizer tracks to be recorded onto the new Audio track.
<LI>Press the stop button, or the <B>Rec</B> button again when you are ready to stop recording.
<LI>Right-click the audio track's <B>On</B> field so that it changes to <B>solo.</B>
<LI>This makes it the only track that will be played when the Play button is pressed.
<LI>Press the Play button.
<LI>Press the stop button and right-click on the track's <B>solo</B> field,
so that all tracks are enabled again.
<LI>If the track is too quiet, go back to the <B>Recording Control</B> window and
increase the Synthesizer's volume and go back up to step 15.
<LI>If the track has static noise, go back to the <B>Recording Control</B> window and decrease the Synthesizer's
volume and go back up to step 15.
<LI>If it sounds ok, select <b>Export Mixed Audio...</b> from the <b>File</b> menu
to save the audio track to its own .WAV file.
</OL>
<h3><a name="RecSeq">Recording a midi sequence from an external sequencer</h3>
You can record a midi sequence from an external sequencer by following these steps:
<dir>
<li>Select Options from the View menu
<li>Click the <i>Record Multi-Track MIDI</i> checkbox
<li>Select Mixer from the View menu
<li>Select New Song from the File menu
<li>Press the REC button and each of the 16 tracks will record all of the MIDI events sent to its MIDI channel.
</dir>
When done, you might want to turn off the <i>Record Multi-Track MIDI</i> checkbox on the Options page.
<br><br><hr>
<h3><a name="TempWav">Increasing memory for Audio Recording</h3>
Your audio recording time may be limited by the amount of free disk space on either the drive the song is saved to,
or the Windows Temporary drive. Anvil Studio stores its temporary mixing files on Windows <i>Temporary Drive</i>.
If you have more free space on your D: drive than on your C: drive, you can tell windows to use drive D
with the following steps:
<dir>
<li>Select Settings / Control Panel from the Windows Start menu
<li>Double-click on the System icon in the Control Panel
<li>Click on the Performance tab
<li>Click the Virtual Memory button
<li>Click "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings"
<li>Select drive D:
<li>Press OK buttons to close all dialogs
<li>Restart your computer
</dir>
To increase Windows temp file space under Windows NT, start the Control Panel, double-click on System,
turn to the Performance tab, change the max value, and press the Set button.
<br><br>
<hr>
<h3><a name="WavFiles">Playing Audio tracks on Web Browsers</h3>
When you record Audio tracks, Anvil Studio creates a different .WAV file for each track.
These .WAV files are stored in the same folder as the song's .MID file, and have the same
first 4 letters of its filename. These .WAV files can be played by web browsers and many other applications.
If you load the .MID file into another application, such as a Web Browser, you will only
hear the Instrument and Rhythm tracks.
That is because there is no standard for storing audio data within .MID files,
so Anvil Studio simply stores references to the .WAV files inside the .MID files.
<br>
See the section: <a href="#MixToWav"><b>Mixing all tracks down to a single .WAV file</b></a>
for a description of how to mix all of your Audio, Instrument and Rhythm tracks down to a single .WAV file.
The single .WAV file can then be played by any application, including Web Browsers, or converted
to a .MP3 file by some other application. Anvil Studio does not yet support creation of .MP3 files.
<br><br>
<hr>
<h3><a name="SampVol">Increasing volume for Recorded Samples</h3>
There are several things you can do to increase the volume of a recorded sample.
Experiment with one or more of the following until you get the sound you want.
<dir>
<li>In the window brought up by Edit Samples..., set Volume all the way to the right.
<li>In that same window, press the Edit... button to edit the waveform.
Then, press the Louder button until it warns you that doing so would introduce distortion.
<li>On the Composer page for the Rhythm track, set the volume control all the way to the right.
<li>On the record page, set the volume for the rhythm track all the way to the right.
<li>On the Mixer page, set the volume for Audio all the way to the right.
