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<HTML> <BODY BACKGROUND="BGnd.jpg" BGCOLOR= "#C0D9D9"> <h3>Please click any of these topics:</h3> <ul> <dt><a href="#CreateSong">Create a new song</a> <dt><a href="#CreateAudio">Create a song with Audio Effects</a> <dt><a href="#midiRec">Record instrument tracks from a MIDI synthesizer</a> <dt><a href="#RecCD">Record from an Audio CD to an Audio track</a> <dt><a href="#RecGuitar">Record Guitar with Anvil Studio</a> <dt><a href="#RecSeq">Record a MIDI sequence from an external sequencer</a> <dt><a href="#SelPort">Get songs to play on an external MIDI synthesizer</a> <dt><a href="#WavFiles">Create sound files for Web Browsers</a> <dt><a href="#UsingSFont">Using SoundFonts ® </a> <dt><a href="#Drums">Play around with drums<a> <dt><a href="#ImportWav">Import an existing .WAV file into an Audio track</a> <dt><a href="#TempWav">Increase memory for Audio Recording</a> <dt><a href="#MixToWav">Mix all tracks down to a single .WAV file</a> <dt><a href="#SampVol">Increasing volume for Recorded Samples</a> <dt><a href="#PlayList">Create a playlist</a> <dt><a href="#Play2Instr">Play more than one instrument in a song</a> <dt><a href="#ChangeInstr">Change the instrument used to play a track</a> <dt><a href="#VolAdjust">Change the volume of notes on the Composer screen</a> <dt><a href="#InsertNote">Insert a note on the Composer screen without shifting all notes that follow it</a> <dt><a href="#EnterChord">Enter several notes as a chord on the Composer screen</a> <dt><a href="#DeleteNote">Deleting notes on the Composer screen</a> <dt><a href="#DeleteRest">Deleting rests on the Composer screen</a> <dt><a href="#ShiftNotes">Shift a note right or left within a measure on the Composer screen</a> <dt><a href="#Transpose">Transpose a song to a new key</a> <dt><a href="#Recommend">Sound card, Microphone, Keyboard, and website recommendations</a> <dt><a href="#DldUpgrade">Get the latest version of Anvil Studio</a> <dt><a href="-ZZCat">Add accessories to Anvil Studio</a> <dt><a href="astudio.htm">View Anvil Studio's Users Guide</a> <dt><a href="#Uninstall">Uninstall Anvil Studio</a> </ul><hr> <h3><a name="CreateSong">Create a new song</h3> This example creates a MIDI song file with three tracks: <dir> <li>a MIDI keyboard track, <li>an audio track, and <li>a rhythm track. </dir> Anvil Studio lets you record to these tracks, one at a time. All of the tracks can be played back simultaneously. To make it easier to follow these steps, consider printing this page by typing P while holding down the Ctrl key, or if you have Internet Explorer version 4.0 or later, right-click on the page and select the Print menu item. so it is <h4>Step 1: Creating a MIDI track</h4> <dir> <li>If you don't have a MIDI Synthesizer, please skip to Step 2, or view Composer screen and follow the instructions on that page. <li>Ensure that your MIDI cables are connected as described in the <a href="connect.htm">Connections</a> screen. <li>Select Mixer from the View menu. <li>Select New Song from the <img src="filemenu.gif" align=center> menu in the upper-left corner of the screen. This new song has one MIDI instrument track. If you wanted to add a second MIDI instrument track, you could select the Create / Instrument Track menu item from the Track menu in the upper-left corner of the screen. <li>If you'd like a countdown to synchronize your recording, click the metronome <img align=center src="met.gif"> in the upper right corner of the screen. <li>Press the REC button <img align=center src="recbut.gif"> to begin recording this track. <li>Press the stop button <img align=center src="stopbut.gif"> when you are ready to stop recording. <li>To edit this track, select Composer from the View menu and follow the instructions on that screen. </dir> </dir> <h4>Step 2: Adding an Audio track</h4> <dir> <li>Audio tracks are used to record from a microphone or other audio source connected to your computer. If your computer has no audio input device, please skip to step 3. <li>Go back to the Mixer screen. <li>Save the song file by selecting the Save Song... menu item from the <img src="filemenu.gif" align=center> menu in the upper-left corner of the screen. <li>Select the Create / Audio Track menu item from the Track menu in the upper-left corner of the screen. <li>Select Composer from the View menu. <li>Click on the Quality button to select the audio quality you want. <li>Press the record button <img align=center src="recbut.gif"> to record to this track. <li>Press the stop button <img align=center src="stopbut.gif"> when you are ready to stop recording. <li>Press the Filter to filter out noise from this track. <li>Follow the instructions on the Compose screen to experiment with other Audio processing. <li>If you hear no Audio, try selecting a different Audio In or Out device. <dir> <li>Select Synthesizers from the View menu. <li>Click the down-arrow to the right of the Audio In or Audio Out Port fields. <li>Select the desired device. <li>Go back to the beginning of Step 2 and try again. </dir> </dir> <h4>Step 3: Adding a rhythm track</h4> <dir> <li>Go back to the Mixer screen. <li>Save the song file by selecting the Save Song... menu item from the <img src="filemenu.gif" align=center> menu in the upper-left corner of the screen. <li>Select the Create / Rhythm Track menu item from the Track menu in the upper-left corner of the screen. <li>Select Composer from the View menu to edit the rhythm track. <li>Click anywhere on the grid with the left mouse button to add various drum sounds. <li>For more precision, click the Note: drop-down field and select 1/64 Note. <li>To remove a drum sound, click with the right mouse button on the note to be removed from the grid. <li>Click on the Loopback button <img width=94 height=20 align=center src="loopback.gif"> over the first measure to show the Loopback window. In that window, type 3 in the Number of times to play them field. Press the Loopback window's Ok button to close it. This will cause the first measure to be repeated 3 times. <li>Click the Latin, Misc1, and Misc2 tabs to select different sets of drums. <li>Click the Sampled Sounds tab to add sampled sounds to your song. <li>Press the Create Sampled Sounds button. <li>Press the Help button, and experiment with the options it describes. </dir> <h4>Step 4: Playing all of the tracks</h4> <dir> <li>Go back to the Mixer screen. <li>Press the play button <img align=center src="playbut1.gif">. </dir> <hr> <h3><a name="CreateAudio">Creating a song with Audio Effects</h3> This example creates a WAV file with Audio Effects: <dir> <li>Select Mixer from the View menu. <li>Select the New Song menu item from the <img src="filemenu.gif" align=center> menu in the upper-left corner of the screen. <li>On this screen's track list, there is a row for every track in the song, showing that track's name and other attributes of the track. Now, change track 1's Type from instrument to audio by clicking on Instrument and selecting Audio from the list. <li>Select Composer from the View menu. <li>Save the song file by selecting the Save Song... menu item from the <img src="filemenu.gif" align=center> menu in the upper-left corner of the screen. <li>Press the record button <img align=center src="recbut.gif">, sing into the microphone, and then press the stop button <img align=center src="stopbut.gif"> when you are ready to stop recording. <li>Press the Filter to show the filter window, and press its Ok button to filter noise from this track. <li>With the left mouse down, drag the mouse over part of the window to select part of the recorded song. <li>Press the Play Selection button to hear the selected sound. <li>Select Reverse from the Edit menu to replace the selected sound with the same sound played backward. <li>Press the Volume and Pitch buttons to adjust the volume and pitch of the selected sound. <li>If you have the Multi-Audio accessory, add another Audio track to this song by selecting the Create / Audio Track menu item from the Track menu in the upper-left corner of the screen. <li>Record some sound onto this track. <li>Select Mixer from the View menu. <li>Click the Delay check box for each track to add a delay, or echo effect. <li>Press the play button <img align=center src="playbut1.gif"> to hear all the tracks played together. <li>Experiment with the Track Volume, Delay Intensity and Time controls, pressing the Play button <img align=center src="playbut1.gif"> to hear the effect of the change. Select Export Mixed Audio... from the File menu to create a single .WAV file resulting from blending all of the audio and sampled rhythm tracks together. </dir> <hr> <h3><a name="midiRec">Recording instrument tracks from a MIDI synthesizer</h3> <dir> <li>Ensure that your MIDI cables are connected as described in the <a href="connect.htm">Help / Connections menu</a>. <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 Sync button just below the Time: field. <li>Uncheck the box named Record and Play wait for external MIDI Start event to begin. <li>Press the OK button. </dir> <li>Try recording again. </dir> If you want the recorded notes to look correct on a staff <dir> <li>Consider setting the option Record No Rests on the View / Options / MIDI screen. <li>Turn the metronome on by clicking its ICON in the top-right corner of the screen. <li>Play the notes along with the metronome as accurately as you can. <li>When you are done, if some notes don't look right, try selecting Transpose Entire Track from the Track menu. </dir> <hr> <h3><a name="RecCD">Recording from an Audio CD to an Audio track</h3> <OL> <li>Select Mixer from the View menu. <LI>Add a new Audio track to your song by selecting Create / Audio Track from the Track menu. <LI>Click the <IMG align=absMiddle border=1 hspace=0 src="speak.gif"> to the right of the Mixer screen's Duration field. This brings up the Volume Control window. <LI>Select Properties from the Volume Control window's Options menu. <LI>Select the sound card you want to use in the field named Mixer device:. <LI>Click the o Recording button and check all boxes in the field named Show the following volume controls: <LI>Press the OK button. <LI>This causes the window's title to change from Volume Control to Recording Control. <LI>Examine the various volume controls in the Recording Control window. <LI>Make sure that the Selected check box under CD/Aux is checked. The Selected check boxes under all other sources like Mic/Line, Mixed Input, and Synthesizer are NOT checked. <LI>Set the balance for CD/Aux in the middle. <LI>Set the volume for CD/Aux about half way up. <LI>Return to Anvil Studio's Mixer screen, but don't close the Recording Control window yet. <LI>Select the Audio Track by clicking on it and making a green dot appear at its left. This makes it the active track - the track that will get recorded. <LI>Erase the track by selecting Erase track notes from the Edit menu. <LI>Press the VU button to warm up the audio device, so you don't record power-on noise. <LI>Put an Audio CD into your computer's CD-ROM drive. <LI>Press the Rec button on the Mixer screen. Because of the settings in the Recording Control 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 Rec button again when you are ready to stop recording. <LI>Right-click the audio track's On field so that it changes to solo. <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 solo field, so that all tracks are enabled again. <LI>If the track is too quiet, go back to the Recording Control 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 Recording Control window and decrease the Synthesizer's volume and go back up to step 13. </OL> <hr> <h3><a name="RecGuitar">Record a Guitar with Anvil Studio</h3> Follow these steps to record an audio track in Anvil Studio with your electric guitar. <dir> <li>If the output of your guitar is line-level (usually is), connect it to your sound card's line-in jack, getting an adapter if necessary from someplace like Radio Shack. <li>In Anvil Studio, select New from the File menu to create a new song. <li>Select Mixer from the View menu. <li>Change the type of track 1 from Instrument to Audio. <LI>Click the <IMG align=absMiddle border=1 hspace=0 src="speak.gif"> to the right of the Mixer screen's Duration field. This brings up the Volume Control window. <LI>Select Properties from the Volume Control window's Options menu. <LI>Select the sound card you want to use in the field named Mixer device:. <LI>Click the o Recording button and check all boxes in the field named Show the following volume controls: <LI>Press the OK button. <LI>This causes the window's title to change from Volume Control to Recording Control. This window now controls which hardware devices contribute to the Audio signal that will get recorded. <LI>Examine the various volume controls in the Recording Control window. <LI>Make sure that the Selected check box under Line or Mic/Line is checked. The Selected check boxes under all other sources like CD/Aux, Mixed Input, and Synthesizer are NOT checked. <li>Press the REC button to start recording. <li>Play your guitar. <li>Press the stop button to stop recording. <li>Press the Play button. <hr> <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 Synthesizers from the View menu <li>Change the MIDI In and MIDI Out ports to the ports your synthesizer is connected to. They might be named something like MPU-401 or MIDI Out. <li>Select Options from the View menu <li>Click the Record Multi-Track MIDI 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 Record Multi-Track MIDI checkbox on the Options screen. <hr> <h3><a name="SelPort">Getting songs to play on your MIDI synthesizer</h3> <dir> <li>Select Synthesizers from the View menu. <li>Click the down-arrow to the right of the Midi Out Port field. <li>Select the port your synthesizer is connected to, e.g. one that has MIDI Out as part of its name. Now, all songs played by Anvil Studio will be sent to that MIDI port. <li>Anvil Studio can also support multiple MIDI Out ports and Patch Bays, with the optional MIDI Manager Accessory. Select <a href="-ZZCat">Catalog</a> from the Help menu for details. <li>Ensure that your MIDI cables are connected as described in the <a href="connect.htm">Help / Connections</a> menu. </dir> <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 saved in the same folder as the song's .MID file, and have the same first 4 letters of its filename. For example, if the song is named "ThisIsMySong.mid", the audio tracks will be saved in files with names like "Thisg_a.wav", "Thisg_b.wav", etc. The filename of each track's .WAV file is displayed on the Mixer screen in the Instrument column. These .WAV files can be emailed and played by any Audio player, including the Windows Media player and Web Browsers. 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. See the section: <a href="#MixToWav">Mixing all tracks down to a single .WAV file</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. You can use a variety of shareware/freeware tools to convert the .WAV file to an .MP3 file, which can be 1/10th the size. Anvil Studio does not yet support creation of .MP3 files. <hr> <h3><a name="UsingSfont">Using SoundFonts ® </h3> Anvil Studio has special support for sound cards like SoundBlaster Live! that support SoundFonts. These cards can dynamically load different set of instrument sounds from files with the file extension .SF2. To load a new set of instrument sounds: <dir> <li>Select Synthesizers from the View menu. <li>Change the MIDI Out port to a sound card that supports SoundFonts, like A: SB Live! MIDI Synth <li>Press the Load SoundFont File... button <li>Select the file you want to load <li>Press the Open button <li>Select Mixer from the View menu <li>Click the Device column of any Instrument or Rhythm track <li>In the resulting window, set the Synthesizer field to your SoundFont sound card <li>Set the Bank field to any value <li>Click on the instrument that you want to assign to that track </dir> SoundFont ® is a registered trademark of E-mu Systems, Inc. <hr> <h3><a name="Drums">Using Anvil Studio to play with drums</h3> <dir> <li>Select Mixer from the View menu <li>To the right of Track 1, click on Instrument and change it to Rhythm <li>Click the Composer button at the bottom of the screen, or select Composer from the View menu. <li>Click on the grid where you want various drum sounds. <li>Click the > play button. <li>Select Save from the file menu to save the song. <li>The file you save can now be played on any standard MIDI player, copied to a web page, emailed to some, etc. </dir> <hr> <h3><a name="ImportWav">Import an existing .WAV file into an Audio track</h3> To load an existing .WAV file into an Audio track: <dir> <li>Select New from the File menu <li>Select Mixer from the View menu <li>Click the Type field of Track 1, changing it from Instrument to Audio <li>Select Save from the File menu to save the new song <li>Select Import from the File menu, and then select a .WAV file to import. </dir> You can also import .WAV files as individual drum sounds on a rhythm track as follows: <dir> <li>Select Mixer from the View menu, <li>Select the Track / Create / Rhythm track menu, <li>Press the Compose button, or select Composer from the View menu, <li>Click the Sampled Sounds tab, then <li>Press the Create Sampled Sounds button. </dir> <hr> <h3><a name="MixToWav">Mixing all tracks down to a single .WAV file</h3> After your song sounds the way you want it, you can mix the entire song down to a single .WAV file by following these steps. <OL> <LI>Select Mixer from the View menu. <LI>Open the song you want to work on using the File menu. <li>If your song has only Audio tracks, select Export Mixed Audio... from the File menu to save the audio track to its own .WAV file, and you are done! The remaining steps only apply if your song has Instrument or Rhythm tracks. In this case, you first need to create a single Audio track that is a mix of all Instrument and Rhythm tracks. <LI>Add a new Audio track to your song by selecting Create / Audio Track from the Track menu. <LI>Name the new track something like Mix by clicking the track's left-most field. <LI>If you want to produce a stereo mix, click the mono field in the track's channel column and change it to stereo. <LI>Click the <IMG align=absMiddle border=1 hspace=0 src="speak.gif"> to the right of the Mixer screen's Duration field. This brings up the Volume Control window. <LI>Select Properties from the Volume Control window's Options menu. <LI>Select the sound card you want to use in the field named Mixer device:. <LI>Click the o Recording button and check all boxes in the field named Show the following volume controls: <LI>Press the OK button. <LI>This causes the window's title to change from Volume Control to Recording Control. <LI>Examine the various volume controls in the Recording Control window. <li>If the window has a column named Synthesizer: <dir> <LI>Make sure that the Selected check box under Synthesizer is checked. <li>Make sure the Selected check boxes under all other sources like CD/Aux, Mixed Input, and Mic/Line are NOT checked. <LI>Set the balance for Synthesizer in the middle. <LI>Set the volume for Synthesizer about half way up. </dir> <li>If the window DOES NOT have a column named Synthesizer: <dir> <li>Your sound card does not support routing the output of its Synthesizer to its Audio Record input. <li>In this case, you need to connect a jack from your sound card's line-out to its line-in. This way, while Anvil Studio is causing all tracks to be played to your sound card's line-out, it will be recording the new (exported) audio track from your sound card's line-in jack. Such a jack can be purchased at most audio or electronics stores such as Radio Shack. <LI>Make sure that the Selected check box under Mic/Line or Line-In is checked. </dir> <LI>Return to Anvil Studio's Mixer screen, but don't close the Recording Control window yet. <LI>Select the Audio Track by clicking on it and making a green dot appear at its left. This makes it the active track - the track that will get recorded. <LI>Erase the track by selecting Erase track notes from the Edit menu. <LI>Press the VU button to warm up the audio device, so you don't record power-on noise. <LI>Press the Rec button. Because of the settings in the Recording Control window, this causes all synthesizer tracks to be recorded onto the new Audio track. <LI>Press the stop button, or the Rec button again when you are ready to stop recording. <LI>Right-click the audio track's On field so that it changes to solo. <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 solo field, so that all tracks are enabled again. <LI>If the track is too quiet, go back to the Recording Control window and increase the Synthesizer's volume and go back up to step 16. <LI>If the track has static noise, go back to the Recording Control window and decrease the Synthesizer's volume and go back up to step 16. <LI>If it sounds ok, select Export Mixed Audio... from the File menu to save the audio track to its own .WAV file. </OL> <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 Temporary Drive. 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. <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 Create Sampled Sounds... or 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 screen for the Rhythm track, set the volume control all the way to the right. <li>On the Mixer screen, set the volume for the rhythm track all the way to the right. <li>On the Mixer screen, set the volume for Audio all the way to the right. </dir> <hr> <h3><a name="PlayList">Create a Play List</h3> A playlist is a file that can be opened by Anvil Studio's File / Open Play List... menu item. Using your favorite editor, make a copy of the file autoplay.ply Replace air.mid, and all of the other lines that have .MID with the names of MIDI songs you want to play. In Anvil Studio, select Open Play List from the File Menu. It will play all of those songs. If the last line of the XXX.PLY file has a line naming itself, i.e. XXX.PLY, it will loop and play all the songs forever. A skip button also appears when a Play list is playing that lets you skip forward in the play list. <hr> <h3><a name="Play2Instr">Play more than one instrument in a song</h3> Anvil Studio assumes that each track in a song plays a single instrument on a single MIDI channel. If you want a song to play two instruments, create an instrument track for each instrument you want to play. On the Mixer screen, you can change which MIDI channel and Instrument each track plays. If you already have the whole song on a single track, select Split track into single-channel tracks from the Track menu. <hr> <h3><a name="ChangeInstr">Change the instrument used to play a track</h3> To change the instrument associated with the current Instrument track: <dir> <li>select Mixer from the View menu <li>click the track's Instrument column <li>select a different instrument </dir> <hr> <h3><a name="VolAdjust">Change the volume of notes on the Composer screen</h3> When composing, each note's volume is determined by the VOL slider to the right of the Staccato checkbox. You can later adjust a single note's volume by right-clicking the note and editing the note's properties. You can adjust the volume of a selection of notes by selecting a range of notes with the mouse and moving the same VOL slider. All selected notes will be set to that volume. <hr> <h3><a name="InsertNote">Insert a note on the Composer screen without shifting all notes that follow it</h3> To insert a note without shifting all notes that follow it, uncheck the Insert Mode checkbox on the Composer screen. <hr> <h3><a name="EnterChord">Enter several notes as a chord on the Composer screen</h3> To enter several notes as a chord, hold the shift key down until the last note has been entered. <hr> <h3><a name="DeleteNote">Deleting notes on the Composer screen</h3> To delete a single note, point to it with the mouse, hold the right mouse button down, and select the Remove Note menu item. If you want to delete one or more notes, and cause all following notes to shift left, point to the left of the notes with the mouse, hold the left mouse button down and drag the mouse right until the entire group of notes to be deleted has a dark background. Make sure that both the treble and bass clefs are selected by holding the mouse between the two clefs. Then, release the mouse button and select the Edit/Cut or Edit/Delete menu. <hr> <h3><a name="DeleteRest">Deleting rests on the Composer screen</h3> To delete a rest, hold the mouse down to the left of it, and drag the mouse right until the entire rest (or rests) have a dark background. Make sure that both the treble and bass clefs are selected by holding the mouse between the two clefs. Then, release the mouse button and select the Edit/Cut or Edit/Delete menu. <hr> <h3><a name="ShiftNotes">Shift a note right or left within a measure on the Composer screen</h3> To shift a note right or left within a measure, right-click on the note and select the "Shift Note's Start time" pop-up menu. <hr> <h3><a name="Transpose">Transpose a song to a new key</h3> Select Transpose / All Tracks in song... from the Track menu. <hr> <h3><a name="Recommend">Sound card, Microphone, Keyboard, and website recommendations</h3> A good sound card is the first step. Fortunately, there are many good ones that can record 2 lines in (stereo) and play 2 lines out for not much money at all. <LI>Click the <IMG align=absMiddle border=1 hspace=0 src="speak.gif"> to the right of the Mixer screen's Duration field. This brings up the Volume Control window. <LI>Select Properties from the Volume Control window's Options menu. <LI>Select the sound card you want to use in the field named Mixer device:. <LI>Click the o Recording button and check all boxes in the field named Show the following volume controls: <LI>Press the OK button. <LI>This causes the window's title to change from Volume Control to Recording Control. This window now controls which hardware devices contribute to the Audio signal that will get recorded. <LI>Examine the various volume controls in the Recording Control window. <LI>Make sure that the Selected check box under Mic/Line is checked. The Selected check boxes under all other sources like CD/Aux, Mixed Input, and Synthesizer are NOT checked. Make sure it is Full-Duplex, which means it can and play at the same time. The SoundBlaster Live! Value is reasonably priced, has good sound, and lets you load SoundFont files with different sets of instrument settings, just like a MIDI Sampler. If you want to record from more than 2 audio lines at the same time, consider the MidiMan 2044 4x4 audio card from MidiMan at www.MidiMan.com, or the Wave/424 from www.gadgetlabs.com You can use a MIDI keyboard to record tracks with Anvil Studio. Consider starting with a VERY inexpensive MIDI keyboard, like a Yamaha or Casio from Costco, WallMart, K-Mart, etc. for around $70. They have very good sound for the money. Make sure that it has full-size keys - not 3/4 size miniature keys. The next step up would be to get a synthesizer with weighted keys, so it feels like a real piano. Something like the Kurzweil PC88, but expect to spend over $1000. The best reasonably priced microphone out there is the Shure 57, which you can by used for $50 and new for around $80. They are the workhorse of garage bands everywhere. For optimal recording of voice, you need to then advance to a condenser mic, which can cost around $400. The good news is that the Shure 57 won't go to waste after you do buy a more expensive mic. You can always use more mics. www.HarmonyCentral.com has a wealth of recording information, from the theoretical to the practical, including a great classified ad page for buying used equipment, as well as reviews of equipment. It is a good jumping-off point. For more website recommendations, please select Links... from the Help menu. <hr> <h3><a name="DldUpgrade">Download an upgrade version of Anvil Studio</h3> The version of Anvil Studio you are running may be outdated, even if you recently downloaded it. This is because Shareware WEB sites sometimes take a while to upgrade to the latest version. To see a list of new features and bugs fixed in the latest version of Anvil Studio, and to download a free copy, please visit our <a href="http://www.AnvilStudio.com/upgrade2.htm">Web-based Catalog</a>. <hr> <h3><a name="Uninstall">How to uninstall Anvil Studio</h3> We would appreciate <a href="mailto:support@AnvilStudio.com">hearing</a> why you want to uninstall Anvil Studio. We promise not to try to sell you on keeping it. We just want to learn how we failed, so we can improve it. To uninstall Anvil Studio: <dir> <li>select Settings / Control Panel menu item from the Windows Start menu, <li>double-click the Add / Remove programs icon, <li>select Anvil Studio from the list, <li>click the Add / Remove button </dir> If that doesn't work, you can delete the contents of the folder: c:\Program Files\Anvil Studio <hr> <center> Copyright © 1997-2001 by Willow Software </body> </HTML>