Topic: Brief review of Anvil Studio's free version, which now opens one VSTI
Such as Pianoteq. I don't mean to endorse Anvil Studio, exactly, but it's more than useful and worth more a serious look:
1. Loads fast
2. Shows a score that is easy to edit.
3. Lets the user edit the event list, and kill all similar events, to get rid of program changes in a midi file, for example.
4. Makes it easy to create a loop to hear a passage several times.
5. Has a compressed view of the bars above the score, making it easy to jump to a bar without having to scroll a lot.
6. When the keyboard and score are both displayed, if you click in the staffs and then move the mouse pointer across the keyboard without pressing anything, it shows you what note will be inserted and where if you click on the keyboard. Hard to explain, but worth a look. Improves accuracy if adding notes to a piece.
7. Seems to play well with Pianoteq's latest version.
8. It's free, and most hosts with a score view are not. The major limitation--loading only one vsti--may be an advantage for people who only want to play the piano, since it doesn't seem to do the long check of all of the vsti's in your folders when it starts.
On the other hand:
1. The interface and graphics seem a little old-fashioned, still.
2. You cannot print the score unless you pay $39 to install the feature, and only this feature is purchased for that amount. The other upgrades are more reasonable and some of the learning features are interesting.
3. Will not load ASIO drivers in the free version. Latency problems may result, but experimenting wit buffers and the sample rate can help.
To load a vsti\Pianoteq:
1. Click on View
2. Click on Sythesizers,Midi + Audio Devices
3. If necessary, click on the VST-Intrument tab
3. Click on Load a Virtual Instrument (VSTI)
etc
To open the vsti's interface, you then click on the Edit VSTI Properties button.
Seems fairly clean.
