Audio/MIDI multitrack recording software
MultitrackStudio
Manual : Preferences

Preferences

The Preferences window contains some general settings:

User Interface:

  • Color Theme: Choose a color theme. The Classic themes (Windows only) make the program look like pre-version 5 MultitrackStudio.
  • Layout: 3 predefined layouts are available:
    1. Desktop: Transport control in the middle, editors aligned with editor preview panes.
    2. Laptop: Full width editors.
    3. Classic: Looks like older MultitrackStudio versions (meters on the right, no editor preview panes).
    The 4th option ('Custom') lets you choose your own preferences:
    • Transport at center: Place the transport control in the middle, this makes them easier to reach on a large screen.
    • Meters Left: Place the level meters between the Rec button and the Volume fader.
    • Large Meters: Use larger level meters.
    • Editor Preview panes: Tracks can have an Editor Preview pane that displays a compact view of the data in the track editor. Editor Preview panes appear only if there's enough room.
    • Align Editor with Editor Preview panes: An open track editor will replace the Editor Preview pane.
    • Editor Preview panes replace Edit buttons: If enabled the editor preview pane can be clicked op open/close the track editor. If "Align Editor with Editor Preview panes" is enabled the editor can be closed using the cross in the editor's top-left corner.
    • Multi Column Rack: this option arranges the mixer sections using multiple columns instead of just one. If the sections don't fit the screen a horizontal scrollbar appears. Can be used for dual-monitor setups.
  • Size: If you have problems reading or operating the user interface you can make it larger. The Auto option uses the Windows DPI setting on Windows. A suitable value is used on Mac. Size setting changes have no effect until you've restarted MultitrackStudio.
    The "Plugin Scaling (blurry)" option makes the program not dpi aware, so Windows scales it automatically. This looks blurry, but it does scale plugins too. Only use this if the Plugin Manager's scaling option doesn't work right with you plugins. Plugin scaling depends on the Windows DPI setting exclusively, while MultitrackStudio scaling values can be chosen from the Size box. Sizes which are smaller than the Windows DPI setting can't be used if "Plugin Scaling (blurry)" is checked.
  • Effect Slots: Mixer sections can have 3, 4, 5 or 6 effect slots. If a song is opened in a MultitrackStudio version that has fewer slots the extra effects will appear in a Multi Effect.
  • Name Width: Changes the width the track name boxes.
  • CPU Usage / Disk Usage: Show the CPU/disk usage on the bottom bar.
  • Input Device(Windows only): Choose Touchscreen if you're using a touchscreen, choose "Mouse, Keyboard" otherwise. If the computer has a pen there's also a 'Pen with touch scrolling' option.
  • Show tooltips: Turn on/off the tooltips that appear on moving the mouse over a control. Note that many tooltips provide helpful information which you won't be able to see if your turn them off.
  • Keyboards for Pen: Show onscreen keyboard on tapping a text box with a pen.
  • Knob Style: Using the Rotary style you can "grab the dot" and move it. Use the Vertical/Horizontal style if you'd rather use horizontal or vertical mouse movements instead.
    If Input Device is set to Touchscreen (Windows only) the Knob Style selector offers Horizontal/Rotating and Vertical styles. Using the Horizontal/Rotating you can either move your finger horizontally, or you can draw a circle below the knob. Using the Vertical style knobs can be controlled using vertical movements exclusively. Note that the Vertical style doesn't allow for scrolling mixer sections vertically while touching a pan or effect send knob.

Transport:

  • Stop playback at end of song: Stop transport when it reaches the end of the Overview Bar, ie. at the end of the longest track or at the last marker, whichever comes last. Reverb tails etc. are played back correctly, so it may play past the end of the overview bar and then jump back. Transport doesn't stop if there are any recording tracks.
  • Rewind on stop: When transport stops, rewind to position where it started.
  • Mute click track during playback: Engage the click track's Mute button when playback starts, and unmute again when transport stops. Use this to only hear the click track during recording.
  • Switch counter to bars automatically: switch the transport count and overview bar to bars if there's at least one MIDI track in the song.
Editors:
  • Scrubber on track editors: The track editor scrubbing feature can be turned on/off. Also affects MIDI note lassoing.
  • Show all buttons (no "More"): Hide the More button that appears on some editors and show buttons for all the options.
  • "Wave" tab (MIDI editors): Adds a "Wave" tab to the Piano/Score/Drum tabs. The Wave editor shows the MIDI data as if it were an audio signal.
  • Switch grid to bars automatically: switch the time grid to bars if there's at least one MIDI track in the song.
  • Default MIDI Editor: Here you can choose the type of MIDI editor that appears by default.
  • Default Mode (MIDI): Determines which of the three buttons in the bottom left corner of the MIDI editors is 'on' by default. It defaults to Select Part, which works similar to audio editors and is suitable if you do a lot of MIDI recording. You might want to switch to Select Notes or Add Notes if you enter notes using the mouse a lot.
  • Touch selector delay(Windows only): Determines how long it takes for the touch selector to appear when you touch an editor. A shorter delay allows for quicker editing, but if it's too short the selector will pop up inadvertently if you intend to move or zoom the editor content. Affects touchscreen only.
  • Left-handed touch handles(Windows only): Place the handles that are used for moving notes etc. on the left hand side. You might prefer this if you're left-handed. Affects touchscreen only.
General:
  • Save 'everything' in song: by default, songs remember only the things required to play it back. With this option they can remember almost everything you see on the screen (open editors, the buttons at the top of the main window, loop points, transport position etc.). There will obviously virtually always be a 'save?' prompt when unloading a song. Undo histories aren't saved. Versions and templates don't contain 'everything'.
  • Middle C Name: Determines the name of MIDI note 60. Can be C3, C4 or C5 (C5 is the default value).
  • Default Instrument: Determines the MIDI instrument that appears in a new track. Options are "MultitrackStudio Instruments" and "External MIDI Instrument 1".
  • MIDI File Format: Determines the timing precision used for saving MIDI files. '480 ticks per quarter note' (default) is the most compatible option, but '30 frames per sec./200 ticks per frame' offers the highest resolution. The latter is not as widely supported, music notation software typically won't open this type of files.
  • Presets: Export: Save all presets and templates to a zip file.
  • Presets: Import: Read presets and templates from a zip file.
  • Bring back 'don't show again' messages: Make all messages appear again.
Folders:
  • Root Folder for New Songs: A new folder will be created in this folder for each new song. It defaults to "My Documents\MultitrackStudio Songs" (Windows) / "/Users/username/Music/MultitrackStudio Songs" (Mac).
  • Sampler patches: Specifies the folder that contains sampler patches (see organizing your patches)
  • Convolutor impulse responses: Specifies the folder that contains impulse responses. This box is empty by default. You can create a folder for your IR files and select it here.