Its behaviour gets more complex when one of the clips in a group is trimmed. Splitting a clip applies the split to all in the group, although this leaves the grouping in a slightly haphazard state. Audio and MIDI clips can be grouped together across multiple tracks so they move as one. The introduction of event groups is more straightforwardly welcome. It’s telling that MIDI inputs are disabled altogether by default. Acid Music Studio also supports third-party VST instruments, but anyone who’s spending money on instrument plugins is likely to want more sophisticated MIDI editing facilities than Acid Music Studio offers. It’s a common feature in other recording software but not really necessary for this one’s bundled virtual instruments, which are relatively simple and not particularly resource-hungry. This update introduces a Freeze Track button, which bounces down virtual instrument tracks as a WAV file to free up processing power. It’s another welcome addition, but frustrating that it must be set for each track rather than as a global preference. It’s also now possible to filter the MIDI input to avoid recording unwanted aftertouch and other types of data that isn’t assigned to anything. It’s helpful when drawing drum patterns with a mouse, but less so when performing with a keyboard, as the relationship between the names and the keys isn’t shown.

MIDI editing now benefits from drum maps, which list the name of each sound in a kit rather than showing a virtual MIDI keyboard.

Sony acid music studio 10 review