28 Aug 2026Developer post

AudioTheory Grids 3.0.0

A big update is here for AudioTheory Grids. This update brings some significant improvements to the Grid itself, with the goal being to make it function more like the piano roll/ MIDI editor that you'd find in a fully fledged DAW. Enhancements are as follows: Click and drag to re

05 Oct 2025Developer post

AudioTheory Grids 2.3.0 – Theoretical Scales + Manual Sharps & Flats

A new update is here for AudioTheory Grids. It includes two main new features that are designed to work together to give you greater control over how sharp and flat notes display. Automatic/ Manual Sharps & Flats There's a new dropdown in the application options that lets you

A new update is here for AudioTheory Grids. It includes two main new features that are designed to work together to give you greater control over how sharp and flat notes display.

Automatic/ Manual Sharps & Flats

There's a new dropdown in the application options that lets you select between two different sets of rules that determine how the application handles sharps and flats.

Auto set based on scale

This is the default option, and retains the existing method of automatically showing a sharp or a flat based on context. The advantage of this mode is that it will prioritise practical scales over theoretical ones, for example showing D♭ major but C♯ minor within the scale library.

As before, you can then click on the sharp/ flat note name in the note selector (bottom left) to change a specific note if required.

However, the addition of the theoretical scales means that now if the root note is swapped then the whole scale will update. E.g. if you load C♯ minor and then click on the C♯ note, it will change the scale to D♭ minor.

Manually configure

This is a new alternative method of handling sharps and flats that lets you specify the default value for each of the accidentals.

These can still be swapped by clicking on the note name in the selector, and notes will still update to the correct state when a scale preset is loaded, but reverting from a scale preset (selecting the 'all' or 'none' buttons) will apply the default values specified in the options.

This mode is useful if you want to use theoretical scales. For example, setting the default display for C♯/D♭ to D♭ means that the theoretical D♭ minor scale will display in the scale selector and scale library (whereas in automatic mode C♯ minor is given priority).

Theoretical Scales

The changes to how sharps and flats can display opens up many new situations where theoretical notes and scales come into play. The application has been updated to properly support these, meaning scale highlighting works with double sharps, double flats and enharmonic notes such as C♭ and B♯.

Theoretical scales have also been added to the scale library, although to keep things simple scales are still presented in groups of 12. The 12 you'll see are determined by the sharp/ flat options described above.

Other changes

The default display settings have been optimised for Steam Deck. The application runs in windowed mode as standard, on Steam Deck this would result in the wrong resolution being applied. It could previously be fixed by swapping to fullscreen, but now it displays correctly by default.
The note selector now references the sharp/ flat state of accidentals when indicating a scale match (appending the scale name with an asterisk if the scale has been modified). E.g. G, A, B, C, D, E, and G♭ is now recognised as a modification of G major.
Fixed an issue with the scale type label not displaying correctly on certain scale sets
Grid size is now automatically saved when a preset file is loaded
Refactored startup logic to resolve various fringe-case bugs loading grid data
Off-screen grid content now persists between application sessions
Unity upgrade to fix security issue CVE-2025-59489. More info on this is provided by Steam here.

In other news...

Dracula's Cave now has its own dedicated Steam publisher page. The full range of AudioTheory software and also the games I've released can now be found in one convenient location.

Original post

28 Feb 2025Developer post

AudioTheory Grids 2.2.0

All requests Friday. A new update is here and it's composed entirely of features requested by you, the users of AudioTheory Grids. Let's have a look at what's new: Revised Keyboard Design Someone kindly pointed out that the piano keyboard had a few differences when compared to a

21 Feb 2025Developer post

AudioTheory Grids 2.1.0 – Export to MIDI

Features, features, features. Lots of new things arrive today, let's take a look. Extra Instrument Grids The main view now includes an extra instrument grid, so you can add in a bass part, or layer in whatever additional sounds you desire. The instrument itself is now set indepen

Features, features, features. Lots of new things arrive today, let's take a look.

Extra Instrument Grids

The main view now includes an extra instrument grid, so you can add in a bass part, or layer in whatever additional sounds you desire.

The instrument itself is now set independently from the main piano, meaning that each grid can have a different instrument and then the main piano can use something else too. E.g. you could play bass, keys and drums using the grid and then overlay a synth part in real-time using the main piano.

Export as MIDI

Anything you create in AudioTheory Grids can now be exported as a MIDI file that can be imported into your DAW. These options can be found under the new MIDI item in the toolbar and they work as follows:

Export current grid as MIDI – this generates a MIDI file for the current on-screen view (either notes or drums depending on what's currently in focus).

Export all notes as MIDI – this cycles through all grid configurations on the number pad and exports them into one continuous MIDI file. A second file is then created for the second set of note grids.

Export all drums as MIDI – as above, this combines all configurations on the number pad into a single MIDI file. However it exports the drums grids, rather than the two sets of note grids.

Auto Save and Load

The full notes grid now automatically saves and loads between sessions. All input across all grids across all number pads remains in place.

Under the 'Grid' option in the toolbar there are additional options to clear the view. It's possible to clear the current grid using the 'Clear Current' option, or to clear everything by selecting 'Clear All Grids'.

Undo

Undo recent changes from the 'Edit' item in the toolbar, or by pressing Ctrl+Z.

Stopwatch Synchronised Grid

Grid playback is now controlled using a new stopwatch mechanism. This ensures greater precision in playback time and accurate tempo speeds.

Bug fixes

A couple of smaller changes are also included in this update:

Input handling has been updated to better support keyboard input when used alongside the instrument grids
Fixed a couple of issues with grids not muting correctly
Muted grids no longer highlight across the keyboard. This made sense when there was only one note grid, but across two it became confusing to see what was going on.
Grids-specific hotkeys no longer work when the file name input field is active.

Original post

15 Feb 2025Developer post

AudioTheory Grids 2.0.0

AudioTheory Grids version 2.0 arrives today. This update includes features, bug fixes, and improvements designed to bring AudioTheory Grids up-to-date with various changes that have been made to AudioTheory Guitars and AudioTheory Piano Keys in the last year. An additional update

AudioTheory Grids version 2.0 arrives today. This update includes features, bug fixes, and improvements designed to bring AudioTheory Grids up-to-date with various changes that have been made to AudioTheory Guitars and AudioTheory Piano Keys in the last year. An additional update, with new features specifically for AudioTheory Grids, is coming soon.

Fretboard Builder

AudioTheory Grids now uses the fretboard component from AudioTheory Guitars, allowing for numerous customisations. It's now possible to set the number of strings, the number of notes and the start fret, as well as the per-string start note and octave. So if you have a seven string guitar tuned to open C, you can easily configure the diagram to match. But even if you're sticking to E standard, the options to configure the size and display of the fretboard still provide a significant boost to the amount customisations you can now make.

Additional Minor Scales

Full sets of harmonic and melodic minor scales have made their way to the scale library. To find these, select the minor type first and then below you'll see the different subtypes – natural (the standard minor scales that were already available) as well as harmonic and melodic.

Changes have also been made to the labels within the scale library, both to give clarity now that there's multiple minor scales to choose from, and also to better differentiate between the diminished scales that are also available.

Locked & Unlocked mode

Toggle the application between an unlocked 'edit' mode and a locked 'view' mode using the padlock icon in the top right. This consolidates the application options, with 'unlocked' mode providing the full set of display settings overlaid directly onto the main view, and locked mode allowing for them to be hidden at the press of a button.

New menu bar

There's a new menu bar in the top left of the window. The scale libraries, grid and fretboard settings can all be accessed using the dropdowns.

Light theme

A brand new look is here in the form of the light theme. AudioTheory Grids already has a couple of selectable backgrounds, but this is the first true alternative theme, as almost every colour within the application is changed.

Colour wheel

The options screen has been rebuilt as a larger popup. It now includes a colour wheel so you can quickly change the per-note colours. This builds upon the custom colour functionality introduced in AudioTheory Grids 1.5.0, and the colours can still be modified directly in the .ini file if you'd prefer, but now you can easily update the colours at runtime using the new selector. This includes the option to set the colour by hex value, and two additional note colour presets.

Relative note names

Numerous changes have been made to improve how the application handles relative note name formats (Degrees, Roman numerals and movable do). These now display relative to the last selected scale, rather than the current scale. This has the effect of allowing you to subtract notes from the scale and still see the relative intervals for what's left. So for example, if you started out with C major and removed D, F, A and B then you'd be left with C, E and G, which would be labelled as 1, 3 and 5 respectively (which is useful if you're learning arpeggios!).

Further to the above, auto scale matching now only checks the current scale set group, as well as and the regular major and minor scales. This prevents accidentally swapping to the pentatonic scale of another key (e.g. G A B D E can be viewed as a subsection of C major, and won't automatically swap to G major pentatonic in this situation).

And the rest...

The following changes and have also made their way into this update:

The loaded preset name is now an input field that can be edited directly
Fixed Do: Option to set Si or Ti as the 7th note in the scale
Movable Do: new option to set minor scale as 'La-based' or 'Do-based'
The 'clear highlighting' delay time for the 'high' setting has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds
Relative Roman numerals review to ensure consistent sharp/ flat information across all scales
Solfege standardisation – all notes now use Do Re Mi for fixed do
Standardisation of default sharp/ flat display across all scale types
B now displays as C♭ when appropriate in scales (e.g. G♭ major)
Hotkeys for swapping note language (buttons 1 – 4) now also work when viewing scale and chord sheets
Adjusted position of keyboard input overlay on black keys
Adjusted highlighting display when dragging lines on the grid
The note selector (bottom left) now has a highlight effect when you add in notes
Custom sharp and flat states now save between sessions (where as previously it was only the scale as a whole that would save)
A message has been added to the options popup to clarify that the buttons 1–4 can be used to swap the note display language from the main application view
A message also appears on the main display when swapping note language via hotkey, just to clarify what change has been made
Clicking on a sharp/ flat chord name in the main application view now adjusts the sharp/ flat display for that note globally
You can now click on the scale name in the bottom left to swap between the major and relative minor scales
Engine upgrade
Removal of the splash screen

And the bug fixes:

Fixed some issues with grids not saving or loading correctly
Fixed an issue where out-of-range notes would still display on the grid
Fixed an issue with the audio latency value not displaying correctly on MacOS
A few corrections have been made to how notes display when using Solfege
Note selector scale label is now appended with an asterisk when modified. This is to support some changes made in the last update to how relative note names display, and makes it clear what scale these labels are in reference to when the scale is modified.
Fixed some issues with the sustain feature and some issues specific to using the mouse to play notes. You can now play notes on the keyboard by dragging the mouse, as was previously possible on the fretboard.
'Interval' label corrected to 'Degrees'
Mode labels now correctly update to major or minor

Original post

04 Apr 2024Developer post

AudioTheory Grids 1.5.0 – Custom Colours

A new update is here for AudioTheory Grids. This adds in the ability to change the note colours, and the application can now be customised to use any combination of colours you desire. The new .ini file Once you've updated to AudioTheory Grids 1.5.0 then the first time you run th

07 May 2022Developer post

AudioTheory Grids 1.4.0 Update

A new update for AudioTheory Grids arrives today. This bundles together a whole bunch of new features and miscellaneous fixes. The list of what's changed is as follows: Added Options to choose between 37, 49, 61, 76 and 88 keyboard sizes Additional sounds for the new lower and hi

29 Oct 2021Developer post

AudioTheory Grids 1.3.0 – ASIO and Performance Update

A new update is here for AudioTheory Grids. This combines a series of 'under the hood' optimisations I've been making across the range of AudioTheory software. Let's dive into what's new... AudioTheory Grids and the ASIO4ALL driver ASIO4ALL is a freeware audio driver designed for

A new update is here for AudioTheory Grids. This combines a series of 'under the hood' optimisations I've been making across the range of AudioTheory software. Let's dive into what's new...

AudioTheory Grids and the ASIO4ALL driver

ASIO4ALL is a freeware audio driver designed for low latency playback. Most DAWs require the use of an ASIO driver, and whilst it is optional for AudioTheory Grids, it's highly recommended. It's very easy to install and you are guaranteed to get better performance than the built-in Windows driver.

Oh and yes, to confirm this is a Windows specific feature. Mac and Linux come with audio drivers that can handle very low latencies out-of-the-box. More on how the settings have changed on these platforms in a bit.

Changes to the Windows version of AudioTheory Grids

There are a few things now in place designed to help swap you over to the ASIO driver. If you load up the application without this installed you will see a one-time notification directing you to the ASIO4ALL website.

Once installed, the application will automatically swap to use the ASIO driver when its next loaded. You can see which driver is currently in use from the settings popup. Here can also swap driver using the dropdown, meaning you can revert back to the built-in driver if required. Any driver changes here require the application to be restarted before they take effect. Oh, and if you swap to ASIO here but the driver isn't installed then it's not going to work. In this scenario the application will prompt you to install it on your machine.

Please note that currently the option to record in AudioTheory Grids is only available when using the built-in driver. This works by directly capturing the audio output and writing it to a wav file, which can only happen when the built-in driver is being used to process audio. I am looking into an alternative method of supporting this feature with the ASIO driver, but unfortunately the options are somewhat limited. At least for now, the record button doesn't show if you're using ASIO.

If the ASIO driver is in use, you will see a 'config.' button that lets you open up the ASIO4ALL settings. Here is where you configure your output device as well as the DSP buffer size. If you are not receiving any audio, the likely cause is that the correct output has not been selected here.

Changes to the Mac and Linux versions of AudioTheory Grids

These still use the DSP latency settings that were previously in place. As above, the built-in drivers are able to support low latency without the need for an external driver. However I have swapped over the selector to a new dropdown which makes it a bit quicker and easier to select the value you're after.

Velocity Playback

Oh, another change along the same lines. MIDI input playback now registered the note press velocity, meaning the playback volume is controlled by how hard you are pressing the notes. This helps better simulate the effect of a real instrument.

Variable Render Rate

Ah, the solution to all of life's problems. This week I've made a fair few optimisations in the name of performance, but the most noticeable is a new variable render rate that means the display doesn't update when it doesn't need to.

This works well because there are many scenarios where you may find the software idling, it is after all reference material so it makes sense to leave it open up on screen. The software now looks out for these moments and greatly reduces the CPU overhead when possible, before seamlessly resuming to business as usual when any sort of input (or any action that results in a visible change on screen) is detected.

Run 'Out of Focus'

I have also changed the default behaviour of the application so that it pauses running if the window is not in focus. This makes it a lot more practical to leave open in the background.

Originally this was not set because I imagined scenarios where it would be useful to poll for MIDI input when using the application alongside a DAW or other piece of software (e.g. you could be working in Logic on one screen and have AudioTheory running in the background on a second monitor). This may still be the case, so if your requirements do in fact mean that it's desirable for the application to run out of focus, then you can turn this back on in the settings.

That's all for today. Thanks for reading.

Fraser

Original post

24 Sep 2021Developer post

AudioTheory Grids 1.2.0 Update

Today is launch day for AudioTheory Piano Keys. This is a brand new piece of software designed to give you real time visual and audio feedback when learning and practicing the piano. I'm super excited to be releasing this, and coincide with the launch there is also a big new upda

Today is launch day for AudioTheory Piano Keys. This is a brand new piece of software designed to give you real time visual and audio feedback when learning and practicing the piano. I'm super excited to be releasing this, and coincide with the launch there is also a big new update for AudioTheory Grids.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1513510/AudioTheory_Piano_Keys

So what's new with AudioTheory Grids?

I'm glad you asked. Many features developed externally for AudioTheory Piano Keys and AudioTheory Guitars too are making their way here too, so this new update contains a whole bunch of new features.

Chromatic highlighting

This is the culmination of numerous highlighting enhancements that have been made over the last few updates. The new chromatic highlighting options mean there is full flexibility on how sharp and flat notes highlight not only within a scale preset but also in chromatic mode (using all notes) as well as any custom subsection.

I am confident that this is a much improved solution for how to display sharp and flats. Firstly, two changes to how this previously worked:

Sharp and flat notes now display with coloured highlighting even when a scale preset is not being used
The previous sharp and flat settings in the options cog are no more

New scale library

The mini-scale selector has been neatened up, and there's a new look for the fullscreen selector. Minor scales have been split out into their own tab and there's now also a set of Dim scales available.

New octave selector

The octave selector has been revised to better match that of a real-world device. It now starts at 0 and can be increased to +1 or decreased to -1. There is also a new option in the settings to show the MIDI input octave directly in the main view. I'd recommend turning this on if you are using a MIDI device and frequently change the octave directly on the device. This (now labelled as 'input octave') should match the device to ensure highlighting works as expected.

For example: if you increase the octave by +1 on your MIDI controller, then you should set the input octave as +1 too as this will ensure the device continues to highlight the correct octave. Meanwhile the output octave independently sets the pitch of the application software instruments.

Additional Guitar configuration

The guitar view now includes is the option to select a full 24 fretboard diagram as an alternative to the default 15 fret diagram, letting you see two octaves at once. Plus, there's now the option in the settings set the guitar tuning per string (rather than just as a root note).

DSP Latency Settings

I've added in some new optimisations to the app's latency settings (this is the fractional delay between input and playback). The DSP buffer size can now be configured (between 1024 and 32 samples) in the settings, with the idea being that a lower buffer size will result in less latency, but as this requires more CPU power you may incur audio distortions if it's reduced too much.

The buffer also now starts out at a platform-optimised size, meaning latency has been reduced without the need to adjust the settings, however full control is now available to tweak this further.

Hotkeys

Some hotkeys are now in place to optimise control of the app:

Num keys 1–4: quickly swamp note languages
1 – English
2 – Fixed Do solfège
3 – Relative Roman numerals
4 – Movable Do solfège

Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (Mac) –O: Open preset from file
Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (Mac) –S: Save preset to file
Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (Mac) Shift –O: Toggle keyboard overlay view
Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (Mac) Shift –M: Toggle mute
Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (Mac) –K: Toggle QWERTY keyboard input
Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (Mac) –L: Toggle lock to scale

Plus there's a few more miscellaneous bug fixes and tweaks that have made their way into this version of AudioTheory Grids. Highlights include:

Modal scale backgrounds now correctly update in the mini popup
Fix for lines not correctly transposing when shifted up or down
Fix for a display bug where icons in the bottom left would incorrectly overlay at a reduced width
Sustain state now correctly saves
Fix for colour overlap when two notes next to each other were both pressed
Application now properly checks to resize if swapping from a 16:9 windowed to 16:10 fullscreen view
Fix for highlighting issue when using MIDI and QWERTY input together

And that concludes today's update. Thanks for reading.

Fraser

Original post

05 Dec 2020Developer post

AudioTheory Grids 1.1.0 – Relative Highlighting Update

I'm super-excited to announce the first feature update for AudioTheory Grids. Right around launch I was working on a new system for highlighting the piano notes (and in turn grid rows) which I dubbed 'Scale Based Highlighting'. This was added to the other AudioTheory application

Updates & announcements

Enhancements are as follows:

Added

Changed

Fixed

Automatic/ Manual Sharps & Flats

Auto set based on scale

Manually configure

Theoretical Scales

Other changes

In other news...

Revised Keyboard Design

Custom colours for the black keys

Extra Instrument Grids

Export as MIDI

Auto Save and Load

Undo

Stopwatch Synchronised Grid

Bug fixes

Fretboard Builder

Additional Minor Scales

Locked & Unlocked mode

New menu bar

Light theme

Colour wheel

Relative note names

And the rest...

The new .ini file

Added

Changed

Fixed

AudioTheory Grids and the ASIO4ALL driver

Changes to the Windows version of AudioTheory Grids

Changes to the Mac and Linux versions of AudioTheory Grids

Velocity Playback

Variable Render Rate

Run 'Out of Focus'

So what's new with AudioTheory Grids?

Chromatic highlighting

New scale library

New octave selector

Additional Guitar configuration

DSP Latency Settings

Hotkeys

Relative Fretboard and Chord highlighting

Fixed Do solfège