Overview
Instruments
Holdfast currently supports these instrument types:
| Instrument | Where It Appears |
|---|---|
| Marching Drum | Musician class. |
| Fife | Musician class. |
| Violin | Musician class. |
| Bagpipes | British musician class. |
| Accordion | Naval factions / Age of Sail music. |
| Banjo | DLC unlockable musician instrument. |
| Bugle | DLC unlockable musician instrument. |
| Piano | Sapper buildable / world instrument. |
| Cello | Sapper buildable / later made available in Nations At War and American Revolution modes. |
| Gramophone | In-world Frontlines music. |
Related references: Auxiliary explains the musician's support role, Voice Commands covers in-game communication, and Roleplay covers event and community use.
Song Groups
Holdfast has a long song list, so the tunes are grouped here by use.
| Group | Examples / Notes |
|---|---|
| Nations At War marches | British, French, Prussian, Russian, Italian, Austrian, and general fife/drum pieces. |
| Bagpipe tunes | British bagpipe set including classics such as Scotland The Brave and related Highland tunes. |
| Violin, Cello, Piano | Chamber-style pieces, Frontlines pieces, and later Nations At War/American Revolution additions. |
| Frontlines gramophone | Allied and Central gramophone tracks. |
| Age of Sail accordion | Wellerman, Drunken Sailor, Randy Dandy Oh, and Leave Her Johnny. |
| Bugle | Alarm, Cavalry Charge, Fall In, General Salute, Reveille, Tattoo calls. |
| Banjo / American Revolution | Yankee Doodle, Girl I Left Behind Me, Cumberland Gap, Liberty, Revolutionary Tea, Koromanti, Soldier's Joy, and American fife/drum tunes. |
For exact song IDs, use Instrument Songs.
Midi & Custom Music
Age of Sail added a custom musical note system and midi playback through the in-game instruments using /playsong. Later 5.x updates expanded the interface with:
- A UI panel to play midi songs.
- Drone key selection for bagpipes.
- Midi channel assignment for band playback.
- A separate audio slider for custom music.
- Improved midi band syncing.
- Fixes for custom music notes interfering with other sounds.
The midi UI panel can be opened from the same instrument interface where you pick in-game tunes.
Place midi files in the following folder so the UI panel can detect them. The in-game UI also shows the exact path for your system:
<WindowsUser>\AppData\LocalLow\Anvil Game Studio\Holdfast NaW\Midis
If your midi music is not playing for other players after checking the file location, instrument selection, custom music volume, and band settings, your account may be VoIP muted. Custom midi playback uses the same moderation channel as voice. To appeal a mute, use the Holdfast: Official Discord appeal channel and include your Steam profile or SteamID plus a short explanation of the issue.
Use these tools with some restraint. They are great for events and roleplay, but they can become noise if they drown out officers, captains, or VoIP.
Etiquette
Good musicians make the round better.
- Stay near the group you are supporting.
- Do not block doors, cannons, ladders, spawn exits, or ship wheels.
- Keep VoIP music and external audio under control.
- In events, follow the organizer's music rules.
- On ships, listen for the Captain before turning the deck into a concert.
Recent Changes
Key music changes:
- 0.40: Older musician accuracy bonus was raised to 8%, stacking to 12%.
- 1.x: New faction tunes and seasonal piano music appeared across several updates.
- 3.x: Music player UI fixes landed for Steam Deck and controller navigation.
- 4.00: Accordion, sea shanties, karaoke, custom notes, and midi playback were added.
- 5.00: Musician buffs changed to movement speed, stacking up to 5%, and now affect all classes including ship crew.
- 5.00: Cello songs, banjo, bugle, midi panel, custom music slider, and band playback options were added or expanded.
- 5.10-5.20: Musician assist score, midi restart, custom notes, and band sync issues received fixes.