RecAll-PRO Application Support - Sagebrush Systems Inc

An alternate method: Bring up the sound card mixer Record Control window by clicking RecAll-PRO menu Options->Mixer Record Control. (Alternately, double-click the speaker icon in the taskbar tray at the lower-right corner of your screen, and in the Play Control window click menu Options->Properties,check Recording, and click OK.) Find the control for the input used for recording, such as Microphone or Line-In. (If it is not visible, go into Record Control menu Options->Properties, and check the control, and click OK.) Click to check the Select checkbox for the control. For more information on controlling the sound card mixer, check our tutorial.

How do I Follow the directions above, but substitute “Line-In” or other input for “Microphone”.

How do I record without the sound coming out the computer speakers? Bring up the sound card mixer Play Control window by clicking the speaker in the taskbar tray at the bottom right of your screen, or clicking RecAll-PRO menu Options->Mixer Play Control. Find the control for the input used for recording, such as Microphone or Line-In. (If it is not visible, go into Play Control menu Options->Properties, and check the control, and click OK.) Click to check the Mute checkbox for the control. For more information on controlling the sound card mixer, check our tutorial.

How do I record and listen at speakers at the same time? Follow the instructions above, but un-check the Mute checkbox for the recording input.

How do I record streaming audio? If you have a modern sound device with an input such as “What U Hear” or “StereoMixer” or”MonoMixer” or “Wave”, you may be able to set this recording input and record streaming audio with this program. Another alternative is to run a short stereo patch cord between Line-In and Line-Out, and record from Line-In.

How do I record from more than one sound card atone time? RecAll-PRO allows multiple instances. Start the second program as you did the first one, or click menu File->New Instance.

If you set the Recording Device in menu Options->Preferences->Driver as “Mapper”, RecAll-PRO will use the next available sound card. Alternatively,RecAll-PRO will take the command line option

RecAllPRO -w “name of audio recording device”

You might have a little trouble getting more than one sound card operating at the same time in the same PC. Older sound cards ran out of interrupts, so a newer PCI card is recommended. Sometimes you might have trouble plugging two identical sound cards in the same PC, if the sound card driver is not written to handle more than one sound card. In this case, it may work better to have different sound cards, that do not share drivers.

Some audio compression codecs may not be written to allow more than one instance of the codec active on a single computer at the same time.

How do I record from a voice modem device?Although you may see a voice modem device in your list of audio recording devices, these voice modem devices are not usually available to RecAll-PRO (or nearly all other audio recording programs) without extra initialization code,which is not in our program.

Operation/Control Answers

Hmmm, what does that control do? Nearly every control in this program has brief context sensitive help. Right-click on the control and click the “What’s this?” popup. In dialogs, you can also drag the upper-right corner ? icon on a control. For menus, highlight the menu command with your mouse and hit the F1 key.

What is Vox? Vox stands for “voice activation”, and more accurately should be “sound activation level”. The Vox control sets the sound level that must be exceeded for recording to start. Do not mistake the Vox control for a volume setting. Set Vox to zero if you want continuous recording.Typically, you set Vox to some low number like 10 to record only when sound is present, for applications such as recording scanner radios or telephone conversations.

How do I record continuously, with no gaps? Set Vox to zero.

Why is nothing being recorded?

Make sure you are recording from the correct input by selecting menu Options->Recording Source…
Make sure Vox is zero (or sufficiently low for sound-activated recording, typically around 10).
If you have more than one sound card, verify you selected the correct one in Options->Preferences->Driver.
Your microphone (line-in, etc.) must be properly plugged in– to the correct sound card input.
See if recording works for some other recording program. Use Sound Recorder at Start button->Programs->Accessories->Entertainment.

What audio compression should I use? If you have MPEG layer 3 codec, this is a good general purpose compression codec, with reasonable quality and low bit rates. The list of ACM codecs available for particular sampling rates and resolutions are listed in menu Options->Preferences->Wave->Default Compression. If you are sending the audio file to someone else, they will need the same codec installed on their computer.

Application Notes

How can RecAll-PRO record telephone conversations?

How can RecAll-PRO transfer old recordings? Set your sound card recording level, described in mixer tutorial, so that the RecAll-PRO level meter during recording does not reach maximum, but is not too low.

If you wish separate tracks to be placed in separate files, you could try setting “New file after quiet __ seconds” in menu Options->Preferences->Record, and set the number of seconds to be less than the silence between tracks. Also set Automatic File Naming in menu Options->Preferences->File. You must also set Vox to some low value, that will detect silence between tracks, which won’t accidentally be activated by recording hiss between tracks, and won’t accidentally deactivate recording during quiet passages in recording. This may take some experimentation.

As an alternative, it might be easier for some to record in one large file,and then use RecAll-PRO’s simple, fast editing features to split up tracks into separate files.

How can RecAll-PRO be used for dictation/transcription? Hot-keys allow RecAll-PRO to be controlled even though another program is on top. This allows the operator to continue typing in a word processor, without requiring the operator’s hand to leave the keyboard to switch to RecAll-PRO. Hot-keys settings are in menu Options->Preferences->Hotkey.

It may be possible to find a foot-pedal with joystick plug, and configure it to control playback with RecAll-PRO, using menu Options->Preferences->Switches.

RecAll-PRO has the ability to speed up and slow down sound playback, in menu Control->Increase Playback speed and Decrease Playback speed. The PgUp andPgDn keys are handy keyboard accelerators.

How can RecAll-PRO be controlled by external hardware? This program may be configured to look for the joystick switches to start and stop recording. Here is how to wire a 15-pin male sub-D connector to plug into the game port of your computer:

Pins

Function

4,5 Ground return for switch 1 and 2 2 Switch 1 7 Switch 2 12 Ground return for switch 3 and 4 10 Switch 3 14 Switch 4

You will probably also need to “fool” the computer into thinking a joystick is connected to the game port. To do this, connect a 10 kohm resistor between Pin 1 and Pin3, and another 10 kohm resistor between Pin1 and Pin6. To see if your circuit is connected correctly, click on the Game Controllers icon in Control Panel. The status of the controller should read “OK”, instead of “Not Connected”. If you click on the Properties button in the Game Controllers dialog, and select the Test tab, you will get visual feedback on the state ofthe joystick buttons.

Refer to www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/docs/joystick/pc_joystick.html for more information on game port interfacing.

Install

Do I need to uninstall the old version before installing a new version? No, the new version will install over the old version with no problems.

How do I uninstall? As with any standard Windows program that supports uninstall: Click Start button->Control Panel->Add/Remove Program. Find the name of the program, click the Add/Remove button, and follow any instructions.

Registration

How many updates is my registration code good for? “Several”, more than 8. No one has had to purchase updates yet.

What if I lose my code? Send us e-mail, with your name, contact information, and any other helpful details you remember (such as approximate year of purchase, method of purchase), and we’ll send your code.

Can my registration code be moved to a different machine? Yes. Remember that your license limits you to using the program on a single machine at any given time.

How long after my order do I get my code? For web credit card orders, you now usually get your registration code immediately.Fax, phone, and mail orders take a little longer. We appreciate your friendly e-mail if there is a big delay (over 4 days), so we can correct any problem.

What will you do with my e-mail address? We don’t spam, and we will not release your e-mail to others. When you purchase, you are given the option receive update e-mails, and the option to receive infrequent announcements of new Sagebrush System products. We have a written privacy policy.