Recording (Alt+4)

Start, pause and stop the unit's own recorder, see where it will record to, and read what is already on the card or drive. It is a plain page rather than a tab strip, so Stop is always two keystrokes away. Recording started or stopped on the unit itself shows up here too, and is spoken if announcements are on.

• What to record: First on the page, because it is the one decision here you cannot fix afterwards: press record on the wrong setting and the tracks you wanted do not exist. "Mixed track only" gives you one stereo file. The two separate-track choices give you that same mixed file AS WELL AS one file per channel, not instead of it, so nothing is lost by choosing them except space: about seven times as much, measured. On a Pro 2 that is ten files, the mix plus Combo 1 to 4, Bluetooth, Sounds, USB 1 Main, USB 1 Chat and USB 2. Pre-fader ignores where your faders are, so a guest who was too quiet on the night can be brought up later; post-fader keeps your fader moves, so the tracks sound as the show did. This is what the unit writes to its own card or drive; what it sends this computer over USB is a separate setting, on Routing under Master Mix.
• Save recordings as: Underneath it, and the other thing you cannot change after the take: whether the unit writes a WAV or an MP3. WAV is uncompressed 24-bit, 48 kHz, and about eighteen times the size, which is what you want if the recording is going to be edited. MP3 is 128 kbps, which is fine for speech and fits far more on the card. There are only these two; the unit offers no in-between quality. This is the mixed stereo file only. If you are recording separate tracks, those are always 24-bit WAV whatever you choose here, so choosing MP3 gives you lossless tracks to work on plus a small mix to listen back to. A backup remembers your choice.
• Apply recording settings: One button for both of the dropdowns above, because they are really one decision. Change either or both, then press it; it only sends what you actually changed, and it stays unavailable while there is nothing waiting. Neither dropdown does anything to the unit until you press it, which is what lets you arrow through the choices safely.
• Record the separate tracks raw: Last of the four, and unlike the two dropdowns it takes effect the moment you switch it, with no Apply: a switch cannot be changed by arrowing past it, so there is nothing to protect you from. It decides what is IN the separate tracks, not how many you get or what format they are. Off, each track carries that channel's own processing, the EQ, compressor and gate. On, the tracks are the bare microphone or input, so you can do that work yourself afterwards. The mixed file always keeps the processing whichever way this is set, so the usual reason to turn it on is that you intend to edit properly later and would rather not have the unit's decisions baked in. It is only available once you have chosen and applied one of the separate-track modes, since it does nothing at all while only the mixed track is being made, and it says so while it is unavailable.
• The record button: Its label follows the unit: Start recording, then Pause, then Resume recording. Every press reads the unit back before reporting, so what it says has happened really has.
• Announcements while recording: With "Switch announcements off while recording" on, which is the default, spoken announcements stop when recording starts and come back when it stops, because anything played out loud is picked up by the microphones whichever output it goes to. Turn it off if your announcements go to headphones the microphones cannot hear, and you would rather keep hearing the unit during a take. If you had announcements switched off already, nothing changes either way. Your screen reader is separate and keeps talking, so if it is playing through the unit it goes into the recording: the usual answer is a second pair of headphones or earbuds on your computer's own output, with the announcement output on the Device page set to match.
• Drop a marker: Puts a marker at the point you are at, so you can find that moment again when you edit. It goes into the recording as a standard marker, which editors show as a label or cue. Only available while recording, since a marker needs a position.
• Recording status: Says what the recorder is doing, and how long it has been going, without changing anything. The elapsed time is counted by AccessCaster from the moment recording started, because the unit does not report a running time of its own; if it was already recording when the app started, it says so rather than giving a number that would be wrong.
• Where it records to: The unit records to a memory card or to a USB drive in its second USB port, and needs one of them before it will record at all. Its own internal storage holds the SMART pad sounds and cannot take a recording. The state line at the top of the page names where it will go and how much room is left, given as recording TIME rather than megabytes, worked out from the unit's own data rate, so it answers whether your show fits. It also warns you when a drive is nearly full. The full storage picture, card by card, is on the Device page under Hardware, which is where you go to look at it deliberately.
• Recordings on the unit: What is already recorded, newest first, with the date and length. Below the list you can choose one and delete it from the card or drive; you are asked to confirm first, and it cannot be undone. To copy a recording off, take the card or drive to a computer.