SoundRec Users Guide

This guide will give you a quick overview of how to use SoundRec to make and manage audio recordings from your Palm OS 5 device.  Before installing SoundRec you should uninstall any previous versions of the application, review your PDA's user manual on how to uninstall software.  Uninstalling any previous version will DELETE any recordings that are saved to internal memory. If you would like to preserve those recordings, use the export function to copy the recording to the SD card.

When you first launch SoundRec you will see a simple screen like this:

On this screen you will see 3 major functions: Record button, Play button and a list of previously made recordings.  The recordings list shows an icon which indicates the recording location:

 - Recording is located on the SD card.

 - Recording is located in internal memory.

The recording list also shows the description (or filename) of the recording.  To playback a recording, highlight the recording in the list and press the Play button.  To make a new recording press the Record button, from there you should see a screen that looks like this:

This screen gives an indication of the description (or filename) of the recording, where the recording is being stored and the elapsed time of the recording.  You can perform two functions from this screen: 1) stop the recording process and return the to the main screen or 2) pause the current recording.  If you pause the recording you can resume or stop the recording process it at any time as long as SoundRec is running.

From the main screen:

You can also activate the menu bar and further customize the application, review your PDA's user manual on how to display the menu bar.  The menu bar has two options: 1) File and 2) Options.  Selecting the File menu will present you with more options:

The View Details option will allow you to see a screen like:

The details screen will allow you to rename the description (or filename) of the recording, delete the recording and will provide extended options in the future (e.g. alarms, etc).  The Export To Card function from the File menu will allow you to copy (not move) and internally stored recording to the SD card as a WAV file for playback from a desktop computer, SoundRec or any other media player that supports the PCM WAV format.  The Delete Recording from the File menu will perminantly delete the highlighted recording, regardless of its location.

The other option from the main menu bar is the Options menu, which will present the user with two options: 1) General Preferences, 2) Recording Prefs, 3) One Button Prefs and 4) About SoundRec.  The About SoundRec option will present the user with version and other information about the current version of SoundRec that is installed.

By selecting the General Preferences menu, you will be presented with a screen that looks like:

The Playback Volume and Recording Volume will allow you to adjust the microphone and speaker gain while recording or playing recordings.  This is not the actual volume of the PDA, but is the software controlled gain of the incoming or outgoing sound stream.  If you have the Playback Volume set to a low level and the sound still sounds too loud, review your your PDA's user manual on how to adjust the volume levels.

By selecting Recording Prefs from the main menu you will see a screen that looks like:

From this screen you'll have the ability to adjust the audio quality of SoundRec and other usablity options.  The Beep On Record will enable an audible notification of when the system has started and stopped recording.

The Save Audio To External Card option will force SoundRec to store all new audio recordings directly to the SD card as a WAV file vs storing the audio to internal memory.  This option has a couple of disadvantages 1) you have to have an SD card with sufficient space to store the recording and 2) the SD card's read/write speeds MUST be sufficient to handle the sample rate that is selected.  If you experience poor audio quality (e.g. skipping, fast playback, etc.) you should try lowering the Sound Quality option.

The Playback Volume and Recording Volume will allow you to adjust the microphone and speaker gain while recording or playing recordings.  This is not the actual volume of the PDA, but is the software controlled gain of the incoming or outgoing sound stream.  If you have the Playback Volume set to a low level and the sound still sounds too loud, review your your PDA's user manual on how to adjust the volume levels.

The Sound Quality setting will allow you to adjust the sample rate of the audio.  The slider will allow you adjust the sample rate in levels of 1000 samples per second and will automatically set itself to industry standard sample rates when you choose 11, 22, and 44 khz rates.  Setting the quality to the highest level is NOT recommended and the resulting recordings will be very large in size and indisinguishable from other much lower settings.  The recommended levels are between 11 and 22khz.  If you're saving directly to an SD card make sure you do not set the quality too high as the SD card's writing capabilities will not be able to keep up with amount of data being generated.

If you select One Button Prefs from the main menu you will see a screen that looks like:

The Enable One Button Recording option will allow you to make a recording at any time regardless of whether or not SoundRec is recording with the touch of one button.  By enabling this option you can make a recording at any time by holding down hard button 1 on your PDA, review your PDA's user manual for a description of hard button 1.  If you own a Treo 600 the Phone button is used to activate the one button feature.  After selecting the one button option, to make a recording while NOT RUNNING SOUNDREC, simply hold down the first hard button for a couple seconds and you'll hear an audible indicator (assuming your sound is NOT muted) to let you know the system is now recording.  Continue to hold down the first hard button while making the recording and release the button when you are finished, you should hear another audible indicator to let you know it is done recording.  Remember the one button option will only work while SoundRec is NOT running and will only work if the microphone functions are available for use.