TUNETRACKER SYSTEM IN ACTION - Using TimeTracker

TimeTracker Interface

TimeTracker, the background recording program in the TuneTracker System, requires only a tiny amount of initial setup, after which you can enter your individual recording events. Instructions on how to do both are here on this page. Take a few moments to set things up properly by following the steps below, and then dive in and begin scheduling as many recording events as you like.

INITIAL SETUP STEPS:

•   Under the File pulldown menu, choose Preferences and set your input source and input level. We recommend you start with a VU level of about -6 db, which we have found to be a reliable level for most sound cards. On some, you may be able to crank it higher without distortion becoming an issue.
  
•   In the "Device" pulldown menu, select either your sound card or "default." Before choosing, please read the following, which applies to those using a version of BeOS earlier than BeOS 1.2 (including BeOS 5, BeOS RC2, BeOS Neo, BeOS 1.0, and BeOS 1.1) ...
  

TimeTracker occupies the input channel while it is doing its recordings, making that input channel unavailable to other programs, including TuneTracker™. As a result, it is not possible to record a live event in TimeTracker while simultaneously broadcasting that event in TuneTracker ™. However, that does not mean you cannot use your live input at other times in TuneTracker ™. Just make certain you do not try to do both at the same time or it can cause problems.

Now, here are the two ways you can set up your Device options, so you can choose what is best for your situation:

•   "Default"
  "Default" is a good choice for most situations, because it frees up the input channel for use by other programs, including TuneTracker™, when it is not being recorded by TimeTracker. The down side is that TimeTracker's VU meter will only be active during recordings.
  
  
  
•   Sound Card, by Name
  Selecting whichever sound card or sound card driver is listed in your Device options causes TimeTracker to continuously occupy the input channel, making it unavailable to other programs, but giving you full-time VU readout of the input channel. Keeping this option selected will prevent you from broadcasting live in TuneTracker™, so we recommend you only use this option while initially setting your input/recording levels.
  
  

Under the FileFormat pulldown menu, choose the file format you want to use when doing your background recordings. Whichever format you choose will be used for all recordings you schedule, unless you manually specify a different file format for some of them.

Regarding file formats, you may see a number of "exotic" options listed, depending on your BeOS setup. Try any you like, but we only officially support WAV, AIFF, ADPCM, and if listed for your BeOS setup, MP3. MP3 will only be an option if you have BeOS 5 Pro installed on your system. It is not available with BeOS 5 Personal Edition.

Adding a Recording Event in TimeTracker:

•   Click "Add." The "Event Editor" window will appear
  
•   If you want this recording event to use a different file format than the default one, specify the one you want used.
  
•   Type in an "Event Name" that describes the audio you'll be recording.
  
•   Set the day, month, year, hour, minute, and second when your event must first occur.
  
•   Set the length of time the recording should last, in hours, minutes, and seconds.
  
•   Set the frequency of the recording from the "Repeat Every" dropdown list.
  
•   Specify the recording format you want to use. Depending on your BeOS version, you may choose from among all available audio formats, including WAV, AIFF, ADPCM (four-times compression), even real-time MP3 recordings (ten-times compression) using BeOS 5 Pro or BeOS. Some other exotic formats might also listed, but we only recommend the ones listed above.
  
•   Indicate how long the repeat recordings should go on, using the "Repeat" dropdown list.
  
•   Specify the hard drive location and filename you will be using, by either typing it in, or by clicking "Select," and browsing-to the path and file.
  
•   In the case of repeat recordings, tell TimeTracker whether to overwrite the existing file, add sequential numbers to the filenames, timestamp the filenames, or fail to record if the file already exists.
  
•   Click "Apply." Your event will be added to the list.
  
•   Close the Event Editor

Some Useful Things to be Aware of...

•   Any event can be re-edited by simply double-clicking on it.
  
•   If you need to create another recording event that's similar to one you have already entered, you can use the "Clone" button to duplicate the event, Then, double-click on the newly-cloned event and make whatever changes are necessary to differentiate it from the original.
  
•   Recording events can be removed using, you guessed it, the "Remove" button.
  
•   You can clear the entire list with, you're catching on, the "Clear List" button.
  
•   You can sort the list by any of the columns, by clicking on the column headers.

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