<tip category="KRec">
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<h6>1 of 3</h6>
<h3>Some information when first starting</h3>
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This program is not as easy to use as say KWrite. The reason is that recording (especially with something like aRts) is a bit more difficult than editing some text.
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<h4>Getting started</h4>
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At first you should learn about <a href="help:/artsbuilder">aRts Control</a> and its Audio Manager. There you will find something like KRec::In and KRec::Out. The <i>In</i> is for recording and the <i>Out</i> is for playback. Now you have to select what you want to record. To start with, "out_soundcard" should be enough; that means you record what goes from aRts to your sound card. If you have Noatun, or similar, playing you will see the VU meter working and flickering up and down.
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<h4>The X-Files</h4>
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After you have selected the source, you need something to record to. If you only want a single recording then you only need a <i>file</i>. If you want to do multiple recordings (such as a radio play with different scenes and multiple takes) you need a <i>session</i>. When creating a file, you will be asked for a filename that should have the postfix <i>.raw</i> for RAW format (WAV is not yet supported, but the file can be converted using SoX).<br>For a session you should not give a whole filename, but only a prefix which is completed with the number of the take and .raw. A note on sessions: By creating a session you only tell KRec which prefix to use for the recordings; there is no special session file which holds other information. More on sessions can be found in the documentation.
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<h4>Doing the Recording</h4>
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If you have a file (if you created a session, add a file from the context menu of the session) you need to select it for recording. Choose "Record to this file" from the context menu. The file's icon will change to show that it is ready to be recorded to. Start the recording by clicking the big red button. To end the recording, click the Stop button. If you want to hear what you just recorded, you have to select the same file for playback (from the context menu) and click the Play button.<br>Note: Playback cannot be stopped (yet); you have to let it play to the end.<br>Also note: If you want to listen to it again, you have to select it for playing again (watch the icon).
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</tip>

<tip catergory="KRec">
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<h6>2 of 3</h6>
<h3>Some brief notes on the toolbars</h3>
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There are three toolbars within KRec. The first two (the ones at the top) are described now.
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<h4>Main Toolbar</h4>
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The first toolbar (the "Main toolbar") contains three buttons: New Session, New File and Quit. The meaning of Quit should be clear, but the others probably need some explanation. New File is the simpler and means that it creates a new file (which should be given the postfix .raw) to which you can record to. "New Session" creates a new session which should not have a postfix, since the name you give it is the prefix for all the files within the session. The files are also given a number and the postfix .raw.
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<h4>Controls Toolbar</h4>
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The second toolbar holds important things. First is the Play button, which plays back the selected file. Second is the Record button, which starts the recording into the selected file. The third button Stops the recording. There are also some other widgets. Firstly, a level meter that shows you how loud your recording is. It changes color from green to yellow to red. If you see a lot of red, your recording is probably clipped and you should turn the volume down. This can be done with the next widget, the slider. The slider level is also represented by the digital display. It ranges from 0 to 200 and is the percentage your input level is changed to. 0% is nothing and 200% is twice the value.
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<h4>Effects</h4>
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The third toolbar is at the bottom and holds the compressor which is described in the documentation.
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</tip>

<tip category="KRec">
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<h6>3 of 3</h6>
<h3>The Documentation</h3>
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If you think these startup tips are not enough for you (which should be true since these are only small tips) you should take a look at the KRec documentation. It contains two "Howtos" for single and multiple recordings and much information about KRec and its features. Some <i>technical</i> things are described in it too.
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