Elk 129 - Manual (Page 9)

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1. Use a good quality microphone.
2. Observe the VU meters (the bar graph at the bottom of the screen). Try to keep your recording levels around -9 to -6 dB.
If your levels exceed 0 dB, the sound will be distorted.
3. Record in a quiet area. Keep the microphone away from hard surfaces such as walls and table tops.
4. Record your messages at 11-22 khz sampling rate. Always choose 16 bit recording. Don't bother making the recording in
stereo, since the script will create a new left channel anyway.
5. If you want to add special effects to a sound file (echo, stretch, etc.), you should do so before running the Embed
Control Track script. This will insure that the control track does not get corrupted. If you have already run the script and
want to add effects to the file, you may still do so. After you have added the effects, run the Re-do Control Track script
to reformat the control track channel. Note: Some effects (such as stretch) will change the length of your audio
file. Use care to prevent overrunning the Recordable Module’s recording time limit.
6. Read Cool Edit's on-line help files to become familiar the program's features. Don't forget to register Cool Edit! Select
Help, Registration Form to view or print out a registration form.
Note: Until you register Cool Edit, you can only choose from two categories of special effects when you start the program.
Choose any effect you would like to try first, but you must always choose Save, External Clipboard Functionality and
Sample Converting as one of the categories if you plan on saving your file to disk.
Making Recordings with CoolEdit
Troubleshooting
If you have followed all of the previous steps and still cannot get the Recordable Module to program, here are some trouble-
shooting hints:
1. Make sure the audio file has been properly processed with the Cool Edit script. A properly processed file will look similar
to Figure 7 on page 7 when loaded into Cool Edit.
2. Make sure the audio is getting to the ELK-129. When playing your audio file with Cool Edit, you should hear your file
coming out of the RIGHT channel. You may only hear a 20 Hz buzzing or popping sound coming from the LEFT channel.
Confirm this by plugging a pair of headphones that are marked with L and R into the AUDIO OUT jack. If your file is heard
through the LEFT channel, you should run the Swap Channels script in Cool Edit. This will automatically swap the left
and right channels in the audio file.
3. If you hear the audio coming from the correct channels, try increasing the computer's volume output while playing the file
in Loop Mode (select Loop Mode under the Options menu). This will change the PLAY button into a LOOP button.
Pressing LOOP will cause the sound file to repeat endlessly, allowing you to adjust the volume to the proper setting.
Once you find the correct setting, press STOP to end looping and prevent overrunning the time limit for channel one. If
your volume is already at maximum, be sure you are using the computer’s speaker output jack instead of a line output
jack.
4. If none of the above hints work, try manually pressing the Recordable Module’s RECORD switch and clicking on PLAY at
the same time. Shortcut: press the spacebar to start and stop playing, instead of clicking PLAY. If this works, you may
have to use this manual method when programming. Some computer’s may lack the fidelity to reproduce the 20 Hz
control track at a sufficient level. If the manual method does not work, then there may be a problem in the hookup or with
one of the units.