@node "dd"

                           Direct-to-disk recording

To record directly to disk, select output device Disk 8-bit or Disk 16-bit
in the Mixing Settings window.

Unlike other output devices, you cannot hear any sound during direct-to-disk
recording. This is because the sound is "recorded" (saved) directly to a file
on disk, as a sample.

If many seconds of music are recorded, the sample may be pretty long! Still,
direct-to-disk recording  has many uses. You can construct a drum
beat in a Tracker editor block over several tracks, then use this feature to "sample"
the drum beat. The resulting sample can then be used on a single track.

Alternatively, store an entire song on your hard drive as a sample, then use
the Play16 program to play it with very little processor consumption. Or use
the sample - a digital image of the song - to record a song directly to your
hard drive or a CD, without any unnecessary analog-to-digital and digital-
to-analog conversions.

To record directly to disk, follow these steps:

1) In the Mixing Settings window:

   a) Select Disk 8-bit or Disk 16-bit, to record an
      8-bit or 16-bit sample.

   b) Set the Mixing Frequency to any value you wish. The higher the
      frequency, the larger the produced sample but the higher the quality.

   c) The larger the mix buffer, the quicker the recording. So for a quick
      recording, set a large mix buffer (perhaps 30000). For a slower
      recording (useful if you have to click Stop Recording - see step 4),
      leave the buffer at 300.

   d) We recommend you switch Smoothing on, to increase sound quality.
      Recording slows, so compensate by increasing the mix buffer.

2) The next time you play a note or your song, a "Record as" file
   requester will appear. In this requester, select the filename of the
   produced sample.

3) Next, set the file type of your sample in the requester that appears.
   Mono samples can be saved under more types than stereo samples.

4) Finally, the Record window will open and OctaMED will start recording.
   The window displays information on the sample's file format (8/16-bit,
   IFF/RAW/MAUD/etc., Mono/Stereo, frequency). It also displays
   recording time in minutes and seconds, and file size. These two values
   change as the song is being played.

   Click the "Stop Recording" button to stop recording. Alternatively, stop
   recording exactly by inserting an 0FFE player command at the appropriate
   point in your song; this, of course, does not work when recording single
   notes played with the keyboard.

After recording, Output Device will change back to its setting before you
chose Disk 8-bit or 16-bit (in step 1 above).

                      @{" Converting old Mods to Mix Mode " link "Convert" 0}


@endnode