5) Sound Input and Recording
BinkyToy has two independent audio streams, called “groups”, and three levels of FX and mixers: the input level, the file groups level, and the output level. This was touched on in section 2.0. The mix architecture for a single BinkyToy Group is shown in Figure 5.0.

Figure 5.0. The BinkyToy Group Mix Architecture.

Now that you've read the “getting started” section (you did read “Getting Started,” didn't you?), you've probably got audio going into your computer from your turntable(s). This incoming audio can be the signal coming from your Ms Pinky vinyl, or it could be audio that you want to use to scratch your files with, as detailed in the “Scratching Without Vinyl!” section. Or the audio coming in can be the other kind of audio: the kind of audio you want to hear. This audio can come in, be mangled with the FX, and be sent on it's merry way (presumably to tickle the ears of your audience), or it can be recorded (so that you can then scratch it or do whatever you want with it, if you know what I mean).

Okay, so say you've got audio coming into the computer and you want to put FX on it. Simply go to the tab at top of the window, labeled “Group 1 In” (or “Group 2 In” if the audio's coming into the second input), choose your FX and you're done. What you see under these tabs is exactly what you see under “FX & Levels” for individual audio files in the group section and has been described in the quick tour above (anyway, it's not that complicated).

Now if you want to record your incoming audio at this point (maybe you've set up some effects and like what they're doing to the Mr. Rogers record you've got spinning on the turntable), just go to the file menu, select “New Sound File,” and select whether you want it to go to Group 1 or Group 2. Name it, press save, and it appears in the list for that group. When your new file is highlighted, the “options” pulldown menu has some new choices and a new button (a monster with a microphone) appears as well. Click on the monster, and you're recording. Click on him again when you're done recording.

NOTE: The file produced by recording is an AIFF file.

Now if you want to record more, just click on the monster button again and you'll record more stuff from whatever point the cue point slider is set at. If you want to append your recording to the end of what you previously recorded, be sure to move the cue point to the end before pressing record. If you set the cue point at the middle of the file and record a short bit, it will “punch in” over the original recording and “punch out” again after you stop the recording, leaving the end of the file (assuming the file is longer than the punch in recording you made).

Here a distinction must be made: files are either open for recording, or not open for recording. On a file that is not open for recording, when you click on the file name the recording button will not appear. If you open a file in the normal way (file menu/open sound file), the opened file will not be open for recording, as this is safest and prevents accidental erasures. If you want to open an existing file to be recorded over, select “Open for Recording...” from the file menu and select a group to put it in. This file you will be able to record on. A file created with the “New Sound File” command will of course also be open to recording.

Let's look at the new options listed in the “options” pulldown menu. Remember what we said about the 3 levels (input, group, and output) and look at the 3 new options in this menu: “Record: Input” records on the input level: it records any audio coming into the group you are recording on. If you are recording into a file on group 1, the settings of the “Group 1 In” tab are relevant. Any FX and Levels that you have set up on the Groups or on the Outputs do not affect the recording. Audio coming into the group that you are not recording into will not be recorded. Also, any files playing will not be recorded. The beauty of THAT is that you can make recordings of incoming audio (for example, live musicians that you are playing with) while you are playing other audio, and then set that new recording up to be scratched. Try doing that with an ordinary turntable setup!

“Record: Group File Mix” records on the group level: everything going on in the group that you are recording in, minus any audio going into the inputs, minus anything going on in the other group, minus any fx you may have set up on the outputs section. So the only relevant “FX and Levels” settings are those that are set up on the group level on the files that are playing (click on their names to check out their FX and Levels settings). If you want to hear what's really on the recording (and not what's being added by the output section), remember to listen to only the dry signal on the output section (i.e. turn down fx chains or remove the fx).

“Record: Output Mix” records on the output level, whatever is coming out of BinkyToy. That is to say, if you are recording onto a file set up in group 1, it records the group 1 output, including the effects that you have selected in the “Group 1 Out” tab at the top as well as everything going on in Group 2! In this case, FX and Levels settings set up on the individual files within the group do matter, since they are a part of what ends up in the final output. Similarly, whatever is coming into the groups inputs will also be recorded, as this too goes to the output.

Note that any fx you put on a file which is being recorded into, in the FX & Levels settings that appear when clicking on the recording file's name, will not be recorded onto the file, since as the file being recorded on itself is not making a sound, any fx on that file aren't doing anything that could be recorded. If you want FX on your recording, put them on the level of the recording that you are doing: If it's a “Record: Input” recording, put them on the input for that group; if it's for a “Group File Mix” recording, put them on the individual files. If you want the same fx on all files in a group, put those FX on the output for the group and do an “Output Mix” recording.

This concludes our discussion of sound inputs and recording. Did'ja get any on you?