5 Basic recording

Dawesome records audio from your input device onto playlist tracks. Each recording makes one take per armed track. When recording stops, each take is placed on its track as a clip, starting where the recording started.

5-1 Choosing the input device

1. Choose Preferences ▸ Audio Settings…. The Audio tab opens.
2. Choose a device in Input. System default uses the system's input.
3. Check the input level meter below it. It shows one bar per input channel.

The line under the meter shows the input's latency and sample rate. If the input can't record at the output's rate, the tab says so, and takes are converted as they play.

Recording offset (ms) moves takes earlier or later to line them up with what you heard while recording. Use it for devices that don't report all their latency, such as Bluetooth headphones. The default is 150 ms.

5-2 Arming tracks

You arm tracks on their mixer strips. Recording needs at least one armed track.

1. LED — Lights red while the track is armed. Blinks while recording.
2. R button — Arms the track, or disarms it.
3. Input menu — The input channels the track records: a single channel (In 1, In 2, …) or a pair (In 1+2, In 3+4, …). The default is the first two channels, or the only channel on a mono input.

To arm a track:

1. Open the Mixer tab (Window ▸ Mixer, ⇧⌘M (Ctrl+Shift+M)).
2. On the track's strip, choose the input channels in the input menu.
3. Click R. The LED lights.

You can arm several tracks. Each records its own take.

NOTE

If the input has fewer channels than the track was armed with (for example, a project armed on another device), the track records the first pair, or the first channel, instead.

Armed tracks and the input chosen for each are saved with the project.

5-3 Count-in and metronome

• Count in a bar before recording (count-in key in the top bar) — When lit, recording starts with one bar of clicks. The first click is accented. The count-in plays whether or not the metronome is on. Its setting is saved with the project.
• Metronome (top bar) — When lit, a click plays on each beat during playback and recording.

5-4 Recording a take

1. Arm one or more tracks (see 5-2).
2. Click in the ruler at the top of the playlist to move the playhead to where you want to start.
3. Click the record button in the top bar (Record every armed track from the playhead). Playback starts from the playhead (after the count-in, if it's on) and every armed track records.
4. To stop, click the record button again (Stop recording). You can also stop playback with Space or the stop button.

The record button stops playback too, and the playhead stays where it is. (The stop button goes back to the start.) Each take appears on its track as a clip.

NOTE

If no track is armed, the record button's tooltip reads Record (arm a track first, with the R key on its mixer strip). The "R key" is the R button on the strip, not a keyboard key.

Undo and redo don't work while a take is being recorded.

5-5 Recording with loop on

If Loop is on in the top bar, what recording does when the loop comes round is set in Preferences ▸ Controls…, under At the loop's end, while recording:

• Keep recording, layering each pass — Recording carries on. Each time round is a take of its own, put on the track as soon as it ends, and heard on the passes after it. One undo removes the whole recording.
• Stop recording and playback — The take and playback both end at the loop's end, and the playhead goes back to where recording started.

With a loop region, recording loops inside the region. The first take runs from where you pressed record to the region's end, and each take after it covers the whole region. If you start recording before the region, the first take plays into it.

While recording, the loop (and its region) stays where it was when recording started. The region, the loop end and the Loop button can't be changed until recording stops.

5-6 Where recordings are saved

Takes are WAV files. Each is named after the project, the date (month, day, year) and a number for that day, starting from 0, for example my_song_11092026_0.wav. Takes recorded together are numbered one after another.

• Saved project: in the recordings folder next to the project file.
• Project never saved: in a folder of its own in the app's data folder (on macOS, ~/Library/Application Support/dawesome/unsaved/). The takes move into the project's recordings folder when you save it.

See Projects for the project folder.

5-7 Recordings browser

The Recordings page of the sidebar lists the project's takes, newest first, in folders. Click the Recordings key on the sidebar rail to show it.

Each row shows the take's name, length and when it was recorded (the time today, the day this year, or the date). A dot before the name means the project uses the take; takes not in use are dimmed. Hold the mouse over a row to see its full path, when it was recorded, and where it's used.

• Hear a take: click it (or select it and press Return (Enter)).
• Use a take: drag it into the playlist or the Pattern Sequencer.
• Search: type in Search at the top. Only takes whose names contain the text are listed, with their folders. Esc clears the search.
• New folder: click the new-folder button beside the search field. The folder goes in the selected folder, or at the top. You can also right-click empty space or a folder and choose New folder.
• Move: drag a take or folder onto another folder. Hold it over a closed folder to open it.
• Rename: right-click a take or folder and choose Rename. Type the name and press Return (Enter); Esc leaves it as it was.
• Delete: right-click and choose Move to Trash, then confirm. A take the project uses can't be deleted (remove its clips and Pattern Sequencer rows first), nor a folder holding one.

Clips and Pattern Sequencer rows that play a take follow it when it's moved or renamed. So does the saved project file.

While recording, the browser can't make, move, rename or delete anything.