Recorder help · article 3 of 9

Recording along

Afinar lives in your menu bar, and in the Dock unless you turn that off. Click its icon to show the recorder window. Six tabs along its top hold Record, Tone, Tuner, Metronome, Takes, and Settings, and ⌘1 to ⌘6 switch between them. The Record bar sits at the bottom of every tab, so you can press Record from any of them.

The recorder window

The recorder is a window that floats above your other apps. The first time, it appears just under the menu-bar icon. After that it opens where you left it, and it never moves on its own. Drag its top bar to move it. Drag the small bar on its bottom edge to make it taller or shorter. A page taller than the window scrolls inside it.

Click the menu-bar icon to show or hide the window. Clicking the Dock icon shows it. Clicking in another app never hides it. Opened from Finder, Launchpad, or the Dock, Afinar shows its window, and opened at login, it starts hidden in the menu bar.

The × at its top left closes the window, and so does Escape. Closing only hides it. A take, the metronome, Hear yourself, and Mute keep going, and the icon brings the window back where it was, on the same page.

The button at its top right switches to the mini view, a small strip with Record and the YOU and SONG levels. With Video on, the mini view shows your live picture instead. The button at the mini view’s right brings the full window back. Afinar remembers which one you used last.

Choose your app

On the Record tab, the Your app card holds the app your song plays in. Click its box to open the list of apps. The first time, the list shows Common apps for songs on your Mac, and Show All… finds any other app. After that, the apps you have recorded with sit under Recent at the top.

Afinar never chooses the app for you. The one you chose stays chosen until you change it, even after you quit. Until you choose one, the box says Choose the app your song plays in, Record stays off, and the Record bar says Choose the app your song plays in.

The meter shows the song’s level, and the slider under it sets how loud you hear the song. Your take keeps the song at the volume you heard.

Mute your instrument

Mute your instrument lets you mute an instrument in the music you play along to. Afinar takes that instrument out of the song’s sound as it plays, so the part is yours. Mute the bass, and you play the bass line with the band, without the recorded player covering you.

The tiles sit on the Your app card, under the song’s volume. Choose Vocals, Drums, Bass, or Guitar & keys. Guitar & keys also covers piano, strings, and synths. You mute one instrument at a time. Choosing another moves the mute, and choosing the muted one again brings it back. A muted tile shows a crossed-out speaker.

Muting isn’t a mixer, and it doesn’t save the instruments as separate files. A take records what you heard, with the instrument muted.

While an instrument is muted, the song reaches you a moment late, about 140 to 150 milliseconds, because Afinar needs that moment to take the instrument out. The delay stays the same for a whole take, and your take keeps you in time with what you heard. While muting gets ready, the tile shows a small spinning mark.

Nothing is muted when Afinar opens. Your choice holds while Afinar runs, through closing the window and between takes. Choose what to mute before you press Record, because the tiles stay as they are until the take is saved. Muting needs a song app, so until you choose one, the card says Choose a song app to mute instruments.

If muting can’t run, the original song plays and the card says why, for example Instrument muting couldn’t keep up, so the original is playing. If it stops during a take, the original plays for the rest of that take. Mute turned itself off goes through each reason.

Muting uses Spleeter by Deezer (MIT License).

You and Hear yourself

The You card holds your input, its meter, and Hear yourself. Afinar remembers the input you chose last. Switch on Hear yourself to hear your instrument through your pedal and amp model, and use Headphone volume under it to set how loud. It needs wired headphones. With Bluetooth headphones, the window says Bluetooth headphones delay what you hear. Use wired headphones to hear yourself.

Hear yourself switches itself off after 10 minutes with no sound from your input, and never during a take. When it does, the window says Switched off after 10 minutes of quiet.

Your sound comes from the Tone tab. Tones has the details.

During a take, Hear yourself, its level, your input, Mute, your sound, and the app stay as they are until the take is saved. Set them before you press Record.

Record and stop

Record sits on the left of the Record bar, at the bottom of every tab. Press it, then start your song. The window shrinks into the mini view, and the take starts with the song’s first sound. While Afinar waits, the mini view says Start your song. and the menu bar says Waiting. If you stop before the song plays, Afinar says Stopped before the song started. and No take was saved.

There is no count-in, because Afinar can’t start another app’s song. A take doesn’t stop for silence, so a rest or a paused song is safe. It stops early only if your input or the song stops reaching Afinar, and Afinar says which.

To stop, press Stop in the mini view, or press ⌃⌥⌘R in any app. You can also right-click the menu-bar icon and choose Stop. The menu bar shows a red dot and the timer while you record.

With Video on, the take waits for the camera’s first picture, and the mini view says Starting… The shortcut works once the take is waiting for the song. Until then, use Stop in the mini view.

If another app already uses that shortcut, Afinar says Another app is using ⌃⌥⌘R. Stop from the menu bar instead.

The mini view during a take

Pressing Record always turns the window into the mini view. With Video off, it is a slim strip with Stop, the timer, and the YOU and SONG levels. With Video on, it is your live picture, in landscape or portrait, with the same controls along its bottom.

The mini view floats above your other apps, and the keyboard goes back to the app you were in. Drag any free part of it to move it. Drag its bottom-right corner to resize it, and it keeps its shape.

The button beside its × brings the full window back while the take keeps going. The × hides the recorder, and the take keeps going. Escape does the same when the mini view has the keyboard. Click the menu-bar icon to bring it back.

If your input or the song stops reaching Afinar, the mini view says Input lost or Song lost, then Saving your take… If the camera goes away, it says Camera lost and Audio continues, and the take goes on without a picture.

Take saved

Stop saves the take straight away, and the full window comes back where it was, on the Record tab. Above the Record bar, a line says Take saved with the take’s length and name. Listen back opens the take on the Takes tab. The ··· menu holds Delete, which gives you five seconds to Undo. The × closes the line.

The Record bar reminds you to pause the song first, for example Pause the song in Safari before you listen back.

If nothing came in from your input, there is nothing to save, and the window says Nothing came in from your input, so no take was saved.

After your first take, the line also offers Afinar news by email. It’s up to you, and Not now closes it. Until you sign up, Get Afinar news by email in the Settings tab’s ··· menu opens it again.

The menu-bar icon’s menu

Right-click the menu-bar icon, or Control-click it, for its menu. It holds Record, Settings…, Help, Send Feedback…, About Afinar, Check for Updates…, and Quit Afinar.

During a take, Record becomes Stop, and Settings… is greyed out until the take is saved. While the take saves, the first line says Saving… Record is greyed out when Afinar can’t record yet, for example before you choose an app.

Help opens this help in your browser. Send Feedback… opens the feedback page in Settings.

When Afinar listens

Afinar listens only while its window is on screen (full or mini), during setup, while Hear yourself is on, while an instrument is muted, and from Record to Stop. There is no separate switch. Its icon in the menu bar is lit while it is listening. The rest of the time, no input or song is open, and your Mac’s microphone and recording dots go out. Playing a take back is not listening.

Muting needs Afinar to hear the song, so a muted instrument keeps Afinar listening even with the window closed. Choose the muted instrument again to stop.