In left inlet: If a file has been opened with the open message, a non-zero value begins recording, and 0 stops recording and closes the file. sfrecord~ requires another open message to record again if a 0 has been sent.

Recording may also stop spontaneously if there is an error, such as running out of space on your hard disk.

A backwards-compatible message for file format. Use the samptype message for full soundfile specification.

In left inlet: If a file has been opened with the open message, the word loop, followed by a number that specifies the loop length in milliseconds, begins recording for the specified amount of time, repeating within the specified area. loop 0 turns off recording.

The word nchans, followed by a number in the range 1-64, sets the number of channels for the audio file to be recorded. The default is 1.

In left inlet: Opens a file for recording. By default, the file type is AIFF, but sfrecord~ also supports NeXT/Sun, and WAV formats. The word open, without an argument, brings up a standard Save As dialog allowing you to choose a filename. The optional symbols aiff, au, raw, or wave specify the file format (which can also be set in the Save As dialog with a Format pop-up menu). If open is followed by a second symbol, it creates a file in the current default volume. An existing file with the same name will be overwritten. The format symbol (e.g., aiff) can follow the optional filename argument. If only one argument is given to the open message, which is a filename, the file type is determined from the file extension (e.g., "open test.wav" sets the file type to wave).

Outputs cryptic status information about the progress of the recording.

In left inlet: If a file has been opened with the open message, the word record, followed by a time in milliseconds, begins recording for the specified amount of time. The recording can be stopped before it reaches the end by sending sfrecord~ a 0 in its left init.

The word resample, followed by a float, will upsample or downsample the file. Sample rates are expressed as floating-point values - 1.0 is the current sampling rate, 0.5 is half the current, 2.0 is twice the current sample rate, etc.

In left inlet: The word samptype, followed by a symbol, specifies the sample type to use when recording the audio file. The following types of sample data are supported:

int8: 8-bit integer
int16: 16-bit integer
int24: 24-bit integer
int32: 32-bit integer
float32: 32-bit floating-point
float64: 64-bit floating-point
mulaw: 8-bit "mu"-law encoding
alaw: 8-bit a-law encoding
The optional second argument, a 0 or 1, specifies whether or not byte-swapping should be used, which is only useful when writing a 'raw' audio file.

Each inlet of sfrecord~ accepts a signal which is recorded to a channel of an audio file when recording is turned on.