This is the main screen. In reality the DAK super mixer is 3 Wav & MP3 Editors built into one easy to control interface so that you can mix various sounds, music or spoken word or both and get effects you could never do without the Multitrack recording and mixing capability.

Arrows 1.) Here I'm just showing you the 3 completely separate 100% individually controllable editors. Each is complete and you can play, record, edit, select, and frankly, just about anything you might ever want to do in a recording editor.

Arrow 2.) Config is where you choose what your recording source will be. If you're going to use one editor to record, you can choose Microphone or Line In. But if you want to record and play an editor or 2 at the same time, then you need to choose Stereo Mix, Wav Out or What U Hear. Most sound cards do have one of these choices and it is required to use DAK's Super Mixer at its maximum power.

Arrow 3.) Here's where you can control all 3 Editors at once. You can play all 3 or just play 2. It's up to you. You can play what you've recorded and if it's not in perfect sync, use DAK's new Nudge Tool. It's in effects. And I've written a whole section about it for you. The Nudge tool gives you the power to sync tracks, even when they're not.

Arrow 4.) This is where you call up the Super Mixer's main mixing panel. This is where you can choose to mix 1 or 2 of the decks into a 3rd or any combination with any of the decks. It's super powerful and you can even control the volume of the mix. This is a digital internal mix that does not require the stereo mix feature in your sound card.

Arrow 5.) Record Real Time Playback is unique to DAK. What it does, using Stereo Mix again, is let you play 1 to 3 decks. As they play it makes a real time recording. And you can adjust the pitch and tempo and or volume in real time while it records. And you'll get a recorded copy of whatever you've played with whatever changes you've made. This is great if for example you want to change the tempo on part of a file, or combine 2 or 3 decks while you alter the pitch or tempo. It's super useful and super easy to use.

OK if you are using the super mixer to combine 2 or 3 files, you'll simply click the Master Mixer Control Panel Button at the center bottom. It Mixes 1, 2 or all 3 of the editor's contents instantly. You don't need to set any inputs.

But, if you want to play one or 2 of the editors while you sing along or play an instrument in real time so you can sync up with the 1 or 2 tacks that are playing then your computer needs to support Stereo Mix, Wav Out or What U Hear. It's all the same thing, it's just that various sound card manufacturers call it different things. This feature has been part of sound cards since Win 95, and virtually all sound cards do support it. Lately some have dropped it and there's much controversy as to why they've dropped it. Is it a copyright thing so you can't record from the Internet? Is it the record companies? Who knows? But still most computers do have it and if you search "Stereo Mix" on the Internet, you can usually find an alternate sound card driver that will let you record from the Internet and of course using DAK's Super Mixer.

So in short, if you want to add a live voice or instrument or use our Real Time Playback recorder you do need the Stereo Mix choice.

Arrow 1.) This is where to access your sound card's controls.

Arrow 1.) Click this Play button to play all 3 decks in perfect sync with each other. If you only have files loaded in 2 editors, still hit this button as it will just play those 2 and ignore the empty editor. Once you click this button, you can still use the individual stop buttons on each of the editors.

Arrow2s.) These are the individual Play and movement buttons for the 3 editors. You can stop and start any of the editors individually or use the Play All Button below. It's up to you and to the effect you want to create.

Or, if you've already performed and you think a trumpet fanfare would sound just great added to your performance, then use DAK's MIDI composer, create that, record it and add it to the rest of your creation. It's all fast and easy.

Arrow 1.) Hit record. If you're set for Stereo Mix, Wave Out or What U Hear, then when you hit record, you'll be recording whatever your current live source is plus whatever is playing in the 2 synced editors.

Arrow 2.) Hit play to start the music or background or sound effects or whatever you've loaded in the editor.

Arrow 3.) Hit play to start playing whatever is loaded in this editor. Now you've got live Multitrack recording with broadcast quality sound.

Arrows 1.) This gives you the power to choose which of the 3 editors you want to mix into. What does that mean? Well if you have files in 1 and 2, maybe you want to mix them into 3. And if you also have a file in 3, then you can mix editors 1 and 2 into the file that's already loaded in 3 and even control the volume.

Arrows 2.) OK so you've decided which editor to mix into. Now all you need to decide is if you want to Mix in 1 or both of the other two editors. It's up to you. Remember there are 3 editors. You're going to mix into one of them. All you need to decide is if you want to mix 1 or 2 of the editors into it.

Arrow 3.) So when you mix into the master editor (where the actual mix will end up) how do you want to set the volume? Normally you might not need to adjust this at all. But if you want the master to be louder or softer than the files you are mixing in, this is the place to do it.

Arrow 4.) The time has come. Hit Mix'em and it will instantly be done. Now just play the results. If you don't love them, no problem, you can change anything and do it again.

And that's all there is to using the Main Master Mixer in DAK's all new Super Mixer Recorder.

Why would you want to 'Record Real Time Playback'?

Good question, glad you asked.

Here's the thing. Sometimes you want to be able to adjust the tempo (the speed or beat per minute) or the Pitch which is the sound or key of the voice or music playing in any or all of the editors. Sometimes you just want to change the key so you can sing along or maybe you need to remove 10 seconds from a file without losing anything.

Or, let's say you want to alter part of a file. You don't want the whole file speeded up or slowed down. Or have its pitch changed. Now it's easy with DAK's all new Record Real Time Playback Recorder.

All you're going to do is start the Real Time Recorder and play 1 to 3 of the editors and while they play make any adjustments to the pitch and tempo that you like. It's in real time so you'll hear what you are doing. It's recorded digitally so it will sound perfect. Now you can make just about any change to the sound of your music and capture it all with up to 3 editors playing right on your own computer. This is some new Super Mixer.

Here's how to do it.

Arrow 1.) Click The Record Real Time Playback Recorder Button.

Arrow 2.) Then you'll get a dialog box asking if you're set for Stereo Mix, Wave Out Mix or What You Hear. If you've already done this, then just click No and you're onto the next screen.

Arrow 3.) You're going to make a recording, so 1st you want to give the recording a name. Any name will be fine.

Arrow 4.) Click Save and your recording will begin. You're actually recording anything you do play in the Super Mixer and for that matter, any sounds your computer makes at all.

NOTE: Don't worry that you're starting recording before you actually start playing. You can trim the blank in any of the 3 editors or in the main DAK editor. It just takes a second.

Arrow 5.) Adjust the Pitch sliders to change the key of the sound. This won't change the speed or tempo, so you are free to change the key while keeping the BPM (Beats per minute) unchanged. Adjust one editor, 2 or all 3. Since this is real time, you can make the adjustments at the beginning, during the playback, or anytime. What you actually hear, is what will be recorded.

Arrow 6.)Adjust the tempo sliders to change the tempo or BPM without having any effect on the key or pitch. This gives you the power to speed up a file to change the tempo for dancing, to match other files you want to mix with later or for any reason.

Tip. Changing the tempo doesn't change the sound quality at all. So if you have to fit a time constraint and you're a bet too long or short, just change the tempo. Unless it's a big change, you'll hardly hear it, but you can cut that 10 seconds out of a file and nobody will ever know.

Arrow 7.) While you're recording, this Waveform Level Meter will appear so you can see that you're actually recording. It's a very useful meter. It actually shows you the live waveform as it's being recorded. There's also now one on the main editor for playback and it really does help you understand the wav form process.

Arrow 8.) Click Stop when you're finished and go get your perfectly recorded real time file. Whatever you heard was flawlessly recorded to the file you named when you began the real time recording process.

Arrow 1.) This is the Loop Play Button. It's just like the Play button except that it will continually play a full track or just a highlighted part of a track forever with no noticeable pause at all. This is how drum loops are played and anything else from backgrounds to a chant. And you can use the Play All Loop Play button as I am here or just choose the individual Editor Loop play buttons if you only want to play 1 or 2.

Arrow 2.) Here I'm showing you that just the selected part will play. It will play over and over again with no pause between playing at all

Arrow 3.) Here I'm showing you that if you had not selected a section, the entire tracks would play over and over again without any pause at all.

Here we are in Loop Play again, but this time I'm showing you just how versatile the Super Mixer really is. I have selected just a rhythm I want to repeat over and over again in Editor 1. It's what we call a drum loop. In the other 2 editors I'm playing tracks I want to sync and mix. Now you see how easy it is. And if I wanted to, I could use the real time recorder to record it, or if I just wanted to mix what was in Editor 1 and 2, I could record in editor 3 and add my voice or my instrument. Do you see how easy and versatile the Super Mixer really can be?

Arrow 1.) Here's the Loop Play Button. Just make your selection or load what you want in any or all of the editors and click this button. If you only want one or 2 editors to loop play, then use their individual loop play buttons.

Arrows 2.) Here I have all 3 editors loop playing, but as you can see two are loop playing their entire loaded files and the other is loop playing just the part I selected, perfectly.

I just wanted you to see the Set Pitch and Set Tempo sliders. Please Play with them. They are your friends. Start playing someone talking in one of the editors and adjust the pitch just a bit. Do you hear their voice go up in pitch/key?

It's like if you speed up a record they first go up in pitch and then start sounding like Donald Duck. Anyway, this is how you can change the pitch of music or voice to match what you want. What's neat is that while the voice will go up or down depending on the setting, the speed will stay the same. So what we are really able to do is change the key without changing the speed.

The Set Tempo sliders do the opposite of the Set Pitch controls. They increase or decrease the speed or BPM without changing the pitch at all. So if you need to reduce the length of something by say 10 seconds, you can do it here by speeding up the music or voice.

It won't change the way it sounds at all and yet, you can play it faster or slower and add or subtract time. Yes I said add or subtract time. So if something is a few seconds too long or too short, now you can fix it fast and easy. Plus, if you want to listen to a lecture fast, this will do it. It's said that comprehension increases with the higher speed.

And if you want to transcribe the lyrics to a song, slow it way down and you can probably type along and stay up with the lyrics. But the main reason for Set Tempo is to match the beat from one track to another. You'll find this really makes it fast and easy to do.

Arrow 1.) These are your Set Pitch Sliders.

Arrow 2.) These are your Set Tempo Sliders.

When you're dealing with Multitrack recording, sometimes the original tape is stretched, there's latency in the sound card so one track is not quite synced with another. Maybe you took out a beat from one. Or for any reason, the tracks are no longer or never were in sync.

Enter Drew's Nudge. With our all new Nudge, you can nudge any of the stereo tracks forward in as many milliseconds as you like. Just open the Effects, menu, Choose nudge and slider the slider from 1MS to 1000Ms. In English for the rest of us that's from 1/1000th of a second to 1 second.

This is a real necessity in Multitrack recording. Now you won't spend hours trying to sync unsynced tracks. Now it's just seconds for perfectly synced Multitrack recordings from now on.

Arrow 1.) Click the Effects Menu.

Arrow 2.) Choose Nudge

Arrow 3.) Choose whatever number of milliseconds you need to sync your track. It's fast. It's easy. And, you can use Undo to undo anything that isn't perfect.

Tip. What does it do? OK it's no big secret. Nudge simply inserts the number of milliseconds you need of silence into the file. It's not magic. It's just silence. But because it's controlled to 1/1000th of a second, it's exactly what you need. And you can put it in at the beginning which will probably be most of the time, or anywhere within a file if you need to remove something from one file and still have that part synced to another.