The microphone is built into the interior of the hörbert model.
This allows you to record your own voice and play it back using hörbert’s colorful buttons. When you order a hörbert, we install the microphone at the factory. It is very small and mounted on a tiny microphone board inside hörbert at the front bottom section. From the outside, only a small opening in the wooden case next to the hörbert logo is visible.

To record voice using the microphone, you first need to make two settings:

1. Choose which of hörbert’s colorful buttons should allow voice recordings.

You may not want to allow recordings on every button — for example, if one button contains a continuous audiobook or story that shouldn’t be interrupted.
You have two options to enable the microphone and define which playlists allow voice recordings:

a. Using the Browser Set Mode, a convenient web interface

You don’t need a computer, SD card reader, or hörbert software.
👉 [Watch the instructional video on how to start Browser Set Mode.]

Note: The Browser Set Mode is only available if your hörbert is running the Butterfly firmware (released in November 2024).
👉 [Go here for the FIRMWARE UPDATE]

b. Using the hörbert software on your computer

You can also use the hörbert software to choose which playlists allow voice recordings.

Open the hörbert software, select the new hörbert model, and read in the card.
Open the button where you want to allow recordings. At the bottom of the window, check “Allow voice recordings here”, then close the button window with the green check mark in the top right corner.

Note: There must be at least one audio file already saved in the playlist for a recording to be successful.
By the way, this is also how you define where recordings from Bluetooth streams or internet radio should be saved.

Always eject the SD card properly before removing it from the computer and reinserting it into hörbert.

2. Activate the microphone via SET mode on your hörbert

Here’s how:

1. Turn hörbert on. Press the small SET button inside hörbert. The colorful front buttons are now in SET mode.

2. Press the dark green button on the front once to activate the microphone.
   The included SET template makes it easy to find the right button.

• Press once: “on” (single beep)

• Press again: “off” (double beep)

3. To save the setting, press the SET button inside hörbert again.
   hörbert has now saved the setting and the microphone is active.

4. Now you can close hörbert and switch it on again.

Starting a recording

If you’re in the allowed playlist, start a recording by pressing and holding the black button (bottom left), and then briefly pressing the dark gray button (bottom right).
You can then release both buttons while speaking.

Stopping a recording

To stop recording, press the black button again.

Discarding a recording

To discard a recording, end it by pressing the power switch and turning hörbert off.

Playing back a microphone recording

After a microphone recording, playback starts immediately.
The recording is placed directly after the track that was playing when the recording started.

👉 Related FAQ: How do voice recordings work with hörbert?