Prerequisite for Bluetooth recordings:

You have a hörbert model from October 2021 with a rotary knob for switching on/off. If you still have an hörbert with a toggle switch, you can have it updated by us or upgrade it yourself with our DIY upgrade kit.

Three preparatory steps

1. Activating the Bluetooth and pairing special functions
2. Editing the memory card: Define a playlist on which the Bluetooth recordings are to be saved. Attention: At least one audio file must already be present there.
3. switch the hörbert to Bluetooth speaker mode and pair it with an end device, e.g. mobile phone, tablet or computer.

Activating the Bluetooth and pairing special functions and editing the memory card in browser set mode

If your hörbert does not yet have the Butterfly firmware, we recommend updating the firmware. Here you will find the necessary steps for a firmware update and the firmware file to download. Once the Butterfly firmware has been successfully installed on your hörbert, proceed as follows:

• Switch on hörbert, wait until he plays.
• Inside hörbert, press the small SET button to the right of the hörbert logo on the green circuit board. hörbert emits an ascending signal tone and opens its own WLAN network.
• Go to your Wi-Fi settings on your Bluetooth transmitter, i.e. your smartphone, tablet or computer. hörbert appears there as a new Wi-Fi network.

• Connect to hörbert’s WLAN. The password is: hoerbert

• Now start a web browser on your Bluetooth transmitter, e.g. google chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.

• Enter the following address in the address bar: http://hoerbert.local

• The hörbert browser set mode opens, which looks like the following image in the mobile view. Here you will also find a

  VIDEO about BROWSER SET MODE

• Open the BLUETOOTH item in the menu and enable the Bluetooth and pairing function there. You need an active pairing function if you want to pair your hörbert with a previously unknown device. Once you have paired all the desired Bluetooth devices in your household with hörbert, you can also deactivate this pairing function here later.

• Open the PLAYLISTS menu item and select one of the colourful playlist buttons on which hörbert should save Bluetooth recordings. The recordings always end up piece by piece at the end of the authorised playlist. Only one playlist can be enabled for Bluetooth recordings at a time.

• If you have an accessible hörbert with only three large playlist buttons, go to the GENERAL menu item and then to the ‘Advanced settings’. Tick the ‘Show expert menu’ box. You will now find a new sub-item ‘EXPERT’ in the main menu. Select this. Go to the ‘Recording settings’. Select the desired recording mode here, e.g. start recording by pressing and holding a playlist button.

• End the browser set mode either on the end device using the disconnect button or press the SET button inside the hörbert again.

• Wait until hörbert plays and then switch it off.

Switch hörbert to Bluetooth speaker mode

• Switch hörbert to Bluetooth speaker mode by switching it on using the rotary knob at the top and switching it off again within approx. 0.5 seconds. It is then not switched off, but goes into speaker mode and confirms this with an ascending sequence of beeps.
• hörbert now appears in the list of available Bluetooth devices on your mobile phone, tablet or computer.
• Connect with hörbert. You have 60 seconds to do this after switching on hörbert.
• Start an audio playback on your Bluetooth transmitter. This can be an audio file or a playlist from your streaming service, e.g. Spotify. Or simply a YouTube music video or an audio book.
• The sound is now played back by hörbert.

Starting and stopping a recording with hörbert

• To start a recording, proceed as follows:
• Press the black button on the front of hörbert and the grey button at the same time so that both buttons are pressed together briefly. The recording starts. Or, on an hörbert with only three large playlist buttons, press one playlist button longer, depending on the selected recording mode.
• To stop and save the recording, press the black button again. On an hörbert with only three playlists, you can stop and save the recording by briefly pressing a playlist button again.
• The recording was saved at the end of the playlist previously set in Browser Set Mode and can be accessed from there.

Tip: Start the recording on the hörbert first, then immediately start playback of the audio content on the Bluetooth transmitter to ensure the desired song or audio story is recorded from the very beginning.

How to activate Bluetooth recordings without Firmware Butterfly

If the Butterfly firmware is not yet running on your hörbert, you can still carry out all the necessary steps without using Browser Set Mode. However, without the Butterfly firmware, you will need a computer and the hörbert software to edit the memory card. You can find the latest hörbert software on our website in the “Service” section under “Software Downloads.” Download the software and install it on your computer.

Übrigens: Auf allen hörberts – einschließlich aller barrierefreien hörberts mit nur drei großen Tasten –, die wir seit Mitte November 2024 ausliefern, ist die Butterfly-Firmware bereits installiert.

• Start the hörbert software. Select the correct hörbert model without toggle switch.

• Connect the hörbert memory card to your computer via an SD card slot or via an external SD card reader.
• The hörbert software recognises the card and displays it as a drive. Select the SD card as a drive in the hörbert software.

• Click on ‘Read card’ and wait until the software has read in all the tracks and now displays the number of audio files on the coloured buttons.

• Now click on the coloured button on the screen that you want to share for Bluetooth recordings.

• Select ‘Save Bluetooth recordings here’ at the bottom of the content window.

• Close the window by clicking on the green tick in the top right-hand corner.

• In the hörbert software main menu, go to ‘Extras’ and then to ‘Configure set mode’.

• Select ‘On with pairing’ for Bluetooth and save the setting.

• Eject the card properly using the green button to the right of the ‘Eject card’ display and wait until the hörbert software says that you can now disconnect the card from the computer.

• Insert the SD card back into hörbert.

• Switch hörbert on and immediately off again within 0.5 seconds.

• hörbert is now in Bluetooth speaker mode and waits until you pair it with a transmitter and start audio playback on your transmitter (mobile phone, tablet, computer).
• The sound is now transferred to hörbert
• Start a recording by pressing the black and grey buttons at the same time until the red light at the front of the microphone opening lights up. You can then release the buttons.
• To end the recording, press the black button again.

Prerequisites for successful recordings:

The hörbert 2021 model – the one with the rotary knob for switching on and off – can record all sources it plays simultaneously.

– The prerequisite for this is that the memory card has been prepared in advance and the desired playlists have been defined where recordings are allowed.
– If you want to record Bluetooth streams, the Bluetooth and pairing functions must first be activated on hörbert.
– If you want to record internet radio, hörbert must first be connected to your home 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network, and one or more suitable web radio URLs must be assigned to the desired playlist.
– If you want to make voice recordings using the built-in microphone, the microphone function must be activated on hörbert.

All the above-mentioned settings can conveniently be made using hörbert’s so-called Browser Set Mode. Please also refer to our user manual for hörbert with the Butterfly firmware.

Attention: there must at least be one audio file on the playlist already.

Once everything is set up and hörbert is turned on in standard mode or Bluetooth speaker mode, you can start a recording by pressing the black and the grey button simultaneously. This is the standard method for starting a recording. Press the black button again to stop and save the recording.

In Browser Set Mode, you can also configure in the Expert Menu that a recording should start when a playlist button is pressed and held. This is necessary, for example, for hörberts that only have three large playlist buttons and do not have a black or grey button.

As a visible indicator that a recording is in progress, the red LED behind the opening for the built-in microphone lights up. You can see the LED from the front of the hörbert device.

If the LED does not light up, the recording did not start. Please try again and make sure the recording function is enabled for the desired playlist.
There are also hörbert devices manufactured between October 2021 and December 2022 that do not have a built-in voice microphone. In this case, hörbert plays a confirmation tone to indicate that a recording is in progress.

Attention:

• In order to successfully start a voice recording or an Internet radio recording, you must first have pressed a playlist permitted for these recordings on the hörbert front page. For Internet radio recordings, hörbert must be playing the web radio station you want to record. To pair hörbert with a Bluetooth transmitter and start a Bluetooth recording, hörbert must be in Bluetooth speaker mode. You switch hörbert to this mode by pressing the rotary knob twice in quick succession. In other words: On-Off. hörbert is then not off, but in Bluetooth speaker mode and can now be paired with your transmitter.

• At least one audio file should already be present on the playlist before the recording attempt.

• Voice recordings are played once immediately after stopping and saved after the last played file in the respective playlist.
  
  Bluetooth and web radio recordings are saved at the end of the playlist. ATTENTION. If a voice recording has not been saved, it is also possible that someone has activated parrot mode on your hörbert in browser set mode. For all playlists that have not previously been set to allow voice recordings to be saved there, the recording will then only be played once and then deleted directly by hörbert.

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  To stop the recording, press the black button. The recording will then be saved. If you have selected a different recording mode, e.g. start recording by pressing and holding a playlist button, you can also press the same button again to stop the recording. You can also turn the rotary control to stop recording. ATTENTION: The recording will not be saved if you switch off hörbert before you have properly stopped the recording.

• If your recording is not available afterwards despite following all the tips above, it could be because the contents or the file system of your memory card is fundamentally mixed up. In this case, you can try the following: Make a backup of the memory card by using your file manager to copy all the contents to a backup folder on your computer hard drive. Then format the memory card in FAT32 format (or if this is not selectable, also FAT, EXFAT, MSDOSFAT format.) Then copy the data 1:1 back to your memory card. Use the browser set mode to redefine which playlists you want to release for which recording types. Try the recording again. If you get stuck, please write to us using the contact form.