Prerequisite: 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 microphone function
2. Edit the memory card: Define one or more playlists on which voice recordings are to be saved.
3. Switch on hörbert, start recording and save.

Activating the microphone 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. At the bottom of this FAQ you will also find the steps without Butterfly firmware or Browser Set Mode.

• Start hörbert’s Browser Set Mode

• Switch on hörbert and wait until it 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 smartphone, tablet or computer. hörbert appears there as a new Wi-Fi network.

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

• Now start a web browser on your mobile phone, tablet or computer, e.g. google chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.

• Type in the following address: http://hoerbert.local

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

  EXPLANATORY VIDEO on the BROWSER SET MODE

• Open the MICROPHONE item in the menu and activate the function there.

• Also set the sensitivity of the built-in microphone there. The higher the value, the more sensitive the voice microphone will react and the better the recording will be audible in the end, even if you are at a slightly greater distance from hörbert.

• Open the PLAYLISTS menu item and select one of the coloured playlist buttons on which hörbert should save voice recordings. The recordings are always saved directly after the last file played before the start of recording. Repeat this step for all playlists on which voice recordings are to be saved.

• NOTE: Make sure that there is at least one audio file on each playlist on which recordings are to be made.

• 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 ‘EXPERTS’ 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.

• Exit Browser Set Mode either by pressing the disconnect button on the end device or by pressing the SET button on the inside of the hörbert again. If you want to set the parrot mode, see the necessary steps for the parrot mode below before exiting the browser set mode.

• Wait until hörbert starts playing again and select one of the playlists that you have previously authorised for voice recordings.

Starting and stopping a recording with hörbert

• To start a recording, proceed as follows:
• On hörbert, press the black and grey buttons at the bottom of the front panel parallel to each other. The red light behind the microphone opening lights up. Recording has started, you can release both buttons. Or, on an hörbert with only three large playlist buttons, press one playlist button longer, depending on the selected recording mode.
• To end and save the recording, press the black button once. On an hörbert with only three playlists, you can stop and save the recording by briefly pressing a playlist button again.

• The recording is played back immediately a few seconds after it is finished.

parrot mode of hörbert

The parrot mode at hörbert is a special function that allows you to record your own voice on all playlists and listen to it immediately afterwards, but hörbert deletes this recording immediately after listening, unless the playlist was previously authorised for voice recording. Just like a parrot that parrots what it hears. This is a fun gimmick for young and old alike and is great fun to play with. This function is also useful in speech therapy and for speech development. Direct repetition trains hearing and self-perception – key elements in speech therapy.

How to activate the parrot mode on hörbert

• You need the Browser Set Mode from hörbert for activation.
• Start the browser set mode as described above

• 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’. Switch on the parrot mode here.

• Exit the browser set mode via the disconnect button or press the SET button inside hörbert to return to hörbert playback mode.

• You can now make voice recordings in all playlists using the built-in microphone. The recordings are only saved if hörbert was playing a playlist in which voice recordings are permitted when the recording was started.

Enable voice recording without the Butterfly firmware

If the Butterfly firmware is not yet running on your hörbert, you can still carry out all the necessary steps without the Browser Set Mode. However, without 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.

By the way: The Butterfly firmware is already installed on all hörberts and also on all barrier-free hörberts with only three large buttons that we have been delivering since mid-November 2024.

• 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 release for voice recordings.

• Select ‘Save voice 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 ‘Allow’ for Microphone 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 and switch hörbert on.
• 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.

• 
  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.