Questions about hörbert

Requirement: You have a hörbert model from October 2021 onwards with a rotary knob for switching on/off.
If you still have a hörbert with a toggle switch, you can have it updated through us or upgrade it yourself with our DIY Upgrade Kit.

Three preparation steps

1. Activation of the microphone function
2. Editing the memory card: Defining one or more playlists on which voice recordings should be stored.
3. Switch on hörbert, start recording and save.

Activating the microphone and editing the memory card in Browser Set Mode

If your hörbert doesn’t have the Butterfly firmware yet, we recommend updating the firmware. Here you’ll find the necessary steps for a firmware update and the firmware file to download. If the Butterfly firmware is successfully installed on your hörbert, proceed as follows. At the very bottom of this FAQ you’ll also find the steps without Butterfly firmware or Browser Set Mode.

• Start the Browser Set Mode of hörbert.
• To do this, switch on hörbert, wait until it plays.
• Press the small SET button inside hörbert to the right of the hörbert logo on the green circuit board. hörbert emits an ascending signal tone and opens its own Wi-Fi network.
• Go to your Wi-Fi settings on your smartphone, tablet or computer. There hörbert appears as a new Wi-Fi network.
• Connect to hörbert’s Wi-Fi. The password is: hoerbert
• Now start a web browser on your phone, tablet or computer, e.g. Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.
• Enter the following address in the address bar: http://hoerbert.local
• The Browser Set Mode of hörbert opens, which looks like the following image in mobile view. Here you’ll also find an EXPLANATORY VIDEO for 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 sensitively the voice microphone reacts and the better the recording will be audible in the end, even if you’re at a somewhat greater distance from hörbert.
  
• Open the PLAYLISTS menu item and select one of the colourful playlist buttons there on which hörbert should save voice recordings. The recordings are always saved directly after the last played file before recording starts. Repeat this step for all playlists on which voice recordings should be saved.
  
• NOTE: Make sure that at least one audio file is present on each playlist on which recordings are to be made.
  
• If you have an accessible hörbert with only three large playlist buttons, now go to the GENERAL menu item and there to the “Advanced Settings“. Tick the box for “Show expert menu“. In the main menu you’ll now find a new sub-item “EXPERT”. Select this. Go there to the “Recording Settings“. Select the desired recording mode here, e.g. recording starts by pressing a playlist button for a longer time.
  
• End the Browser Set Mode either on the device via the disconnect button or press the SET button inside hörbert again. If you want to set the parrot mode, see the necessary steps for parrot mode below before leaving the Browser Set Mode.
  
• Wait until hörbert plays again and select one of the playlists that you previously enabled for voice recordings.

Starting and stopping a recording with hörbert

• To start a recording, proceed as follows:
• Press the black and grey buttons at the very bottom on the front of hörbert simultaneously. The red light behind the microphone opening lights up. Recording has started, you can release both buttons. Or press a playlist button longer on a hörbert with only three large playlist buttons, depending on the selected recording mode.
• To end and save the recording, you must press the black button once. On a hörbert with only three playlists, you can end and save the recording by briefly pressing a playlist button again.
• The recording is played directly a few seconds after ending.
  

Parrot mode of hörbert

The parrot mode in hörbert is a special function with which you can record your own voice on all playlists, listen to it directly afterwards, but hörbert deletes this recording immediately after listening, provided the playlist was not previously specifically allowed for voice recording. Just like a parrot that repeats what it hears. This is a lovely gimmick and fun speech play for young and old. This function is also useful in speech therapy and for speech development. Direct listening back trains hearing and self-perception – central elements in speech therapy.

How to activate parrot mode on hörbert

• You need the Browser Set Mode of hörbert for activation.
• Start the Browser Set Mode as described above
• Go to the GENERAL menu item and there to the “Advanced Settings“. Tick the box for “Show expert menu“. In the main menu you’ll now find a new sub-item “EXPERT”. Select this. Go there to the “Recording Settings“. Switch on the parrot mode here.
• Leave the Browser Set Mode via the disconnect button or press the SET button inside hörbert to return to hörbert playback mode.
• Now you can make voice recordings via the built-in microphone in all playlists. The recordings are only saved if hörbert was playing a playlist in which voice recordings are allowed when the recording was started.

Activating voice recordings without the Butterfly firmware

If the Butterfly firmware isn’t running on your hörbert yet, you can still perform all necessary steps without the Browser Set Mode. You need without Butterfly firmware however a computer and the hörbert software to edit the memory card. You can find the current hörbert software on our website in the “Service” section under “Software Downloads”. Download the software and install it on your computer.

By the way: On all hörberts and also on all accessible hörberts with only three large buttons that we’ve been delivering since mid-November 2024, the Butterfly firmware is already installed.

• 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 the drive in the hörbert software.
• Click on “Read card” and wait until the software has read all titles and now displays the number of audio files located there on the coloured buttons.
• Now click on the coloured button on the screen that you want to enable for voice recordings.
• Select “Save voice recordings here” at the bottom of the content window.
• Close the window via the green tick at the top right.
• Go to “Extras” in the hörbert software main menu and then to “Configure Set Mode“.
• Select “Allow” for microphone and save the setting.
• Eject the card properly via the green button next to the “Eject card” display and wait until the hörbert software says that you may now disconnect the card from the computer.
• Insert the SD card back into hörbert and switch on hörbert.
• Start a recording by pressing the black and grey buttons simultaneously until the red lamp at the microphone opening at the front 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.