Vista handles audio in somewhat different way than previous versions of Windows. Most notably each audio program installed on the computer has its own volume slider in Volume Mixer dialog. Claudio is now fully compatible with all those changes so you can use it on Vista computers without problems.

This version of the program allows you to change sound effect parameters during playback. Simply bring up the effects dialog (SET - Effects - Controls, or directly through Alt-F keyboard shortcut), change parameters you want and click Apply for immediate effect.

When you want to export a recording or send it by email from the program you can now apply sound effects at the same time. You should simply enable "Apply Sound Effects" in the Export Options dialog you get at the beginnig of the export/send process.

If you want to run Claudio without its icon being placed in the tray area of the taskbar simply enable "Run without Tray Icon" option that is available on the General tab of the program's SET/Options dialog.

Four sound effects are now available for playback: echo, equalizer, flanger and pitch. Each effect has its own controls and parameters. Simply bring up the effects dialog (Settings - Effects - Controls, or directly through Alt-F keyboard shortcut), change parameters you want and click Apply for immediate effect.

This is a new option of the track editor. It allows you to split a track in two or three parts depending on positions of cut markers. So, usage is pretty much the same as when you are making cut-outs, but with this option nothing is discarded, the track is just replaced with two or three tracks derived from it. Track editor is accessible directly from the front panel, simply select a track in the list and click Edit.

To access this option simply click Rearrange Cassette on the front panel. Then click Append to Existing Cassette, choose a target cassette file and click Save. Of course, before appending you can rearrange the source cassette file, delete tracks, merge them or change their order. After appending is completed the program will automatically open the target cassette file and position you on the first appended track in it. The source cassette file will remain unchanged.

Five new sampling rates are available when creating a new cassette file: 32kHz, 48kHz, 88kHz, 96kHz and 192kHz.

With this option you can increase/decrease the signal level of recorded sound. The available range is from -100% (total silence) to +100% (double the input signal level). Please note that this kind of amplification is artificial so depending on the input signal it can come to degradation in sound quality if peaks get cut off. To access pre-amplifier right click on the program's icon in the system tray, choose Settings/Options and go to Recording tab.

When exporting tracks you can now tell the program to break them in files with maximum length that you set in minutes. For example, if you are exporting a track of 40 minutes and want to break it into 15 minutes files then you will get three files as a result, first two will hold 15 minutes each and the last one will have the remaining 10 minutes. The option is available for all six file types that the program can create on exporting.

You can also enable "break track while recording" option within recording settings, set maximum track length there and the program will automatically create a new track during recording without interruption whenever the current track reaches that limit.

Using this option you will be able to mix two recorded tracks into one new track. To access the option right click on the ticker area of the program's front panel and choose Mix Tracks. Then just select tracks you want to mix, set mixing balance if necessary and click Ok. Before clicking Ok you can also click Test to hear what you will get as the result.

Claudio is now improved to allow unattended scheduled recordings. That means you can create a scheduled task to launch the program at some moment in the future, start recording from selected sound source, then also stop recording and exit the program. Various recurrence patterns are also available and all this was made possible by adding special program control interface so another one of our programs called Smooth Program Scheduler can talk to Claudio and automate its actions.

This unique operation mode is designed to make transcribing recorded material easier. With option enabled playback first goes for some time, then it pauses automatically and finally rewinds a little bit to start a new cycle. The idea is to minimize interaction with the program while transcribing. You can adjust all parameters for this mode so with some experimenting you should be able to find the winning combination - in ideal case you would just start the playback once and type everything in a single pass.

While the program is working it has to create some temporary files. By default, those temporary files are saved to the same folder where cassette files are saved. Now you can change the location for temporary files and set it to either temporary folder used by the Windows itself (system) or any other folder you want (custom). Setting a custom folder is a good option when you have additional hard drive with plenty of free space.

Track editor gives you the opportunity to make cut-outs and thus clean the recording of parts you do not want to keep. It is as simple as marking the cut-out using the set of options available for positioning within the recording and clicking on Cut. Track editor is accessible directly from the front panel, simply select a track in the list and click Edit.

If audio logging, archiving, storage and monitoring radio broadcasts is part of your daily routine you will love this option. Just import your material into Claudio and during playback you can use keyboard shortcuts (+/- on numerical keyboard) to jump forward and backward through the recording for quick review. The option is configurable (with 30 seconds per keypress as default) and works in stop mode, too.

OGG Vorbis is an audio compression format that is roughly comparable to other formats used to store and play digital music, such as MP3, VQF, AAC, and other digital audio formats. It is already supported by many sound programs and you are now able to export and import sound files in this format with Claudio, too. Export to OGG Vorbis does not depend on any external programs/codecs and it will work for all sound qualities available in Claudio.

Among previously available options, right clicking on Claudio's icon in the system tray will allow you to select the Loop Track option. This option, when selected, will make Claudio automatically play the same track over and over again.

Now, when you choose to export the cassette file, you will have the new option of having each track within the cassette file exported as a separate sound file, in addition to having the entire cassette exported as a single sound file. Exported sound files will be automatically numbered.

This version of the program gives you a radio buttons pair to choose which Volume Controls utility Claudio should bring up when you click Mix on its front panel - Claudio's or Windows's. Radio buttons are located on the Settings/Options dialog. Default selection is Windows Volume Controls.

If Claudio's Volume Controls Panel is selected you will get access to all sound card volume controls (playback and recording) at one place. Number of available sliders depends solely on the installed driver. However, some drivers could cause problems with this feature, so if you have problems with Claudio's Volume Controls Panel you have to switch back to using Windows Volume Controls.

This option is designed to make transcribing tracks easier. First you set the parameter "Instant and Playback Pause Rewind" available on Settings/Options dialog to the desired time offset. Just enter zero (0) if you do not want to use it at all.

Then each time you release Playback Pause the program will automatically rewind the track for that time offset and continue with playback.

Additionally, there is a new Off-Focus shortcut (Down Arrow, see Available Shortcuts dialog, Off-Focus Mode tab) that gives you the opportunity to Instant Rewind your track on-the-fly during playback without stopping it.

Now you can insert new recordings into existing tracks at desired location. It works from Stop, Play and Paused Play modes when you press Ctrl key and click on Record.

By default Claudio automatically rewinds to track start when playback is stopped. Now you can change this behaviour by disabling "On stop rewind to track start" option in Settings/Options dialog; in that case track will not rewind automatically.

You can choose your own sound separator WAV file, stay with default sound separator or not use sound separator at all. This option affects a whole cassette export only.

New shortcut keys available in Off-Focus mode are: Rewind, Forward, Volume Up, Volume Down, Play Faster and Play Slower. They will give you more control over the program when working in other programs.

If you find scrolling ticker annoying you can now turn scrolling off by selecting None as scrolling direction. Right click on the ticker area to find Direction parameter.