USERS MANUAL BASIC, VERSION: A2 April 22, 2013

www.snooper.se
 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 2

GETTING STARTED................................................................................................................................................ 2

MAIN INTERFACE OVERVIEW .......................................................................................................................... 3

RECORDING MODE ............................................................................................................................................... 3

SOUND ACTIVATED .......................................................................................................................................... 4

NORMAL ....................................................................................................................................................... 4

DICTATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 4

TEST ............................................................................................................................................................. 4

TRIGGER SETTINGS ............................................................................................................................................... 5

OPTIONS ............................................................................................................................................................ 5

GENERAL ....................................................................................................................................................... 6

MAIL ............................................................................................................................................................ 7

AUDIO .......................................................................................................................................................... 8

SCHEDULER.................................................................................................................................................... 9

HOTKEYS ..................................................................................................................................................... 10

ENCRYPTION................................................................................................................................................. 11

EVENTS ..................................................................................................................................................... 12

SOUND LOGGER........................................................................................................................................ 13

ADVANCED FILTER SETTINGS ........................................................................................................................ 14

VOICE MAIL ...................................................................................................................................................... 15

1
 INTRODUCTION

Snooper is an advanced sound activated recorder. It will start to record automatically

when sound is detected on the selected input, and pause as soon as there are no
sounds.

Encrypted recordings can be sent by e-mail after a recording is finished. You can
schedule the starting and ending times for any recording you plan to make using the
recording scheduler function. Recordings are saved in compact MP3 format.

Suggested applications: Telephone recordings

Voice notes
Unattended recordings of radio broadcasts
Internet recordings
Scanner recordings; catch channels that rarely have activity
Barking dogs
etc.

GETTING STARTED

System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win7 x86, x64

Sound card, microphone and Internet connection for voice mail.

.NET Framework 2 or better must be installed

Before the first recording, select the recording device input in general options.

Select a directory where the audio files should be saved in:

File/Options/General/Default storage.

To get an accurate audio experience it’s recommended that the noise cancellation filter
is added first. Then read through the options in this manual and select the settings that
best fits your needs.

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 MAIN INTERFACE OVERVIEW

A digital pre-recording Indicates recording in

filter is selected. stereo or mono.

Visible indicator of
sound and trigger Recording mode options.
level.

Enable/disable real time Noise

Suppression. Create new noise
profile.

Adjustable trigger level

When checked, the actual recording is not Save an ongoing recording with
affected by the noise suppression system. It’s the Flush button and a new
only in use when deciding the trigger level. recording starts immediately after.

RECORDING MODE

Selection of different recording modes.

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 SOUND ACTIVATED

In this mode Snooper will start recording when the sound level is above the trigger
threshold. The recording led will flash to indicate that a recording is in progress.
Recording will automatically stop when there is silence.

Pressing the Flush button will save the current recording and a new recording will start
immediately after in the same selected recording mode.

NORMAL

In normal mode Snooper will record continuously until the Stop button is pressed.
The recording led will flash to indicate that the recording is in progress.

Pressing the Flush button will save the current recording and a new recording will start
immediately after in the same selected recording mode.

DICTATION

In dictation mode Snooper will start recording when the sound level is above the trigger
threshold and collect all recordings into a single file. Tone markers can optional be
generated between recordings.

Pressing the Flush button will save the current recording and a new recording will start
immediately after in the same selected recording mode.

TEST

In this mode, Snooper is in “no recording mode”, no recordings are made.

This test mode will allow adjusting the trigger level without actually recording any
sound. Trigger level can be adjusted to an appropriate level with the help of the trigger
led at the top of the main window.

4
 TRIGGER SETTINGS

The trigger slider sets the threshold for the

trigger sound level. The selected level is shown in
the level meter as a blue line. If the sound level
reaches the threshold the recording will start and
keep on recording as long as the sound is above
the threshold level.

OPTIONS

To get to the configuration and settings

dialog press File/Options.

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 GENERAL

Select from the “Recording device” drop down box which recording input to use.

If you select “What U Hear” or a similar input, the recording will be from sound played
on the computer.

If checking the Smart storage checkbox, the recordings will be saved in a catalogue
structure under the default storage path. The folders are organized hierarchically by
year, month and day.

6
 MAIL

Settings for auto sending mail with or without sound attachments. Use the advanced
settings button to enter authentication information.

7
 AUDIO

Rough guidelines of the encoder/sampler settings:

Application Bitrate Sample rate Stereo/Mono Typical file size

Voice recordings 8 – 16 Kb/s - 16000 Hz Mono ~30 – 120 KB/s

Normal recording 64 Kb/s 22050 Hz Mono ~240 KB/s

High quality 128 – Kb/s 44100 Hz Stereo ~500 KB/s

The “Recording time window” selects the recording window “around” the trigger pulse.
If no new trigger is detected during this time frame the recording will automatically stop
if Snooper is in sound activation mode.

8
 SCHEDULER

Press the Add button to add a new recording task.

Different tasks can record from different recording devices and in different recording
modes.

9
 HOTKEYS

Select system wide hotkeys to control the program.

Note! If stealth mode is used and the hotkey combinatoin is forgotten simply re-install
the program and the stealth function will be deactivated. All other settings will be
intact.

“Start/Stop recording when switching to/from screen lock” checkbox will enable
automatically activation of Snooper in current ly selected recording mode when locking
the computer.

10
 ENCRYPTION

Enter a password to encrypt the sound recordings. The same password must be given to
be able to play the recording.

11
 EVENTS

Use events to play a sound when a trigger occurs or start an external program or bat-
file.

12
 SOUND LOGGER

Enable audio logging by checking the “Activate” checkbox.

Sample rate is the length between the audios samples that are collected by the logger.

13
 Real time graph update Toggle smoothing ON/OFF. Toggle between absolute
start/pause. and relative sound level.

The picture above is an example of a logging session.

ADVANCED FILTER SETTINGS

View/Advanced filter settings (Ctrl+F)

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 The “Noise filter attenuation” level slider adjusts how much the noise suppression
profile is affecting the audio.

Several pre-defined filters can be set to adjust the recording/trigger.

The “Trigger sensitivity” slider sets the senitivity theshold and affects how long time the
sound level must be over the trigger limit before releasing a trigger.
Range 0-2000 ms.

VOICE MAIL

Voice mail can be sent manually directly from the program by pressing File/Voice mail.

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