Your first recording (5 minutes)

You have a sequencer pattern driving your Builder (§ Your first pattern). Now capture it to a WAV file you can share, archive, or re-import as a sample.

#Step 1 — Find the Rec button

In the master Transport Widget at the top centre, the Rec button is the small red dot — second from the right, just left of the Panic button (the one that cuts every note; don't reach for that one mid-take). Hover it; the tooltip confirms "Start recording the master output to a WAV file".

#Step 2 — Start the recording

You can record while the transport is stopped or while it's playing — the Rec button toggles independently. The classic workflow:

1. Stop the transport (if it's playing).
2. Click Rec. The button pulses red — recording is armed.
3. Click Play (the leftmost transport button). Playback starts; the recording captures from this point.
4. Let it run for as many bars as you want.
5. Click Stop. Playback halts.
6. Click Rec again. Recording ends; the WAV file is written to disk.

#Step 3 — Find your recording

actions:
  - action_id: surface.open
    input: { surface: recorder-default }
    label: "▶ Open the Recorder panel"

Open the Recorder rail panel (right rail; the recording-dot icon — or the button above). The Recorder panel opens, showing every file in your recordings library — newest first. Your fresh take is at the top.

Each row shows: name (timestamped), duration in seconds, file size, and three actions: Play (preview in-app), Reveal (open the folder in your OS file manager), Delete (hard-delete, no trash).

Click Play on your row. The file plays back in-app via the audio system. (The transport doesn't restart; the Recorder uses its own playback path.)

#Step 4 — Re-import as a sample

The round-trip — record → re-import — is one of FaustWave's bread-and-butter moves. The just-recorded WAV is sitting on disk. Bring it into the sample store:

1. Open your Builder canvas. Right-click the pane, search soundfile. Add a Soundfile node.
2. Either drag the WAV from your file manager onto the Soundfile node, OR run samples.import { file_path: "<path>" } (the assistant can do this for you).
3. The sample's sha256 binds to the Soundfile node; on the next compile your Builder plays back the recording instead of synthesizing.

#What you've built (Getting Started, complete)

• A Faust DSP (osc + midi_note + gain → output).
• A MIDI-driven sequencer pattern in A minor with arpeggio + chord stabs.
• A lossless WAV recording of the loop on disk.
• A sample that re-enters the same Builder via a Soundfile node.

You've touched every major subsystem: Builder, Sequencer, Patchbay routing, Mixer, Master, Recorder, and the Documents / sample library. Everything from here is depth.

#Where to go next — the rest of the manual

Each button opens the book in its own Reader tab; the full library also lives in the Knowledge rail panel under Installed Packs.

actions:
  - action_id: book.open
    input: { book_id: faustwave-builder }
    label: "📖 Builder — the visual graph editor in depth"
  - action_id: book.open
    input: { book_id: faustwave-sequencer }
    label: "📖 Sequencer — grid, slots, scenes"
  - action_id: book.open
    input: { book_id: faustwave-mixer-master }
    label: "📖 Mixer & Master — tracks, sends, FX rack"
  - action_id: book.open
    input: { book_id: faustwave-reference }
    label: "📖 Reference — shortcuts, MCP catalog, formats"

• FaustWave — Builder — the canvas + node-kinds + lifecycle + samples + the .dsp workflow.
• FaustWave — Sequencer — multi-track grid, slots, scenes, the full action catalog.
• FaustWave — Keyboard — chords, hold-mode, channel filtering.
• FaustWave — Recorder — the tap model, file format, parameter-sweep capture chains.
• FaustWave — Mixer & Master — tracks, sends, the Master FX rack, master volume + softclip.
• FaustWave — Patchbay & Routing — the routing model + matrix + the routing.* MCP surface.
• FaustWave — Hub — publishing instruments, sample-packs, books, projects.
• FaustWave — AI Assistant — the in-app AI, the Command Palette, MCP for external clients.
• FaustWave — Reference — keyboard shortcuts, MCP catalog, file formats, themes.
• FaustWave — Node-Pack Authoring — writing + publishing your own node kinds.