Call Corder:
Modem Phone Recorder

Phone call recording software with Caller ID for your voice modem

Call Corder Frequently Asked Questions

1. The program does not record or play back voice, or there's a lot of statics.
2. The program does not start recording automatically.
3. The recording cuts off after several minutes.
4. What is TAPI? How it is different from COM port access?

Answers

• The program does not record or play back voice, or there's a lot of statics.

  1. You may have a modem that does not support voice. Solution: try using TAPI mode to make sure. Call Corder - Options - Configuration - Telephone Device.

  2. The program may has selected an incorrect modem. Solution: try running Setup again.

   

• The program does not start recording automatically.

  To enable automatic recording check Call Corder - Options - Configuration - Advanced - Record incoming calls automatically. Call Corder supports two kind of automatic recording:

  1. It will start automatic recording after the last ring. The ring is considered the last one of there is 6 second pause after the ring. This feature works in both COM port and TAPI modes.
  2. It will also start recording when the handset attached to the modem's "phone" socket is lifted. Note that this only works in the COM port mode (and does not work in the TAPI mode).

  Several conditions must be met in order to allow for a second type automatic recording. First of all, make sure that your phone is attached to the modem's socket, not to the wall phone jack. Secondly, not all modems can support handset position detection.

  If the feature does not work, please check the above conditions, and change configuration if possible.

   

• The recording cuts off after several minutes.

  It normally should not happen. Try using TAPI mode if you were using COM port, or COM port mode if the Call Corder was configured for TAPI. Call Corder - Options - Configuration - Telephone Device.

   

• What is TAPI? How it is different from COM port access?

  During setup, the Call Corder provides with selection of one of two modes: direct COM port access or standard TAPI interface. Later you can change the mode in Properties -> Telephone Device. TAPI stands for Telephony Applications Programming Interface. Your selection is critical both for compatibility and for troubleshooting.

  In few words, the difference is as follows:

  	Advantages	Drawbacks
  Direct COM port access	Full support of all modem features.	Modem is grabbed by the Call Corder and is not available for other applications.
  TAPI	Modem or telephony card is easily shared between multiple applications.	Most (yet not all) features are supported.

   

   

  Direct COM port access

  The direct COM port access allows full use of all modem features. In case you decide to use this mode, it is critical to specify your modem type correctly to let the program make use of all its enhancements, because each modem type possesses its own directive set (often incompatible with others). It is true even for modems of one family (made with different revisions of the same chipset)! There are tons of various different modems in the world, thus the program often fails recognizing a rare brand correctly. As a result, the program operation may fail.  

   

  TAPI

  Theoretically, one can avoid all these problems by using Telephony Applications Programming Interface (TAPI) standard. The idea of such an interface is not revolutionary but yet quite smart. However, this interface implementation is yet far from ideal. For example, faxing is not provided at all, voice operation is quite unstable, etc. But - now a software needs not to know about modems, phone sets, etc. (including ISDN, DSL, and modem raiser cards)! TAPI will do everything to let a software work with all hardware brands in the same way.

  Unfortunately, all this is too theoretical and academic by now. In practice, however, modems are often supplied with wrong drivers, of these drivers operate wrong, or the OS itself is wrong. For instance,

  Windows 95 supports voice modems only after installing Unimodem/V module you need to download from Microsoft server.

  Windows NT 4.0 does not support voice modems at all.

  Windows 98 has a complete set of drivers and is the only OS of Windows family that operates normally in TAPI mode (provided you install the right driver correctly).

  Windows 2000 requires several updates of voice mode drivers in comparison with '98, so voicing is still in question here.

  So if one mode does not work, select another at Properties -> Telephone Device.

  The good news for TAPI is that one great problem gets resolved: sharing your modem between software applications. Thus, in TAPI mode you can login to the Internet or get a FAX via any other application - without exiting Advanced Call Center (the direct COM access mode prevents other programs from accessing your modem when Advanced Call Center is run).

  Current versions of Call Corder doe not support the following features in TAPI mode:

  • Monitoring handset position
  • Recording from your modem mic or via handset mic
  • Playing back via modem speaker