The Recorder is a utility for recording audio into a new document.
The meter at the far right is a level monitor for the incoming audio. It shows the average of all of the enabled channels.
To begin or arm recording (based on the settings in the "Timing" drawer), click the "Start" button. The waveform moves from right to left displaying the previous few seconds of recorded audio. To insert a Marker during recording, click the button with the Marker head icon. To insert a Region start or end, click the button with the Region head icon. This will automatically alternate between Region start and end points. To stop recording, click the "Stop" button. To erase the current recording, click the "Clear" button. The numbers displayed above the waveform view show the amount of recording time used (left) and the amount of recording time available (right).
When a recording is complete, click the "Done" button and new document containing the recorded audio will open.
To configure your audio inputs, click the button at the bottom left labeled with a microphone icon to open the "Inputs" drawer. To change the active input device and open it's custom configuration utility (if supported), click the "Configure..." button. Click the checkboxes to enable or disable particular inputs. Note the small level and clip indicators above the channel selection checkboxes.
To set a time or threshold to start or stop recording, click the button labeled with a stopwatch icon at the bottom left to open the "Timing" drawer. Here you can configure options for starting and stopping the recording process.