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Aircast Version 3.1.1 User Manual

1. dialog Refresh Add Close Browse For Folder If a different dialog appears click Cancel then click Add notf the dropdown arrow to its Add Folder right and don t proceed until you have a Browse for Folder dialog open as shown on the left B Program Files dor On the Browse for Folder dialog navigate to and select the folder C Program e y 1 i 8 Ahead Files AIRCAST 3 1 then click OK 5 Amazing Clock Wheel 20 FS cart The Browser opens a new pane and you see the test ogg messenger gt Microsoft ActiveSync file in the pane Note that folder panes in the Browser microsoft Frontpage E 3 cine iia list only audio files even if there are other files in the folder 4 Microsoft visual Studio al pape You now have two panes in the Browser To choose poi the pane you want to view click 1ts name in the pane stack just 2 Movie Maker below the main Browser window This is known as making a MP3 Player Utilities as pane the active pane The active pane expands to fill the Browser and the previous active pane returns to the pane stack Note that you can t change the order of panes in the stack Revision 20 The new pane has the name C Program Files AIRCAST 3 1 which happens to be fully visible in the Browser But what happens if you open a folder with a much longer path like C Audio Library For broadcast Music E K for example in the Browser That path does not
2. To cancel your changes click Cancel Note that this will not undo any changes you have already saved by clicking an Export data to button The Item Properties dialog is described below by tab 9 6 1 General tab Title The item s Title For special Playlist items like DUMMY and BREAK Title is the name of the special item Artists The item s Artist or Artists If the item has two or more artists we strongly recommend that you put each Artist on separate lines the AIRCASTDB database can then list the item under each Artist name To add a new line in the Artists box press Enter For special Playlist items like DUMMY BREAK and COMMAND Artist is always blank Ending default blank Type any code you wish to indicate the item s ending type A commonly used system is to use an Ending code of f for items which fade out s for items which stop or have a definite end and to leave the Ending code of all other items blank An item s Ending is shown in the Playlist but has no other function in AJRCAST Duration The item s total duration You cannot change this value Type default none The item s Type chosen from a dropdown list of the available Types in AJRCAST An item s Type is shown in AIRCASTDB and can be used as a Filter in the AIRCASTDB Mini Scheduler Tip Mark all instrumental items with a Type of Instrumental External ID default blank The ID of the item in an exte
3. PLAYLIST P OPTION o s Option o mode switch for Playlist P In the following Command b represents the name of a Playlist progress bar option see 7 1 5 on page 35 chosen from this list AutoHide Enabled IgnoreCartwall NearestRamp Ramp Split PLAYLIST P PROGRESSBAR b s Progress bar option b mode switch for Playlist P PLAYLIST P RECYCLE Recycles the selected item s in Playlist P PLAYLIST P RECYCLE ALL Recycles all items in Playlist P PLAYLIST P SKIPTOHERE Marks all items above the selected item as played PLAYLIST P SWAP xy Swaps the contents of Players x and y in Playlist P 4 Tf two or more items are selected the last selected item is opened in the PFL Player Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 116 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English B Nuvola Icon Graphics Files Used By AIRCAST Revision 20 The list below contains the names and locations of all the Nuvola icon graphics files used by AIRCAST applications and includes all the graphics files shown in 8 2 1 on page 78 The folder names shown are relative to the unpacked Nuvola distribution root folder To replace any or all of these icon graphics in AIRCAST please see 8 2 2 on page 80 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 117 16x16lactionsM leftarrow png 16x16lactionsM rightarrow png 16x16 actions artsaudiomanager png 16x16 actions cancel png 16x16 actions connect_creating png 16x16 actions e
4. The logging variable X for external ID displays this external ID in logs To show or hide External ID values as a column in the right hand pane of the AIRCASTDB window click View Library Columns and select or clear Ext ID 11 9 1 Adding External IDs To AIRCASTDB Databases If you are using AJRCAST in conjunction with another audio database or music scheduling application and even if the other application uses numeric IDs the IDs for every item will definitely not be identical in both applications AIRCAST provides a relatively easy way to add External ID values to items in an A RCASTDB database or to update External ID values You must first use your other application to export or create a CSV file which contains the ID of each item in that application the External ID in AIRCASTDB and its full path filename It doesn t matter at this point whether the file contains other values as well but if the other application can do so ideally you would create the CSV file to match the format shown in the examples below To add or update External IDs in A RRCASTDB without changing any other values the CSV file needs to have a specific format and content as shown in the examples below Each line must contain only the External ID value and the full path file name of each item all other fields in the CSV file except the internal ID field which must be empty for an import must have the value of a single hyphen w
5. mode which mimics the cueing features on professional CD decks If this setting is off the PFL Player does not use stutter mode Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 41 7 2 4 Buttons tab These settings show or hide each of the Player s buttons The available buttons are Start Stop Pause Close PFL Loop Hook Fade Out and Reset The default is to show all buttons We recommend that you hide any Player buttons you don t use For example to force your users to control AIRCAST only from faders on a mixer hide all the Player buttons If you hide all the buttons on a Player its height is reduced and you can use the extra screen space for other purposes 7 2 5 Progress Bar tab These settings affect the Progress Bar which you can optionally show within the Player Enable progress bar default on If this setting is off the Player does not show a Progress Bar If this setting is off for all Players in the Playlist the Players heights are reduced and you can use the extra screen space for other purposes Show ramp in progress bar default on If this setting 1s off the Progress Bar does not show Ramps as separate coloured sections Split progress bar during ramp default on If this setting is off the Progress Bar shows Ramps at the left of the bar if this setting is on the bar is split vertically with the top half of the bar showing the Ramps Show on
6. the hour o clock Use soft fixed time mark the first loaded playlist element with a soft fixed time has no effect unless Set fixed time on first element is also selected Use an extra dummy element for fixed time add a DUMMY element with a fixed time of the hour has no effect unless Set fixed time on first element is also selected Report an error if the playlist is empty if the playlist being loaded is empty report this as an error Load Loads the Playlist with the database playlist for the current hour Except for items currently playing existing items in the Playlist are deleted before the playlist file is loaded Load and play Loads the Playlist with the database playlist for the current hour and plays it immediately Except for items currently playing existing items in the Playlist are deleted before the playlist file is loaded Insert Inserts the database playlist for the current hour at the top of the Playlist Insert and play Inserts the database playlist for the current hour at the top of the Playlist and plays it immediately Append Appends the database playlist for the current hour to the end of the Playlist Generate playlists Generates database playlists see 11 5 3 6 on page 102 for a number of hours in advance f Unless you select the setting Load the playlist for the next hour instead of the current hour and or specify a Time adjustment on the Options
7. 54 7 8 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English Logging Logging means the log entries which AJRCAST can create when each item played out is started and stopped sometimes also known as playout logging This is separate from the AIRCAST System Log see 7 12 10 on page 65 which logs internal events such as when AIRCAST is opened and closed Almost every station requires a log of all music played including its actual broadcast duration to comply with the requirements of the local music licensing agencies such as the Harry Fox Agency in the USA GEMA in Germany or PPL and MCPS PRS in the UK Playout logs can also assist in the running of your station For example whether a presenter has played too many songs by the same artist to quickly answer listener enquiries What was the third song you played after the news at noon or to prove the playout of ads to clients You can also use logging to send now playing information to an HTTP location such as a Web site or to a text file or database feeding an RDS encoder or to be encoded into AIRCAST s Icecast2 audio output stream Note that AIRCAST s internal Shoutcast and Icecast2 stream encoders automatically updates Title and Artist information so you should not use playout logging to do this unless you are using a Shoutcast or Icecast2 stream encoder outside of AIRCAST 7 8 1 Log Types Note that you can add several log types
8. Like all database files a AIRCASTDB database can become bloated over time To compact or defrag a AIRCASTDB database open its Configure Setup dialog in the AJRCAST configuration program click the Advanced tab then click VACUUM Perform now Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 97 11 4 Working With The Library Tab The Library tab window in AIRCASTDB shows the contents of your library using two panes The left hand pane shows a tree whose root is the database name The first level nodes below the root are virtual Folders Artists item Types item Attributes and Storages The right hand pane is a list of the contents of the node selected in the left hand pane For example click an Artist node in the left pane to show all items by that Artist in the right pane To add a new virtual folder select a folder or the Folders node in the tree on the Library page then on the toolbar click New Folder To rename a virtual folder select it click its name edit the name and press Enter To move a virtual folder within the Folders tree drag the folder and drop it on the folder you want to move it to Drop the folder on the Folders node to make it a top level folder To delete a virtual folder select it and on the toolbar click Delete Folder Any items in that folder which are now no longer in any other virtual folder move to the Unsorted folder To add item
9. So please remember the smaller your skin ini file is the faster your AIRCAST startup will be For example if all you want to change is the colour of all empty cartwall players to a neutral grey your skin ini file would contain exactly two lines Cartwall EmptyColor 666666 More complicated requirements like using colours to reflect player states in the Players and Playlist or highlighting special Playlist items or History items by using specific contrasting colours for them do of course require quite a number of settings to be added to skin ini this is unavoidable However by judicious and careful use of the settings and by taking advantage of the way AJRCAST processes skin ini and resolves any conflicts see the next page for details you can keep the size of your skin ini to tithe minimum necessary Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 70 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 8 1 1 skin ini Setting Names and Conflicts Some skin ini setting names are simple and fixed They are written like this AutoSize off Below the setting name is a description of what it does like this Add this setting to stop the Browser resizing to fill vacant space when the AIRCAST window is resized This implies that the default for this setting is on so using the least possible lines in skin ini principle you know that adding AutoSize on to your skin ini file would be redundant We als
10. button_close png A Close eject button button_fadeout png De Fadeout button not a Nuvola icon button_hook png off Hook button button_loop png Loop button button_next png Next button Cartwall Players only button_pause png Pause button button_pfl png dp PFL button button_previous png Ie Previous button Cartwall Players only button_reset png KI Reset button button_start png gt Start play button button_stop png Ja Stop button 8 2 1 2 Playlist Control bar Button Icons default size 48x48 pixels Filename Default Icon for AIRCAST Playlist Control bar button_jump png gt Jump next button button_start png gt Start play button button_stop png Stop button Tf the images folder does not exist create it and then copy your image files into it Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 79 8 2 1 3 Playlist Icons default size 64x64 pixels except as stated Filename Default Icon for AIRCAST Playlist icon_advertisement png e Advertising Type item icon_attention png 0 icon_audimark png mark Audimark item not a Nuvola icon icon_break png Break item icon_command png Command item icon_comment png icon_container png Container item icon_dummy png Dummy item icon_endofchain png Final linked item in Link column 32x32pixels icon_error png Error item after a This Playlist Check for errors icon_file png File audio file item icon_history png His
11. clash two events running within a minute or less of each other if they do either separate the events by a few minutes or merge the Action Lists in the clashing events into a single event so that you can control the order in which the combined set of Actions will run Finally always Save the event list mle file after every change you make and give every Event List file a meaningful name that you will recognise later Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 26 5 1 3 2 J3 5 4 oe Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English AIRCAST Data File Types All AIRCAST data files are XML documents stored as plain text files Although you can view or edit these files in any plain text viewing editing application an XML viewer or editor application makes the internal file structures easier to see and understand We recommend that you use an XML viewer or editor application several freeware programs are available if you need or wish to edit or view the contents of these files regularly mla Action List Contains a list of Actions see 4 1 on page 19 Created by clicking Save on any Action List Opened by clicking Load on any Action List Edited by clicking Configure on any Action List mlc Cart Set Contains a snapshot of a Cartwall s contents and Cartwall Player settings including any Cart Stacks Triggers and Actions on Stop Start and all saved changes to any Cartwall Player ite
12. in filename as Fade Out is on see 7 12 1 on page 61 it takes priority over this setting If enabled Fade Out is set to the point when audio level last falls below the level specified Automatically determine Cue Out for new items defaults on and 90dB If enabled Cue Out is set to the point when audio level last falls below the level specified Limit time between Fade Out and Cue Out defaults off and O seconds This setting has no effect unless Fade Out and Cue Out are both determined automatically If enabled the time between Fade Out and Cue Out points is limited to the time specified Fade Out is determined first then Cue Out If the time between the two points exceeds the limit time you specify the Cue Out point is moved to bring it within the limit time NOTE Setting a Fade Out Cue Out limit time may cause the ending of items to be cut off when they are played in assist mode Therefore we recommend that you do not use this setting unless you always play items in automation mode Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 68 7 14 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 7 13 5 Mixdown These settings allow you to create mixdown profiles for the AIRCAST Mixdown function if you have enabled it see 7 12 5 on page 63 AIRCAST can internally mix down and encode a playlist or parts of 1t to a WAV file To mix down to any other audio file format you need an external audio encoder prog
13. 1 separation is the number of hours you want to elapse before the Mini Scheduler is allowed to schedule the same track or an item with the same artist or title respectively Penalty is a weighting factor multiplier which the Mini Scheduler uses to resolve conflicts where the only items which can be scheduled in a particular position would break a separation rule When an item breaks any separation rule the Mini Scheduler calculates its penalty score by multiplying the number of hours it is early by the Penalty for each broken rule adding all three penalty scores together In case of conflicts the item with the lowest total penalty score is scheduled This means that when the Mini Scheduler has to break a separation rule it will break the artist or title separation rule in preference to breaking the track separation rule If you change the default Mini Scheduler separation settings we suggest that you always make the track penalty score highest followed by artist and title to ensure that when necessary you will hear the same artist too often and not the same song too often One final note when generating database playlists the Mini Scheduler calculates separation times by hour not by exact scheduled playout time while choosing items from the virtual folders specified in the hour template Therefore in extreme cases it is possible for separations to be one hour closer than you request For example
14. Click OK to save your current template assignments or click Cancel to abandon all changes made since you opened the dialog 11 5 3 4 Mini Scheduler Configuration Title Artist Separation The Mini Scheduler enforces track title and artist separation when generating playlists that is it will not schedule the same track title or artist closer together than a specified number of hours respectively and it looks back to the hours before those being generated while doing so note that it does not look forward to hours after the hours being scheduled Note that if you generate a single playlist manually from an hour template this does not check track title or artist separation you must use the Mini Scheduler if you want to enforce separations There is only one set of separation values which are applied to all database playlists generated by the Mini Scheduler so you cannot use different separation rules for different days or parts of days To configure the Mini Scheduler track artist and title separations click Administration Configuration then click the Mini Scheduler tab On the Mini Scheduler tab set the Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 102 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English e Track separation in hours default 3 and Penalty default 2 e Artist separation in hours default 2 and Penalty default 1 and the e Title separation in hours default 3 and Penalty default
15. Note that this replaces the current database playlist contents If the current database playlist is not empty click Yes to save the current database playlist first No to allow it to be replaced without saving or Cancel to cancel the import On the Import Playlist dialog select the file type in Files of type then navigate to and select the playlist file you want to import and click Open e To import one or more external playlist files and split them into multiple database playlists click Import Multiple Playlists Note that this may replace the current database playlist contents If the current database playlist is not empty click Yes to save the current database playlist first No to allow it to be replaced without saving or Cancel to cancel the import On the Import Playlists dialog select the file type in Files of type then navigate to and select the playlist file s you want to import and click Open On the Playlist Import dialog Output tab select the start date time and criteria to use to split the playlist s then click Apply Generate To save the results as database playlists in those slots click OK or to cancel the import click Cancel e To export the database playlist you are viewing to a file click Export This Playlist and on the Save Playlist dialog select a file type mlp m3u or printable HTML in Save as type navigate to the correct folder change or accept the File name and click Save e To export a range of
16. default O seconds no timeout maximum 32767 seconds The time allowed to wait for an external server to deliver more data for a stream This setting is useful for detecting stalled or disconnected streams or to force a Player playing a stream to consider a stream as ended after the specified period of time The Info tab lists the installed BASS DLLs and their version numbers as well as information about any BASS plugins you have installed Note To install BASS plugins copy the DLL files to the plugins bass folder in your AIRCAST root data folder To locate your AIRCAST root data folder see 7 14 1 on page 68 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 66 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 7 13 2 WDM Audio These settings apply to audio devices which use standard WDM Windows Driver Model drivers Most audio devices use this type of driver NOTE We suggest that you do not change these settings unless you are an advanced AIRCAST user Most of these settings can adversely affect AIRCAST performance or stop audio output completely if they are changed from their default setting To change the settings for a WDM audio device select 1t from the dropdown which lists all detected WDM audio devices installed on the computer Click Info to open a message box listing basic information about the selected device such as number of speakers and sample rate Output sample rate default 4410
17. it then applies any settings in the Playlistx section if there is one Therefore the settings in the Playlist section are the global or template settings for all Playlists which are overridden by any settings you add for specific individual Playlists Therefore how you use the Playlist section depends on how many Playlists you have and also whether you want all Playlists to have the same look and feel or a different look and feel e Ifyou have only one Playlist make changes in the Playlist section If you later decide to add more Playlists your changes will apply to all of them and if you then want to change any of them individually add a Playlistx section or sections after the Playlists section and make the appropriate changes in that section or sections e Ifyou want all Playlists to look the same make changes in the Playlist section then if you find you need to make minor changes to some Playlists add a Playlistx section or sections after the Playlist section and make the appropriate changes in that section or sections e Ifyou want all Playlists to look different work out any common elements and make those changes in the Playlist section first remember to always try to minimise the number of lines in skin ini then add Playlistx sections after the Playlist section and make the appropriate changes in those sections A Playlist divides naturally into four main parts a toolbar control bar a grid of i
18. see below You should ensure that each iTunes playlist you intend to use in AIRCAST has a total duration of at least sixty minutes Because Tunes playlist names are free form AJRCAST needs to know the pattern it should look for to identify hourly playlists the Hourly Playlist Pattern The pattern is built using logging variables see Table 7 5 Logging Variables on page 35 The default pattern is AIRCAST Y M D h which means for example that the playlist for 0500 on 11th January 2010 would be named in Tunes as AIRCAST 2010 01 11 05 If you use a different playlist naming system in iTunes change the Hourly Playlist Pattern to match the Sample changes as you type to show you the generated playlist name for the current hour Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 60 7 10 7 11 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English Notification Scripts These settings specify the names and locations of any notification scripts see 12 1 on page 106 which you want to run in the background while AJRCAST is open e To add a notification script click Add navigate to an choose an mls file from the dialog then click Open e To remove a notification script select it in the Notification Scripts list then click Remove Actions These settings specify Actions see 4 1 on page 19 which are e shown as items in the Action menu on the AIRCAST main toolbar run just after AIRCAST opens run just be
19. that you wish to take place The most common example is the Load playlist Action which is the same as manually loading a playlist from the A RCAST menu Unlike their manual equivalents Actions allow you to use variables see 7 8 2 on page 55 so as an example provided you name your playlist files using a standard format you can use a single scheduled Action to load all your hourly playlists You can combine any number of Actions into an Action List and you can load and save Action Lists as mla files You can use Actions in several ways e To add custom items to the AIRCAST Actions menu on the main toolbar see 7 11 60 e To create scheduled events which perform routine or repetitive tasks see 4 2 on page 23 e To perform routine or repetitive tasks at AIRCAST startup and or shutdown see 7 11 60 e To perform recovery tasks if the playlist runs empty during Automation playback see 7 11 60 e To define the tasks performed when a custom button is clicked see 7 6 5 on page 50 e To make an item in a Playlist or Cartwall Player work an Action List when the item Starts and or Stops see 9 6 5 on page 88 You can add any Action to any Action List but please note that several Actions have little or no effect when worked from an item s Actions on Start or Actions on Stop Action Lists and a few play Actions have side effects when worked from a starting stopping item during automated play
20. therefore it moves on to the next item Now make sure the final highest numbered item in the stack is cued click Start in Cart 4 again and after a few seconds click Fadeout The Cart now cues the first item in the stack in other words the stack is endless again just like a hardware NAB cartridge For practice click Save set to save the cart set again click Close all then click Load set to load the cart set you just saved Check that your stack in Cart 4 has been saved and loaded Summary of the Cartwall e Use the Cartwall to play jingles effects and similar instant items or music beds Usually you would only use the Cartwall in assist mode e A Cartwall Player can contain more than one audio item a cart stack This 1s especially useful for music beds or for sets of station IDs or jingles like alternate versions cuts or mixes of the same ident Basically use a cart stack for any set of items where you won t need or want to play out any two of the items at the same time e A Cartwall Player re cues when its item ends unless it contains a cart stack e A Cartwall Player containing a cart stack re cues the same item when Stopped it cues the next item when it reaches the end of an item or when Fadeout is clicked e You can set up triggers to automatically start stop or fade other Cartwall Players when you start a specific Cartwall Player e You can save the Cartwall at any time a
21. 1 File name including drive and full path Audio file items 2 File name and extension no drive or path Audio file items 3 File name no extension Audio file items Joa Artist s ob Title ilag Gor example TALB is the MP3 lbum tag s name Antic file ies C AIRCAST Comment Description J AIRCAST Type Station ID Music Voice Track etc Tol AIRCAST internal Type StationID Music Voice etc u attr AIRCAST Attribute value attr is the attribute name E AIRCAST Ending Type value ico AIRCAST Cue Marker time in 1 10 000 000 seconds point is Notes the Cue Marker name Cue In Outro etc AIRCAST internal GUID of this playout of the item 708 items have a different GUID each time they are played U AIRCAST DB internal unique ID number AIRCASTDB items PX AIRCAST DB external ID value AIRCASTDB items Table 7 5 Logging Variables All variables begin with the character followed by a letter or number and sometimes followed by more information enclosed in braces The case of the letter after must be typed exactly as shown For example m is the current minute of the hour but M is the current month shown as two digits Variables are usually part of a longer string Other characters in the string are interpreted literally so the string Y M D log txt would become for example 2011 11 27 log txt Use t an ASCII tab character to separate items in the log entry if you want to create a tab delimited file suitable fo
22. 1 User Manual UK English 65 7 13 7 12 9 Passwords These settings allow you to optionally specify passwords to protect AIRCAST from configuration changes or accidental shutdown The passwords are stored with a simple encryption in the passwords ini file Deleting this file removes password protection so 1f you use passwords we recommend that you write protect the passwords ini file after you set the passwords Configuration password default blank If specified you must type this password to use the AJRCAST configuration program Shutdown password default blank If specified you must type this password to shut down AJRCAST 7 12 10 System Log These settings allow you to optionally write AIRCAST System Log messages to a text file Filename default blank 1s the fully qualified name of the file and can include logging variables see 7 8 2 on page 55 A commonly used filename is drive path Y M D S YSTEM LOG This creates a new log file each day Blank out Filename 1f you do not want to create system log files Message Categories are the message categories to be written to the system log file default all Tick 1ts checkbox to write a message category to file clear 1ts checkbox 1f you do not want to write a message category to file Modules You cannot change any settings on this node This node simply shows the A RCAST program modules which are Enabled or Disabled according to the type of AIRCAST licence you p
23. 122 Basie Script Design and AREAS Escrits a A A a dr 122 SW ne CHO MS copiaron dadas 123 1231 Waderstandine AIRGAS A Time Vales ds dais 123 1232 Playlists And Playback Omir s A E AA EA A AE DEA AA AA Eta 124 1233 Playlistitems And File Pla Stems nsa A A A A A A a 124 DA AAA O A IN aca IN INN A II 124 12 3 5 CartrWallControl a d Cantrlayer CONOS AA A da 124 IAW n IN ot cationes ia 124 Pe AIRCAST COMMANA id A a ia 127 Abot The Command List aa a id dia 127 ALL PLAYERS COMMISSION A A ES 128 AUTOMATIONCOmmands iia aa 128 BROWSER COMME Sessa ease ass desea ease ac de sees es 128 CARTW ALL Player Comm A ion 128 CARTWALL General Command Snu a A wie asaemdne tae ae ana ano ae Oe 129 ENCODER Com cie 129 EXTRAPEECoOmmiads nia cb 129 ONOFEAIRCOMMaN a DAR 129 A A O II cena deecemecaas 129 PLAYER Oman ti EIA IE AAA EA 130 PEAYICES T CONNAN Sic iaa 131 Bi Module Descr iphon Ayan osados ld id al ico 133 PANES UO eS mrp rn Re SOT RS tT BS TE RY ON eR an E ne to ee 133 Audio Pile Dy pes areca A A acs 133 AMOU ts no staan gute tre eevee O ttn ekg wr dev sneha dcop aaa scat tates ds E ateaet 133 BSA LO POP I te bee le teauzeae A ac Cae ative O wae E sauna neuen EAS accom te uannntnabaa te aetbehie 133 BE SAW AO A Cae Oat cette 133 BASS UC ALA Oise a A A A A AAN 133 BSN A 7 OPI E II A O a EE 133 A e O RE E O O I A 133 Coreana torta 133 Cor LOS INS A ASAS AAA AAA e asian eatiege 133 Corema cacas 133 DB e E Giese 133 E A A A O aaen a a an
24. 13 Hook In Cue Marker 4 Title 14 Hook Fade Cue Marker 5 Artist s 15 Hook Out Cue Marker 6 Ending 16 Outro Cue Marker g Duration 17 Start Next Cue Marker 8 Comment description 18 Fade Out Cue Marker 9 Cue In Cue Marker 19 Cue Out Cue Marker 10 Ramp 1 Cue Marker 20 Anchor Cue Marker Figure 11 9 AIRCASTDB CSV Import And Export File Layout When you have prepared your import file and created a AIRCASTDB database open AIRCASTDB and click Database Import On the Import Library dialog select the correct file type SAM4 DRS2006 or CSV for a CSV file in the format shown in Figure 11 9 navigate to and select your import file then click Open Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 105 11 9 ID And External ID Fields Every item in a AIRCASTDB database has a unique numeric ID starting at 1 Items are assigned an ID when they are initially added to the database and you cannot alter the ID of any item The logging variable U for unique ID displays this internal ID in logs If you use another audio database or music scheduling application as well as AIRCASTDB you can use the External ID field in AIRCASTDB to store the unique ID or item number or foreign key of the corresponding item in the external database or application The External ID field has no other purpose in AIRCASTDB and External IDs do not have to be unique in the AIRCASTDB database
25. 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 50 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 7 6 5 Custom Screen Objects As well as the standard AIRCAST screen objects Toolbar Players Playlist Cartwall Browser etc you can optionally add custom screen objects Custom Screen Objects are shown either above or below the Browser unless you create a custom layout see Layout Designer on page 92 In AIRCASTConfig you specify basic settings for each Custom Screen Object such as font size show at top bottom of Browser etc If you create a custom layout as mentioned above you can specify more settings such as the font colour and style normal bold italic or bold italic There are thirteen types of Custom Screen Objects which are briefly described in the table below You can add as many of each type of object as you wish but you are unlikely to want for example more than one LED Clock object in the AIRCAST window e To add a Custom Screen Object click Add select the object type from the menu edit the object see below then click OK or Cancel e To edit a Custom Screen Object select it then click Edit make changes in the Edit dialog see below and click OK or Cancel The Edit dialog contains a sample which shows you how the Custom Screen Object looks with your changes applied e To delete a Custom Screen Object select it then click Remove e To change the display order of Custom Screen Objects se
26. 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 93 10 2 10 5 Using The Layout Designer Dialog Click an object in the Objects list to select it Use this method to RESET Objects Position and Size select an object which is currently under other objects or is Bronser ae a ere Cartwa y v too small or otherwise difficult to select using the mouse The Plyerd_o Top o a handles of the currently selected object change from black to fia Width o re d i Toolbar Height Enable mouse resizing o Note that Playlists Player objects and any custom screen objects you have created are numbered starting from zero so for example the first Player in the first Playlist is named Player0_0 in the Objects list Save layout Discard layout Automatic layout Use the Position and Size text boxes and spin controls to make fine adjustments to the currently selected object This allows you to precisely align the edges of objects and to ensure that objects of the same type for example all Players are all the same size Enable mouse resizing is selected by default Clear this checkbox if you want to prevent accidental changes or while testing your layout Clearing this checkbox removes the handles on all objects Save layout saves the current layout to the layout ini file in your AIRCAST Config folder When you next start AIRCAST it will use the layout you have saved Discard layout re
27. 92 10 10 1 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English Layout Designer To change the positions and sizes of objects in the AIRCAST window including any custom screen objects you have created see section 7 6 5 on page 50 you can if you wish manually edit the layout ini file in your AIRCAST config folder However AIRCAST provides a built in Layout Designer which you can use to make these changes visually The AIRCAST Layout Designer is built in to the AIRCAST exe program file To open the AIRCAST Layout Designer click Start All Programs or Programs AIRCAST Layout Designer or navigate to the AIRCAST program files folder and open the file LayoutDesigner bat The Layout Designer is a fully working copy of AIRCAST with square selection handles on each object in the window main toolbar Players Playlist Browser etc Everything in the window works exactly as it does normally so you can test any changes within the Layout Designer The first time you open the Layout Designer after installing AJRCAST it looks like this mAirList Professional Edition Leith FM 10022 untitled BHA Layout Designer Objects Position and Size Left Top width ala Height Enable mouse resizing Save layout Discard layout Automatic layout Export Import 01 44 16 Figure 10 8 The AIRCAST Layout Designer window The Layout Designer dialog lists all the objects in the window
28. AIRCAST requires in lowercase as shown in the lists below and add the files to the images folder in your AIRCAST data folder Tips for preparing replacement icon graphics files e Because AIRCAST resizes icons if necessary to display them make your replacement graphics files actual size 1f you know the usual displayed sizes of the icons e Although you can use graphics files with a non transparent background colour we strongly recommend against this e For button icons you can add skin ini entries to specify background colours for the button when it is inactive and when it is active see 8 1 6 5 75 This requires graphics files with a transparent background colour e Player button icon changes affect all players including Cartwall Players and PFL Players if you use more than one Playlist Playlist icon changes affect all Playlists 8 2 1 Replacing Common Icon Graphics To replace the most common icons in Players Playlists AIRCASTDB System Log and the built in ATRCAST stream encoder place a PNG format file with the appropriate alias name chosen from the following tables in your AIRCAST images folder see above For example to replace the icon on the PFL button in Players supply a file named button_pfl png The alias filenames and their corresponding AJRCAST icons are listed in the tables below 8 2 1 1 Player Button Icons default size 48x48 pixels Filename Default Icon for AIRCAST Player
29. CARTWALL HIDE Hides the Cartwall CARTWALL LOAD SET f Loads the Cart Set mlc file specified CARTWALL NEXT SET Loads the next Cart Set in Favourite Cart Sets CARTWALL PEL s Global PFL mode switch for all Cartwall Players CARTWALL PREVIOUS SET Loads the previous Cart Set in Favourite Cart Sets CARTWALL SHOW Shows the Cartwall CARTWALL SHOW HIDE Toggles Show Hide the Cartwall CARTWALL STOP ALL Stops all Cartwall Players CARTWALL VOLUME d Sets the volume level of all Cartwall Players to d dB ENCODER Commands These Commands allow Remote Controls to operate the Encoder ENCODER CONNECT Connects the Encoder ENCODER CONNECT DISCONNECT Toggles connecting disconnecting the Encoder ENCODER DISCONNECT Disconnects the Encoder ENCODER LIVE s Toggles the Encoder s on air off air status EXTRAPFL Commands These Commands allow Remote Controls to operate the main PEL Player EXTRAPFL CLOSE Closes the PFL Player EXTRAPFL SAVE Saves the settings in the PFL Player EXTRAPFL SAVE DATABASE Saves the settings in the PFL Player to the database EXTRAPFL SAVE MMD Saves the settings in the PFL Player to a mmd file EXTRAPFL SAVE TAG Saves the settings in the PFL Player to the file s Tag ON OFF AIR Commands OFF AIR Switches AIRCAST into OFF AIR status ON AIR Switches AIRCAST into ON AIR status ON OFF AIR Toggles AIRCAST ON AIR OFF AIR status PFL Commands These Commands allow Remote Controls to opera
30. Designer close the AIRCAST window using any of the usual methods If you have made changes but have not yet saved them the Layout Designer displays a message box asking whether you want to save your changes Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 94 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 11 AIRCASTDB Audio Database Important Note ATRCASTDB is only available in the paid editions of AIRCAST Personal Edition and Professional Edition 11 1 About AIRCASTDB AIRCASTDB AIRCAST database is a so called music database or audio database A RCASTDB stores a list of audio files but not the actual files and their properties Cue Markers etc AIRCASTDB also manages playlists you build from the audio files in the list and allows you to use your entire audio library as a single browsable searchable entity the location of your audio files local hard disk or server on the Internet no longer matters You can therefore organise the physical storage of your audio files in any way you wish You manage AJRCASTDB using the database management application which is built in to the AIRCAST exe program file To run this application click Database in your AJRCAST Start menu folder or run AIRCASTDB bat from your AIRCAST program folder All data is stored in a single SQLite db file on your computer s local hard disk AIRCASTDB local mode 11 2 How To Create A New AIRCASTDB Database The steps to create a new AIRCASTDB datab
31. File Name and click OK Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 98 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 11 5 Managing Database Playlists A database playlist is a normal A RCAST playlist which is stored within the AIRCASTDB database instead of in an external file Database playlists are especially useful if you regularly run AIRCAST in Automation mode for any part of your broadcast day or week In AIRCAST like most music scheduling applications a database playlist begins on the hour so there is one playlist for each hourly slot in each day Database playlists are identified by the hour and date for which they are scheduled For example the 3 a m playlist for June 4th 2010 You can easily schedule AIRCAST events to automatically load a database playlist a few minutes before every hour and you can also quickly and easily make last minute changes to any database playlist right up to the moment it is automatically or manually loaded into AIRCAST Although each database playlist s duration represents one hour of airtime we strongly suggest that you make each database playlist a few minutes onger than one hour in case any items in the playlist fail to play out or the playlist under runs for any other reason To manage database playlists click the Playlist tab in the AIRCASTDB window 11 5 1 Working With The Playlist Tab The Playlist tab window in AIRCASTDB is identical to the Library tab wind
32. Options in Windows Settings or Control Panel You can override automatic language detection by selecting a language from the drop down To choose an English language from the list select en_GB for UK English and en for US English Use the Global progress bar update interval setting default 100 mS 1 10 second to choose the refresh time for the optional global progress bar see 7 6 4 on page 49 The default value of 100 mS gives a fluid progress bar movement on most computers without crippling either the CPU or the video card For the same reasons we strongly recommend that you do not reduce this value 7 6 2 Options Remember window size and position default on If this setting is on the A RRCAST window size and position are saved in the positions ini file and are restored when AIRCAST opens If this setting is off the default ALRCAST window size and position are used when AJRCAST opens Show status bar default on If this setting is on the status bar at the bottom of the A RCAST window is shown The status bar shows the current time as well as some warning and error messages including messages from scripts Double clicking the status bar opens the AJRCAST System Log for browsing If this setting is off the status bar at the bottom of the AIRCAST window is not shown Note that this also removes script message displays and the ability to browse the AIRCAST System Log Show save confirmation default on If this sett
33. SAM4 database you need a copy of the appropriate database client DLL in your AIRCAST program directory see the SAM4 documentation for details AIRCAST can access a subset of the information stored in a SAM4 database including the title artist comment duration and some Cue Marker data 7 9 7 On The Fly An on the fly OTF database is strictly speaking not a database but an XML file created by AIRCAST when it opens which you can then use in a Database Search pane in the Browser This database format was created before AIRCASTDB existed and you should not use OTF databases except for compatibility with existing AIRCAST installations create a local AIRCASTDB instead If you use OTF databases expect AIRCAST startup to be delayed by several minutes If you have configured AIRCAST is to use Auto Cue this is the default see 7 13 4 on page 67 creating an OTF database invokes Auto Cue for all new audio files delaying AIRCAST startup even more On the Settings tab e Specify the Folder to recursively scan for audio files e Tick the Use cache file checkbox default cleared to save the OTF database cache file OnTheFlyCache mlp when you close AIRCAST When you next open AJRCAST it reads the cache file instead of examining each audio file this usually reduces the AIRCAST startup delay significantly e Tick the Automatically re scan at startup checkbox default cleared to update the OTF database cach
34. Sees A AAA A AI 108 H22 Network WMO AA O SEE ec asus Stas aves eee 109 TES Manasina Your Audio LADA di ias 111 IS ACAMO SOLAS E ES AE IA EAS handle EAN nda Naas 111 1132 Addins VTA EOL SES A A AE E A AA LEA AAA AAA E 111 11 33 SYMCHLOMISING A MOLA A A A A ees a S 112 TL34 VACUUM Command Compact Defrag isaac 112 114 W orkine Wath Dis Library DAD AAA A AS 113 MS Wianaoins Database Pla yisi cnans E valeanadi E 114 HSL Workmne Witt The Playlist Tabus A EA ES AA A E AAA T E 114 12 Crease Database Playlists A A AAA AAA A EA ARE a 115 MAS Use the MMSC NedulE i a e awe 116 11 6 Usino AIRCASTDB Databases In AiR OAS Lv A A A enievarsar zeal crest 119 PLOI Browser Database Panal atar dba aaa altas 119 11 6 2 Database Playlist Actions And Event Scheduling occcccccccccnnnoononoonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnononnnnnnonnnnncnnnnnnnononnnnnnnnrnnnnnnnnnos 120 11 6 35 Database Button Mam Toolbar Vacunas tariadi di id ii dai dadas 120 11 7 Changing The Appearance Of Library Item Listando de 120 11 8 Importing Audio File Information From Other Products cccoccocoononoonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnonononnnononnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnononnnnnaninnnnnnss 120 SIDA External TO Ad cien 121 11 9 1 Add me External IDs To AIRCAS TDB Databases siii ad id da 121 12 ARCAS LS CrIpL SClpUNe LanSuase oa aa Ai A A A A eo 122 12 1 Types Of Script Action Scripts vs Notification Scripts cccssssesssssseecccceeceeeeeeaeseesesseeeeeeceeeeeeeeseeaasseasseseeeeeeeess 122
35. Software Updates And Upgrades This section lists the steps to update or upgrade from a version of AJRCAST to a later version e Update means a change within the same minor version for example from version 3 1 1 to version 3 1 2 e Upgrade means a change from one minor version to a different minor version for example from version 3 0 x to version 3 1 x or a change from one major version to a different major version for example from version 2 x x to version 3 x x Before installing any update or upgrade make a backup copy of your AIRCAST program folder and your Root Data Folder see 7 14 1 on page 68 and subfolders Your AJRCAST configuration files are in the data folder and its subfolders If you use a AIRCASTDB or other database also make a backup copy of all your database files including any stored on other computers Also before installing any update or upgrade read its change log a text document listing changes from the previous version The change log contains any significant changes to configuration settings or AJRCAST features If you use a AIRCASTDB database the table schema layouts and structures must be in step with the installed version of the AIRCAST program You can view the required and actual version of your AIRCASTDB database schema in the Databases node of the AIRCAST configuration program see 7 9 on page 57 for more details Conversely if you have several AIRCAST computers using the same A RCASTDB
36. a EO eaten roe tee er een weer 13 PIO ASSW OS a A a AE a TA A E E OAT 76 JA20 System LOS A A A A a 76 A O A 76 ASADAS DEE E da i E N 76 TAL WO MAD E A AA AS ile AAA A AS A A IA AA ooh es ES 77 TUS UNIO a a tattle Aa da acne A da 78 TE a E Y DA WN ahs O OE E O LARA 78 E Be INET NA A sed eae leas a desea O E E un eee tee erate 79 RAP RI E ve II EA A EA ae den eke elses 79 TEN A We OT AN Al Ot Biers ratte A nn IN E ES T E OA EAI E E ET 79 TA Advan A A eg eT ee eee eee 80 EVAN aL POL Sia ii A A A a iia lisa 80 8 Advanced COn UTA A A A A A ii 82 sanan lo a dd E ads 82 Figure 8 5 Contents and Structure of Skint le A A oles A ARA AAA AA A 82 SL SK Setino Namesand COMICS A AAA AAA A AA AA Ab t 83 Oil 2 Skim Ini V UE dia 84 E A a o o Seaman cnateaeebs cu atananimeauees E E ceabinen teases E 86 OO 1 A Eo A A eee o A trae nee eee A E 86 BU a OWN es 1 21 10 1107 tates tree rere II A II ee eee I A EEEE 86 8 1 6 Player 87 lee PLACES SY a o series unsere oaieenn snsee ed ttl uers ee ma onc alee tuner eh dyiataenntien Saleem cas 88 e ose PC 2 eg R meen era PE e E OO O E E E E EE ee ere eee ere ree 88 NA RAN 88 SAO PIA VIS o sees dacs nca EE E E E ace AE tesd ca tera ada tulen dicaduas adeaursdcea Secale 89 A PII iS A O 90 SLIZ PEORES Da AAN AAA AAA AAA AR 90 8 2 C hans ine AIRC ASTI COnN Graphles cp a aa 91 8 2 Replacing Common onas int di A ld 91 8 2 2 Replacino Other COMETE A Ad AAA O 93 Selina Defa Foder S FOr AIRCAST DIOS A ia 94 Figur
37. a sweeper played between each hook in a set and a closer played after a set of hooks 7 12 3 Attributes These settings allow you to define custom Attribute names and a set of permitted values for each custom Attribute which you can use later when tagging files For example you could add an Attribute named Decade and specify permitted values of pre 1950 1950s 1960s etc Later if you manually add the Decades Attribute name to a file s Properties a drop down is shown in the Value column on the Attributes tab from which you can select one of the permitted values If you use AJIRCASTDB Attributes are automatically shown as nodes in the Library tree Note that removing custom Attributes from this list does not remove the Attributes from your mmd files internal file tags or AIRCASTDB database 7 12 4 File Management These settings affect the internal management of audio files NOTE Do not use these settings unless AIRCAST support staff have advised you to do so because using any of these settings can adversely affect AIRCAST performance These settings exist only to resolve specific known problems which occur very rarely Enable File Management default on If this setting is on AIRCAST handles all audio file I O then passes the loaded audio files to the BASS engine for playout this resolves a few rare but specific known problems If this setting is off the BASS engine handles all audio file I O Load en
38. and HideColumns settings Icon Time Title Duration Ramp Ending Link Artist Add this setting to set the width of all Playlist columns A size of 0 hides a column HideColumns column column column where column 1s always one of regardless of ColWidths and ColumnOrder settings O Icon 1 Time 2 Title 3 Duration 4 Ramp 5 Ending 6 Link 7 Artist Add this setting to hide one or more Playlist columns without using a ColWidths setting ColumnOrder column column column column column column column column where column is always one of regardless of ColWidths and HideColumns settings O Icon 1 Time 2 Title 3 Duration 4 Ramp 5 Ending 6 Link 7 Artist Add this setting to change the order of columns in Playlist rows state typel object FontName fontname state type object FontSize size state type object FontStyle TextStyle state type object FontColor ColourValue where state is one of Empty EOF Error Fading Loaded Next Paused PFL Playing Stopped type 1s one of Break Command Container Dummy File Other Stream and Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 17 object is one of Artist Backtiming Comment Duration Ending PlayerName Ramp State Title Add these settings to change the font settings of the named text object in Playlist rows state type RowColor ColourValue where state is one of Empty EOF Error Fading Load
39. and Ramp times are shown including leading zeros Show PFL cue dialog default on This setting applies to the PFL Player which opens when the Player s PFL button is clicked If this setting is on the PFL Player contains a cue dialog which you can use to create or alter Cue Markers on the fly Show save buttons in PFL cue dialog default off This setting applies to the PFL Player which opens when the Player s PFL button is clicked If this setting is off the Save buttons on the PFL Player are hidden preventing users accidentally overwriting any item settings To protect your data more thoroughly see 7 12 5 on page 63 Flash during EOF warning default on If this setting is on the Player s background colour flashes during the Player s EOF warning period see 7 2 1 on page 37 Show ramp when idle default off If this setting is on loading the Player shows the item s Ramp if any instead of the usual time display remaining elapsed etc This is particularly useful in assist mode Show only nearest ramp default off If this setting is on and Show ramp when idle is on the Player s time display shows a single countdown to the nearest Ramp instead of a multiple countdown to all Ramps Hide buttons in automation mode default on If this setting is on the Player s buttons are hidden in automation mode This acts as an extra visual confirmation to the user that AJRCAST is in automation mode and manual
40. and logging URL of the stream and its Duration for automation Use Stream to add streams of known fixed duration use Stream infinite to add streams where the duration cannot be known in advance for example a live concert or event e Stream infinite Inserts an external audio stream source of unknown duration as a Playlist item This is identical to the Stream menu item but with Duration greyed out Use Stream infinite to add streams where the duration cannot be known in advance for example a live concert or event use Stream to add streams of known fixed duration e Network file Inserts an audio file stored on a network resource as a Playlist item Use Network file to add files which can only be located and retrieved by using a URL e Automation Break Point Inserts an automation Break point as a Playlist item e Dummy Inserts a dummy Playlist item e Command Inserts a AIRCAST command or command set as a Playlist item For a complete list of all AIRCAST commands see pages 111 onwards e Silence Inserts a silence as a Playlist item Set its Duration in the item s Properties dialog e Container Inserts an empty container as a Playlist item Edit Opens the selected Playlist item s Properties dialog see 9 6 on page 86 Delete Deletes the selected Playlist item s from the Playlist Events Opens the Event Scheduler dialog see 4 2 on page 23 Actions optional Opens the Actions menu see 7 11 on pag
41. connection Configure Setup dialogs contain a Connection tab where you specify the Protocol server type host computer name and database name and login information You should be able to obtain this information from your database documentation 7 9 1 AIRCASTDB network mode See AIRCASTDB Audio Database beginning on page 94 7 9 2 AIRCASTDB local mode See AIRCASTDB Audio Database beginning on page 94 7 9 3 Script In a similar way to a notification script see 7 10 on page 60 a Script database is a AIRCAST script containing procedures that are run when the user or AIRCAST browses searches or retrieves data from the Script database for example loading a Database playlist The script can retrieve these data from any desired source such as an external SQL database or a music scheduler product Describing how to write such a script 1s outwith the scope of this manual but a template script and a working example script to access an eldoDB database are in the scriptsidatabase folder in your AIRCAST root data folder For further advice or assistance please use the AIRCAST Forum 7 9 4 eldoDB eldoDB is a now obsolete database hosted on a MySQL server which was shipped with early versions of AIRCAST To connect to an eldoDB database you need a copy of the appropriate MySQL client DLL in your AIRCAST program directory see the eldoDB documentation for details On the Settings tab you must also specify the Base Fo
42. database see 7 9 8 on page 59 for full details Choose a database to browse by selecting 1t from the dropdown or accept the database shown Navigate to the desired database playlist using the date time dropdowns and previous next buttons To sort a database playlist click a column heading Drag the column headings to resize them note that the Title column is automatically sized resize the Artist column instead You can drag items to change their order or even delete them but these changes are temporary and are not written to the database Like all Browser panes you can drag items from this pane and drop them into the Playlist To insert a database playlist item before the currently selected Playlist item double click it Note that if an item was customised in the database playlist in AIRCASTDB the item in the database playlist browser will contain those customisations Click the small gearwheel button to show a menu with three items e Load into playlist and Append to playlist are self explanatory e Copy to clipboard copies the entire database playlist to the Windows clipboard as XML text which you can paste into a file The text is in the same format as a AIRCAST mlp playlist file 2 Tf the button has not been disabled see 0 on page 102 and Fout Verwijzingsbron niet gevonden on page Fehler Referenz nicht gefunden 4 Storages are not included in the tree Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20
43. database playlists as separate files click Export Multiple Playlists and on the Save Playlists dialog select the range of database playlists you want to export choose the Output folder type or accept the File name format using logging variables see 7 8 2 on page 55 select a File format mlp m3u or printable HTML then click Export to export the files or Cancel to cancel the export The Generate button is described in section 11 5 3 on page 99 Note that you cannot play items in the playlist pane using the mini PFL player at the bottom of the window the mini PFL player can only play files in the library pane 11 5 2 Creating Database Playlists You can create database playlists manually or automatically by using the built in Mini Scheduler see section 11 5 3 below or as described above by importing external playlist files or log files created by music scheduling applications such as Powergold RCS Station Playlist Creator SPC Music 1 or DigAS Show 11 5 2 1 Creating A Database Playlist Manually To create a database playlist manually first select a time and date using the toolbar controls then drag items from the library browser at the bottom of the window into the playlist at the top of the window Items dragged from the library pane database items are shown with a green icon To move items within the database playlist drag and drop them To delete items from the database playlist select the item
44. database was specifically developed to store all the metadata used by AJRCAST such as Cue Markers whether a file should be excluded from logging etc If you do not already use an audio database Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 58 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English we strongly recommend that you create a AIRCASTDB database as described in AIRCASTDB Audio Database beginning on page 94 You can search any audio database connected to AIRCAST from the Browser and you can also add Browser tabs to show an individual audio database s contents for AIRCASTDB and iTunes audio databases you can add a Browser tab to show the stored playlists 1t contains e To add a database connection click Add choose a database type from the menu then configure it as described below e To remove a database connection select it in the list then click Remove e To modify a database connection or to change its settings select it in the list click Configure then configure 1t as described below e To test a database connection select it in the list then click Test The rest of this section contains descriptions of each supported audio database type All database connection Configure Setup dialogs contain two or more tabs including an Advanced tab in which you can type a Custom Caption or user friendly name for the database which is shown by AIRCAST in for example the Browser Most of the database
45. default Opens a saved desktop mld file or desktop template mlt file Open playlist See 7 6 2 on page 47 if you want Open Playlist to be the default Open button action Opens a saved playlist file AZRCAST or M3U or music scheduler log file as Playlist items Any Playlist items which are not playing are deleted before the file is Opened After the file is Opened you cannot manipulate it as an item in the Playlist you must instead select the Playlist items you want to manipulate The current supported playlist file types and their file extensions are AIRCAST playlist files mlp and mlpe AIRCAST desktop and desktop template files mld and mlt M3U playlist files m3u DigAS show files xml and Powergold automation files ptm Run script Runs a AJRCAST script mls file Save desktop Ctrl S default Saves the current desktop mld file or desktop template mlt file If no desktop or desktop template file has been loaded or if a New template is open but has not been saved yet this is identical to clicking Save Desktop as Save desktop as Saves the current desktop as a desktop mld file or desktop template mlt file Save desktop as default template Saves the current desktop as the default desktop template file standard mlt Save playlist See 7 6 2 on page 47 if you want Save Playlist to be the default Save button action Saves the current Playlist as a sing
46. durations of items in the database Drag the column headings to resize them Like all Browser panes you can drag items from this pane and drop them into the Playlist You can also drag and drop virtual folders this adds all the items in the virtual folder to the playlist Note that you need to drag the name of the virtual folder and not the folder icon 11 6 1 2 Database Search Pane This pane duplicates the function of the search box in AIRCASTDB To search for items type the text to find and click Go AIRCAST will search the database and list all items whose title or artist contains that text To stop a search in progress click Stop When the search is complete the Stop button changes back to a Go button If you have more than one database such as AIRCASTDB and iTunes or two different AIRCASTDB databases perhaps a pop one and a classical one you can choose a specific database to search by selecting a database from the dropdown below the search term box default All databases To sort the list of search results click a column heading Drag the column headings to resize them note that the Title column is automatically sized resize the Artist column instead Like all Browser panes you can drag items from this pane and drop them into the Playlist 11 6 1 3 Database Playlist Pane This pane is similar to the database playlist browser on the Playlist tab in AIRCASTDB It can also display the playlists stored in an iTunes
47. ea b creates a generated SQL statement like e INSERT INTO playlist starttime song VALUES NOW Madonna Vogue 12 Tf you leave spaces in the Entry Format box AIRCAST writes a log entry containing only spaces Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 57 7 9 Be careful which logging variables you include in a SQL Statement ensure that every logging variable you specify will have a valid value when the SQL statements are generated 7 8 5 HTTP GET HTTP GET Playout Logging requires a PHP or similar script an ASP or DHTML or other scripted Web page or similar or any other process which can accept parameters specified as part of its URL This Logging type uses an HTTP GET call to send information to a Web server It is often used for example to run a server side script to update now playing information on a public Web site Base URL is the URL of the page or script For example http myserver com script php Parameters is the list of parameters names and values to be added to the Base URL when the HTTP GET call is generated For example a name of artist with the value a a name of title with the value b and using the example Base URL above creates an HTTP GET call like e http myserver com script php artist Madonna title Vogue You can specify as many parameters as you wish Press Insert or the down arrow key to add lines blank out both Name and Val
48. exists imported album artwork is shown as the item s icon in Playlists Import Date field in Vorbis Comments as Year default off If this setting is on AIRCAST uses the Date field in an OGG or FLAC file to set the Year Attribute Import MusiFile Outro markers as Fade Out default off If this setting is on AIRCAST uses the MusiFile Outro marker to set a Fade Out Cue Marker The next three options provide compatibility with the file naming convention used by Raduga radio automation software where file names end in a character followed by a number for example Kiss Crazy Crazy Nights 5 mp3 This indicates the number of seconds before end of file where the next track should be started AIRCAST can use this number to set Cue Markers Import in filename as Start Next default off If this setting is on AIRCAST uses the number to set a Start Next Cue Marker Import in filename as Outro default off If this setting is on AIRCAST uses the number to set an Outro Cue Marker Import in filename as Fade Out default on If this setting is on AIRCAST uses the number to set a Fade Out Cue Marker this takes priority over the standard AIRCAST Auto Cue processing for Fade Out see 7 13 4 on page 67 Strip leading and trailing whitespace from tag data default on If this setting is off any leading or trailing spaces in tag information are not removed The next three options allow you to control how AJRCAST uses ReplayGain
49. find the start of the ree 0 03 18 33 artist s introduction and the start of the music and to have the option of alternative fade outs at different points The extra list box shows the alternative values if any exist for the selected Cue Markers Elapsed O 00 00 00 Cue In Start Next coou O Out 0 03 12 To audition an alternative Cue Marker select click it in the list box then click the small TEST button beside the list box Amplification 0 0 J To store add an alternative Cue Marker rem renier first set the main Cue Marker to the time you want to store then click ADD To delete an alternative Cue Marker time value select click it in the list box then click DELETE Before setting an alternative Cue Marker time value first add the standard Cue Marker time value to the list of alternative Cue Marker time values This ensures you always have the standard Cue Marker time value available in the list so you can easily re set the standard Cue Marker after you have added alternative Cue Markers Amplification slider Drag to change the amplification of the track minimum 60dB maximum 6dB default OdB You can also select click the control then use the mouse wheel to move the slider less precisely To reset the amplification to OdB double click the value the large number beside the slider Tempo and Pitch sliders optional If the Pitch and tempo adju
50. fit in the Browser pane header so it is truncated It would be useful if you could change the pane name to something more sensible like Music Library E K As you will learn on the next page AIRCAST allows you to do this Type in a better name for the folder pane Right click the pane header then click Rename Duration TS test ogg 00 02 If your computer won t let you navigate to the AIRCAST program files folder navigate instead to any folder which contains short audio items like station jingles or presenter IDs and use that folder for the rest of this tutorial i If you had to use a folder other than the AJRCAST program files folder its full drive and path are shown instead Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English AIRCAST opens a small empty text box CiPrarram EilacimAirl ict 21 In the box type Demo jingle and press Enter Notice that the pane name changes both in the pane header and in the stack of pane names at the foot of the Browser as shown on the right TA test ogg You can change the name of any Browser pane in the same way For practice change the Recycle Bin pane name to Played Items The names of renamed panes are not remembered if you close and re open the pane To demonstrate make your renamed Played Items pane the active pane then on the Browser toolbar click Close Now open a Recycle Bin pane On the Browser toolbar click the dropdow
51. is unavailable for any reason We do not recommend that you store audio file information in mmd files and tags unless you are very paranoid One or other is sufficient especially if you also store the information in a database One reason for this is the method AJRCAST uses to load a file s information its properties each time you load it into a Playlist Player or Cartwall Player 1 AIRCAST first looks for a matching database entry If one exists its information is used 2 If no database entry exists or no database is in use AJRCAST looks for a matching mmd file in the same folder or if you have created one in the Central Folder for MMD files If an mmd file exists its information is used 3 If no mmd file exists AIRCAST looks for a AIRCAST custom tag within the audio file If it exists its information is used 4 If no custom tag exists or the audio file is in a non tagged format AJRCAST imports the file title is set to the audio file s name its duration is determined native file format tags are read type is set to the default if a exists in the filename Raduga format it is used to compute Fade Out Auto Cue is performed ignoring Fade Out for Raduga files and if you have specified a Default Item Type for Imported Files the file s Type is set 5 Ifno tags exist AIRCAST uses the audio file s name to set artist and title Using both mmd files and tags is unnecessary and though mmd files are m
52. mode playout Items in the Playlist are listed with the first next item at the top and show projected playout times and current status which Player they are loaded into etc 3 Players The Players are separate audio players which play the items in the Playlist Players are loaded automatically by the Playlist When an item ends unlike Cartwall Players see below the Player ejects it and the Playlist loads the Player with the next available item The two Players in the default configuration are named A and B If you use AIRCAST as we recommend with a mixer each Player is usually set up to correspond to a separate fader channel on the mixer 4 Cartwall The Cartwall comprises a set of additional single shot players called cartwall or cart players because they mimic hardware cart players which can be played independently of the Playlist Use the Cartwall for your short elements such as jingles effects music beds etc Unlike the main Players Cartwall Players reset after use and the audio item remains loaded and re cued Cartwall Players can also contain a stack or mini playlist of audio items Cartwall Players are numbered from 1 upwards There are six Cartwall Players in the default configuration If you use A RCAST as we recommend with a mixer all Cartwall Players are usually set up to correspond to a single fader channel on the mixer Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision
53. niet gedefinieerd for more details about regions and split outputs Within a region container are one container for each region set up in A RCAST When the region container is played all of these sub containers are played simultaneously and sent to their specified sets of audio outputs In the region container s Properties dialog the Region Container tab contains a tabbed dialog with one tab for each region The duration of the items in each sub container is also shown on its tab Add items to each region s container and adjust Cue Markers etc to ensure that each region s container has the same duration The broadcast duration of a region container is the largest of the durations of its sub containers and each region s sub container plays for that length of time This is why it is so important to make each region s sub container have the same duration otherwise when each region with a shorter sub container ends it will be fed silence until every sub container has ended 3 3 8 Silence A silence item is exactly that audio silence of the Duration specified on its Properties dialog 3 3 9 Stream and Stream infinite Stream Playlist items play audio from an externally streamed source Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 19 4 4 1 Actions And The Event Scheduler Actions An Action is literally that an action
54. of analysing the audio file again Click Cancel to close the PFL dialog click the test row in the Playlist and press Delete or right click the row and click Delete if you prefer Drag the test file from the Browser and drop it on the Playlist again In the Playlist click the large quaver musical note icon to open the PFL player dialog again Note that your changes to the Cue Markers have been remembered Click Cancel to close the PFL dialog Examine the loaded Player Player A It shows the title of the audio a NEXT indicator a remain time counter and a green progress bar A NEXT 00 Q2 The Player s controls are also visible One of these is NY another PEL control the leftmost button with the speaker All ll icon Click this button Note that when the file plays in the mini PFL player which opens the green progress bars in the Player and Playlist Item row move in sync If you missed that click PLAY on the mini PFL player and watch again Also note that the PFL button on the Player is illuminated to confirm that PFL is active and that PFL is shown beside NEXT on the Player s display To close the mini PFL player click the PFL button on the Player again Click the Start play button on Player A Note that the Player and Playlist Item row progress bars move as does the Playlist progress bar at the bottom of the Playlist The Player background flashes to warn you that the item is within ten seconds
55. on If this setting 1s on the Browser contents and settings are saved as part of a Desktop Template file Keep open when starting a new desktop default on If this setting is on the Browser is unaffected when the New button on the main Toolbar is clicked If this setting is off the Browser is closed and a new empty Browser is opened when the New button on the main Toolbar is clicked Always show Recycle Bin default on If this setting is on the Browser contains a Recycle Bin pane when it is created when AJRCAST opens and when the New button on the main Toolbar is clicked Show panes as tabs default off If this setting is on Browser panes are shown as tabs If this setting is off Browser panes are shown as a stack of coloured panes Allow stack of panes to be minimised default off This setting has no effect if Show panes as tabs is on If this setting is on a splitter bar is shown above the stack of pane names Drag the splitter bar downwards to shrink the stack of pane names to a row of icons This maximises the display area of the currently Browser pane Show file durations may be slow default on If this setting is on Folder and Folder Tree panes show the Duration of each audio file Because AJRCAST has to open each file to do this it can cause slow performance especially if the folder or folder tree contains a large number of audio files Auto update folder contents default on If this setting is on Fold
56. operation of the Player is not possible If this setting is off the Player s buttons are visible in automation mode The Hook and Loop mode buttons work normally the PFL button works only if Allow simultaneous playback and PFL is on and all transport buttons Stop Play etc are disabled Swap artist and title default off If this setting is on the Artist is shown above the Title instead of below the Title Use cue category colours default on If this setting is off the cue dialog shows all Cue Marker names and values on the same background colour instead of using background colours for different Cue Marker categories Enable alternative cue points default off If this setting is on the cue dialog shows extra controls which allow you to see use and edit alternative multiple values for each Cue Marker Use item colour when idle default off If you assign colours to Player States in the skin ini file these may conflict with colours you have assigned to specific items Normally the skin ini Player State colour takes precedence if this setting is on the item colour takes precedence Show cue list in seconds instead of 1 100s default on If this setting is off the cue dialog shows values in full 1 100s accuracy Use stutter mode during cueing default on If this setting is on changing the value of any Cue Marker in the PFL Player plays a very short loop of that section of the item hence stutter
57. option Only auto load items marked as special switched on see page 38 If this option is on the item is only auto loaded into a Player which has the corresponding configuration option switched on Note that you can still manually load the item into any Player Exclude from backtiming default off If this option is on the item is ignored when calculating backtiming for Playlist items Exclude from logging default off If this option is on the item is ignored by all logs see 7 8 on page 54 and is not logged This is useful for incidental items such as sound effects DJ idents and jingles and beds for show features etc Skip in automation mode default off If this option is on the item is skipped not played but marked as played in Automation mode Fade out all other players in automation mode default off If this option is on all other Players in the same Playlist are faded out when the item starts playing in Automation mode In practice this option has no effect unless at least two other Players are playing when the item starts Note that this option does not affect Cartwall Players Set internal clock to fixed time when started default off This option has no effect unless the item s Fixed time option is also on If this option is on the internal AJRCAST clock is set to the item s fixed time when the item starts This can be useful when recording a show as live for later playout Always fade ou
58. or more settings match the screen object s current state The rule is simple the last matching line the one furthest down skin in1 is used For example Playlist PlayerNameFontColor 0000FF NextPlayerNameFontColor 800000 When a Player is next the colour 800000 is used otherwise the colour 0000FF is used 1 2 skin ini Values All the types of values you use for various skin ini settings are described below 3 Unless of course you have further state specific FontColor settings in the same section like FadingFontColor Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 71 Ranges of values are indicated by for example 1 99 means any whole number between 1 and 99 inclusive 8 1 2 1 String Values When typing a string text value do not put quotes around the string unless the final character is a space in which case you must put double quote characters around the string to stop Windows trimming off the final space This includes string values which are file names or font names Single quote characters around string values used for display are displayed as part of the text Here are some examples to make these points more clearly Background C graphics AIRCAST BG png works but quotes are not needed Background C graphics AIRCAST BG png fails Background C graphics AIRCAST BG png works TimeFont Segoe UI works but quote
59. program You see the A RRCAST Uninstall Wizard Click Next gt to continue Check that the folder shown is the folder where you originally installed AJRCAST Click Uninstall to begin the uninstall process When you see this page AIRCAST has been uninstalled Click Finish to close the Uninstall Wizard Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 2 1 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English Introduction To AIRCAST It will take you some time to learn all of AIRCAST s features especially its configuration settings However this does not mean that AIRCAST is complicated to learn or understand If you are a new AJRCAST user we strongly recommend that you first learn and understand the basic functions of AIRCAST in its default configuration and in some detail before making any changes As you become familiar with AZRRCAST you can experiment with the configuration settings and learn more of AIRCAST s capabilities The Main Window When you open A RCAST after installation you see the main window shown below which we have labelled to help you understand the default layout Remember that this is the default layout which you can and probably will change to suit the needs of your station Br Playlis Figure 2 1 The default AIRCAST window layout Working from the top down then from left to right the window elements are Main toolba
60. s name and version and to prefix your SystemLog messages with this constant This makes it clear to the user that the message is from a script and is not a AIRCAST message and makes its entries easier to find in the AIRCAST System Log file Using a const also makes changes of version or script name easier to manage later especially in messages const SCRIPTNAME MyName V1 0 script begin SystemLog SCRIPTNAME Hello world end 12 3 1 Understanding AIRCAST Time Values Internally AIRCAST uses int64 variables for time values such as an item s playback duration the position of a Cue Marker and similar duration values However in a script you will almost always want to handle most values of this type as numbers of seconds Therefore when you use any AJRCASTScript procedure or function which uses the TTime Value variable type for example PlaylistItem SetFadeDuration use these conversion functions function SecondsToTimeValue sngValue single TTimeValue function TimeValueToSeconds ttvValue TTimeValue single as shown in this sample script begin SystemLog The top playlist item plays for FloatToStr TimeValueToSeconds CurrentPlaylist Getltem 0 GetPlaybackDuration Geconds end The default AZRCAST install contains several sample scripts so we will concentrate here on showing you how to use the main AIRCAST Script objects and functions in practical scripting terms Sav
61. shape AIRCAST into the powerful professional application that it is today From our users feedback we are confident that AJRCAST meets the actual needs of any kind of radio station whether large or small local or national Please note that the features available in your installed copy of AIRCAST depend on the type of AIRCAST licence you have purchased Therefore some features described in this Manual may not be available in your installed copy of AIRCAST We hope you find this Manual helpful informative and easy to use We welcome your comments and ideas to improve future editions of this Manual please use the A RCAST forums to do so This chapter lists the steps required to install AJRCAST on your computer This includes the installation of the software itself and how to use the AIRCAST Licence Manager to import your purchased or demo licence to unlock the software Installing AIRCAST To install AIRCAST download the latest exe setup file from the AIRCAST Web site There is also a ZIPfile version of the setup which experienced A RCAST users may prefer When you open the setup program you see this dialog The language should default to English If it doesn t select English from the dropdown Click OK to continue The Setup Wizard opens Click Next gt to continue On the Choose Components page you can choose not to install the Example AIRCAST Scripts if you prefer However we recommend that you leave all boxes ti
62. so for example you could have a fully detailed log file another log file containing only the last log entry say to feed a PHP script Icecast2 logging and log records being written to a remote SQL database all running at the same time e To adda Logging type click Add choose a Log type from the menu then configure it as described below e To modify a Logging type or to change its settings select it in the list click Configure then configure it as described below e Toremove a Logging type select it in the list then click Remove The simplest and arguably the most flexible type of log output is a plain text file This is often used to feed other processes such as spreadsheet import or a process to update a Web site or a database The log entries are free format and you can use logging variables in them see 7 8 2 on page 55 You can also use logging variables in the log file name You can log direct to a SQL database by sending it executable SQL statements but subsequent logging may be delayed if ALRRCAST cannot connect to your database server therefore you may prefer to use a log file instead plus an external process to import the log file into the database If you use SQL logging you can use logging variables see 7 8 2 below in your SQL statements HTTP GET logging requires a suitable receiving process to exist such as a PHP script a DHTML page or an ASP page You can use logging variables in
63. the volume level of Player p in Playlist P to d dB The Player START PAUSE STOP command works as described below e Ifthe Player is not playing or is paused it is started e Ifthe Player is playing it is paused e If the Player is at EOF it is stopped It is also usually unloaded depending on the Player s Configuration settings This command is particularly useful when used with a Remote Control connected to a fader on a mixer If the associated Player is playing and the fader is accidentally closed the Player will pause and can be immediately restarted by lifting the fader again However when the player has reached EOF closing the fader will stop the Player unload it and load the next item Setting the Auto release PAUSE when other player is playing or started Configuration setting see page 38 to on is useful if you use the START STOP PAUSE command With that setting on any Player which you have deliberately faded out early and is therefore paused will automatically be stopped and unloaded when you start any other Player 45 The main PFL Player shown on the PFL tab of the Item Properties dialog 46 The small PFL Player shown when you click the PFL button on a Player Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 115 PLAYLIST Commands PLAYLIST P CHECK Checks Playlist P for errors PLAYLIST P CURSOR DOWN Moves the selection cursor in Playlist P one item down PL
64. then SystemLog K8055 device not found else EnableTimer 50 Timer polling interval is 50ms end procedure OnUnload begin DisableTimer CloseDevice end procedure OnTimer var newval boolean begin for i 1 to 5 do begin newval ReadDigitalChannel i if newval lt gt CurrentStatus i then begin CurrentStatus i newval if CurrentStatus i true then These are for channels buttons 1 2 and 3 case 1 of 1 ExecuteCommand PLAYER 1 1 START STOP 2 ExecuteCommand PLAYER 1 2 START STOP 3 ExecuteCommand CARTWALL 1 START STOP end end end end begin end Especially note the following points e Declare and define all the external DLL functions and procedures at the start of the code before all other functions and procedures Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 110 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English Use the OnLoad procedure to initialise variables to open devices or drivers set the timer duration and start the timer Use the OnUnload procedure to stop the timer to close terminate the devices or drivers opened in the OnLoad procedure and to perform any other clean up tasks Use the OnTimer procedure to perform the tasks required at each timer interval Try to keep this code as brief as possible especially if you use a short timer duration This reduces CPU usage and 1s also best programming practice If the code in an On
65. version 3 database you would type sqlite 3 as the protocol Note that this is the version of the client DLL you use to connect to the server and not the version of the server itself Host is the network name of the database server optionally followed by a port number Database is the name of the database within your SQL server User and Password are the SQL user name and password you want AJRCAST to use when connecting to your database You can leave these fields blank if your database server does not require a login SQL Statements On Start and On Stop are the SQL statements you want to write when an item is started or stopped in AIRCAST If you only want one type of logging leave the other box blank Usually the SQL Statements are either SQL INSERT statements or statements which call a stored procedure These statements can and almost always do include logging variables Note that AIRCAST adds quotes around each logging variable in the generated statements so the following SQL statement in the dialog e INSERT INTO playlist starttime artist title VALUES NOW a b creates a generated SQL statement like e INSERT INTO playlist starttime artist title VALUES NOW Madonna Vogue This means that if you want to combine logging variables into a single value you must use the SQL CONCAT function For example the following SQL statement in the dialog e INSERT INTO playlist starttime song VALUES NOW CONCAT
66. which means that once you have written a script you can run it immediately there is no compiler or other processing needed A script is a plain text file with the extension mls see 5 6 on page 27 It would be impractical to present a complete programming course within this manual so we will instead concentrate on explaining the basic concepts and some possible uses of AIRCASTScript Any programmer especially one familiar with Pascal or Delphi syntax should be able to learn the language fairly quickly The Delphi Basics site http www delphibasics co uk is a useful resource if you need a quick introduction to this syntax but please note that many of the statements available in Delphi for example message boxes are not available in AIRCASTScript The best resource for examples of scripts and advice on how to accomplish a particular task using AIRCASTScript is the AIRCAST online forum Types Of Script Action Scripts vs Notification Scripts All AIRCAST scripts are one of two types an action script or a notification script e An action script performs one or more actions and must be run manually An action script performs a specific action such as setting the Type of all the items in the Playlist saving the Properties of every item in the Playlist as a mmd file or opening closing an external feed such as a syndicated news source Action scripts are usually saved in the scripts folder under your AJRCAST folder To run
67. your changes or click Cancel to discard all changes To edit an hour template select it in the Manage Hour Templates dialog and click Edit To delete an hour template select it in the Manage Hour Templates dialog and click Delete A confirmation dialog is shown click Yes if you are sure you want to delete the template 11 5 3 2 Generating Single Playlists From Hour Templates To generate a single playlist directly from an hour template navigate to the date time where you want to generate the playlist click the dropdown arrow at the right of the Generate button then click the template name in the dropdown If the playlist was not previously empty a confirmation dialog is shown Click Yes if you want to save the previous playlist and continue click No to continue without saving the previous playlist or click Cancel to abandon generation of the playlist Once it is generated you can change the generated playlist in the same ways as if you had created it manually add move or delete items and or customise item properties 11 5 3 3 Template Assignment We mentioned earlier that you will probably want different hour templates for different times of the day or for different days You will also usually want to generate playlists in bulk typically for an entire week or month To be able to do this the Mini Scheduler like most other music scheduler applications needs to know which hour template to use when generating the playlis
68. your database server you may prefer to write SQL statements to a log file for later processing by your database server instead of writing direct to the database This Logging type submits SQL statements to a SQL database server for immediate processing The ZeosLib library used by AJRCAST to do this supports a number of SQL server types to view a list of the supported server types click the List of supported protocols button on the dialog Note that the version numbers in the list are the version numbers of the client DLL you use to connect to the server and not the version of the database server itself In a default installation AIRCAST only provides PostgreSQL version 7 and SQLite version 3 client DLLs because these are the client DLLs required by AIRCASTDB If you need to connect to a different type of database server you must ensure that you have the correct client DLL installed either in your AIRCAST program folder or in a folder which is in your computer s path that is accessible by all programs Please also check that your database server s licensing allows you to use the client DLL URL defines both the type of database server and the location of the database you want to use in the form protocol host port database where Protocol is the type of database server to view a list of the supported server types click the List of supported protocols button on the dialog So for example if your database is a SQLite
69. 0 1s the sample rate used to send audio output to the device Buffer size default 500 mS is the duration of audio BASS keeps in its internal buffer for the device Force multichannel output requires restart default off Some multiple output audio device drivers incorrectly report themselves to BASS as single output devices changing this setting to on can correct this problem Note that 1f you change this setting you must close and re open AJRCAST for the change to take effect Ignore speaker assignment requires restart default off Some multiple output audio device drivers report their speaker outputs incorrectly to BASS changing this setting to on can correct this problem Note that if you change this setting you must close and re open AIRCAST for the change to take effect Disable hardware mixing BASS_SAMPLE_SOFTWARE default off Normally BASS uses the device driver to perform audio mixing With some audio device drivers this can cause playout problems when two or more items are playing simultaneously Changing this setting to on can correct this problem by forcing BASS to mix audio internally before sending the mixed output to the device driver Use application level software mixing default off With some audio device drivers the Disable Hardware mixing BASS_SAMPLE_SOFTWARE setting does not correct playout problems when two or more items are playing simultaneously Changing this setting to on can correct this proble
70. 104 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 11 6 2 Database Playlist Actions And Event Scheduling The Database playlist Actions are described in 4 1 2 7 on page 21 You can use these Actions in scheduled Events as described in 4 2 on page 23 to fully automate your station output for some or all of your broadcast day Note that you must still create the database playlists in advance manually or by importing them from a music scheduling application or by using the Mini Scheduler 11 6 3 Database Button Main Toolbar Clicking the Database button on the main toolbar opens a separate AIRCASTDB window All features in this window are fully functional In copies of AIRRCAST used in live assist studios you may wish to remove the Database button to prevent accidental changes being made to the library hour templates database playlists etc This option is on the Advanced tab of the database s Configure Setup dialog in the AIRCAST configuration program 11 7 Changing The Appearance Of Library Item Lists By default the first column in all AIRCASTDB Library item lists has the background colour of that item if you have set one in the item s Properties dialog General tab Colour If you prefer you can show the entire row using the item s background colour or not use item colours at all On the AIRCASTDB menu click View Item Colours then click Full Row First Column default or Off You can also select the columns shown in Libra
71. 2 Icecast2 Playout Logging is only needed if you use an external Icecast2 audio stream encoder for example you use a mixer to mix AIRCAST output with other sources then encode the mixer output on a separate computer The built in AIRCAST Icecast2 encoder streams title updates automatically This Logging type sends information to an Icecast2 audio stream server when an item starts Stop logging is not possible in Icecast2 audio streams Server URL is the URL of the external Icecast2 audio stream server For example http myshout com 8000 Mount point is the name of the Icecast2 mountpoint for which your encoder is acting as a source This is needed because Icecast2 supports more than one stream For example myFM ogg or 128k mp3 User Name and Password is the stream or admin user name and password for the external Icecast2 audio stream server Log Format is the title update information you want to send to the external Icecast2 audio stream server when an item starts usually this includes logging variables for title artist etc You can optionally delay these updates by a number of seconds so that they are in sync Databases These settings connect one or more audio databases for use by AIRCAST An audio database contains lists of audio files and information metadata about the files such as title artist and album and it may contain playlists as well AIRCAST supports several types of audio databases but the built in AIRCASTDB
72. 20 10 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English The following three sections are short carefully designed hands on tutorials which we created to help you learn the A RCAST basics as quickly as possible If you are a new AIRCAST user we strongly recommend that you complete all three tutorials yourself in a single continuous session on your own installed copy of AIRCAST The full set of three tutorials should take you much ess time to complete than the 30 minutes of audio output allowed in demo versions of AJRCAST More detailed instructions follow but you will find those instructions much clearer and easier to understand 1f you complete these short tutorials first IAD Working With The Browser Open A JRCAST if it is not already open and make sure assist mode is selected 1f not click ASSIST on the Playlist Control bar The Browser is as it implies an area where you can view several pages or panes of information including things like clocks and saved playlists More importantly it can browse your audio database if you have one and can show folders containing your audio files By default the Browser contains a single Recycle Bin pane of which more later As an example we 1l add a Browser pane which lists the AIRCAST program folder which contains the single audio file test ogg for testing purposes On the Browser toolbar just above the Browser click Add to open a Browse for Folder
73. 22 actions Irightarrow png 22x22 actions connect_creating png 22x22 actions connect_established png 22x22 actions connect_no png 22x22 actions edit_add png 22x22 actions editdelete png 22x22 actions fileexport png 22x22 actions filenew png 22x22 actions fileopen png 22x22 actions filesave png 22x22 actions folder_new png 22x22 actions reload png 22x22 actions roll png 22x22 apps arts png 22x22 apps clock png 22x22 apps date png 22x22 apps kate png 22x22 apps kdat png 22x22 apps ktimer png 22x22 apps package_development png 22x22 filesystems trashcan_full png 32x32 actions ledgreen png 32x32 actions ledred png 32x32 apps bookcase png 32x32 apps multimedia png 32x32 apps package_editors png 48x48 actions cut png 48x48 actions finish png 48x48 actions kaboodleloop png 48x48 actions kmixdocked png 48x48 actions player_eject png 48x48 actions player_end png 48x48 actions player_pause png 48x48 actions player_play png 48x48 actions player_start png 48x48 actions player_stop png 48x48 actions start png 64x64 apps important png 64x64 apps krec png 64x64 apps package_development png 64x64 filesystems trashcan_full png 64x64 mimetypes empty png 64x64 mimetypes html png 64x64 mimetypes info png 64x64 mimetypes kchart_chrt png 64x64 mimetypes readme png 64x64 mimetypes sound png 64x64 mimetypes tar png 64x64 mimetypes txt png Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015
74. 32 4 event Date ANd PTI SSIES Ge i aia Succi i eta St deblede a E aula Gaeioninene tal 33 A 2D Evento chedl r TiPs A A ESA AA SA AA EA A A 34 5 AIRGAS I Data Ele Ty pes calar aca 35 Sra A E S a ados 35 A 1 See re S E OPE no E A E A EEE ARE AE A E E E meen T 35 SS mid DESO arado a a 35 o l e B S 1 BS A O EAN EE A A E E TA 35 JIa MP o le AU hid Hs aa OA a O errr oterene Cetera ere 35 11 306 m pe x ported Pla US A A AAA E OR 36 SA SCE A cemalacas a cud aa acm aunin dad anin comolaa add iad a apan tadanme dina an eas aedan aidedeancivolants 36 SS ml Des kL OP CLP IAL erroan ann saatonteisaeanertastsosass seamen AE 36 Di et Mea Data traca ida lo aida 36 5 10 xml AIRCASTDB Hour Templates and Template Assignment ooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnononononononnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnannnnnnos 36 6 Operators RererenCe 25 il 38 A 38 552 BROW A tenses ixandiaes 39 0 EBON SEE TOODA ch eases AR OR ON 40 A PR RA ER 40 OA Play IS oiaro E a a a A snteerabahoamnanatecereanaaacat ss teiaetener 40 OLPY CONTO D A eunen tes EE 40 SADAT a I EE A E A AE A A E T E E P E E EA 40 OSE av AL OOD i A A O bia tanoeesceeoenes wanes 40 AA A a i AAA A A EI ONA S AA A AAA ANAE A A E AE E 40 SF Ome F211 11S E ERE E E Tae E E EA E E A A A P E EE E 40 TOONE UTA O T an a a emin tes caetdohaan cadena oe eaten eee 42 Figure 7 4 The AIRCAST configuration program AIRCASTConfig Window cooooccccncnncnnnnnnnnncnnnnannnnnnnnnnnnnn nana nana anna 42 AA a T E acune
75. A RCAST uses when it opens However the user can change the mode by clicking the time display or Shift clicking it if the Player has a mouse click Command assigned to it see below Clicking the time display cycles through the first three time display modes in the table above The user can also double click or Shift double click the time display to select Backtiming mode Use EOF warning to set the number of seconds default 10 seconds before EOF when you want the Player to start flashing as a warning to the user that the item is about to end This value is also used to start the large EOF overlay countdown on the Playlist unless you have switched that feature off To disable EOF warning set it to 0 Use Command when clicked default none to select the Command you want the Player to perform when clicked or if you have a touch screen when the Player is touched TZ 12 Time Formats The time format settings for Remaining time Elapsed time and Ramp are the same as those used for the Playlist s time formats The dropdowns contain six commonly used formats or you can compose your own see Table 7 2 on page 36 The default formats for Remaining time and Elapsed time are nn ss the default for Ramp is ss Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 38 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English T22 Options tab These settings affect the behaviour of the Player as opposed to the GUI Options tab setting
76. AJRCAST user Note that you cannot change the locations of these folders in this dialog you can only view the locations and as explained above open the folders directly in Windows Explorer Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 69 8 Advanced Configuration 5 1 skin ini File Many programs allow you to change their appearance using so called skin files which contain information to change for example the fonts and colours in the program s window The A RCAST file skin ini stored in the config folder in your AIRCAST data folder allows you to make exactly those kinds of changes Please note that skin ini does not exist until you create the file manually and you can use skin ini to change the appearance of AIRCAST even if you do not change the default layout in other words the Layout Designer and skin ini are independent of each other To edit AJRCAST configuration files you can use any plain text file editor application including Windows Notepad but we strongly recommend that you use a file editor which allows you to edit several files simultaneously Many excellent freeware file editor applications are available The basic contents and structure of a skin ini file are shown below MainWindow Settings for the main window background image or colour one per line Toolbar settings for the main window Toolbar one per line Browser options for the Brows
77. AYLIST P CURSOR UP Moves the selection cursor in Playlist P one item up PLAYLIST P DELETE Deletes the selected item s from Playlist P PLAYLIST P EDIT Opens the Properties dialog of the selected item PLAYLIST P EVENTS Opens Playlist P s Event Scheduler dialog PLAYLIST P EXTRAPEL s Opens the selected item in Playlist P in the PFL Player In the following Command g represents the name of a Playlist GUI option see 7 1 3 on page 33 chosen from this list AlwaysShowDuration AlwaysShowRamp Backtiming BreakDuration ColumnHeaders CommentButtons EOF Warning Overlay EscapeAutomationBreak EscapeAutomationStop ExpandComments Extended FixedItemColors IconClickPFL Icons NearestRamp PlayerColors PlayerName RampOverlay ScrollIntoView ShowPosition SpacebarAutomationNext SwapArtistTitle TruncateTime PLAYLIST P GUIOPTION g s GUI Option g mode switch for Playlist P PLAYLIST P MARKASPLAYED Marks the selected item in Playlist P as played PLAYLIST P MOVE DOWN Moves the selected item s one position down in Playlist P PLAYLIST P MOVE UP Moves the selected item s one position up in Playlist P PLAYLIST P NEXT Starts the Next item in Playlist P fades out other Players In the following Command o represents the name of a Playlist Option see 7 1 2 on page 32 chosen from this list AutomationSinglePlayer AutoSaveEvents CleanUpHistory CleanUpHistoryTop CleanUpNonPlayables HandleFixedTime LiveBacktiming SaveEvents UseRecycleBin
78. E CARTWALL c FADEOUT CARTWALL c NEXT CARTWALL c OPTION HookMode s CARTWALL c OPTION LoopAudio s CARTWALL c OPTION ResetHook s CARTWALL c OPTION ResetLoop s CARTWALL c PAUSE CARTWALL c PAUSE STOP CARTWALL c PFL s CARTWALL c PREVIOUS CARTWALL c RESET CARTWALL c START CARTWALL c START FADEOUT CARTWALL c START PAUSE CARTWALL c START PAUSE STOP CARTWALL c START STOP CARTWALL c STOP 43 Closes Cartwall Player c Fades out Cartwall Player c Loads the Next item in Cartwall Player c s Stack Hook mode switch for Cartwall Player c Loop mode switch for Cartwall Player c Reset Hook mode switch for Cartwall Player c Reset Loop mode switch for Cartwall Player c Pauses Cartwall Player c Toggles Pause Stop for Cartwall Player c PFL mode switch for Cartwall Player c Loads the Previous item in Cartwall Player c s Stack Resets Cartwall Player c Starts Cartwall Player c Toggles Start Fadeout for Cartwall Player c Toggles Start Pause for Cartwall Player c Toggles Start Pause Stop for Cartwall Player c Toggles Start Stop for Cartwall Player c Stops Cartwall Player c Automation is stopped but any Players currently playing are not stopped and will continue playing Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 113 CARTWALL c VOLUME d Sets the volume level of Cartwall Player c to d dB CARTWALL General Commands CARTWALL CLOSE ALL Closes all Cartwall Players
79. English 9 6 5 Actions tab Lists of Actions which you want to occur when the item starts or stops The upper list shows the Actions on Start the lower list shows the Actions on Stop In each list you can Add Remove or Configure individual Actions and you can Load and Save entire action lists as mla files You can add Actions to any item except DUMMY and BREAK items For more information about Actions see 4 1 on page 19 9 6 6 Cue Data tab A list of the item s Cue Markers showing Track Markers if any and Cue Markers You can add Track Markers by importing them from cue files click Import Cue Sheet or by clicking Add Track Marker and completing the details on the Edit Cue Point dialog You cannot add Cue Markers on this tab instead use the PFL tab To change a Track Marker or Cue Marker double click it or select it and click Edit In the edit dialog you can adjust Cue Markers to millisecond accuracy To delete a Track Marker or Cue Marker select it and click Delete or select it and press Delete or select it right click it and select Delete from the menu IMPORTANT No confirmation dialog is shown the Cue Marker is deleted immediately 9 6 7 PFL tab In AIRCASTTag opening an audio file opens the PFL tab and immediately starts playing the file Use the PFL tab to add change and remove Cue Markers and optionally to change the amplification replay gain the pitch and the tempo of the a
80. Event Editor dialog opens On the Event Editor dialog e Type an optional Description We recommend that you give every event a Description e Specify the Date s and Time s when the event is to be run explained in detail in 4 2 1 on page 24 e Optionally tick Event expires at and specify a date and time If you do so the event will not be run after that date time e Inthe Scope box specify whether the event should be run if AIRCAST is in Automation or Assist mode or both when the event is due default Automation mode only e Actions is an Action List see 4 1 on page 19 containing the Actions to be run for the event When building new events we suggest that you 1 Create the Action List you want to run then save it as a new mla file 2 Test your Action List thoroughly saving any changes to the mla file 3 Think through what would happen if each of the Actions in your list failed and whether you need to add an Emergency actions Action to the end of the Action List to recover 4 When your Action List is fully tested carefully plan its run dates and times Could it clash with any existing events We suggest that you leave at least thirty seconds between events 5 Open the Event Scheduler Add a new event set up the date time scope etc in the Event Editor Load your mla file and click OK 6 Test your new event in conjunction with all your other scheduled events on a non production AIRCA
81. G Check and correct at least the artist title year album and track number tags Fill in all of these tags as completely as possible if any properties tags need to be changed or added at a later time you must do so manually If you also plan to use information from genre or comment tags within AJRCAST check and correct those as well AIRCAST imports the contents of all these tags e Rename all your audio files in artist title xxx format If all other methods fail ATRCAST will at least be able to read the title and artist correctly from the filename 28 ID3vl and ID3v2 are the tag formats used in MP3 files Vorbis comments is the tag format used in OGG files Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 83 You should also consider which method s you want to use to store the imported information plus any information you add within AJRCAST such as Cue Markers e Metadata mmd file A small text file named the same as the audio file followed by mmd e Tag only available for audio file formats which support custom tags A custom AIRCAST tag within the audio file e Database not available in all editions of AIRCAST A local or remote database We strongly recommend that you try all three or both methods on a few audio files before deciding which method s to adopt for your entire library All three have advantages and disadvantages e mmd files are easy to find
82. RCAST commands with button presses or button releases on any joystick or gamepad device installed on your computer Note that you must install the device before you open AIRCASTConfig We also strongly suggest that you use Game Controllers in Windows Control Panel to test all the device s buttons before you open AIRCASTConfig Most mixers which have external connections to switch contacts for fader start PFL switching etc can be easily and cheaply interfaced to your computer by connecting them directly to the contacts on a USB gamepad s circuit board Typical gamepads allow eight or ten switches to be interfaced On the Joystick Gamepad Configuration dialog e Select a joystick or gamepad device from the Device dropdown AIRCAST automatically shows all the device s buttons in the lists on the Button Pressed and Button Released tabs you cannot modify these lists You can then assign commands to any button 7 7 6 IO Warrior IO Warrior is a USB device made by Code Mercenaries Hard und Software GmbH The three models available provide 16 32 or 50 input and output ports making them well suited to installations where a converted USB gamepad does not provide enough inputs Talal Window Message Client The Window Message Client Remote Control associates AIRCAST commands with incoming Window Messages short numeric messages which applications can send to one another internally within Windows Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20
83. RCAST program Save to Database in Item Properties and PFL dialogs When disabled the Database button is not shown in the Export to box on the Item Properties and PFL dialogs in any AIRCAST program Note that even if this setting is disabled clicking OK on an Item Properties dialog in AIRCASTDB does still save the changes to the database Mixdown When disabled the Mixdown selection and This Playlist Mixdown items are not shown on the playlist context menu Attributes tab in Item Properties dialog When disabled the Attributes tab is not shown on the Item Properties dialog in any AJIRCAST program Note that even if this setting is disabled AIRCASTDB does show Attributes nodes in the Item tree on the Library tab if any Attributes are stored in the database Popup menus in folder browsers When enabled right clicking any item in a folder browser including the folder tree in AIRCASTTag opens the standard Windows Explorer context menu Option menus in playlist context menu When disabled the Options GUI Options and Progress Bar sub menus are not shown on the playlist context menu Option menus in player context menu When disabled the Options GUI Options and Progress Bar sub menus are not shown on the player context menu Save default desktop in main toolbar When disabled the Save desktop as default template item is not shown on the Save button menu on the main AIRCAST toolbar 7 12 6 Serial Ports These settings allo
84. ST Recycle bin size 0 unlimited default 100 The maximum number of items which are kept in the AIRCAST Recycle Bin before being deleted Specify 0 if you do not want to limit the number of items in the AJRCAST Recycle Bin File extensions File name extensions for example mlp which are registered with Windows can be double clicked in Explorer to open them with the recommended program in this case AIRCAST Click Register to register all ATRCAST data file types with Windows Click Unregister to remove the registration of all AIRCAST data file types with Windows Format for Custom Text Playlist Export default blank The format string to use when saving a Playlist as a Custom text file The string usually contains logging variables see 7 8 2 on page 55 If the string is blank empty an empty text file is created 7 12 8 Options These settings define some miscellaneous options Regard Start Next marker as EOF default off If this setting is on item durations use the Start Next marker point if it exists as EOF Regard Fade Out marker as EOF default on If this setting is on item durations use the Fade Out marker point if it exists as EOF Use Cue Out marker for end of fade default off If this setting is on the default fade duration is ignored and fade duration is the time between the Fade Out and Cue Out marker points This setting has no effect if no Cue Out marker exists Note that even if this se
85. ST CartwallLoad C Documents and Settings User HOMEPC My Documents AIRCAST CartwallSave C Documents and Settings User HOMEPC My Documents AIRCAST InsertFiles D laudio OpenPlaylist C Documents and Settings User HOMEPC My Documents AIRCAST RunScript C Program Files AIRCAST scripts SavePlaylist C Documents and Settings User HOMEPC My Documents AIRCAST SchedulerLoadList C Documents and Settings User HOMEPC My Documents AIRCAST SchedulerSaveList C Documents and Settings User HOMEPC My Documents AIRCAST SchedulerSelectFile D audio SchedulerSelectPlaylist C Documents and Settings User HOMEPC My Documents AIRCAST SchedulerSelectScript C Program Files AIRCAST scripts SelectIcon C Program Files AIRCAST 3 images Figure 8 5 Contents and Structure of DefaultDirectories ini file The first line is always required and must be the first line in the file The other lines are all optional you can add all or just one of them Each line sets the default folder for one type of AIRCAST file dialog The setting names are self explanatory Dialogs you don t set a default for in your DefaultDirectories ini file will use their AIRCAST default when they are first opened during a AJRCAST session Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 82 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 9 Working With Audio Files 9 1 Planning Your Audio Library If you are moving to AIRCAST from a different playout system or using AJRCAST in addition to exist
86. ST computer before putting it live Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 24 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 4 2 1 Event Date And Time Settings You must supply a Date setting and a Time setting for every event default is every day at midnight The event will run only when the current date and time matches all the Date and Time settings and the current date and time is before the event s Expiration date and time if it has one 4 2 1 1 Date Settings Date each day default run every day each day each each run only on the ticked days of the week only once on run once u k a et gt 7 on the date you specify default today AS Hse TE user defined run only on the days months and weekdays you specify see below 4 2 1 2 User defined Date Setting Use the user defined Date setting to create irregular date schedules The event runs on days which match all three of the days months and weekdays you specify and all Time setting values if you do not specify all three values the event will never be scheduled You specify days months and weekdays as comma separated numbers and or number ranges For example days might be 1 7 15 21 months might be 3 6 10 12 weekdays might be 1 4 7 weekdays range from 1 for Monday through to 7 for Sunday The defaults of 1 31 1 12 1 7 mean every day and do the same as the each day Date setting Change onl
87. ST System Log logicon_debug png Debug item logicon_error png Error item logicon_info png Info item logicon_playlist png Playlist item logicon_status png Status item logicon_unknown png Unknown item E O 0 S 0 0 amp logicon_warning png Warning item 8 2 1 6 Encoder Icons default size 22x22 pixels Filename Default Icon for AIRCAST Encoder encoder_state_connected png G Connected state encoder_state_connecting png Connecting state while trying to connect encoder_state_disconnected png gy Disconnected state encoder_state_error png gy Error state 8 2 2 Replacing Other Icon Graphics The icons in AIRCAST are selected icons from the Nuvola project s icon library A condition of use of the Nuvola icons in an application is that the end user has the ability to change any or all of the icons to any other icons of their choice and to allow future versions of the Nuvola icons to be used In AIRCAST you do this by supplying replacement PNG format files in the same folder structure as the Nuvola icon library distribution folder structure in the images folder in your AIRCAST data folder The root of this structure is datafolder images nuvola Although you can use graphics files with a non transparent background colour we strongly recommend against this A transparent background colour ensures that your replacement icons will display correctly in AIRCAST applications Your replacement graphics files must have th
88. Timer procedure takes longer to execute than the timer interval you specify the thread running the procedure will run increasingly slowly as an ever larger backlog of code builds up all of which must be executed before the code for the following timer cycle can begin executing Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 111 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English A AIRCAST Commands AIRCAST Commands are used in several places in the program e as Action s in an Action list which is performed when a A RCAST Action menu item is clicked or on AIRCAST startup or shutdown or when an item Starts or Stops see 7 11 on page 60 and 9 6 5 on page 88 e as the Command or set of Commands performed when a AIRCAST Remote Control is activated see 7 7 on page 51 e as the Command or set of Commands performed when a COMMAND item in a Playlist is played in either Assist or Automation mode You can choose Commands from a dropdown or you can type them in Anywhere you can type a Command you can instead type a set of two or more Commands by typing in the set of Commands separating them with a semicolon Do not end the list with a semicolon Sets of Commands always performed in the order you typed them About The Command List The complete list of available Commands begins on the next page Each Command is listed in bold type followed by a brief description of the Command When you refer to them in a Command Playli
89. VES AIRCAST radio automation software BASIC USERS GUIDE User Manual UK English version written by Cad Delworth CEng MBCS CITP Design Dr Torben Weibert Credits and Acknowledgements BASS http www un4seen com JCL http www homepages borland com jedi jcl JVCL http vcl sourceforge net OmniXML http www omnixml com RemObjects PascalScript and RemObjects SDK http www remobjects com TRegExpr http RegExpStudio com All other trademarks and product names are acknowledged as the property of the respective owners and are used within this Manual and within the AIRCAST AIRCASTConfig AIRCASTDB and AIRCASTTag programs purely for descriptive and explanatory purposes Copying As a convenience to AIRCAST users this Manual is provided as an editable PDF document Provided that you include the citation below in your customised version you may copy any or all of the text and graphics in this Manual and amend them as necessary for the sole purpose of producing and providing customised documentation for yourself or other users of the AIRCAST AIRCASTConfig AIRCASTDB or AIRCASTTag programs within your organisation The citation you must provide in any customised version of this Manual or in any other documentation based wholly or partly on the contents of this Manual must read as follows This documentation contains text which is based on the AIRCAST User Manual English Version written by Cad De
90. ad entire file into RAM if smaller than size in which case players are loaded from the RAM copies of the network files Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 63 7 12 5 Runtime Features These settings allow you to disable specific AIRCAST features which are described below To disable a feature clear its checkbox to enable a feature tick its checkbox By default all these settings are enabled ticked except for Popup menus in folder browsers Extra PFL Player When disabled e The PFL and This Playlist PFL items are not shown in the playlist context menu e Clicking a playlist icon opens the Item Properties dialog General tab not the PFL tab e The Extra PFL item is not shown in the cartwall player context menu e Clicking the PFL tab in any Item Properties dialog in any AIRCAST program shows a Start PFL button instead of beginning PFL immediately Item Properties dialog When disabled the Properties item is not shown on the playlist context menu or on the cartwall player context menu AIRCASTTag and AIRCASTDB are unaffected Save to Tag in Item Properties and PFL dialogs When disabled the File Tag button is not shown in the Export to box on the Item Properties and PFL dialogs in any AIRCAST program Save to MMD in Item Properties and PFL dialogs When disabled the Metadata File button is not shown in the Export to box on the Item Properties and PFL dialogs in any AJ
91. ag window All these settings are identical to those on the corresponding tabs for a Player Audio Devices The Audio Devices settings connect AIRCAST Players to the physical audio devices in your computer In other words these settings are the AJRCAST patch bay or routing matrix Device means any stereo output of a physical audio device This includes each output pair on a multi output audio card see 7 5 1 on page 44 and digital outputs such as optical S PDIF When you install AIRCAST all AIRCAST Players are set to connect to your computer s current default device This is the device shown as the default device for sound playback in your Windows Settings or Control Panel in the Sound and Audio Devices Properties Use the Audio Devices settings if you want to route AIRCAST Players to other devices in your computer including digital audio outputs The Audio Devices settings are a tree structured list of all the AIRCAST Players in the following order showing the Device each Player is connected to Playlist Players Cartwall global settings Cartwall Players individual settings PFL Player Error Checking Playlist and Cartwall Players have both Player and PFL settings other Players have a Player setting To change any setting select an entry from the dropdown in the Device column beside the setting you want to change For example to change the PFL Device for Playlist 1 Player 1 expand th
92. ainer If you use hook cue markers you can use hook container items to quickly create hook sweeps which will play as a series of hooks without needing Players to be put into Hook mode A hook container item is a container item but with two important differences e The selected Playlist items are added to the hook container with the Cue In cue marker set to the Hook In cue marker value the Fade Out cue marker set to the Hook Fade cue marker value and the Cue Out cue marker set to the Hook Out cue marker value e If you have configured them see 7 12 2 on page 62 and after all the selected Playlist items have been added to the hook container a Hook Opener is added at the start of the Container list a Hook Sweeper is added between each Playlist item in the Container list and a Hook Closer is added at the end of the list To create a hook container item select the Playlist items whose hooks you want to play then right click and click Create Hook Container 3 3 6 Network File A network file is an audio file which can only be located and retrieved by using a URL For example a file stored in a central audio library on a Web server Obviously your AJRCAST computer has to be able to access the network location to be able to play files stored on it 3 3 7 Region Container A region container item is a special type of container which allows split outputs see Fout Verwijzingsbron niet gevonden on page Fout Bladwijzer
93. also some constants in Units AIRCASTTypes TConstants but few of these are of any practical use in scripts as most of them are default values of various AJRCAST settings Getting to know the contents of the Classes Functions and Types sections of the help file will help you write better and more efficient scripts more quickly Writing Action Scripts Before planning or designing any action script always bear two things in mind e There is one and only one way to communicate fo the user the SystemLog statement e There is no way to obtain any kind of input or choice from the user This does in some ways limit the kinds of scripts you can write but think of AJRCASTScript as essentially an automation language and you can still create very powerful scripts which automate tasks which would be enormously time consuming or near impossible to perform manually For example scripts can automate the loading of your top of hour jingles and ads to prevent any possibility of your presenters forgetting to load them or load the correct this is the year jingle in front of the next playlist item or even create a live sounding voicetracked show by using a script to add fades and ducks and overlay music voicetracks and beds automatically ready for playout A simple Hello world script would look like this begin oystembog Hello wora Sy end It s a good idea to add a constant for your script
94. an action script click Open Run script in the main A RCAST toolbar then on the Run Script dialog navigate to the script you want to run and click Open You can add frequently used action scripts to the Action menu in the main AIRCAST toolbar so you can run them easily with a couple of clicks see 7 11 on page 60 e A notification script performs one or more actions when certain events occur for example when a Player starts Notification scripts run in the background while AJRCAST is open A notification script typically performs an action like updating a now playing file when a Player starts or stops or sending a specific signal to external hardware such as an IOWarrior card to perform an action such as switching a lamp on or off on some external equipment in sync with Players starting or stopping If you need to use notification scripts it s usually more efficient to have a single notification script which contains all your notification actions Notification scripts are usually saved in the scripts notification folder under your AIRCAST folder To enable run a notification script add it to the list of Notification Scripts in the A RRCAST configuration program see 7 10 on page 60 Basic Script Design and AIRCASTscript chm You can execute or run one script from another and make calls to external DLLs in scripts You can run external programs or batch files bat or cmd files in script
95. and can be opened in Notepad or any editor or viewer which supports text or XML files It is also very easy to see which audio files have been imported and which have not Using mmd files means your audio files are not changed in any way However because one mmd file is needed for each audio file disk performance may be adversely affected especially if you have a large number of audio files in any single folder mmd files are also subject to accidental deletion if not backed up e Tags are not as visually obvious and are less easy to edit or view outside of AIRCAST but you may prefer to write the information into the audio file itself to vastly reduce the chances of accidental deletion You also don t double the number of files in each folder of audio files as using mmd files would do However if you have a significant number of audio files in a non tagged audio format wav files for example tags are not an option Another problem with tags is that you cannot save a tag while the audio file is loaded in any Player e A database available in some editions of AIRCAST is the usual choice However you may want to consider having the existing information also available in either tags or mmd files That way if the database ever needs to be rebuilt from scratch the task 1s simplified and the amount of manual work needed afterwards is also reduced It also means that the information is still available to AIRCAST even if the database
96. and shows the size and position of the currently selected object initially no objects are selected and all object handles are black If a layout ini file already exists objects are shown in the sizes and positions specified in the file otherwise all objects are set to 200x100 pixels in size and are cascaded in the window to make them easier to select using the mouse Use the mouse or the dialog to select an object You can select only one object at a time Using The Mouse NOTE When you open the Layout Designer Enable mouse resizing is selected You cannot use the mouse to make layout changes if this checkbox is cleared Use the mouse to select move and resize objects as described below Note that you will usually need to use the Layout Designer dialog as well to ensure that objects are precisely aligned and that objects like Players are identically sized e Select an object by clicking the large handle in the centre of the object The handles of the currently selected object change from black to red and its name is selected in the Objects list in the Layout Designer dialog e Move an object by dragging the handle in the centre of the object e Resize an object by dragging any handle on the edge or corner of the object Moving or resizing an object with the mouse automatically selects that object You can also move or resize the AIRCAST window by using the mouse Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May
97. arginally faster to read than tags in practice you will not notice any difference A database naturally we recommend AJRCASTDB but you can use iTunes or other databases with less functionality see 7 9 on page 57 for details is the most efficient way to store your audio file information followed by mmd files and custom AJRCAST tags in that order To be accurate the text file contains the information in XML format The A RCAST tag contains a text string containing the information in XML format Much of the information is stored in a text field containing the information in XML format Using a very small number of audio files allows you to quickly try each method out before committing to any method s Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 84 9 4 9 5 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English If you initially choose to use either mmd files or custom AJRCAST tags then later decide to switch to using a AIRCASTDB database instead your existing information is preserved because AIRCASTDB uses the same strategy shown above when it initially adds a file to the database File Tagging And Metadata Tagging is the process of adding information about an audio file data about data or metadata and saving it in a database mmd file or a tag within the audio file as a set of properties The saved information is displayed in all A RCAST applications on an item s Properties page Item Properti
98. arker or the default automation fade time whichever is shorter however note that some configuration settings can change this behaviour and if a fade duration is specified in an item s Properties either in a playlist database playlist or the 1item s Properties in a database mmd file or in the file s internal tag those settings take precedence and in that order In Auto mode or when items are linked in Assist mode the next playlist item will start playing when at the Fade Out Cue Marker unless it has already been started by a prior Start Next Cue Marker Cue Out Use this Cue Marker to set the end of the track The track will stop at this point and will usually be unloaded from a Player and any audio after this point will not be played in either Assist or Auto mode NOTE Even if it is enabled stutter mode cueing is not used for Cue Out Cue Markers When you click TEST the two seconds of audio before the Cue Out Cue Marker is played instead Anchor Use this Cue Marker to set the reference point for backtiming when playing the track at a fixed time especially at a hard fixed time in Auto mode only not when items are linked in Assist mode An example of why and how to set an Anchor Cue Marker follows If you have a jingle which runs for a few seconds before an effect or drumbeat which must play out exactly on the hour set its Anchor Cue Marker at that effect or drumbeat When playing this jingle
99. as live for broadcast in the future and for training purposes Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 31 7 Configuration The default AIRCAST configuration settings provide a radio playout and automation system which works immediately after installation with all features operational As you learn AJRCAST s features and operation sooner or later you will want to change the way some features work or add more Players or Cartwall Players or make other small or large changes This chapter lists and describes the configuration settings in tree node order The settings which are available in the tree depend on the type of AIRCAST licence you purchased Because AJRCAST is a uniquely configurable system the large number of settings may seem daunting at first The best way to learn what the settings do is to explore them for yourself but if you find a setting you don t understand read its description in this Manual To configure AIRCAST open the AIRCAST Configuration program known as AIRCASTConfig which is built in to the AIRCAST exe program file To open AIRCASTConfig click Start All Programs or Programs AIRCAST Configuration or navigate to the AIRCAST program files folder and open the file AIRCASTConfig bat F mAirList Configuration Playlists Cartwall PFL Player Audio Devices GUI Remote Control det matrtuiset Databases Notification Scripts Act
100. ase are different for local mode and network mode databases as described below To create a new AJRCASTDB database in local mode 1 Open the AIRCAST Configuration program AIRCASTConfig and navigate to the Databases node 2 Click Add and in the pop up menu click AIRCASTDB local mode You see the AIRCASTDB local mode Setup dialog 3 Click Create new database and on the Create New AIRCASTDB Instance dialog either accept the default database file name and location database db in your AIRCAST data folder or select the folder and type the File name you want to use for your new database file Click Save 4 AIRCASTDB creates the database file When the database file has been created you see a Setup completed successfully message box Click OK to dismiss the message box 5 Optionally you can change the caption for your database the default caption is Database The caption is the database name displayed in AIRCAST Browser Database panes To change the caption click the Advanced tab and type a Custom Caption 6 Optionally clear the Show database button in playout window checkbox if you do not want a Database button in the AIRCAST toolbar 7 Optionally select the Use external IDs for import and export checkbox if you need to synchronise AJRCASTDB with an external database see 11 9 1 on page 105 8 Optionally set the Synchronous Mode OFF dramatically improves SQLite performance but does not use any disk ca
101. ayer s PFL audio device is only used while the Player is playing at all other times the Player s PFL output is routed to the Player s Playback audio device This provides a separate PFL during playback audio output which you could connect to a pair of squawk box speakers or to an input of a headphone amplifier system for example PFL during playback starts End Mon default on This setting has no effect if Allow simultaneous playback and PFL is off If this setting is on selecting PFL while the Player is playing plays the ending of the item in the PFL Player see 7 12 7 on page 63 Loop audio default off If this setting is on the Player s Loop mode is on when AJRCAST opens Hook mode default off If this setting is on the Player s Hook mode is on when AJRCAST opens Switch off loop mode when player is closed default off If this setting is on the Player s Loop mode switches off each time the Player closes Switch off hook mode when player is closed default off If this setting is on the Player s Hook mode switches off each time the Player closes Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 40 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 7 2 3 GUI Options tab These settings affect the appearance of the Player as opposed to the Options tab settings see boven which affect the behaviour of the Player Auto truncate time default off If this setting is off Duration
102. back Each Action requires specific information such as script file name command name etc on its Action or Database tab as shown below but each Action has the same Options tab 4 1 1 Options tab Custom title default blank If supplied the Custom title is shown in the Action list instead of the standard Action description Enable substitution of variables default off If this setting is on any variables see 7 8 2 on page 55 in the Actions tab will be substituted by their current values before the Action is performed This is especially useful when you create time or date specific Actions such as loading a playlist for the next hour or for the current day of the month Time adjustment default zero If non zero the Action is performed as if the internal AJIRCAST time of day clock was adjusted forward or backward by the specified amount of time Affected playlist default Default playlist The Playlist which is affected by the Action If you have two or more Playlists you can use Actions to control any Playlist Default playlist means Playlist 1 or for Actions on Start Stop it means the Playlist containing the Action Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 20 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 4 1 2 List Of Actions By Category The Actions are listed and described below by category 4 1 2 1 Miscellaneous Actions Send data to serial port Sends the specified Da
103. base playlists clocks and the AIRCAST Recycle Bin Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 9 Status Bar Finally at the very bottom of the window is the Status Bar which contains the System Message area on the left and the AIRCAST time of day clock on the right Double clicking the System Message area opens the AIRCAST System Log and double clicking the clock opens the Adjust Internal Time dialog which allows you to manually set or change the AJRCAST internal date and time note that this does not affect the Windows date and time All of these elements are explained in more detail in the following sections 2 1 1 Browser Playlist Players Cartwall The four main operational areas of AIRCAST are Playlist Browser Cartwall 6 J Recyrhe ma Players Figure 2 2 The main areas of the default AIRCAST window layout 1 Browser The browser contains panes which can contain file folders databases database search database playlists clocks and the AIRCAST Recycle Bin By default only the Recycle Bin is shown You can drag audio items from any pane in the Browser and drop them on the Playlist or on any Player including Cartwall Players 2 Playlist The Playlist is the central component of ATRCAST Audio items in the Playlist are automatically loaded in sequence into available Players for manual live assist or assist mode or automated automation
104. ble items in the Playlist such as COMMAND SILENCE and BREAK items are not executed this is to ensure that they do not disappear from the Playlist before they are acted upon When this setting is on all non playable items in the Playlist are automatically marked as played when they reach the top of the Playlist and are immediately moved to the Playlist history Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 33 Save event list along with desktop files and templates mld mlt default off Each Playlist has 1ts own list of scheduled events see Event Scheduler on page 23 Normally when you save a Desktop mld or Desktop Template mlt file the Event list is not included as part of these files When this setting is on this Playlist s Event list is included in these files Automatically save event list at shutdown default on Self explanatory The auto saved file name is standardO mle for the first Playlist standard 1 mle for the second Playlist and so on Move deleted items into Recycle Bin default on Deleted items and items in the Playlist history are usually moved to the AJRCAST Recycle Bin If this setting 1s off played items are deleted permanently Automatically jump to fixed time items in automation mode default on In automation mode A RCAST normally jumps to Playlist items which have a fixed or soft fixed playout time If this setting is off ALRRCAST
105. ble releases on your live play out computers If you want to install an update within version 3 1 of AIRCAST for example version 3 1 0 to version 3 1 1 you don t need to do anything to prepare for the update other than backing up your AIRCAST program folder your AIRCAST data folder and all its subfolders and your database files if any Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 6 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English To perform an update 1 Make backup copies of your existing ATRCAST program folder data folder and all subfolders and all database files 2 Download either the installer exe file or ZIPfile of the new version of AJRCAST 3 If you downloaded the installer Open the file which overwrites your existing version of the AJRCAST program file exe file but leaves your configuration files unchanged If you downloaded the ZIPfile Extract it into your existing AIRCAST program folder and data folder and its subfolders Overwrite existing files in all folders except the config subfolder of your data folder and extract files using folder names 1 e extract using the subfolder names within the ZIPfile 4 Open the AIRCAST configuration program and check all settings especially any new or changed settings as detailed in the change log 5 If you have an existing AIRCASTDB database check your database schema version see 7 9 on page 57 for details and upgrade it if necessary 6 When all
106. blem your video card might be too slow to cope with all the redraws when items start especially if you use countdown overlays and multiple progress bars and particularly in automation mode If you are using a video card built in to your computer s motherboard this is definitely worth checking Consider installing a faster video card or if you have a spare video card available try it out and see if it makes a difference Cue Point markers and or item durations are wrong WDM and ASIO drivers This is not a sound card problem it is an inherent problem if you use variable bit rate audio files BASS almost always reports inaccurate durations and inaccurate Cue Markers for variable bit rate audio files unless the High precision cueing for VBR files BASS_STREAM_PRESCAN setting for your sound card see 7 13 2 on page 66 for WDM 7 13 3 on page 67 for ASIO is on Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 47 7 6 GUI These settings affect the general appearance of the AIRCAST GUI 7 6 1 Settings If your AIRCAST computer has two or more monitors you can change the Window position setting default Default to Maximise on monitor 1 Maximise on monitor 2 etc Use the Show GUI in language setting default blank to choose the language used in A RCAST menus dialogs etc If this setting is blank AJRCAST auto detects your computer s default language from the Regional and Language
107. brary managers typically have one ore more assistants staff to assist with these duties If you have not already done so please read or re read section 9 3 on page 82 before continuing and make sure that your audio library manager and staff also read section 9 3 and all of this section Once you have set up a AIRCASTDB connection you can run the A RCASTDB database management program either by selecting Database from the A RCAST Start menu group or by running AIRCASTDB bat from your AIRCAST program folder 11 3 1 Adding Storages Before you can add audio files to AIRCASTDB you need to tell AIRCASTDB where your audio files are stored In AIRCASTDB terminology the audio file folders on your hard disks or network file servers are called storages The term storage was chosen because future versions of AIRCAST may support other types of data source for example a web server Important If you map network drive letters to refer to locations on network file servers map the same network drive letters on all your AIRCAST computers and use the same network drive letters when you add storages to AIRCASTDB Otherwise your playout computer s will not be able to load the audio files To add one or more folders as a storage click Administration Configuration Storages tab click Add then navigate to the top level folder you want to add as a new storage and click OK twice AIRCASTDB scans folders recursively so you don t need t
108. but it is wise to check these Cue Markers Tracks with internal silences can fool Auto Cue into setting Fade Out much too early or Cue In too late and so forth There may also be audio at the start or end of the track which you ll never want to play out for example the first few seconds of Wannabe by the Spice Girls Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 89 General Audio File Options Attributes Actions Cue Data PFL y Remain 0 03 18 33 9 6 7 1 Cue Markers The Cue Markers and their functions are described below The term track is used here to mean the audio file you have opened Cue In END MON Use this Cue Marker to set the beginning of the track a E The track will be played starting from this point and any audio before this point will not be played in either Assist or Auto mode Ramp 1 Ramp 2 Ramp 3 Use these Cue Markers to set ramp points usually the points where the vocals or the main beat of the track begin Ramps are displayed in progress bars with separate countdowns and in contrasting colours but have no other function Ramps are useful in Assist mode to help the C Ces presenter to talk up to the vocal Hook In Hook Fade Hook Out A hook is a short section of a track usually the chorus or the most recognisable part of the track played on air as a teaser for a track which wil
109. by one second e SET button Click to set the Cue Marker time to the current Elapsed time e 0 button Click to clear delete the Cue Marker e TEST button Click to audition the Cue Marker The default stutter mode cueing combined with mouse wheel jog adjustments see below is a fast efficient way to set Cue Markers NOTE that if Cue Out is the selected Cue Marker clicking TEST plays the two seconds of audio before Cue Out stutter mode cueing is never used for the Cue Out Cue Marker e Mouse wheel Scroll towards you to increase the Cue Marker time or away from you to decrease the Cue Marker time by 1 100th of a second 10 mS per step Shift scroll to change the Cue Marker time by 1 10th of a second 100 mS per step Ctrl scroll to change the Cue Marker time by one second per step 5 If you prefer a plain list to a coloured list switch the Enable cue category colours Configuration setting off see 7 2 3 on page 46 7 3 3 on page 49 and 7 4 on page 50 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 91 Alternative Cue Marker controls optional If the Enable alternative cue points settings in Configuration are on see 7 2 3 on page 40 7 3 3 on page 42 and 7 4 on page 44 you can store any number of alternative values for each Cue Marker General Audio File Options Attributes Actions Cue Data PFL This is useful for example for live recordings to quickly
110. ching making your database file vulnerable to corruption or data loss in case of power loss etc NORMAL enables disk caching for almost all operations but has little or no performance gain compared to FULL the default setting cache all disk operations 9 Click OK to close the AIRCASTDB local mode Setup dialog 10 On the AIRCAST Configuration window click Save to save your changes 11 3 Managing Your Audio Library Before we explain how to use AIRCASTDB to manage your audio library we recommend that you appoint at least one member of your station personnel to manage your audio library If you allow your audio library to just grow it will quickly become an unmanagable mess Your audio library manager will be responsible for e Maintenance of library media and folders e Physically adding new audio files to the library media and folders e Quality checking all new audio files for clicks pops artefacts and other audio faults e Tagging all new audio assigning an audio Type adding cue and ramp points etc 36 See the online SQLite documentation for full details Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 95 e Checking that artist and title information is correct and in a standard format e Checking for duplicate titles which are different songs and marking these accordingly e Keeping A RCASTDB in sync with the library media e Managing AIRCASTDB folders Audio li
111. cked especially if this is your first ATRCAST install Click Next gt to continue On the Choose Install Location page you choose the folder where you wish to install AIRCAST We suggest that you do not change the folder from its default unless you have a specific reason to do so Click Next gt to continue On the Choose Start Menu Folder page you choose the Windows Start Menu folder where you wish to install the AIRCAST shortcuts NOTE Only Windows Start Menu shortcuts are installed No other shortcuts are installed desktop icons or Quick Launch icons for example We suggest that you do not change the Start Menu folder unless you have a specific reason to do so Click Install to begin the install process The install process typically takes less than one minute When it is complete you see the page below Installation is complete Click Finish to close the Setup Wizard Click Finish to close the Setup Wizard Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 3 The language should default to English If it doesn t select English from the dropdown Click OK to continue The Setup Wizard opens Click Next gt to continue On the Choose Components page you can choose not to install the Example AJRCAST Scripts if you prefer However we recommend that you leave all boxes ticked especially if this is your first ATRCAST install Click Next gt to continue On the Ch
112. column in the second row of the Playlist the one with the red lamp in it currently a few times and note what happens First click the item below is added to the list of linked Playlist items second click the item below is removed from the linked list and so on You see the second music track disappear from and reappear in Player B as you make the clicks The red lamp always indicates the last item in the linked list Linking tracks especially with sweepers or jingles in the list is a good way to automate a self operated show temporarily Link all three tracks together and click Next While the second item first music track is playing click Next Nothing happens because although there is another item in the Playlist it is no longer a separate item because it is linked to other items In other words AJRCAST treats a set of linked items as a single item Remove the link and clear the Playlist and the Players Load the tutorial3 playlist then click the Playlist AUTO button AUTO Two buttons to stop start automated playout replace the Next Hil p gt button on the Playlist Control bar Click the Auto Start button The test file plays followed by the first music track Note that AUTO flashes as a reminder the Next button is visible again and Player controls are not visible Click Next and note that the currently playing track segues smoothly into the next track After a little while click Next again Unlike in assist m
113. configuration settings are correct click Save to save your changes and close the AIRCAST configuration program 7 Open the updated AJRCAST and test it thoroughly before using it for broadcast 1 3 2 Upgrade from AIRCAST Version 3 0 x or earlier Before you upgrade check that all your A RCAST licences are valid for the version you are upgrading to AIRCAST licences are usually valid for any version within the current major version for example all 3 x x versions Upgrading from a version earlier than 3 1 x for example from 3 0 x is slightly more complicated than installing an update You will usually need to manually copy the existing configuration files into the new version s program folders and copy any AIRCASTDB files as described earlier You may need to manually edit configuration files and you will definitely need to check all configuration settings as features may have been changed added or removed It s especially important that you read the change log before installing an upgrade To perform an upgrade 1 Make backup copies of your existing ATRCAST program folder data folder and all subfolders and all database files 2 Download either the installer exe file or ZIPfile of the new version of AJRCAST 3 If you downloaded the installer Run the file which installs the new version of AJRCAST If you downloaded the ZIPfile Extract it into a new folder making sure you extract all files using f
114. d and create a container is to add the items you want in your container to the Playlist select all those items then right click and click Create Container You can name a container by changing the Title in its Properties dialog from the default Container During playout the container s Title is shown in the Player after the playing item s Title but only the container s Artists if you added any Artists in its Properties dialog is shown the playing item s Artists are never shown in the Player Items played from inside a container item are still logged as individual Playlist items so if your station uses AIRCAST logging to send now playing information for example to a web site this will still work properly However the container s start and stop are also logged so you will probably want to exclude log entries with a Type of Container from your now playing processing Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 18 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 3 3 4 Dummy A dummy item is exactly that Its only purpose is to allow someone working on a Playlist to add a comment to the Playlist by changing the Artist and or Title in its Properties You can use dummy items as visual markers Top Of The Hour or Competition for example or to provide information or instructions to the operator TIP Use the Comments in the dummy item s Properties if you need to add more text 3 3 5 Hook Cont
115. d files in that disk folder and all its subfolders In A RCASTDB terminology this import process 1s called synchronisation To synchronise a storage click Synchronise on the Library tab then choose the storage you want to synchronise Note that you cannot synchronise more than one storage at the same time The synchronisation dialog scans the storage and displays the list of new files on the left hand side Select the files you want to import by default all files are selected decide whether you want to Disable Auto Cue the default 1s Enabled see below select the virtual folder where you want to save the imported files the default is Unsorted select the desired Type for the files by selecting it in the Set type as dropdown leave this blank unless all files in the storage are the same Type then click Import selected files Important If Auto Cue is enabled in the A RCAST configuration program synchronisation takes longer to run unless you have previously tagged the files The Disable Auto Cue check box in the Synchronisation dialog optionally switches off Auto Cue for this one synchronisation Tick this box only if you do not want to run Auto Cue for untagged files in the storage which are new to AIRCAST Regardless of the check box setting files already present in AIRCASTDB will not be Auto Cued again their existing Cue Markers are unaffected Even if Disable Auto Cue is cleared no Cue Markers will be se
116. database all the AZRCAST computers must have the same version of AIRCAST installed or versions which use the same AJRCASTDB database schema version For this reason it s not usually possible to use the same A RCASTDB database from computers with different versions of AIRCAST installed on them Therefore if you plan to install a new update or upgrade and you want to test or trial it with an existing ATRCASTDB database you should first copy your existing ATRCASTDB database files then configure the trial installation to use those copied files as its AIRCASTDB database You can then safely upgrade the database schema 1 3 1 Update within AIRCAST Version 3 1 AIRCAST is constantly being developed and improved and two types of updates are usually available for you to download and install releases and snapshots e A release is a new stable version which typically includes new or improved features e A snapshot is a possibly unstable development build which is available for testing Snapshots usually consist of a single updated AIRCAST exe file IMPORTANT NOTE Always backup your AIRCAST program folder and all your AIRCAST data files and databases before you install an update or snapshot You should not install snapshots on your live play out computers unless you have conducted your own as live soak testing of a snapshot build and are confident of its stability on the other hand we strongly recommend that you do install new sta
117. dit_add png 16x16 actions editdelete png 16x16 actions fileclose png 16x16 actions filenew png 16x16 actions fileopen png 16x16 actions filesave png 16x16 actions filesaveas png 16x16 actions help png 16x16 actions kgpg_edit png 16x16 actions ledlightblue png 16x16 actions ledlightgreen png 16x16 actions ledorange png 16x16 actions ledred png 16x16 actions messagebox_info png 16x16 actions messagebox_warning png 16x16 actions misc png 16x16 actions no png 16x16 actions ok png 16x16 actions pencil png 16x16 actions player_eject png 16x16 actions player_end png 16x16 actions player_pause png 16x16 actions player_play png 16x16 actions player_stop png 16x16 actions reload png 16x16 actions stop png 16x16 actions viewmag png 16x16 apps amarok png 16x16 apps arts png 16x16 apps bug png 16x16 apps clock png 16x16 apps flashkard png 16x16 apps kate png 16x16 apps kdat png 16x16 apps ktimer png 16x16 apps ktip png 16x16 apps kuser png 16x16 apps package_development png 16x16 devices hdd_unmount png 16x16 filesystems folder png 16x16 filesystems folder_sound png 16x16 filesystems folder_txt png 16x16 filesystems folder_yellow png 16x16 filesystems server png 16x16 filesystems services png 16x16 filesystems trashcan_full png 16x16 mimetypes sound png 16x16 mimetypes txt png Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 118 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 22x22 actions leftarrow png 22x22 actions leftarrow png 22x
118. does not jump to these items Update backtiming with current time when idle default off AIRCAST has a background routine which calculates the estimated start time of all the remaining items in the Playlist beginning initially at 00 00 00 if no Players are playing When a Player starts AIRCAST updates these times but does not update them again until another Player starts If this setting is on and no Players are playing AIRCAST updates these times continuously using the current time of day as the start time of the first item in the Playlist 7 1 3 GUI Options tab These settings affect the appearance of the Playlist as opposed to the Options tab settings see page 32 which affect the behaviour of the Playlist Show column headers default on If this setting is off the Playlist s column headings Title Artist Duration Ramp etc are not shown You may wish to do this to save screen space Extended display mode default on If this setting is off the Title and Artist are shown on the same line in the Playlist instead of on two separate lines You may wish to do this to show more items on the screen Swap artist and title in extended display mode default off If this setting is on and Extended display mode is also on the Artist is shown above the Title instead of below the Title Backtiming display default on If this setting is off the fixed and estimated start times of items are not shown Display remain
119. don t want so let s fix this now EN Right click Cart 1 then click Extra PFL You see the standard PFL dialog for the audio item As you did in le 2204 the last tutorial on Players clear the item s Fade Out point add a Start Next point at roughly one second ie aw before the end of the item and if a Cue In point is showing as 0 00 00 clear that as well When you ve made all those changes click Metadata File to save them then click OK to close the PFL dialog If you ve forgotten how to do all this all the details are on page 12 As well as the PFL button on each Cart you can click the PFL mode button at the right of the Cartwall toolbar to put all Carts into PFL mode In this mode you can click PFL or Start play on any Cart to listen to it Click the PFL mode button again to switch Cartwall PFL off Click the Cart 1 Start button and let the jingle play out When it stops Cart 1 re cues the jingle it does not eject it Now load a long music bed a five minute news or traffic news bed is ideal into Cart 2 and a closing sting into Cart 3 Again use Extra PFL on these audio items as described above to remove their Fade Out Cue Markers and so on Usually you would fast fade a music bed out when you fire the closing sting AIRCAST can do this for you automatically but first you have to set up a fast fade out on the music bed Right click Cart 2 click Properties Options tab and change Fade duration
120. during automation Actions StartupActions mla for After Startup Actions and ShutdownActions mla for Before Shutdown Actions 2 The Action button and menu do not appear in the AIRCAST toolbar unless the Action Menu list contains at least one entry Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 61 d2 Miscellaneous 7 12 1 File Import The first time you open any given audio file in AIRCAST whether by adding the file to AIRCASTDB putting the file into a AIRCAST playlist or player or opening the file in AIRCAST s file tagging program AIRCAST examines the file to determine information such as artist title and duration and by default see 7 13 4 on page 67 AIRCAST automatically determines the file s Cue In Fade Out and Cue Out Cue Markers This process is known as importing an audio file The File Import Options affect various aspects of file import processing Import description from file tags default on If this setting is on AIRCAST imports Genre and Comment tags if they exist in the audio file Import file tags as attributes default on If this setting is on AIRCAST imports tags such as Genre Track Number Album and Year as Attributes If you use AIRCASTDB Attributes are automatically shown as nodes in the Library tree Import album artwork from file tags default off If this setting is on AIRCAST imports album artwork if it exists in the audio file s tags If it
121. e file OnTheFlyCache mlp each time you open AIRCAST to remove missing files and add new ones including Auto Cue if enabled This setting has no effect if the Use cache file checkbox is not ticked NOTE To re scan an OTF database while AJRCAST is running open it in the Browser right click its name then click Disconnect Right click its name again and click Connect This performs the same processing as at startup including Auto Cue if enabled so it may take some minutes to complete 7 9 8 iTunes iTunes is a freeware media player and media database written by Apple Corporation which stores audio file information and playlists in a database which is an XML file Usually this file is named Tunes Music Library xml AIRCAST can access the iTunes title artist and comment fields and Tunes playlists On the Settings tab e Specify your iTunes Music Library xml File location and name e Ifyou need to substitute paths to audio files perhaps because the iTunes database is on a different computer type the drives and paths in the Replace and With boxes For example if the path and file name in iTunes is d 1Tunes Madonna Vogue but this location would be i Madonna Vogue as viewed from your AIRCAST computer type d iTunes in the Replace box and 1 in the With box e Ifyou want to use iTunes playlists in A RCAST for things like a Database Playlist Browser you must specify an Hourly Playlist Pattern
122. e 60 Database optional Opens a AIRCASTDB window Note that this is a fully functional window AIRCAST e Control Panel optional Opens the A RCAST Control Panel which is a subset of the Configuration dialog e About Opens the AIRCAST About dialog Browser Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 30 6 3 6 4 6 5 6 6 Revision 20 6 2 1 Browser Toolbar Player Playlist 6 4 1 Playlist Control Bar Cartwall 6 5 1 Cartwall Toolbar 6 5 2 Cartwall Player Status Bar System Log AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English To view the AIRCAST System Log double click the blank part of the Status Bar In the System Log dialog click Clear to clear delete all System Log entries click Filter to display a menu where you can select which categories of System Log entries you want to view By default entries for all System Log categories except Playlist and Debug are displayed Adjust Internal Time To change the internal time of day and date used by AJRCAST double click the part of the Status Bar displaying the time In the Adjust Internal Time dialog set the Time and Date to the time and date you want AIRCAST to use then click Set or click Cancel to close the dialog without changing the internal time To return the AJRCAST internal time to the current date and time click Reset Common uses for adjusting the internal time and or date are to test Events to record a show
123. e 8 6 Contents and Structure of DefaultDirectories im1 file ooonnnnconccnnnnnnocanonnnincnnonnnnannnnnococcnnnonicannnacacannncnnnss 94 VAW ork ne Wiha Audio lesa pasa 96 OA Pianino our Audio LADA eree eea EE E A EEEE 96 9 2 Audio File Formats BASS Add Ins rd li ts 96 Mp ORR esla 96 OA Pile Tacones Ano Metadata asalariados 98 TAE Properes TCE lay US an 98 Oo Pile Tasoer Prostar AIRGAS TL anota A iaa ceeds baasamasieteataue 98 03 AIRC AST Pac Brow Ser sive so alan 99 95 2 AIRCAS las lieni Properties Di aloe a3 sec a5 circ ee e nh causctnen csvailcaacetucs e a ae E ARATE 99 ON Prope reS Dialog boto ie orilla 100 To Me General tiDn eeo Pe A E ES 100 OZ Adol Da ie ds 100 JO Y CAD A O A A 101 DO AAU DUES Le A AA AA ia 101 OACI ie peace nesap eg ae sacs 102 LOOC dD ata ba Diccchace gare tisnse a baxcease a apes canoe ase A s can cee sees Sem eats can eae neous 102 A A RA 102 Figure 9 8 AIRCASTTag PEL tab and optional controls urna a A AA AA 102 10 Layout Destinia ad ds 106 Figure 10 9 The AIRCAST Layout Designer windOw 1 a ei ads 106 101 Usino Tre MoUS E is o rol coa lacio cacao 106 10 20 sims The Layout Desisner Drillo Teos a a do 107 10 Closing The layout Destinado potato rado dali 107 M1 ATREASTOB AUdIO DD ata Das e ees ais A A A AAA O 108 FETADOUAIRCASTD Do a 108 11 2 How To Create A New AIRCASTDB Database oooooncccccccccncnncnocononononcnnnnnnnnnnnnnnonononnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnanannnnnnss 108 AIDA MA
124. e NAB tape cartridge or cart players Cartwall Players look and operate almost exactly the same as the main Players you learned about in the previous tutorial so this tutorial concentrates on those differences To save space we will refer to This is the same feature as jingle decks or instant players in other software Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 14 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English Cartwall Players as Carts Use the Cartwall in assist mode to quickly and easily play items like station ID and promo jingles music beds sound effects competition stings etc without needing to plan them into the Playlist however ad breaks typically are scheduled into the Playlist The Cartwall contains a toolbar and by default six numbered Cartwall Players or Carts If you are thinking only six remember this is the default you can easily change the number of Carts later and six Carts are enough for you to learn how to use the Cartwall Load a jingle into Cart 1 Cartwall Player 1 by opening a Windows Explorer a Leith FM window then dragging an audio file and dropping it directly on to Cart 1 If the item you load is an unknown audio file AIRCAST performs the same file analysis and automatic setting of Cue Markers 1t does when an unknown audio file 1s loaded into a main Player With jingles and effects this is usually exactly what you
125. e extra outputs from applications including AJRCAST if you select a two channel speaker configuration 2 Ifthe Windows Speakers setup is correct but there is still no output from AJRCAST or if the outputs are still not shown as Device selections close AIRCAST switch on Force multichannel output for the card see 7 13 2 on page 66 then re open AIRCAST 3 Ifthe Windows Speakers setup is correct but there is still no output from AJRCAST or if the outputs are still not shown as Device selections close AIRCAST switch on the Ignore speaker assignment setting for the card see 7 13 2 on page 66 then re open AJRCAST 4 If there is still a problem try the suggestions below for All Sound Cards If one of those solves your problem try switching off the two settings above one at a time to see whether either setting is still required if not leave them switched off 18 Strictly speaking AIRCAST uses the Windows DirectSound interface so older MME drivers are also supported Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 46 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English T5222 All Sound Cards Output is non existent noisy or scratchy WDM drivers only Some sound cards including some sound cards built in to the computer s motherboard do not produce audio output correctly unless specific features of the BASS audio engine used internally by A RCAST are enabled or disabled Because every sound card
126. e same names as the Nuvola files you are replacing see Appendix C on page 116 We also strongly suggest that you supply replacement files for all the Nuvola icon sizes used by AIRCAST for example both 16x16 and 48x48 sizes for a replacement player_stop png file Note that you need to supply only the graphics files which replace existing icons you do not need to supply all the graphics files used by AIRCAST if you do this may increase AIRCAST startup time 6 Thatis the same folder structure as the extracted version of the full Nuvola icon library 1 Tf the images folder does not exist create it Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 81 8 3 Setting Default Folders For AIRCAST Dialogs Many AIRCAST functions use file Open or Save dialogs Although these dialogs remember the folder they used when last opened you can set default folders for many of these dialogs The default folder you set will be used when the dialog is first opened during a AJRCAST session To set default folders manually create a DefaultDirectories ini file in your AIRCAST config folder An example DefaultDirectories ini file for a home or hobby user of AIRCAST is shown below DefaultDirectories AddDirectoryBrowser D laudio AddDirectoryTreeBrowser D laudio AddPlaylistBrowser C Documents and Settings User HOMEPC My Documents AIRCAST AppendPlaylist C Documents and Settings User HOMEPC My Documents AIRCA
127. e switch for Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p LOAD f Loads file finto Player p in Playlist P In the following Command o represents the name of a Player Option see 7 2 2 on page 38 chosen from this list AutoFadeOut AutoLoad AutoLoadOnDemand AutoLoadSingle AutoLoadSpecial AutoPFLOff AutoReleasePause AutoStopOnEOF AutoStopPFL AutoUnloadEOF AutoUnloadStop HistoryOnClose HistoryOnCloseLoaded HookMode IndependentPFL IndependentPFLEndMon Logging LoopAudio PFLOutputPlayback ResetHook ResetLoop UseInAutomation PLAYER P p OPTION o s Option o mode switch for Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p PAUSE Pauses Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p PAUSE STOP Toggles Pause Stop for Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p PFL s Player PFL mode switch for Player p in Playlist P In the following Command b represents the name of a Player progress bar option see 7 2 5 on page 41 chosen from this list Enabled NearestRamp Ramp Split PLAYER P p PROGRESSBAR b s Progress bar option b mode switch for Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p RESET Resets Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p START Starts Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p START FADEOUT Toggles Start Fadeout for Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p START PAUSE Toggles Start Pause Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p START PAUSE STOP Toggles Start Pause Stop for Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p START STOP Toggles Start Stop for Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p VOLUME d Sets
128. e tree to Playlist 1 Player 1 PFL drop down the Device column box and select a device If you use a mixer you usually set each Playlist Player s Player and PFL settings to the same device and connect this device to an input channel on the mixer You would use a separate device for each Playlist Player and for the Cartwall The Cartwall global settings are listed just above the individual Cartwall Player settings The global settings apply to all Cartwall Players but any changes you make to an individual Cartwall Player s settings take precedence over the global settings The Error Checking Player is never visible AIRCAST uses this Player internally to check items for errors before loading them into a Playlist or on screen Player Although the Error Checking Player almost never produces any audio output we still suggest that you do assign it to a device which you do not use to prevent any possibility of its output being broadcast on air 7 5 1 Choosing A Device For each physical audio device sound card etc in your computer AJRCAST adds a default device for it to the dropdown in the Device column in addition to its named outputs The default device is the device s default output pair for a 5 1 audio card usually the Front or 1 2 outputs So a sound card with four analogue output pairs and a digital optical output would show as six devices in the Device dropdown its default device followed by its five named ou
129. ed Next Paused PFL Playing Stopped type 1s one of Break Command Container Dummy File Other Stream and Add these settings to change the background colour of the named text object in Playlist rows HistoryFontName fontname HistoryFontSize size HistoryFontStyle TextStyle HistoryFontColor ColourValue Add these settings to change the font settings of History rows in Playlists HistoryRowColor ColourValue Add this setting to change the background colour of History rows in Playlists 8 1 10 3 Playlist Progress Bar Settings These settings are identical to the ProgressBar settings you can add in the Players section see 8 1 6 4 75 but affect only the Playlist progress bar which is shown on Playlist items in the grid which are currently loaded in Players 8 1 10 4 Playlist Countdown Overlay Settings These settings affect the countdown overlay which overlays the Playlist during Ramps and or during EOF Warnings Note that these settings apply to both types of overlay you cannot have different settings for the Ramp and EOF Warning overlays OverlayFontName fontname default Arial OverlayFontSize size default 24 points OverlayFontStyle TextStyle default 1 bold OverlayFontColor ColourValue default FF0000 red Add these settings to change the font settings of the countdown overlay OverlayOutlineWidth size default 2 pixels Add this setting to change the width of the coloured outline around the countdown ove
130. ed at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 108 12 4 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 12 3 2 Playlists And PlaybackControls Many scripts work with a Playlist and several other objects items in Playlists Players event lists etc are referenced via a Playlist e Playlist which contains a collection of IPlaylistltem objects and e IPlaybackControl which contains among others a collection of PlayerControl objects Unless you have more than one Playlist or you have a particular reason to do otherwise use CurrentPlaylist to refer to these objects in your scripts For example to work with the items in the Playlist begin SystemLog The Playlist contains IntTostr CurrentPl ylist GetCount ae tc AOS a hig end Note that you must use IntToStr to display any int variable s value using SystemLog Similarly you must use FloatToStr to display floating point single or double values using SystemLog You can also work with the Playlist s playout controls players event list and GUI options using CurrentPlaylist For example begin 1f CurrentPlaylist GetAutomation true then SystemLog The Playlist is in AUTOMATION mode else SystemLog The Playlist is in ASSIST mode end 12 3 3 PlaylistItems And FilePlaylistItems 12 3 4 PlayerControls 12 3 5 CartWallControl and CartPlayerControls Writing Notification Scripts Notification scripts invariably answer t
131. eferences in an exported playlist file do not contain any drive or folder information they contain only the file name and extension This is because it is assumed that all audio items will be in the same folder as the exported playlist file 2 Creating an exported playlist file also copies all the audio files in the Playlist into the same folder as the exported playlist file After saving an exported playlist file and presuming you started with an empty folder you can copy the folder and play the Playlist on any other AJRCAST computer mls Script Contains a AJRCAST script see section 12 on page 106 mlt Desktop Template Contains a snapshot of the contents of the Playlist by default the contents of the Cartwall see 7 3 1 on page 42 and by default the open Browser panes see 7 6 3 1 on page 48 The file does not contain any Player Cartwall or Cartwall Player settings The principal difference between a desktop file and a desktop template file is that by default a desktop template file contains Cartwall contents and a desktop file does not Desktop template files are intended to be used as a standard base which you can open then make changes and save different desktop files Created by clicking Save desktop as or Save desktop as default template on the main toolbar Opened by clicking Open or Open desktop on the main toolbar but see 7 6 2 on page 47 Note that opening a desktop file or a desktop template file
132. ence to its equivalent named output devicename outputname Incidentally if you have multi channel audio files such as 5 1 files in Ogg Vorbis format ATRCAST can play these out in full 5 1 stereo if you select the default output of the 5 1 card for the Players Obviously this means you cannot also use the same 5 1 card as three separate output pairs Tove Troubleshooting Output Problems Most output problems occur either when you change device settings or suddenly at a later time Sudden problems with a device output which has proved reliable are invariably solved by normal audio fault finding check cables for continuity check the sound card itself is not faulty etc Changing device settings in AIRCAST can reveal other problems which are more subtle but are equally easy to solve Obviously we cannot cover every potential problem in this Manual but we list a few well known ones below dow Multi channel Sound Cards The two most frequent problems with multi channel sound cards are a some channels are not shown in the Devices dropdown and b no output from some channels on the card You can usually solve both of these problems by following the steps below in the order shown 1 In Windows Settings or Control Panel check the Speakers selected for the sound card For example for a 5 1 card make sure it has a 5 1 Speakers setup instead of for example Desktop stereo speakers Windows can hide th
133. er one per line Player global settings for Players one per line PlayerO 0 settings for Playlist 1 Player 1 one per line overrides Player Player 1 settings for Playlist 1 Player 2 one per line overrides Player Other Playerx_y sections ExtraPFL Settings for the PFL Player and AIRCASTTag PFL player one per line overrides Player Cartwall global settings for Cartwall Players one per line overrides Player Playlist global settings for Playlists one per line Playlist0 settings for Playlist 1 overrides Playlist Other Playlistx sections ProgressBar settings for the Global Progress Bar one per line Figure 8 4 Contents and Structure of skin ini file Figure 8 4 above shows every possible section you could include in skin ini but the basic principle to bear in mind when creating or editing skin in1 is if you don t need a section don t add it All the settings you can add to a skin ini file are listed here by section in the same order as shown in Figure 8 4 above We suggest that no matter how many sections you use in your skin ini file you keep the sections you do use in the same order as shown in Figure 8 4above If you want the default option for any setting don t add it to your skin ini file Not only is it unnecessary but each redundant entry still has to be processed during AIRCAST startup
134. er panes auto update to reflect changes to their contents If this setting is off Folder panes are static and only update when closed and re opened Keep search history default on If this setting is on the Database Search pane in the Browser keeps a history of recent searches To repeat a recent search select it in the dropdown list and press Enter Enable autocompletion for search history default on If this setting is on the Database Search pane in the Browser uses the history of searches to suggest search terms as you type You can accept the suggested term at any time by pressing Enter 7 6 3 2 Additional File Extensions AIRCAST recognises the standard file extension of every audio file format it can play see 9 1 on page 82 Files with other file extensions are not recognised as audio files and are not listed in Browser panes file open dialogs database synchronisation etc unless you type the extensions separated by spaces into the Additional File Extensions box For example to add mpg mpeg and pre file extensions type mpg mpeg pre into the box AIRCAST determines the audio file format of files with non standard file extensions when you open them You don t need to associate any extension with an audio file format but you do need to ensure that all files with a non standard file extension contain audio in a format which AIRCAST can recognise and play see 9 1 on page 82 For example if you save all yo
135. erties Unless you use pitch or tempo leave this setting off for best performance Keep device open default off Normally AIRCAST closes WDM audio devices when playout ends and re opens them when playout begins again With some audio device drivers this either causes a noticeable delay when playout restarts or cuts off the beginning of items Changing this setting to on keeps the audio device permanently open which may correct those problems Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 67 7 13 3 ASIO Audio These settings control AIRCAST and BASS settings for audio devices which use ASIO Audio Stream Input Output drivers Typically these are professional and or digital audio devices NOTE We suggest that you do not change these settings unless you are an advanced AIRCAST user Most of these settings can adversely affect AIRCAST performance or stop audio output completely if they are changed from their default setting To change the settings for an ASIO audio device select it from the dropdown which lists all detected ASIO audio devices installed on the computer If the dropdown is empty no ASIO audio devices are installed on the computer Click Info to open a message box listing information about the selected device such as number of outputs and minimum maximum and default buffer lengths Click Config to open the selected device s configuration dialog or control panel Out
136. es are fully listed and described in section 9 6 on page 86 To tag a file change and save the item s Properties using AIRCASTDB or AIRCASTTag see below or directly in the AIRCAST PFL Player or any Playlist 9 4 1 You need to be aware that in a AJRCAST Playlist each item s properties are stored separately within the file or database in a database playlist in a Playlist and within any mlp files you create by saving a Playlist This means that you can change any property of any item in a Playlist without affecting any item s saved properties in the database mmd file file tag or mlp file For example you can shorten an item in a Playlist by changing its Cue Markers and or add a fixed time to it or make any other custom changes you need for that one occasion Properties in Playlists Therefore be aware that when you load a saved Playlist any item may have customised properties which differ from its standard properties in the database mmd file or file tag The comments above also apply to AIRCASTDB Database Playlists see 11 5 on page 98 File Tagger Program AIRCASTTag AIRCAST includes a File Tagger program known as AIRCASTTag which is built in to the AIRCAST exe program file Use AIRCASTTag to tag files separate from the main AJRCAST program AIRCASTTag is useful if you need to tag a large number of files especially if you would prefer that the personnel who tag files do not have access
137. ese settings are identical to those on the Progress Bar tab for a Player see 7 2 5 on page 41 If Enable progress bar is off each Cartwall Player s size is reduced and you can use the extra screen space for other purposes 7 3 6 Window These settings affect the Cartwall window s position and appearance Use the Cartwall Window Type setting to choose whether you want to show the cartwall embedded as a screen object within the main AJRCAST window or a separate Cartwall window An embedded Cartwall is usually shown below the Playlist s in the main AIRCAST window a separate Cartwall window is best suited to computers which have multiple monitors The other Window settings apply separately to embedded Cartwalls and Cartwall windows 7 3 6 1 Embedded Cartwall Settings Visible at startup default on If this setting is off the Cartwall is not shown when AJRCAST opens and the Playlist s expand to fill the available window space Show Cartwall button in toolbar default off If this setting is on the main AJRCAST toolbar includes a Cartwall toggle button which shows or hides the Cartwall When not using the Cartwall you can hide it to reclaim space for the Playlist s Note The toolbar always includes a Cartwall button if the Cartwall is in a separate window Automatically stretch if no Playlists are configured default off If this setting is on and Number of playlists on the Playlists node is zer
138. et of commands must end with a CR character ASCII code 13 or 0D hex The only setting on the dialog for the Serial Port Remote Control is a dropdown where you choose the serial port you want to use To configure serial port settings such as parity see 7 12 6 on page 63 7 7 4 MIDI The MIDI Remote Control associates AIRCAST commands with specific MIDI messages sent to one of your computer s MIDI IN ports On the MIDI Configuration dialog e Select a MIDI device from the Device dropdown e To adda MIDI Message to the list you can type the command manually and then click Add but the easier method is to tick the Capture checkbox then operate your MIDI controller or other device and allow AIRCAST to capture the MIDI message for you then click Add If you wish and if you understand MIDI Message formats you can manually edit the captured MIDI Message before you click Add All parameters are in hexadecimal The Data2 value is preceded by a dropdown where you can choose whether that value is equal to less than or greater than the Data2 value this is useful for MIDI devices like touch sensitive keyboards which may generate a range of values for Data2 e To delete a MIDI Message from the list click the Command column in the row you want to delete then click Delete Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 53 Tele Joystick Gamepad The Joystick Gamepad Remote Control associates AI
139. evision 20 32 fl Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English Playlists The Playlist contains the items to be played out by the associated Players Most users use a single Playlist but you can set up more than one Playlist and associated Players if you wish you may want to do this if for example you have split outputs to play different regional ads during ad breaks You can even have no Playlists if you want to use AJRCAST purely as a Cartwall On the Playlists node choose the number of Playlists you want default 1 The menu tree contains a node Playlist 1 Playlist 2 for each Playlist Each of these nodes shows a page containing a tab named General Options GUI Options Control Bar Progress Bar and Display 7 1 1 General tab Player Count default 2 is the first setting on the General tab This is the number of associated Players you want for the Playlist Each Playlist has one or more associated Players which the Playlist uses to play out its contents The number of Players you choose determines the number of items you can play simultaneously so if you want to segue between items you need at least two Players Depending on your needs and preference you might use three or more Players with the third used for jingles music beds etc Three Players are also useful in automation mode especially if you use voice tracks or sweepers which play out over a music track However you can run au
140. f set 1t means that the template item s position in the generated playlist is fixed To toggle this setting double click the fixed column default is off A Fixed template item is shown with a pink background The optional column if set means that the template item will only be included in the generated playlist if the playlist duration after generating all the non optional template items is less than one hour To toggle this setting double click the optional column default is off An Optional template item is shown with a white background unless it is also a Fixed template item To change the order of template items drag and drop them in the list tip drag the item number Te delete a template item click it then click Remove or press Del You can export a template as a xml file and import it into any template later If you are creating a number of similar templates this can save you a lot of time 8 You can of course leave the Folder as Unsorted if you do want to pick an item from that folder Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 101 To export a template click Export choose a location and name for the xml file then click OK IMPORTANT Importing a template replaces the template contents and there is no warning dialog To import a template click Import navigate to and select the xml file then click OK When you have finished working with the template click OK to save
141. f the options listed In the example above you could use Stop and Two or any other combination of options e Anything in square brackets is optional this might be fixed text or a variable Do not type the square brackets in the setting name In the example above optionalvariable and Optional are both optional Again referring to the example setting name above the shortest valid setting name would be StopFixed or StartFixed other valid setting names based on the description above include OneStopFixed OptionalStartFixed and TwoOptionalStopFixed A variable setting name represents a perhaps large number of possible variations based on a single setting However you must type each variation you need to use as a separate line see below For most variable setting names the minimum shortest setting name is a master setting which is only over ridden by a longer more specific setting name of the same type For example if you have FontColor and PlayingFontColor settings in the same section PlayingFontColor will be used while the object is in the playing state and FontColor will be used at all other times It s usually easiest to start by adding the basic shortest name setting followed if you need them by the more specific longer names settings Why do we say followed and not preceded by Because of the way AIRCAST decides which setting to use in cases of conflicts that is when two
142. fect if you use an external audio stream encoder These settings control the internal ATRCAST audio stream encoder which sends a Shoutcast Icecast format audio stream to an external Shoutcast Icecast audio stream server To use the internal AJRCAST audio stream encoder you must send the audio from your AIRCAST Players to the Encoder device see 7 5 1 on page 44 There 1s also an option to only count listeners to a stream without sending to 1t Use this option 1f you want to monitor the listener count for a stream created by an external audio stream encoder Y ou can also create an encoder server which writes to a local MP3 OGG or WAV audio file To do this add a File aircheck encoder to the Server list and configure its settings Note that you can request that a new file is created after a specified number of minutes elapses As the name implies this type of encoder is useful for aircheck recordings Use the Metadata tab to set up the stream s metadata such as Name URL title updates etc 7 13 7 Advanced 7 14 1 Data Folders This node shows the locations of the AIRCAST data and configuration folders and allows you to open these folders in Windows Explorer The locations of these folders depend partly on the version of Windows installed on your computer and partly on the way you installed AIRCAST We recommend that you do not open or edit any AIRCAST data or configuration files manually unless you are an advanced
143. fore AIRCAST closes run if the playlist runs empty during Automation playback run when entering ON AIR mode and run when entering OFF AIR mode To modify any of these Action lists select the list you want to work with from the dropdown then use the toolbar below the dropdown to add configure or remove items from the list To change the order of list items drag an item to the position you want To rename any item select it click Configure then on the Option tab specify a Custom Caption The item s name in the Action list changes to the Custom Caption you specify We especially recommend that you do this for all Action Menu items because the Custom Caption you specify is the menu item s text in the Action menu Tip To specify a keyboard accelerator for an Action Menu item precede the accelerator letter in the Custom Caption with an ampersand 4 For example the Custom Caption Add amp Icons to items specifies I as the accelerator so in the Action Menu the user can press Alt I to run the Action in the Action menu the menu item would display as Add Icons to items If you make any changes to any list all six lists are saved in your AIRCAST config folder as the files e MenuActions mla for Actions shown as menu items on the AIRCAST Action menu OffAirActions mla for When entering OFF AIR mode Actions OnAirActions mla for When entering ON AIR mode Actions PlaylistEmptyActions mla for When Playlist runs empty
144. g but you can type in a custom string if the format you want is not one of the presets The following table lists the characters you can use to compose a custom time format string You can add any characters not in the table except to the format string these are shown as is Characters Description yy Year last two digits yyyy Year four digits m Month one or two digits mm Month two digits with leading zero mmm Month short name e g Feb mmmm Month long name e g February d Day one or two digits dd Day two digits with leading zero ddd Day short name e g Sun dddd Day full name e g Sunday ddddd Date Windows short date format dddddd Date Windows long date format h Hours one or two digits hh Hours two digits with leading zero n Minutes one or two digits nn Minutes two digits with leading zero S Seconds one or two digits SS Seconds two digits with leading zero u Tenths of seconds one digit ZZZ Milliseconds three digits with leading zeros Truncation point marker see below Table 7 2 Time Format String Characters These formats use the date formats specified in the Regional and Language Options in your Windows Control Panel or Settings The character marks the truncation point everything following the character in the string will always be shown even when the time is truncated the character itself is never shown You would not normally use day month or year
145. g AIRCAS Lis a cit 14 Z Introduction To ARCAS Ti ss 16 ZANT elie IV PAM VY WOW ROO CAPO NP PERES E r tans abesbentea ee ET A 16 Figure 2 2 The derault AIRC AS 1 window layO Ulla a oO Mai e Lp a eed wees eta 16 ZU BLOW Sel Playlist Players Cata it ti a dodo 17 Figure 2 3 The main areas of the default AIRCAST window layout cccccccccccccccccceessesseeeeeecceceeeeeeeeeaaaessseseseeeeeseeeees 17 22 Workino With The BONS soc cad 18 23 Working With The Playlist And Its Players Sd iaa 20 2 WW Orkins Wal The Caral escitas tio a a ica 22 LS DENEI I AA AS O A A AS AOS 24 3 Advanced Operator Controls And Features vitoria il 26 a Time DO AM A mo ooo E o o a 26 2 Loop ARO HOOK Modest a a a a a a T 26 Ns A TOANE 26 ol PAULOMIALION he dk PO oca ece 26 A A AR 26 OMA it AE A E a sia 26 Ds BAe MAINA Ys iceberg See Oe ieee Bai sg Sheena SlasS ala A cou aislaruisassle haeiSdanlante 27 201 HOOK COMER ING E Loria A A tits 27 DOING OW ON Ke FING Foc race toe sat OS E PU OO seh e S i seat dan nad asa O OS 27 oO ee ci n E ORLA LG tua ad ae a edo 21 O E Ve lt ORENT IARAA E SE OT TATEN ANET S AEE A AIEE da OEIL NEE RTS 27 SI Ste al aM trean ANNE SADA AAA A E TOE O NR E 27 A Actions And The Event Scheduler a enr e E E E a a TO 28 VANC ONS a A 28 A OS A AO 28 AF Mast OF ACTIONS DY Cate O iaa AA SA ERA ATA AAA AAA IA 29 A SAA A aacesG ees cute onodaadnatasacaachad eet iabecoatecsadsauneteiaenceead sate ube laduotedatue ties
146. gs available for each type are described below Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 a2 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 7 7 1 Hotkeys local A local hotkey is a keyboard key which operates as a AIRCAST Remote Control only when the AIRCAST window is the active window the hotkey is ignored by AIRCAST if another application is the active window The term keyboard key includes any switch or key on any device which acts like a computer keyboard including custom keyboard devices such as EPOS keyboards AIRCAST treats each shift state and combination of shift states as a separate key so for example K Shift K Ctrl Shift K and Alt K are all separate keys On the Hotkeys Configuration dialog e To add a hotkey to the list click the Shortcut text box then press the key or shifted key you want to add then click Add e To delete a hotkey from the list click the Command column in the row you want to delete then click Delete 7 7 2 Hotkeys system wide A system wide hotkey is a keyboard key which operates as a AIRCAST Remote Control at any time regardless of which window is active System wide hotkeys are otherwise identical to local hotkeys and you configure them in exactly the same way 7 7 3 Serial Port The Serial Port Remote Control accepts ATRCAST commands as plain ASCII text sent to one of your computer s serial ports for example COM1 Each command or s
147. he ASSIST and AUTO buttons are shown as a single toggle button Show NEXT button in assist mode default on If this setting 1s off the NEXT button is not shown in assist mode Use graphic buttons default on If this setting is off the Automation STOP PLAY and NEXT buttons are shown with text labels instead of graphic images AUTO button flashes while playing default on If this setting is off the AUTO button does not flash while Automation is playing items Show next event time box default on If this setting is off the Playlist Next event time box the E box is not shown Show item count and duration boxes default on If this setting is off the Playlist item count box and Playlist total duration box are not shown 7 1 5 Progress Bar tab These settings affect the Progress Bar which you can optionally show within the Playlist Enable progress bar default on If this setting is off no Progress Bars are shown for playing items within the Playlist Show ramp in progress bar default on If this setting is off the Progress Bar does not show Ramps as separate coloured sections Split progress bar during ramp default on If this setting is off the Progress Bar shows Ramps at the left of the normal bar if this setting is on the bar is split vertically with the top half of the bar showing the Ramps Show only nearest ramp default off If this setting is on the bar shows only the nearest Ramp if this setti
148. he Status object you must use a AIRCAST Remote Control see 7 7 on page 51 to toggle on air off air status e Image AIRCAST stores only the image file name not the image itself If you move the image file to a different folder it is not shown in AJRCAST 7 6 5 1 1 Edit dialog The Edit dialog box for each type of Custom Screen Object is slightly different showing only the appropriate settings for that Custom Screen Object Most of these settings are obvious such as the Change Font button Alignment or the Dot colour setting for an LED Clock object The settings which are less obvious are listed below Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 51 hd 7 6 5 1 2 Countdown tab Player Countdown object only Countdown Type Six Player countdown types are available Remaining time Elapsed time Duration Remaining ramp EOF warning and Remaining time to outro Show only nearest ramp Ramp countdown only Same as the Player setting see page 40 Show EOF warning after effective end EOF warning countdown only Continue to display the warning after the effective end of an item 7 6 5 1 3 Appearance tab Time Format A AIRCAST time format string see Table 7 2 on page 36 Text Format Any text s represents the formatted time and or date For example to show an event countdown as n ss to next event change its Text Format to s to next event When clicked execute command Static tex
149. he item immediately You can specify an unlimited or Fixed Duration and optionally type in a Title for the stream the default Title is the URL Insert stream Inserts a Stream item for the audio stream specified by URL at the top of the Playlist You can specify an unlimited or Fixed Duration and optionally type in a Title for the stream the default Title is the URL 8 aS Playlist Actions Playlist Actions are not recommended for use as Actions on Start Stop they are intended for use in scheduled events typically with substitution of date and time variables Load Loads the Playlist with the playlist file specified in Filename Except for items currently playing existing items in the Playlist are deleted before the playlist file is loaded Load and play Loads the Playlist with the playlist file specified in Filename and plays it immediately Except for items currently playing existing items in the Playlist are deleted before the playlist file is loaded In Automation mode and when specified as an Action on Start or Action on Stop in an item s Properties this Action usually causes the following item to end prematurely This is a natural but non obvious consequence of immediately adding and playing an item in Automation mode and is not a bug in AJRCAST S See footnote Fout Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd above See footnote Fout Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd above Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Ve
150. he question What should happen when this occurs where this could be for example e When A RCAST starts up or closes e When PFL is switched on and or switched off e When a Player and or Cartwall Player starts or stops Almost always a notification script is used to interact with external hardware or processes in ways which are not directly possible using ATRCAST commands or actions One common use for a notification script is to send now playing information to a web site as Players start and stop You will find a template file for notification scripts named Notification Script Template mls in the scripts notification subfolder of your AIRCAST program folder This contains an empty procedure definition for each event supported by the notification script interface followed by a final empty begin end do not add any statements between the final begin end statements The best way to start writing a notification script is to copy the script template file and give the copy a new name with a mls extension There are also some sample notification scripts in the folder Some of these especially the Logltems scripts are purely for example purposes Most of the procedure names in the template are obvious but three are worth explaining further 2 Use Playlist 0 Playlist 1 etc to refer to a specific Playlist or PlaybackControl Numbering is zero based Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 U
151. hich during an import means don t change the existing AIRCASTDB value of this field Having only the file path file name and External ID present in the CSV file forces the AIRCASTDB import process to use only the file path name to find matching AIRCASTDB items then write the External ID values in the CSV file to the matching items in the AIRCASTDB database For example if an item has the ID 12345 in the other database its line in the CSV file would look similar to this L29245 EMS LON LO TOS NT REX Debora mos If the ID values in the other database contain spaces or commas for example T 0470 ensure the ID values are enclosed in double quotes in the CSV file T 0470 music 1970s T Rex Debora mp3 Even if your other application allows you to export CSV files using a custom format or selected fields you will probably need to edit the exported CSV file to match the examples above to change field values to single hyphens or to add reorder remove fields until you have exactly twenty fields Opening or Importing the CSV file into a database or a spreadsheet application to make these changes then saving exporting the results as a new CSV file is one easy way to do this Applications designed for directly editing CSV files are another option freeware CSV file editors are available However you decide to edit it ensure that the resulting CSV file you will import into AIRCASTDB contains exac
152. hin that Playlist Both numbers start at zero so PlayerO_0 means the first Player in Playlist 1 3 1 8 ExtraPFL These settings are identical to the settings you can add in the Players section but affect only the Extra PFL Player on the PFL tabs in the Item Properties dialog and in the AIRCASTTag program 8 1 9 Cartwall These settings are identical to the settings you can add in the Players section but affect only Cartwall Players One extra setting and one changed setting are available PFLModeColor ColourValue Add this setting to change the background colour of Cartwall Players when Cartwall PFL mode is on buttonButton Active Color ColourValue default pale blue where button is one of Close Fadeout Hook Loop Next Pause PFL Previous Reset Start Stop In this setting two extra cart Stack buttons are available in Cartwall Players Next and Previous 8 1 10 Playlist These settings affect all Playlists Gf you have more than one Playlist If you have only one Playlist use this section to change its settings This colour is very occasionally shown at either end of a progress bar if an item s cue marker settings are sufficiently bizarre Please do let us know of any sightings ideally with a screenshot Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 76 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English When A RCAST draws a Playlist it first applies any settings in this section
153. his setting on to reset it Auto release PAUSE when other player is playing or started default off If this setting is on and the Player is paused it starts playing when any other Player is started Auto PFL OFF on START default off This setting has no effect if Allow simultaneous playback and PFL is off because the START button is not visible If this setting is on starting the Player stops PFL playout if any and closes the PFL Player even if Allow simultaneous playback and PFL is on If this setting is off starting the Player does not close the PFL Player PFL playout if any continues Auto close PFL at EOF default off If this setting is on the PFL Player closes when it reaches EOF 16 Some combinations of Player settings can leave the Player stopped and open stuck at EOF Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 39 Auto fadeout at Fade Out marker in assist mode default off If this setting is on when the Player reaches an 1tem s Fade Out Cue Marker in assist mode the Player fades out and closes as it does in automation mode If this setting is off Fade Out points are ignored in assist mode Use in automation mode default on To be able to automate a Playlist at least one Player in the Playlist must have this setting on If this setting is on the Playlist can use the Player to load and play items in automation mode If this setting is off the P
154. ibuted as part of Windows Vista or later as an especially good choice for Title fonts The characters lower case L 1 numeral 1 and I capital I are very easy to tell apart and the whole font is easy to read at most sizes As with all skin ini settings remember that you only need to specify the settings you need to change If the only change you want is to make a font bold add only textobjectnameFontStyle 1 8 1 2 6 On Off Values A few skin ini settings typically for toolbars and control bars have a value of either on or off Since one of these will always be the default in this manual we only describe the other value the one you would have to add and what it does 8 1 2 7 Column Numbers Some skin ini Playlist settings use column numbers These column numbers are always the same regardless of any hidden columns and regardless of the displayed column order in the Playlist column number Column Name 0 Icon 1 Time 2 Title 3 Duration 4 Ramp 5 End 6 Link 7 Artist Revision 20 8 1 2 8 Line Style Values The skin ini Playlist setting GridLineStyle which sets the style of lines drawn above and below rows items in the Playlist can have the values dotted default or solid There is no none setting to have no grid lines set GridLineStyle solid and set GridLineColor to match the Playlist s BackgroundColor This makes grid lines transparent It is not possible to remove grid lines complete
155. ijzer niet gedefinieerd e ShowAbout off The AIRCAST button which was originally named About 8 1 5 Browser Section The Browser settings affect the Browser and its toolbar 8 1 5 1 Browser Settings AutoSize off default on This setting has no effect if you use a custom layout created with the Layout Designer Add this setting to stop the Browser resizing to fill vacant space when the AJRCAST window is resized 8 1 5 2 Browser Toolbar Settings Captions on default off Add this setting to display text captions on the Browser toolbar buttons List off default on Add this setting to show Browser toolbar button text captions to the right of not below the button ShowRefresh off default on Add this setting to hide the Refresh button on the Browser toolbar ShowAdd off default on Add this setting to hide the Add button on the Browser toolbar ShowClose off default on Add this setting to hide the Close button on the Browser toolbar To hide the Browser toolbar hide all three Browser toolbar buttons Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 74 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 8 1 6 Player These settings affect all Players including Cartwall Players To override some or all of these settings for individual Playlist Players see onder To override some or all of these settings for the Extra PFL Player see onder To override some or all of these settings for Cartwall P
156. in Auto mode ATRCAST backtimes the track so that its Anchor Cue Marker not its Cue In Cue Marker plays out at the fixed time for example 12 00 00 2 Unless the Configuration setting Use Outro marker for EOF warning see 7 12 8 on page 70 is on Unless the Configuration setting Auto fade out at Fade Out marker in assist mode see 7 2 2 on page 45 is on Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 90 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 9 6 7 2 Alternative Cue Markers As noted earlier you can enable alternative Cue Markers This allows you to set several different versions of each Cue Marker for example more than one Cue In and Fade Out Cue Marker which a presenter or scheduler can choose when playing or scheduling the track This is particularly useful for tracks recorded live where you may want the option of playing the full track or just the song without the spoken introduction before it or the crowd applause following it 9 6 7 3 Using The PFL Tab The term track is used here to mean the audio file you have opened Below the PFL player the default controls on the PFL tab from top to bottom then from left to right are PAY o END MON Track Position controls 0 00 00 00 e Position slider Drag to move the current track position You can also select click the control then use the mouse wheel or press the up down arrow keys to move the curre
157. in a Duration Ramp or Overlay time format string they are included in the table because you can use them in logging see 7 8 2 on page 55 The custom format string n ss u shows Durations as for example 4 07 5 and 11 38 0 The preset format string nn s s shows the same Durations as 04 07 and 11 38 The custom format string n s s u shows Durations as for example 9 5 and 12 8 The custom format string n n ss shows the same Durations as 0 09 and 0 12 Finally the custom format string n n ss shows the same Durations as 0 09 and 0712 Note that you must type this string using typographic quote characters Alt 0146 and Alt 0148 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 37 Jan Players Each Player in each Playlist has its own node in the menu tree Each of these nodes shows a page containing tabs named General Options GUI Options Buttons and Progress Bar Note that you must configure each Player separately If you want the same settings for each Player in a Playlist we suggest that you begin by setting up the first Player in the Playlist the way you want then configure the other Players to match the settings of the first Player The quickest way to do this is to click the first Player s node in the menu tree click a tab set everything on it the way you want then click other Players nodes in the menu tree The same tab is shown so you can quickly compare the settings of all
158. ing custom tweaks to make the system exactly suit the way your station works We suggest that you first decide how many Players and Cartwall Players you require for your station then decide which stereo output pair on your computer s sound card s you want to attach to each Player and to the Cartwall to allow you to connect AIRCAST Players and the Cartwall to the channels on your studio mixer Once you have made those changes probably the next thing you will want to change is the screen layout After that or perhaps instead of changing the layout you may want to change the colour scheme and after that you will probably want to set up a database possibly importing the information from another playout system or your music scheduling software or perhaps starting from scratch by simply synchronising importing the files in your audio library Finally you will probably want to set up automated playout for some or all of your broadcast day Again AIRCAST has all the tools you need to do this quickly and easily especially so if you create your playlists using the AIRCASTDB database All of the information you are likely to need to do all of these things and many more is in the chapters and sections which follow Please also remember that if you need any help the AJRCAST forum is always available online and if the answer is not there already the many forum users and the program s author Dr Weibert will a
159. ing playout systems you will probably already have a substantial music library and may have already added properties such as Cue Markers to them in another playout system s database If AIRCAST is your first experience of radio playout systems be aware that an audio library for radio playout requires planning and is harder work to set up and maintain than simply ripping CDs In either case we suggest that you appoint at least one audio librarian who is responsible for the initial setup and continuing maintenance of your audio library Setting up your audio library requires e Preferably a 100 clean set of audio files see 9 3 e Ideally a central location to store your audio files This may be on one or more networked computers if you map network drive letters to refer to these locations map the same network drive letters on all your AIRCAST computers e Creation of a AIRCASTDB database if you plan to use one see 11 2 on page 94 If you have an existing audio library and database it is usually possible to either access and use that database directly within AIRCAST or to convert import the database into a AIRCASTDB database Even if this is not possible importing your existing audio library into a AIRCASTDB database is easy 9 2 Audio File Formats BASS Add Ins By default AIRCAST can play AIFF MP1 MP2 MP3 OGG and WAV format audio files To play other audio file formats for example flac files vis
160. ing is on an extra confirmation message box is shown before you save any file and also when AIRCAST is closed and any part of the desktop such as Playlist contents has changed since AIRCAST was opened If this setting is off files are saved immediately and no message box is shown when AIRCAST is closed even if the desktop has changed since A RCAST was opened Minimise to tray default off If this setting is off the AIRCAST window minimises to a Taskbar button If this setting is on the A RCAST window minimises to a System Tray icon Open and Save buttons apply to first playlist default off If this setting is off the Toolbar Open and Save buttons open and save the desktop see 5 3 on page 26 for more details If this setting is on the Toolbar Open and Save buttons open and save the first Playlist Use small icons default off If this setting is off the AZIRCAST Toolbar and Browser Toolbar icons are 22x22 pixels in size If this setting is on the A RRCAST Toolbar and Browser Toolbar icons are 16x16 pixels in size Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 48 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 7 6 3 Browser These settings affect the appearance and behaviour of the Browser 7 6 3 1 Browser Options Save within desktop files mld default on If this setting 1s on the Browser contents and settings are saved as part of a Desktop file Save within desktop templates mlt default
161. ing time and ramp for playing items default on If this setting is off the Duration and Ramp columns do not count down while an item is playing Show ramp countdown overlay default on If this setting is off the overlay countdown to Ramp s of the currently playing item is not shown Show only nearest ramp default off If this setting is on the overlay countdown to Ramp s of the currently playing item shows a single countdown to the nearest Ramp instead of a multiple countdown to all Ramps Show EOF warning countdown overlay default off If this setting is on an overlay countdown to the end of the currently playing item is shown during the Player s EOF warning period see 7 2 1 on page 37 Show comment expand collapse buttons default on If this setting is off the button which toggles the display of Comments for the item is not shown Always expand comments default off If this setting is on item Comments are always shown Use playlist icons default on If this setting is off the icons indicating item types Music COMMAND BREAK etc are not shown Click on playlist icon toggles Extra PFL default on If this setting is off clicking a Playlist icon does not toggle the Extra PFL Player for that item Use player colours default on Normally the background colour of each Player is also used as the background colour of the Player column for a Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 34 Revisi
162. ions Miscellaneous Modules Welcome to the mAirList configuration utility Figure 7 3 The AIRCAST configuration program AJRCASTConfig window In the AIRCASTConfig window see Figure 7 3 above the left pane contains a menu tree the right pane shows the settings for the currently selected item node in the menu tree When you have finished changing settings click Save to save your changes or click Cancel to close AIRCASTConfig without saving any changes Any changes you make using AJRCASTConfig do not take effect until AIRCAST is next opened If you make changes using AJRCASTConfig while AIRCAST is running you must close and re open AIRCAST to make your changes take effect Unlike many other Windows programs AJRCAST configuration settings are not stored in the Registry they are stored in several ini files in the config folder under the A RCAST data folder see 7 14 1 on page 68 Therefore you can copy your AJRCAST configuration to another computer by copying the contents of the config folder To prevent unintentional changes by users not all settings can be changed from within the main A RCAST program by the user and the settings which can be changed are not changed permanently For example if the user changes Player or Playlist settings those changes are not written to the configuration files and are lost when AIRCAST is closed or when a Desktop file is loaded see below Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 R
163. is ready for the next tutorial section on the following page Summary of the Browser e The Browser is principally an audio focussed version of Explorer but it can contain other things like database search panes and time of day clock panes e The Browser can contain any number of panes Pane names are listed in the pane stack under the Browser Click a name in the pane stack to make it the active visible pane e You can rename any Browser pane to give it a more readable or meaningful name e You can Save the Browser contents including pane name changes in A RCAST Desktop mld files which you can Open later e You can drag any audio file from any Browser pane and drop it on the Playlist or on any Player or on any Cartwall Player If you open one of these boxes by mistake press Esc to close 1t without making any changes Even if you had to use a folder other than the AIRCAST program folder please type the name Demo jingle anyway it makes the rest of the tutorial easier to follow i If you had to use a folder other than the AZRCAST program folder the audio file s within it are listed instead i If you had to use a folder other than the A RCAST program folder choose any audio file you see in the Browser pane Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 12 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English aes Working With The Playlist And Its Players IMPORTANT NOTE We assume that you are continuing from the previo
164. is different this is a trial and error process The settings to try change these one at a time are described in section 7 13 2 on page 66 Disable hardware mixing BASS_SAMPLE_ SOFTWARE Use application level software mixing Use single multichannel link for software mixing Use floating point data BASS_SAMPLE_FLOAT Output pairs are mixed up WDM and ASIO drivers AIRCAST numbers output channels on a sound card in the order Windows reports them which is the order the sound card s device driver reports the channels to Windows Sometimes this order is wrong for example the channels listed as front 1 2 in the AIRCAST Devices dropdown may actually be the Rear 3 4 speaker outputs on the card or testing shows that left and right channels are reversed Although annoying and frustrating these are not AIRCAST or Windows problems or bugs however check that you are using the most recent driver software for your sound card Noticeable delay and or large CPU overhead when starting items WDM drivers only Some sound cards take a few or few hundred milliseconds to open before they can play audio If you have this problem one solution to try is to force your sound card to remain open in the BASS audio engine used by AJRCAST even if the card is idle thus avoiding the delay when it is re opened To do this switch on the Keep device open setting for the card see 7 13 2 on page 66 NOTE If CPU overhead is the pro
165. ist s items Properties such as adding or changing a fixed time or Cue Markers Created by right clicking a Playlist then clicking This Playlist Save or by clicking Save Playlist in the main Toolbar but see 7 6 2 on page 47 Opened by right clicking a Playlist then clicking This Playlist Load or Insert or Append or by clicking Open Open Playlist on the main Toolbar but see 7 6 2 on page 47 or by clicking Insert Playlist on the main Toolbar Loading a playlist file clears all existing Playlist entries except for playing items and then adds the playlist file contents to the Playlist Inserting a playlist file adds the playlist file contents above the currently selected Playlist item Appending a playlist file adds the playlist file contents to the end of the Playlist Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 27 5 6 5 7 5 8 5 9 5 10 mlpe Exported Playlist NOTE Because creating an exported playlist file also copies all the audio items in the Playlist to the same folder we recommend that you always save exported playlist files into an empty folder An exported playlist file allows you to save a playlist and a copy of each audio file in the Playlist so you can use it on a AIRCAST computer which does not have access to the audio files in the Playlist The only differences from a standard single playlist file are 1 Audio file name r
166. it the BASS download page at http www un4seen com bass html addons and download the appropriate BASS add in DLL file for that audio format Note that you must download the add in for the correct version of BASS For AIRCAST 3 1 use only add ins for BASS version 2 4 Extract the downloaded file and copy it into the plugins bass folder in your AIRCAST data folder When A RCAST next opens all AIRCAST features which relate to audio files such as Browser panes and file open dialogs automatically recognise and use the new format s and file extension s NOTE If you use non standard file extensions see Additional File Extensions on page 48 Please note that AIRCAST does not read tag information in audio files unless it is in the ID3v1 ID3v2 or Vorbis comment tag format Therefore tags in file formats you have added as described above will almost certainly not be read by AIRCAST 9 3 Importing Files Although AJRCAST requires no special preparation of your audio files before importing them there are three simple actions you should take before importing any audio file These will make your file imports faster easier and trouble free e Do NOT import ANY known faulty audio files No matter how rare or loved they are discard any faulty audio files which stop playing mid way through or have any clicks jumps or any other noise or artefacts import only fault free audio files e Ifyou use a tagged file format like MP3 or OG
167. l be played in full later in the same show Use these three Cue Markers to set the points where the hook begins should be faded out and ends To play an item s hook click the Hook button in a Player or Cartwall Player then click Start but note that if the track does not have Hook Cue Markers set the entire item will be played instead Note that you cannot play hooks in Auto mode Outro Use this Cue Marker to set the point where the vocals have ended or where it is safe for the presenter to talk over the rest of the track If the track ends with a repeat and fade of the chorus many stations define the outro point to be just after the second repetition of the chorus The portion of the track after the Outro is displayed in a contrasting colour in progress bars but the Outro Cue Marker has no other function Start Next Use this Cue Marker to set the point where the next item should start playing in Auto mode or when items are linked in Assist mode In Auto mode the track will not fade out until the Fade Out Cue Marker is reached if the track does not have a Fade Out Cue Marker set it continues to play to the end which will be either the Cue Out Cue Marker if any or EOF Fade Out Use this Cue Marker to set the point where the track should fade out in Auto mode or when items are linked in Assist mode The fade duration is usually the time between the Fade Out Cue Marker and the Cue Out Cue M
168. layers see onder When A RCAST draws a Playlist Player it first applies any settings in this section it then applies any settings in that Player s Playerx_y section if there is one Therefore the settings in the Player section are the global or template settings for all Playlist Players which are overridden by any settings you add for specific individual Playlist Players The same principle applies to the Extra PFL Player and the Cartwall players settings in this section are applied first then settings in the individual section ExtraPFL or Cartwall are applied Therefore how you use the Player section depends on whether you want all Players including the Cartwall Players and the Extra PFL Player to have the same look and feel or you want each Player to have a different look and feel e If you want all Players to look the same make changes in the Player section then if you find you need to make minor changes to some kinds of Players for example reducing font size or changing the font used for Cartwall Players add the appropriate section or sections after the Player section and make the appropriate changes in that section or sections e Ifyou want all Players to look different work out any common elements and make those changes in the Player section first remember to always try to minimise the number of lines in skin ini then add the sections for each Player Cartwall and the Extra PFL Player after
169. laylist cannot use the Player to play items in automation mode if the Player is playing when automation mode is selected the Player continues playing until it reaches Fade Out or EOF whichever comes first if the Player is loaded but stopped when automation mode is selected the loaded item is Recycled and the Player closes Move item to history when closing paused EOF player default on If this setting is off items remain in the Playlist when they end Move item to history when closing loaded player default off If this setting is on items are moved to the Playlist history when the Player is closed Include in logging default on If this setting is off no log entries are written for any item played in the Player Allow simultaneous playback and PFL default off If this setting is on all Player buttons remain visible and active while the PFL Player is open and the Player and PFL Player operate independently If Auto PFL OFF on START is also on starting the Player stops and closes the PFL Player If this setting is off the Player s PFL button is hidden while the Player is playing and the Player s transport buttons STOP PAUSE PLAY etc are hidden while the PFL Player is open You can operate the Player or the PFL Player but not both at the same time Only use PFL audio device while Player is playing default off This setting has no effect if Allow simultaneous playback and PFL is off If this setting is on the Pl
170. lder root directory of your eldoDB Music Archive as seen from your AIRCAST computer 7 9 5 radioDB2 radioDB2 is a database programmed as an add on for AIRCAST by Christopher Kramer and hosted on a PostgreSQL server To connect to a radioDB2 database you need a copy of the appropriate PostgreSQL client DLL in your AJRCAST program directory see the radioDB2 documentation for details On the Settings tab you can also specify e Base Folder root directory of your audio files as seen from your AIRCAST computer e If your radioDB2 database contains absolute path names use Strip Path to specify the part of the path which AIRCAST should remove strip from the beginning of file names leave Strip Path blank if your radioDB2 database contains relative path names In both cases AIRCAST uses the Base Folder to access your audio files e Type a slash in Path Delimiter if your radioDB2 database was created on Linux AIRCAST substitutes any slash character in file names with backslashes e Leave Encoding blank unless you need to specify a particular character set to communicate with your radioDB2 database Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 59 7 9 6 SAM Broadcaster V4 SAM Broadcaster V4 SAM4 for short 1s Internet broadcasting software written by Spacial Audio Solutions LLC The database server used to host the SAM4 music database depends on the type of install To connect to a
171. le Playlist mlp file The item or items are inserted above before the current selected Playlist item If no Playlist item is currently selected the item or items are appended to the end of the Playlist Revision 20 File s default Inserts one or more audio files as Playlist items Playlist Inserts the items within a saved playlist file or music scheduler log file as Playlist items After the playlist files is Inserted you cannot manipulate it as an item in the Playlist you must instead select the Playlist items you want to manipulate See above for the current supported playlist file types and their file extensions Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 29 6 2 The following special Playlist items are all described in detail in 3 3 on page 17 e Files as Container Inserts one or more audio files as a container Playlist item The Container tab in the container s Properties dialog is displayed so you can rename and reorder the items in it before you insert the container into the Playlist You can only insert audio files from the same disk folder as a container Playlist item however you can add further items from other folders or from a database later e Stream Inserts an external audio stream source of known duration as a Playlist item The stream item s Properties dialog is displayed so you can change its Title and Artists for now playing
172. lect an object from the list then click Up or Down to move it e To sort the list so that top items are listed above bottom items click Sort Screen Object Type Description Date or time The current date and or time of day LED Clock A clock similar to a hardware LED studio clock Countdown to top of the hour A countdown timer to the next top of the hour or o clock A countdown timer to the next scheduled event Countdown to next event see Event Scheduler on page 23 A configurable Player countdown timer with more options than the Player countdown standard Player countdown overlay Comment Viewer Shows the Comments of any Playlist item dropped on it The static text ON AIR or OFF AIR according to the current on a Stane air off air status of AIRCAST On Air Switch Same as On Air Status object above but you can also click the object to toggle the current on air off air status Button A custom button which runs an Action List when clicked Static Text Any fixed text such as your station name or frequency Image Any image file such as your station logo PFL Player A mini PFL Player which PFLs any item dropped on it Streaming encoder status A small window showing the current encoder status Table 7 4 Custom Screen Object Types Notes e On Air Status and On Air Switch The Switch object toggles on air off air status when clicked while the Status object is purely a display If you only use t
173. lly uses all available Players If this setting is on Automation uses only one Player either the first available Player or the Player which is playing when automation mode is selected This can be useful for automated overnight playout because only one channel on the mixer needs to be left faded up Auto clean up history default on Played items are usually automatically deleted from the top of the Playlist history and are either moved to the AIRCAST Recycle Bin or just deleted If this setting is off you must manually Delete all played items this overrides the Number of items to keep in the playlist history setting Auto clean up history only if item is at top of playlist default on This setting has no effect if Auto clean up history is off If this setting is on a played item can only be automatically deleted from the Playlist history and usually moved to the AIRCAST Recycle Bin 1f it is the top item in the Playlist otherwise the item remains in the Playlist This setting takes precedence over Number of items to keep in the playlist history setting If this setting is off a played item can be automatically deleted from any position in the Playlist When the number of items in the Playlist history exceeds the Number of items to keep in the playlist history setting the topmost history item in the Playlist is automatically deleted Auto move non playable items to history in assist mode default off In assist mode non playa
174. lways be happy to help you quickly solve any queries or problems you may have Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 17 3 3 1 3 2 3 3 Advanced Operator Controls And Features Player Time Display To change a Player s time display e Click the time display to cycle between remain elapsed and elapsed remain modes or to cancel backtiming mode see below e Double click the time display to select backtiming mode which shows the time when the item loaded in the Player will end Note that this works only in loaded Players and does not work in Cartwall Players Loop And Hook Modes By default Players contain Loop and Hook mode buttons Cartwall Players contain Loop buttons To enable or disable either mode click its button when it is on a mode button lights up e Loop mode loops the item until it is stopped either manually or by a command Action or Event or by a hard fixed time item in Auto mode e Hook mode plays only the item s hook section as defined by its Hook In Hook Fade and Hook Out cue markers If these cue markers are not set the entire item is played Special Playlist Items As well as audio file items a Playlist can contain any of the following special items 3 3 1 Automation Break Point In Auto mode a Break item stops Auto mode playout identical to an AUTOMATION STOP command You can add information the presenter will see fo
175. lworth NOTE Updates will not be added to this manual but will be downloadable from our website s product page for AIRCAST see www d r nl Here you will always see the latest pdf instructions and manuals for new added features You can use this manual as a basic reference guide it will however not be useful for the latest features that have been added to the software This manual is typeset in Utopia and URW Classico fonts Cad Delworth has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this manual Contents A Personal NoE rom ASA e a e nce l Terms Used Throughout Lhis Manual cwr a o l Mh se LMNs CAT AA a S EN 3 Edita ARCAS S 3 l ACCC CS MOI PE O 5 STLicencs Manara do il a a a de 5 Fizie LE The AIRCAST Licence Manacer dialog iia a A A A AA Ad A AAA 5 E O rn neeg mayen werent 6 1 3 2 Installing A Purchased Licence Or Personal Demo LICEO iii it da N ah 6 1 3 3 Importmo A Purchased Licence Or Personal Demo Licence viviste a AA A id 8 1 3 4 Installing A Free Licence Or Non Personal Demo Licence oooooccccncconononononononn nono nn non nono no nono non nono nono nono non nono n nana n nan ia 8 LA USB Dongle Hardware Licence Key ii ci 10 il Sotware Updates And Uporades esas asia ae ai sl Sa aes uae ata a ot ae hes tetas wales a eed leu ee 11 bon pdatet wath ARG AS TCV CrsiO Sd sar tii AS A EEE OE RER EE 11 1 5 2 Uperade trom AIRCAST Verton 3 05 Of Carlet did AA AA ARA AOS 12 Lo Uninstallin
176. ly and have no gaps at all between Playlist rows Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 73 3 1 3 Main Window These settings add a background image to or change the colour of the A RCAST window Background filename Add this setting to display an image file under all the objects in the AIRRCAST window The image file is always displayed actual size it is never stretched or cropped to fit the AIRCAST window size Color ColourValue Add this setting to change the background colour of the AIRCAST window 3 1 4 Toolbar These settings hide buttons in the main A RCAST toolbar To hide the entire toolbar use the AIRCAST Layout Designer page 92 onwards to set the Toolbar object s height and width to zero All toolbar buttons are on shown by default Add the settings below to hide toolbar buttons e ShowNew off e ShowOpen off e ShowSave off e Showlnsert off e ShowProperties off The Edit button which opens the selected item s Properties dialog e ShowDelete off e ShowEvents off e ShowActions off e You cannot hide the Cartwall button if the Cartwall is in a separate window If the Cartwall is embedded in the A RCAST window you hide or show the button using a configuration setting and not skin ini see 7 3 6 1 43 e You hide or show the Database button using a configuration setting and not skin ini see 0 94 and Fout Verwijzingsbron niet gevonden Fout Bladw
177. ly by dropping down either date and navigating to the first last day you want Normally the Mini Scheduler generates database playlists for every hour in the day which has an hour template assigned to it in the Hour Template Assignments but you can prevent the generation of a database playlist for any hour or hours by clearing the appropriate checkboxes in the Hours section of the dialog Note that if you do this it suppresses the generation of database playlists for those hours in every day of the selected period To start generating database playlists for the hours and days you selected click Go Progress is displayed in the bottom half of the dialog including a preview of each playlist as it is generated Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 103 11 6 Using AIRCASTDB Databases In AIRCAST There are three principal ways you can use a AIRCASTDB database in AIRCAST e Add a Database Database Search or Database Playlist pane to the Browser e Use the Database playlist actions to add an event or events to the Event Scheduler to load database playlists automatically e Click Database in the main toolbar to open a AIRCASTDB window 11 6 1 Browser Database Panes You can add any of the following types of panes to the AIRCAST Browser 11 6 1 1 Database Pane This pane duplicates the tree in the Library tab of AIRCASTDB as an expandable tree showing titles artists and
178. ly nearest ramp default off If this setting is on the bar shows only the nearest Ramp if this setting is off the bar shows all Ramps Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 42 7 3 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English Cartwall The optional AIRCAST Cartwall is the digital equivalent of traditional cart players other software names the equivalent feature Carts Cartwall Instants Spot Players One Shots or Single Players The Cartwall node in the menu tree contains the basic settings for the optional Cartwall These settings control the basic look and feel of the Cartwall If you don t want a Cartwall clear the Enable Cartwall check box default is ticked Use the across and down Player count settings defaults 3 and 2 to define the shape of the Cartwall as well as the number of Cartwall Players 1t contains Cartwall Players are numbered from 1 upwards and are coloured red unless you create a skin ini file and specify a different colour and or set the Player GUI Options setting Use item colour when idle to on see 7 3 3 on page 42 Use Default cart set default blank to enter the path and name of the Cart set file you want to be automatically loaded when AIRCAST opens or click Browse to select a Cart set file To have an empty Cartwall when AJRCAST opens blank out Default cart set If you allow the Cartwall to be saved in Desktop files see onder every user can set u
179. m s Properties such as a fixed time or Cue Markers Created by clicking Save Set on the Cartwall toolbar Opened by clicking a Favourites button or tab on the Cartwall or by clicking a Cart Set in the Favourites dropdown on the Cartwall toolbar or by clicking Load Set on the Cartwall toolbar Edited indirectly by changing the Cartwall contents then clicking Save Set on the Cartwall toolbar mld Desktop Contains a snapshot of the contents of the Playlist optionally the contents of the Cartwall see 7 3 1 on page 42 and by default the open Browser panes see 7 6 3 1 on page 48 The file does not contain any Player Cartwall or Cartwall Player settings Created by clicking Save but see 7 6 2 on page 47 Save desktop or Save desktop as on the main toolbar Opened by clicking Open but see 7 2 2 on page 47 or Open desktop on the main toolbar Note that opening a desktop file or a desktop template file overwrites the current Playlist and the Cartwall if the Cartwall is stored in the file without any warning or confirmation dialog mle Event List Contains a list of scheduled events see 4 2 on page 23 Created by clicking Save on the Event Scheduler Opened by clicking Open on the Event Scheduler Edited by clicking Add Edit and Delete on the Event Scheduler mlp Single Playlist Contains a snapshot of a Playlist s contents not the Playlist s settings including all saved changes to the playl
180. m by forcing AJRCAST to mix audio internally before sending the mixed output to BASS Use single multichannel link for software mixing default off When mixing audio output for an audio device with multi channel outputs AIRCAST will by default use a separate internal mixer for each output pair If you use such an audio device and it has problems handling separate streams for each of its output pairs switch this setting on to have AIRCAST use a single internal mixer for the entire device instead Use floating point data BASS_SAMPLE_FLOAT default on When this setting is on it enables a BASS option which uses floating point data internally Some audio devices cause BASS to report inaccurate durations unless this setting is on while some audio devices cannot handle this sample format In particular we recommend that you switch this setting off if you need to switch the Use single multichannel link for software mixing setting on High precision cueing for VBR files BASS_STREAM_PRESCAN default off When this setting is on it enables a BASS option which pre scans audio files BASS almost always reports inaccurate durations for variable bit rate audio files unless this setting is on Pitch and tempo adjustment using BASS_FX DLL default off When this setting is on the PFL tab of the Item Properties dialog in AIRCAST AIRCASTTag and AIRCASTDB show Pitch and Tempo sliders The settings of these controls are saved in an item s Prop
181. me critical We do not recommend more than one value in seconds though the dialog does allow this if you genuinely need that option If you do supply multiple seconds values we strongly recommend that you test your new event in conjunction with all your other scheduled events on a non production AIRCAST computer before putting it live The defaults of 0 O O mean midnight and do the same as the only once at 00 00 00 Time setting Change only the hours minutes and seconds values needed to include all the times you want leave the others at their default values For example leave seconds as 0 in all these examples e at 15 30 and 45 past every hour change hours to 0 23 and minutes to 15 30 45 e onthe half hour 23 30 to 06 30 change hours to 0 6 23 and minutes to 30 e at 57 past alternate hours 11 57 to 17 57 change hours to 11 13 15 17 and minutes to 57 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 25 4 2 2 Event Scheduler Tips If at all possible thoroughly test all changes to events on an off air computer before making the same changes to your on air computers Develop the Action List of every event first to ensure 1t works as you intended click Run to test 1t then Save it as a separate Action List mla file This makes it easier to schedule the same Action List as two or more events see below and you can also combine different Action Lists ea
182. n arrow immediately to the right of the Add button then click Recycle Bin on the dropdown menu Hopefully you are not surprised to see that the pane you opened is named Recycle Bin To save Browser changes create a AIRCAST Desktop file On the A RCAST toolbar click Save and on the Save Desktop dialog navigate to your My Documents folder type a File name of tutorial and click Save Let s check this worked On the AIRCAST toolbar click New This resets AIRCAST to its startup condition On the AJRCAST toolbar click Open and on the Open Desktop dialog navigate to your My Documents folder select the file tutorial Recycle Bin and click Open The Browser contents are restored Click your Demo jingle pane caption in the pane stack to make sure Co 0 00 00 EL it is the active pane You see the file test ogg Drag this file around the AIRCAST PEA window but do not drop it yet Note that you could drop it almost anywhere on the Playlist or directly on any Player or Cartwall Player E Drop the file on a blank area of the Demo jingle Browser pane You see a message box warning you that you cannot move the file AN Click OK to clear the message box gt Drag the test file from the Browser again and drop it on the Playlist Note that the file also loads into Player A and the boxes at the top right of the Playlist 0 00 02 now show 1 item and the total duration of the Playlist Leave everything as it
183. nd name the template later If you do choose to name the template later please note that you cannot rename templates on the Manage Hour Templates dialog you can only do this on the Edit Hour Template dialog The Items tab lists the template contents Click Add to add a template item then click the new item s Folder column to choose a virtual folder to replace the default Unsorted folder Note that you cannot add items such as a specific file or a Dummy item to a template directly instead you must create a virtual folder copy or Insert only that one item into the virtual folder then specify that virtual folder as a template item This forces the Mini Scheduler to select that specific item You can optionally click any template item s Type Filter column to ensure that only items which match the Type Filter value are selected when the playlist is generated Similarly you can optionally double click the Attribute Filter column to open the Edit Attribute Filter dialog where you can add filters for any Attribute in the database again only items whose Attributes match the value s you specify will be selected when the playlist is generated but you can use as the first character of the Filter if you want to use partial matches on Attributes If you specify both types of filter for the same template item then an item must match both filters to be selected at playlist generation time The fixed column does not refer to fixed time i
184. neaanes 43 PE EE iE E E A A A A E T E A SN OR 43 E a aran REO 43 IA E E ONS I oes tite O A 44 AAC ORTO DAA AA A A esti tt term r etree rrr re 46 dele ETOOTCSS Bar UA Serta A E A coal aise Osa access ene eat sede A EA 46 lO DIA CAW it id A A AA A A dead ah nec 46 Table k Bac nine Prot Caracena 46 Table 7 2 Mime Format Stina CM aracters esse A A la 47 Nee DAAC on OPEP PEO E A E e E me E E 48 ARCA AA A NS 48 Table 73 Time Display Mode Saai EE E A A E a 48 TELL QOUONS A A A aa 49 Ta UT OPIO a A A A ti 51 AULAS ni tia 52 Pe NS BAE TID E O 52 PA A E E A A E CO O O DR O 53 Pir PLIOMS IONS Dado te ade 53 SAO OMS SIS o o o ents EEEE AE EAE A E EE 53 Too Opuons Player Gr TOPOS aia AAA 54 734 OPUOnss Buon s TaD irae A A AAA AAA ee Saree aaeenees 54 To SOU ONS LO OLE 56 B AL LAL A E E E TO E ES ECO te eh cam nia uate et apeasetanateneean oie 54 BO VV TIN ON easton PE iss eh age a ade ses emanate 54 he Sol MA AV OUTIUES NEE A E A S A A A N veesssasinen AA A dase A S A AE sade A R A 55 EPELE y aE a a E 55 SS A O POE E EOE 55 Ae HOO STO AIC VCS AAA a a a O PO annie iuanaieat ana deummianeeetan oe 55 dz LVOUDIESHOOLMe Outat Problems easca a a O E ea 56 A A A AE E E A E 58 TOT Seno A E EE A E E E O tans 58 T0 AAA A A A A ON 58 A SEL oian iE eects ddd acct AE E wins acai naib vides EEEE E EENE E EEEE ETE EEEE eet readecntone 59 1 0 4 PLOSTESS Bat global prosress DAN ii AA AAA EAS AAA EA AAA ALA AAA A AA a et 60 LOS Cust
185. ng is off the bar shows all Ramps 7 1 6 Display tab These settings affect the format of the backtiming display which is normally shown see Backtiming display on page 33 in the leftmost column of the Playlist and the time formats used to show times in the Duration and Ramp columns 7 1 6 1 Backtiming Prefixes These settings specify the characters used to prefix the backtiming display which indicates whether the time shown is a fixed or estimated time There are four types of times Type Default prefix characters Description Fixed followed by a space Item with a hard fixed playout time Fixed soft followed by a space Item with a soft fixed playout time Absolute none empty Actual start time item has been played or is playing Estimated start time calculated using actual start times and Relative followed by a space durations of preceding items Table 7 1 Backtiming Prefix Characters Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 36 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 7 1 6 2 The strings in the Duration Ramp Ramp Overlay and EOF Warning Overlay settings are time format strings see below Time Formats If the Ramp Overlay string is empty Ramp Overlays use the Ramp time format string if the EOF Warning Overlay string is empty EOF Warning Overlays use the Duration time format string The dropdown boxes contain some commonly used time format strings for each settin
186. ni playlist Drag some talkover music beds or instrumental tracks from a AIRCAST browser pane or from Windows Explorer and drop them on the Cart Stack dialog Notice that as you add more tracks the Cart also shows you how many items are in the stack and which item is currently cued Now change the order of the items by dragging them up or down the list in the dialog When you are happy with your list click the Close button at the top right of the i If you don t do this AIRCAST will use the Default automation fade time which by default is five seconds 10 To make things happen when a Cartwall Player stops or for anything more sophisticated you will need to use Actions On Start Stop which you can read about later on page 23 l l By setting up Favourite Cart Sets see 7 3 7 on page 50 and 7 3 2 on page 48 you can make this process even faster Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 15 Cart Stack dialog Notice also that there are now two extra buttons in Cart 4 click these to move one item back or forward in the stack respectively Click Start in Cart 4 and after a few seconds click Stop The Cart re cues the item you just played Click Start in Cart 4 again and after a few seconds click Fadeout The item fades out but this time the Cart cues the next item in the stack because the Cart treats a fadeout the same as reaching the end of the item
187. nt track position e PLAY PAUSE button toggle Click to PLAY or PAUSE the track m AA e Q button Click to move the current track position to zero start of the track e END MON button Click to move the current track position to the Ending Monitor point which by default see 7 12 7 on page 63 is 15 seconds before the end of the track Cue Marker list To select a Cue Marker click its name in the list The selected Cue Marker and its value is displayed to the right of the list and is affected by the Cue Point Adjustment controls see below Cue Marker Adjustment controls NOTE DO NOT press keys to adjust Cue Marker times click buttons or use Remote Controls mapped to PFL commands Holding down a Ctrl or Shift key while clicking the or button is fine If stutter mode cueing is switched on this is the default any change to a Cue Marker time except clearing deleting it starts stutter play at that Cue Marker To stop stutter play click PLAY PAUSE or TEST while the track is stuttering If stutter mode cueing is switched off Cue Markers are not auditioned automatically when you alter times you must click TEST to audition the selected Cue Marker e and buttons Click to decrease increase the Cue Marker time by 1 100th of a second 10 mS Shift click to decrease increase the Cue Marker time by 1 10th of a second 100 mS Ctrl click to decrease increase the Cue Marker time
188. o the Cartwall stretches to fill the entire AIRCAST window 7 3 6 2 Cartwall Window Settings Window position default Default If your AIRCAST computer has two or more monitors you can change this setting to Maximise on monitor 1 Maximise on monitor 2 etc Visible at startup default on If this setting is off the Cartwall window is not shown when AJRCAST opens Always on top default off If this setting is on the Cartwall window stays on top of all other applications and windows Remember window position and size default off If this setting is on the window size and position are saved in the positions ini file and are restored when AIRCAST opens 7 You can use the AIRCAST Layout Designer program to change the position and size of any object in the AIRCAST window Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 44 7 4 1 3 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 7 3 7 Favourites Use this page to create and edit the list of Favourite Cart Sets which are shown in the Favourites drop down box or as tabs or as buttons see 7 3 2 on page 42 e To add a single Cart Set click Add set then choose a mlc file and click Open e To add every Cart Set in a folder click Add folder then choose a folder and click OK e To remove an entry select the entry and then click Remove PFL Player These settings affect the PFL Player shown on an item s Properties dialog and in the AIRCASTT
189. o Add subfolders separately and if you did this would result in unexpected behaviour The storage is named the same as the folder name Please note that adding a storage does not add its audio files to the database To add audio files to the database synchronise the storage as described in 11 3 3 on page 96 A storage will not be listed under the Storages node of the Library pane tree until you have synchronised it at least once 11 3 2 Adding Virtual Folders Within AIRCASTDB you can create a hierarchy of virtual folders to help you organize your audio files Virtual folders only exist within A RCASTDB and are completely separate from the real file folders where your audio files are stored Once created virtual folders can contain audio files from any storage so you do not need for example to store all your oldies in the same real folder s on disk You can also add special non audio items to any virtual folder To add a new virtual folder select a folder or the Folders node in the tree on the Library page then on the toolbar click New Folder For example you might create a virtual folder named Xmas to store all your Xmas themed items a virtual folder named 7950s to store all items recorded in the years 1950 1959 or virtual folders like Ballads Current Hits Heavy Rotation Jingles Sweepers etc The virtual folder named Unsorted is always present and you cannot delete it The Unsorted virtual folder contains all a
190. o give you extra relevant information before or after many setting descriptions J This setting has no effect if you use a custom layout created with the Layout Designer Some other settings have a much wider range of choices In these cases the setting name is written like this with the default shown in parentheses ProgressBarBorderColor ColourValue default 000000 black ColourValue is a AIRCAST colour value explained below you don t actually type ColourValue in the setting you instead type the colour value which represents the colour you want When you see a setting value in bold italic it is always one of the value types explained below and you must supply a valid value to replace what is printed a font name a colour value a number and so on Many skin ini settings particularly those for text objects can have a large number of variations each with its own setting name To keep the manual brief setting names of this type are written like this optionalvariable Optional variableFixed on where optionalvariable is one of One Two and variable is one of Stop Start How should you read this kind of setting name and what should you type as the setting name e Parts of the name shown in bold are fixed text which you must type exactly as shown In the example above this would be optional if used see below and Fixed e Parts of the name shown in bold italic are variables type one o
191. ode this fades out the current track even though the Playlist is empty Drag another audio file into the Playlist and note that it plays immediately In automation mode AIRCAST plays tracks until it is stopped or the Playlist is empty If you use AIRCAST as a fully automated system it is easy to set up AIRCAST to load a playlist or hourly log once an hour To stop automated playout click the Playlist Auto Stop button or click ASSIST and then click the Player s Fade button Whichever method you use the track fades out Summary of the Playlist and Players e The Playlist feeds items into the Players in Playlist order e In automation mode the Playlist plays and segues items until the Playlist is empty or until it is stopped in assist mode you must start Players manually unless they are linked e You can save the playlist at any time and Load or Append any saved playlist later e You can start PFL from the Playlist or a Player and change an item s Cue Markers Cue point marker changes are temporary unless you either save the Playlist which saves the changes in that Playlist file only or you save the changes permanently in one or more of the audio file s tags a Metadata mmd file or a AJRCASTDB database e Played items are saved in the Recycle Bin pane in the Browser Working With The Cartwall The fourth and final main component of AIRCAST is the Cartwall the software equivalent of hardwar
192. of finishing Now that it has played the file has been ejected from the player but you can easily load it again from the Recycle Bin pane in the Browser Make the Recycle Bin the active pane click its name in the pane stack Drag the test file from the Recycle Bin and drop it on the Playlist again Now save a copy of the playlist Right click any blank area on the Playlist not the test file row and click This Playlist Save On the Save playlist dialog navigate to your My Documents folder type a File name of tutoriall and click Save Now play the test file again To load your saved playlist right click a blank area of the Playlist and click This Playlist Load On the Load playlist dialog navigate to your My Documents folder select the file named tutoriall and click Open Add another Folder pane to the Browser Choose any folder on your computer that contains music tracks Drag any file from your music folder pane in the Browser and drop it on the blank Playlist area below the test file Save the playlist again naming the file tutorial2 this time On the Playlist Control bar immediately to the right of the ASSIST and AUTO buttons is the Next button Click Next and while the test file is playing click Next again Note that you can play a On Window s Vista and Windows 7 this usually fails because program folders are write protected by default If this happens choose a different folder see footnote Fout Bladwij
193. oftware because the Esc key cannot be used as a Remote Control Hotkey in AIRCAST Escape triggers AUTOMATION STOP default off If this setting 1s on pressing Esc performs an AUTOMATION STOP Command This setting 1s provided for compatibility with other playout software because the Esc key cannot be used as a Remote Control Hotkey in AIRCAST Item specific colours have priority over skin ini default off If you assign colours to Player States in the skin ini file these may conflict with colours you have assigned to specific items Normally the skin ini Player State colour takes precedence if this setting is on the item colour takes precedence Show break duration default on If this setting is on the actual or estimated Duration of BREAK items is shown in the Duration column If this setting is off BREAK items are shown with a blank Duration column Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 35 7 1 4 Control Bar tab The Control Bar is the toolbar at the top or bottom see the second setting below of the Playlist which contains the AUTO ASSIST NEXT and automation control buttons Show control bar default on If this setting is off the Control Bar is not shown Position at bottom default 1s at top default off If this setting is on the Control Bar is shown below the Playlist instead of above it Separate ASSIST AUTO buttons default on If this setting is off t
194. older names 1 e extract using the subfolder names within the ZIPfile 4 Copy the contents of the previous version s data folder into the new version s data folder but do not copy the previous version s license lic file 5 Open the A RCAST Licence Manager see Fout Verwijzingsbron niet gevonden on page Fout Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd and activate the licence 6 Open the AJRCAST configuration program and check all settings especially any new or changed settings as detailed in the change log and adjust the paths of all database connections 7 When all configuration settings are correct click Save to save your changes and close the AIRCAST configuration program 8 Open the new version of AIRCAST and test it thoroughly before using it for broadcast Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 7 1 4 Uninstalling AIRCAST NOTE If you uninstall AIRCAST this does not delete any AIRCAST data files such as mmd and mlp files or AIRCAST databases If you wish to delete these files you must do so yourself after the uninstall If you need to uninstall A RCAST because you have moved it to a new computer for example double click the Uninstall icon in the AIRCAST folder in your Windows Start Menu If you did not create a AIRCAST folder in your Windows Start Menu when you installed A RCAST navigate to the folder where AJRCAST is installed then open the Uninstall
195. om S CEC OBEC ii A A A AA A A A E 61 Table 74 Custom screen ODECE PES ii Ran 61 TLR O A ta o a 62 Tal Hotkeys OC aaa dad ti ita 63 dis dade Hotkeys Ss VSUCIN WICC rra dd id aueisaidatvedcdess 63 SOSA OR ie toos 63 7 7 4 MIDI 63 TIO SHO CAMEO Al Ud SA AAA AE I ASA A 64 FLO TOW O RN 64 7 7 17 SAS 64 TAS NO ONCE Eaa a E Goa S Hea GeO eo TTT 64 TD Wand OW Messace Cent ia 64 TAO Barth DMAX Serial dai A A A AA A da 64 Ann o o o e IE 65 TE LEOS A ON ANN 65 RIA OO ne O A a ns WON ae Raat eae Baa uar Mea r S 66 Table LOIS Y atta Dl eS ai A AAA AA AAA AAA AAA AAA AAA 66 a ERA 67 TS Fe O ENERO 67 To a TNE A II O A E 68 TOO ROUCAS AA AA A NAAA A AAA Ia 68 dh ICE CAS ZA E E E a O A A AA A AS 68 TO Databases O E IA A A A A SATA 68 TI LATRCEASTODB Me Work modelada iii daa 69 TIZ AIRGAS LDR Toca Moda A AAA DELE 69 7 9 3 Script 69 O A O 69 TEDIOSO AA A AAA AAA A A Ai 69 LO SAM Broadcaster VA a acia 70 DD oh MOM IS aa iii tii dd atracos 70 A A e en E OR AET A ETE 70 UT Ta C E ESNA A O O sed Aeron EINT EEA A velit 71 O IN OC ATION SCH Us eorn OPA o RR 71 TMM PC ONS NASA A AAA AA A A 71 TAD MSCC AMC OWS aaa 72 AA AA A A II O A Tea es vaca tassceaseivadd T2 UA US O o EE AE PE E E E E EET 73 E SA e AO 73 MA EEM AO MCN r O OR 73 PIS RME F eE S ies cca a T NO 74 TAO UA PONS A AAA AE A E us Tae e 74 TIZ ESENS Ferena coheed ascend tae deni vutet Ba dne dns clam coded sec susiaieaea the anedususay aA 75 TI SOPO Ea a O SO IO In Nee TOOT RE ee a
196. on 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English Playlist item while it is loaded into a Player If this setting is off the current State colour of the Player is used as the background colour of the Player column for a Playlist item while it is loaded into a Player Show player name in any state default on If this setting 1s off the Player column in the Playlist shows only the Player name instead of the Player name and Player State Always show duration default off If this setting is on items with unknown Durations for example a BREAK with no Duration specified are shown with a Duration of 0 Always show ramp default off If this setting is on items with no Ramps set are shown with a Ramp of 0 Auto truncate time default on If this setting 1s off Duration and Ramp times are shown including leading zeros Automatically scroll to playing item default on If this setting is off the Playlist does not automatically scroll so that the playing item is visible Spacebar triggers AUTOMATION NEXT default off If this setting is on pressing the Spacebar performs an AUTOMATION NEXT Command This setting is provided for compatibility with other playout software because the Spacebar cannot be used as a Remote Control Hotkey in AIRCAST Escape triggers AUTOMATION BREAK default off If this setting is on pressing Esc performs an AUTOMATION BREAK Command This setting is provided for compatibility with other playout s
197. on off you use the command CARTWALL PEL s which you type as CARTWALL PFL ON OFF Please note that some Commands contain further placeholder characters which you must replace with actual names or values in a similar way these characters and replacements are described beside those Commands in the list Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 112 Revision 20 ALL PLAYERS Commands ALL PLAYERS START Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English Starts all loaded Players in all Playlists Note that the following Command does not stop Cartwall Players see CARTWALL STOP ALL below ALL PLAYERS STOP AUTOMATION Commands AUTOMATION P BREAK AUTOMATION P NEXT AUTOMATION P OFF AUTOMATION P ON AUTOMATION P ON OFF AUTOMATION P START AUTOMATION P STOP BROWSER Commands Stops all Players in all Playlists Breaks automated playout of Playlist P Starts the Next item in Playlist P Switches Playlist P into Assist mode Switches Playlist P into Automation mode Toggles Playlist P Automation Assist modes Starts automated playout of Playlist P Stops automated playout of Playlist P fades out all Players These self explanatory Commands allow Remote Controls to operate the Browser BROWSER CURSOR DOWN BROWSER CURSOR LEFT BROWSER CURSOR RIGHT BROWSER CURSOR UP BROWSER DESELECT BROWSER FOCUS BROWSER NEXT BROWSER PREVIOUS BROWSER SELECT BROWSER TOGGLE SELECT CARTWALL Player Commands CARTWALL c CLOS
198. on screen the change is not permanent unless you click Save so navigating to a different slot and back again will restore the cleared playlist e To play the entire database playlist click PFL On the Playlist tab the item related actions for the database playlist you are currently viewing are e To change the database playlist order drag and drop the items in the playlist pane e To adda specific library item to the database playlist drag the item from the right hand library pane and drop it in the playlist pane e To add a special item to the database playlist you are viewing click Insert select the type of item you want to add for example Silence add or change the item s properties then click OK The item is inserted before the currently selected item in the playlist e To make custom changes to an item s Properties which apply only to the current playlist select an item right click it click Customise Properties and make the changes e To play the selected database playlist item right click it click Customise Properties then click the PFL tab in its Properties dialog On the Playlist tab the file import and export actions are 7 Unless of course you choose to Export the playlist to an external file Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 99 e To import an external playlist file into the current hour slot click Import Single Playlist
199. ons have the meanings listed below Verb Meaning Click Press and release the left mouse button Ctrl click Hold down either Ctrl key press and release the left mouse button then release the Ctrl key Ctrl drag While holding down either Ctrl key press and hold the left mouse button while moving the pointer Double click Press and release the left mouse button twice in quick succession Drag Press and hold the left mouse button while moving the pointer Drop Release the left mouse button after dragging an item or items Right click Press and release the right mouse button Scroll Rotate the mouse wheel Shift click Hold down either Shift key press and release the left mouse button then release the Shift key We assume throughout this Manual that you are a reasonably experienced Windows user who is familiar with standard terms for Windows features for example drive folder and subfolder We also assume that you are experienced in working with computer drives folders and files with knowledge of how to use Explorer or My Computer to work with your files and folders Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 1 1 Revision 20 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English Getting Started Welcome to AIRCAST which is arguably the most flexible and configurable radio playout and automation system available today We would like to sincerely thank all our users for their thousands of questions suggestions and ideas these have helped
200. oose Install Location page you choose the folder where you wish to install AIRCAST We suggest that you do not change the folder from its default unless you have a specific reason to do so Click Next gt to continue On the Choose Start Menu Folder page you choose the Windows Start Menu folder where you wish to install the AIRCAST shortcuts NOTE Only Windows Start Menu shortcuts are installed No other shortcuts are installed desktop icons or Quick Launch icons for example We suggest that you do not change the Start Menu folder unless you have a specific reason to do so Click Install to begin the install process The install process typically takes less than one minute When it is complete you see the page below Installation is complete Click Finish to close the Setup Wizard Click Finish to close the Setup Wizard Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 4 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English y Licences When you install AIRCAST you can choose whether to install the Full or Demo version The Full version requires an USB dongle to run and will fail to start if the dongle is not present The Demo version must be restarted ever 14 DAYS You can switch between the these two versions by running the setup again without uninstalling the software first Your configuration settings will be preserved Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 5 1 3
201. our of Players when in the named state 8 1 6 3 Player Text Settings state objectFontName fontname state JobjectFontSize size in points state JobjectFontStyle TextStyle state objectFontColor ColourValue where state is one of Empty EOF Error Fading Loaded Next Paused PFL Playing Stopped and object is one of Title Artist Name State Time Add these settings to change the font settings of the named text object Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 75 8 1 6 4 Player Progress Bar Settings ProgressBarBorderColor ColourValue default FFFFFF black Add this setting to change the border colour drawn around progress bars and ramp progress bars if shown as separate progress bars in Players Unlike the player background you cannot specify a different progress bar border colour for each Player state therefore an invisible progress bar border in all Player states is not usually possible ProgressBarColor ColourValue default Add this setting to change the basic background colour of progress bars in Players In practice this colour is rarely shown in progress bars ProgressBarelementColor ColourValue where element is one of Elapsed ElapsedRamp Outro Ramp1 Ramp2 Ramp3 Remain Add this setting to change the colour of the named progress bar element ProgressBarHeight size default pixels Add this setting to change the height of the progre
202. overwrites the current Playlist and the Cartwall if the Cartwall is saved in the file without any warning or confirmation dialog mmd MetaData Contains metadata about an audio item including its file type artist and title duration and all A RCAST specific item settings such as Cue Markers Type fixed time and custom icon Created by clicking Save Metadata on an item s Properties dialog within any AJRCAST program including AIRCASTDB and the AIRCAST file tagging program AIRCASTTag or on any PFL Player Existing MetaData files are edited indirectly in the same way xml AIRCASTDB Hour Templates and Template Assignments These files contain snapshots of AIRCASTDB hour templates and template assignments respectively The files are created by clicking the Export button in the Manage Hour Template and Hour Template Assignment dialogs respectively Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 28 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 6 Operator s Reference This chapter lists all the operations menu items and other operator actions available in AIRCAST 6 1 Toolbar Note that some toolbar buttons have a small dropdown arrow extension beside them Click the arrow to open the button s menu or click the button to select the default menu item New Opens a new desktop If a default desktop template file standard mlt exists 1t is Opened Open Save Insert Open desktop Ctrl O
203. ow but with a playlist pane above the two Library panes The playlist pane shows the contents of the database playlist for the hour and date currently showing in the date and time dropdowns at the left of the toolbar On the Playlist tab the navigation actions are e To jump to a specific slot and view the database playlist in that slot set the date and time dropdowns to the day and hour you want to view e To move one slot hour back or forward and view the database playlist in that slot click Previous to move one hour back click Next to move one hour forward e To view one week s slots as a table click Go To The Select Playlist dialog opens showing all the slots in the current week and the duration of each non empty slot s database playlist Click the left arrow to move one week back click the right arrow to move one week forward Completely empty slots are red slots which have at least one item in their playlist are green Beside each non empty slot s duration a warning icon indicates the slot s duration is less than one hour a green tick indicates the slot s duration is at least one hour To view the contents of the database playlist in a slot double click the slot On the Playlist tab the general actions for the database playlist you are currently viewing are e To save the database playlist click Save e To clear empty the database playlist click Clear Although the database playlist is cleared immediately
204. p the Cartwall contents and settings as they prefer then save and load this as part of their Desktop in effect giving each user their own Default cart set Saving alternative Cartwall content layouts in Desktop files is also a good way to test them out before deciding which ones to save as cart set files All other settings on the Cartwall node are identical to those on a Player node see 7 2 1 on page 37 7 3 1 Options Options tab These settings are identical to those on the Options tab for a Player see 7 2 2 on page 38 with three extra settings Save cartwall content in desktop files mld default off If this setting 1s on the Cartwall contents and settings are saved as part of a Desktop file Save cartwall content in desktop templates mlt default on If this setting 1s on the Cartwall contents and settings are saved as part of a Desktop Template file Keep open when starting a new desktop default on If this setting is on the Cartwall is unaffected when the New button on the main Toolbar is clicked If this setting is off all Cartwall Players contents and settings are cleared when the New button on the main Toolbar is clicked 7 3 2 Options GUI Options tab These settings affect the Cartwall Toolbar and the appearance of the Favourite Cart Set list Show toolbar default on If this setting is off the Cartwall toolbar is hidden the Cartwall s height is reduced and you can use the extra screen space for o
205. put sample rate default 44100 is the sample rate used to send audio output to the device Buffer size default 0 is the number of samples sent per buffer to the selected ASIO device in increments of 32 samples Set this to match the device s buffer size The smaller the buffer size you use the lower the latency of the ASIO device will be High precision cueing for VBR files BASS_STREAM_PRESCAN default off When this setting is on it enables a BASS option which pre scans audio files BASS almost always reports inaccurate durations for variable bit rate audio files unless this setting is on Pitch and tempo adjustment using BASS_FX DLL default off When this setting is on the PFL tab of the Item Properties dialog in AIRCAST AIRCASTTag and AIRCASTDB show Pitch and Tempo sliders The settings of these controls are saved in an item s Properties Unless you use pitch or tempo leave this setting off for best performance 7 13 4 Auto Cue These settings allow AIRCAST to automatically determine and set Cue Markers when a previously unknown audio file is loaded into AIRCAST or AIRCASTTag or added to AIRCASTDB Each setting has a checkbox and a spin control to set the related value Automatically determine Cue In for new items defaults on and 90dB If enabled Cue In is set to the point when audio level first rises above the level specified Automatically determine Fade Out for new items defaults on and 30dB If Import
206. r Contains buttons to Open and Save playlists Insert items into the Playlist Edit and Delete Playlist items open the Event Scheduler and run AJRCAST scripts Most but not all of these functions are duplicated elsewhere in the AIRCAST GUI Playlist Control bar Contains buttons for AUTO and ASSIST modes a NEXT button and boxes showing the Next event time the number of items in the Playlist and the total duration of the Playlist Playlist The playlist of audio items to be played in the Players plus special items such as Commands Global Progress Bar A progress bar for the item which is currently playing Cartwall toolbar Contains buttons to load and save Cart Sets and to toggle PFL mode for all Cartwall Players Cartwall Players Cart players for jingles stings effects music beds etc Unlike the main Players a Cartwall Player re cues itself and remains loaded after it finishes playing an item Also note that a single Cartwall Player can contain a stack of audio items Players The main players for music tracks which are automatically loaded by the Playlist and ejected when they stop Players contain only one item however an item can be a container which contains a number of audio items Browser toolbar Contains buttons to Refresh Add and Close panes in the Browser Browser A browser which can contain panes showing file folders or folder trees databases database search data
207. r direct import into a spreadsheet or database application The Restricted to column shows restrictions on a log variable For example some variables only have a value when they are in a Stop Entry Logging string or only when the item being logged is an audio file Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 56 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 7 8 3 Log File This Logging type writes log entries to a plain text file Filename is the fully qualified name of the file and can include logging variables A commonly used filename is drive path Y M D LOG This creates a new log file each day Overwrite this file each time a log entry is written default off Turn this setting on if you want to create a new log file each time an entry is written You may want to do this if for example you are creating a text file which is used to update an RDS encoder or a Web page Start Entry Format is the format of the log entry written when an item is started in AIRCAST Stop Entry Format is the format of the log entry written when an item is stopped in AJRCAST This includes items which are stopped by reaching EOF Entry Formats can and almost always do include logging variables To prevent Start or Stop logging clear the entry format making sure that you do not leave any spaces in the box 7 8 4 SQL Database Because subsequent AIRCAST logging may be delayed if AIRCAST cannot connect to
208. r example Trail next show by changing the Artists in the item s Properties to Break items are most often used in stations where presenters use A RCAST in Auto mode to indicate points in the playlist where the presenter should be talking Break items have no effect in Assist mode 3 3 2 Command In Auto mode a command item contains one or more AIRCAST commands see AIRCAST Commands starting on page 111 which are processed immediately Command items are useful if you need to run commands especially timed commands during Auto mode and are more visible and flexible than adding Actions to Playlist items Because they cannot be loaded into Players command items have no effect in Assist mode 3 3 3 Container A container item similar to a Cart Stack is a mini Playlist of one or more items The container is treated by AIRCAST as one Playlist item except for logging Usually the items in a container are all audio files but any type of item is allowed Items in a container are played out in a single Player as if in Auto mode using any Start Next and Fade Out cue markers in the container s items for segues Note that after you add an item to a container you cannot view or change any Properties of any of the contained 1items including cue markers which means the only way to adjust segues in containers is to delete items adjust their cue markers then add them to the container again Usually the easiest way to loa
209. ram such as LAME for MP3 files or OGGENC for OGG files which can be executed from the Windows Command Prompt and you must create one or more AIRCAST mixdown profiles for it You may wish to create multiple profiles for an audio encoder to create for example audio files of different bitrates The AJRCAST distribution includes the oggenc exe audio encoder program which is installed in the AIRCAST program folder To add a new mixdown profile 1 Click Add 2 On the Edit Mixdown Settings dialog type a Profile name a File extension for the generated audio files and an Encoder command line see below 3 Click OK You can Edit Copy or Delete an existing mixdown profile by clicking the appropriate button Encoder command line The command line you type must include the full drive and path to the external encoder program as well as all necessary command line parameters for that program TIP If you copy the encoder program s EXE file into your AJRCAST program folder you don t need to include a drive and path in the command line In the command line type where you would normally type the encoder s input file name and FILENAME where you would normally type the encoder s output file name For example the command lines below create a 128 kbps MP3 and OGG file respectively e C lame lame exe m s b 128 FILENAME e oggenc exe b 128 o FILENAME 7 13 6 Encoder NOTE Most of these settings have no ef
210. rary unplayed Unless you choose to Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 100 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English use or already use an external music scheduling application sooner or later you will need an automated way to create database playlists The Mini Scheduler built into AIRCASTDB creates random playlists by using some very basic rules Although the Mini Scheduler uses techniques and concepts similar to those in professional music scheduling applications it is not intended to replace them it lacks many important features such as detailed selection rules daypart separation and exclusions However the Mini Scheduler is adequate if all you need to do is create random playlists quickly and with minimum effort 11 5 3 1 Creating Hour Templates Although the Mini Scheduler can create playlists by randomly selecting items from your entire library it is more usual to set it up to randomly select items from specific virtual folders This is the same as using categories groups or rotations in a professional music scheduling application For example you might create virtual folders like Pop Rock n roll and Country and or 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s etc any names which reflect the types of music your station plays and how you plan to schedule them As another example a CHR station would typically use Heavy Light and Oldies After you create suitable virt
211. rlay text Note that the outline is drawn inside the text keeping its overall size the same OverlayOutlineColor ColourValue default FFFFFF white Add this setting to change the colour of the coloured outline around the countdown overlay OverlayPosition position default centre where position is one of N NE E SE S SW W NW the eight major compass points Add this setting to move the countdown overlay to a corner or the centre of one side of the Playlist 8 1 11 Playlistx These settings are identical to the settings you can add in the Playlists section but affect only the Playlist specified in the section name In the section name x is the Playlist number starting at zero so PlaylistO means Playlist 1 In practice you only need this section if you have more than one Playlist 8 1 12 ProgressBar These settings are identical to the ProgressBar settings you can add in the Players section see 8 1 6 4 75 but affect only the global progress bar Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 78 OZ Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English Changing AIRCAST Icon Graphics You can easily replace any icon AIRCAST displays for example on Player buttons in the A RCASTDB database application or on any toolbar button with an icon of your choice To do this obtain or create replacement graphics files and save them in PNG format with a transparent background colour give the files the names
212. rnal database or music scheduling application see 11 9 on page 105 Colour default transparent The background colour of the item when shown in a Playlist and optionally in AJRCASTDB Icon default none An optional custom icon for the item when shown in the Playlist a standard icon or the item s album art if one is stored in its D3 tag is shown if you leave this blank By default only the name and path of the icon file is stored so if you rename move or delete the icon file the icon will not be shown in the Playlist and AJRCAST will display an error message and will clear the item s Icon property when you next open the item s Properties dialog in any AIRCAST program However if you click shift Select to open the dialog the icon s data is stored instead Comment Description default blank A comment or description of the item Although the default is blank an existing Comment tag in a supported audio file format like MP3 or OGG is imported to this property 9 6 2 Audio File tab Filename The full path and name of the audio file associated with the item If you rename or move an audio file you can re associate the item with the audio file either by typing the correct path and filename or recommended method clicking Replace File and selecting the file s new location and or file name For special Playlist items like DUMMY and BREAK Filename is blank Please note that the Open in a
213. rsion 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 21 Insert Inserts the playlist file specified in Filename at the top of the Playlist Insert and play Inserts the playlist file specified in Filename at the top of the Playlist and plays 1t immediately Append Appends the playlist file specified in Filename to the end of the Playlist 4 1 2 6 Automation Actions Enable automation Switches to Automation mode same as the Playlist Control bar AUTO button Disable automation Switches to Assist mode same as the Playlist Control bar ASSIST button Start automation playback Starts automated playout same as the Playlist Control bar Start button Fade to next item Starts the next item and fades the current item same as the Playlist Control bar Next button Stop automation playback Stops automated playout and fades the current item same as the Playlist Control bar Stop button 4 1 2 7 Database Playlist Actions Database Actions are not recommended for use as Actions on Start Stop they are intended for use in scheduled events Playlists are loaded from the database selected in Database Connection see below All Database Actions have a Database tab where you can select these settings Database Connection the database from which the playlist will be loaded Load the playlist for the next hour instead of the current hour self explanatory Set fixed time on first element mark the first loaded playlist element with a fixed time of
214. ry item lists by clicking View Library Columns on the AIRCASTDB menu then selecting or clearing column names The default is to show all columns Note that the Item Colours and Library Columns settings do not affect the playlist upper pane on the Playlist tab but they do affect the Library lower pane 11 8 Importing Audio File Information From Other Products If you are switching to AIRCAST from another radio playout system you will almost certainly want to import information from that product s audio database into AIRCASTDB At present AIRCASTDB can directly import information which has been exported from the audio databases of the DRS2006 V3 or SAM4 products or a CSV file created by any application in the format shown below e To import from DRS2006 V3 or later export your ARDat audio database as a txt file e To import from SAM4 or later export your SAM4 audio database as a csv file e To import from any other product export your audio database as a csv file using the field layout shown below Field 1 1D must be empty blank for an import Field 3 path file name requires a value other fields may be empty blank All time and duration values must be in seconds decimal values like 47 314 are allowed and all Cue Marker values are relative to the start not end of the file Field Contents Field Contents 1 AIRCASTDB internal ID 11 Ramp 2 Cue Marker 2 External ID see page 105 12 Ramp 3 Cue Marker 3 Full path and file name
215. s then press Del or right click the item s and click Delete You can customise any item in the database playlist by changing any value or setting in its Properties Cue Markers fade duration etc to a different setting which you want to use in this one database playlist only These changes are saved only in that database playlist the database item is not affected Customised items from the library are shown with an orange icon To customise an item double click it or right click it and click Customise Properties to open its Properties dialog make your changes then click OK To insert non audio items Silence Break etc into a database playlist click Insert in the toolbar click the type of item you want to insert set its Properties if necessary and click OK Non audio items are shown with a blue icon or a green icon if dragged from the library pane To save the database playlist click Save in the toolbar If you change a database playlist and then move to a different slot s playlist without saving your changes AIRCAST displays a message box click Yes to save your changes and continue click No to abandon your changes and continue or click Cancel to remain in the database playlist you changed 11 5 3 Using the Mini Scheduler Creating database playlists manually quickly becomes a tedious chore Manually created playlists also tend to be biased towards better known artists and songs leaving much of your lib
216. s but please note that you cannot close or exit external programs or batch files because once started they each run as a separate process thread which cannot be accessed from within a script Before deciding that you need to write any script check that there is no existing AJRCAST command or action or set of commands or actions which does what you require Next decide whether you need to write an action script or a notification script The answer will be action script unless the script needs to be triggered each time a specific AIRCAST event occurs You can now write a script to suit your needs If you do not already have an up to date copy we strongly recommend that you download the AIRCASTScript Help file AIRCASTscript chm from the A RCAST download site This file which is not included in the standard AIRCAST setup files is an essential reference which contains descriptions of the custom AIRCAST classes objects functions and types you can use in AIRCAST scripts Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 107 12 3 Initially it can seem difficult to find the information you need in AIRCASTscript chm so here is a quick guide to its most relevant content e Most objects are in Units AIRCASTInterfaces Classes e Most functions and procedures are in Units AIRCASTScript Functions e Most enumerated types and sets are in Units AIRCASTTypes Types There are
217. s see onder which affect the appearance of the Player The term close is used for consistency with the Player button label AIRCAST commands and the AIRCASTScript scripting language Depending on the other Player Options settings which you select closing a Player means the act of doing all of the following e stop the Player if it is playing e mark the loaded item as played e unload the loaded item from the Player e move the item to the Playlist history and or the A RCAST Recycle Bin Hence for example Auto close at EOF means eject the Player when it reaches the end of an item Auto load in assist mode default on If you want to use the Playlist Control Bar NEXT button in assist mode this setting must be on If this setting is on the Player auto loads in assist mode if the Player is empty and there are items in the Playlist which are not already loaded in any Player If this setting is off you must manually load the Player in assist mode Auto load on demand default off If this setting is on the Player auto loads in assist mode if the Player is empty and there are items in the Playlist which are not already loaded in a Player and a Start command is issued If this setting is off you must manually load the Player in assist mode Only auto load if all other players are empty default off If this setting is on the Player does not auto load unless all other Players in the Playlist are emp
218. s to a virtual folder select the item s then Ctrl drag drop them on the folder to copy the items or drag drop them on the folder to move the items To add special items to a virtual folder select the folder click New Item on the toolbar select the type of item you want to add for example Silence or Automation break point from the menu add or change the item s properties then click OK This is useful when creating Hour Templates for the Mini Scheduler see 11 5 3 on page 99 To search for an item type any part of the title or artist name in the Search box and press Enter AIRCASTDB displays all items whose title or artist s contain the text you typed To change sort or column order in the right hand pane click a column heading to sort by that column drag and drop column headings to change their order To edit an item s Properties double click the item To mass edit a number of selected items in a single operation select Ctrl click or Shift click the items right click then click Mass edit On the Mass Edit dialog make changes then click the Apply button beside the box to apply that change to all the items Finally click OK to save all your changes or click Cancel to abandon all your changes To change an item s Type first expand the Types node then drag drop the item on the Type node you want to change it to for example Instrumental To listen to an item select the item and use the mini PFL pla
219. s a Cart Set Saved Cart Sets include any cart stacks and triggers you have set up and Cart Sets can be loaded at any time Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 16 Za Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English What Next If you have completed the tutorials in the preceding sections you now have a good working knowledge of AIRCAST and you also now know enough to use it on air for your live shows We stressed many times during those tutorials that we were describing the default AIRCAST setup and you are probably already keen to learn what else ATRCAST can do and what you can change For example you can easily change the numbers of Players or Cartwall Players and many more subtle aspects of the way AIRCAST operates With only a little more effort you can also change things like the screen layout and the colour scheme You can create scheduled events to perform actions automatically for you at pre set times and you can also create an audio database to contain all the information about every item in your audio library You can add remote controls to operate AIRCAST directly from your mixer faders or from other hardware such as programmable keyboards In short and unlike most other radio playout systems you can change almost every aspect of AIRCAST how it operates and the way 1t looks and you can do all of this yourself without needing to contact the software company for expensive and time consum
220. s are not needed TimeFont Segoe UL as TimeFont Segoe UI works RampPrefix RAMP TIME displays as RAMP TIME 14 0 RampPrefix RAMP TIME displays as RAMP TIME 14 0 RampPrefix RAMP TIME displays as RAMP TIME14 0 8 1 2 2 Colour Values To specify a colour value use strings in the HTML colour format rrggbb where indicates the following string is a hexadecimal number rr is the two digit hexadecimal red value 00 FF gg is the two digit hexadecimal green value 00 FF and bb is the two digit hexadecimal blue value 00 FF For example magenta is FFOOFF maximum red zero green maximum blue cyan is OOFFFF zero red maximum green maximum blue This is the same format used to specify colours on Web pages There are numerous freeware colour picker applications which you can use to choose colours visually these applications show your chosen colours in the format above which you can copy and paste into your skin ini file 8 1 2 3 Size Values e To specify the size of a screen object such as a button use size units of pixels e To specify the size of a font use size units of points 8 1 2 4 Font Style Values To specify a text font style use one of these numbers Number Style 0 normal 1 bold 2 italic 3 bold italic To add underlining to a font style add 4 to the font style value To add strikethreuch to a font style add 8 to the font style value For example for eHe strikethrough
221. se Database Playlist or mlp file you can only use AIRCASTTag to save changes to individual items Double click an audio item in the Browser to load it into the Item Properties dialog Unlike AIRCAST you cannot drag and drop audio files on AIRCASTTag from a Windows Explorer window The dropdown menu on the AIRCASTTag Browser toolbar s Add button shows the same list of Quick Folders as the Browser in AJRCAST so you may wish to add the folder s where you usually store new audio files to the Quick Folders list see Quick Folders on page 48 When you open an audio item the Item Properties dialog shows the PFL tab and plays the item 9 5 2 AIRCASTTag Item Properties Dialog Use the Item Properties dialog see below to tag an audio file and save your changes When the dialog opens the PFL tab is shown and the item plays You can change any setting on any tab Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 86 9 6 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English Item Properties Dialog The Item Properties dialog is a key component of AJRCAST available from all AIRCAST programs Use this dialog to tag an audio file and save your changes To save your changes click an Export data to button File Tag Metadata File or Database Note that the Database button is disabled unless the file you are tagging already exists in the database in other words you cannot add files to a database by clicking the Database button
222. ser Manual UK English 109 OnPlaylistEmpty If the required actions can all be achieved using an action list an action list 1s the preferred way to handle this However you could use this procedure in addition perhaps to send a message or e mail or add other advanced functionality when a playlist runs empty OnExecuteCommand This refers to a ALRCAST command so you can use this procedure to extend the functionality of one or more commands OnTimer This is a timer driven event This procedure is most often used to poll external hardware perhaps by calling the hardware s own DLL at regular intervals An example is shown overleaf This example of a well written OnTimer script also demonstrates how to call external DLL routines Notification Script for Velleman K8055 USB Interface allowing remote control of AIRCAST v3 x Players Written by Torben Weibert Modified by Charlie Davy and Cad Delworth October 2010 IMPORTANT Requires the k8055d dll file in the AIRCAST program folder var CurrentStatus array 1 5 of boolean 1 integer function OpenDevice CardAddress Longint Longint external OpenDevice k8055d dl1l stdcall procedure CloseDevice external CloseDevice k8055d dl1l stdcall function ReadDigitalChannel Channel Longint boolean external ReadDigitalChannel k8055d d1ll stdcall procedure OnLoad begin for i 1 to 5 do CurrentStatus i false if OpenDevice 0 lt 0
223. sets the layout to the way it looked when you opened the Layout Designer or to the last layout you saved In other words the current layout ini file is loaded and all objects are arranged according to the settings in the file Any changes made since your last save will be lost Automatic layout deletes the layout ini file if 1t exists The Layout Designer shows a message box asking you to confirm this action Clicking Automatic layout has the effect of returning to the no layout default position see Figure 10 8 on page 92 IMPORTANT Clicking Yes in the message box will delete your current layout ini file Unless you are starting from the default layout we strongly suggest that you first make a copy of your current layout ini file in another location by clicking Export Export saves the current layout to a file and location other than the layout ini file in your A RCAST Config folder This is useful if you want to save a layout to Import it on another AIRCAST computer and also to backup your current layout before you make any changes to it Import loads a layout you previously saved by using Export all objects are arranged according to the settings in the file you import Any objects in the window which don t exist in the imported layout file will not be affected Use Import to copy a layout exported on another AIRCAST computer or to restore a previously saved layout Closing The Layout Designer To close the Layout
224. sily by creating a Work an action list Action for each Action List you want to include as part of a larger Action List You don t have to use just one event which specifies every scheduled occurrence of an Action List If an Action List s schedule is complex set it up as two or more separate events each with different and simpler sets of Date and Time settings which together specify all the scheduled occurrences you need For example to run the same Action List at 07 15 09 30 and 10 15 on Saturdays and at half past the hour from 07 30 to 21 30 on weekdays we recommend that you create three events one for the weekday occurrences one for the Saturday 07 15 and 10 15 occurrences and one for the Saturday 09 30 occurrence with each event running the same Action List When testing an event s Date and Time settings remember that you can change AJRCAST s internal date and time of day by clicking the time display at the right of the AJRCAST window status bar that the Next event time box E box in the Playlist control bar always shows the next event s scheduled time and that you can always check the next scheduled date and time of each event on the Event Scheduler dialog Remember you can stop an event at any future time by giving it an Expiry date and time When you set up new events or amend existing events always consider the effects on your entire event schedule Ensure that no changes would result in a
225. ss bar You cannot change the width of the bar 8 1 6 5 Player Button Settings To show or hide specific Player buttons see 7 2 4 41 ButtonSize size in pixels default pixels square Add this setting to change the size of Player buttons Note that you cannot resize individual buttons this setting is applied to all Player buttons buttonButton Active Color ColourValue default pale blue where button is one of Close Fadeout Hook Loop Pause PFL Reset Start Stop Add this setting to change the background colour of the named button when inactive not selected or active selected Note that in practice ActiveColor has no effect on the Close and Reset buttons 8 1 6 6 Ramp Text Settings The Ramp prefix is part of the Time text object so the Time font settings also apply to the Ramp prefix RampPrefix string default R Add this setting to change the text preceding the Ramp times shown in the Player e Ifthe string ends with a space you must put double quotes around the string For example RampPrefix RAMP or RampPrefix R e You do not need quotes if the string contains a space but does not end with a space For example RampPrefix LEAD IN or RampPrefix TO VOCAL 8 1 7 Playerx_y These settings are identical to the settings you can add in the Players section but affect only the Playlist Player specified in the section name In the section name x is the Playlist number and y is the Player number wit
226. st The scheduler is built in to the A RCAST program and it runs in the background all the time A RCAST is open you cannot switch the scheduler off The Next event time box on the Playlist Control bar shows the time of the next scheduled event or blank if no events are scheduled O To open the Event Scheduler click Events on the toolbar Events or click inside the Next event time box on the Playlist Control bar E 12 10 00 The Event Scheduler dialog opens showing the Event List Note that you can resize this dialog On the Event Scheduler dialog e Click New to clear the event list A confirmation dialog is displayed e Click Open to load an event list file mle The current event list is cleared without any confirmation dialog e Click Save to save the current event list as a mle file e Click Add to add an event to the list using the Event Editor e Click Edit to edit the selected event using the Event Editor If more than one event is selected the event which has focus is opened in the Event Editor e Click Delete to delete the selected event s A confirmation dialog is displayed The columns in the Event List show for each event in the list its Next Execution date and time Last Execution date and time Description if any and a list of its Actions By default the Event List is sorted by Next Execution ascending click any column heading to sort by that column instead When you Add or Edit an event the
227. stment using BASS_ FX DLL setting 1s on see 7 13 2 on page 66 and 7 13 3 on page 67 Gereral AudioFile Options Attributes Actions Cue Data PF Tempo and Pitch sliders are shown which you can use to alter the speed and or pitch of the track i a 3 18 33 00 00 00 EN 0 END MON Drag the Tempo slider to change the speed of the track without altering its pitch time stretch minimum 32 maximum 32 default 0 Drag the Pitch slider to change the pitch of the track without altering its speed change key minimum 12 semitones 1 octave maximum 12 semitones 1 octave default 0 You can also select click either slider then use the mouse wheel or left right arrow keys to move it though this is less precise than dragging the slider To reset either slider to zero double click its value the large number beside it Export Data controls File Tag button Click to save the track s Properties in a custom AJRCAST tag within the audio file At present this is only supported for MP3 or OGG files Metadata File button Click to save the track s Properties in a AIRCAST metadata file mmd file Database button Click to save the track s Properties in a AIRCASTDB database You cannot use this button to add the track to a AIRCASTDB database the track must already exist in the database before you click the Database button Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20
228. sts Players and Cartwall Players are numbered from one upwards Many commands which switch the state of a AIRCAST object or option for example the CARTWALL PFL command have the options of ON OFF or ON OFF which toggles the state or option A few Commands require a filename or a volume positive or negative expressed in dB In the Command list these numbers and options are represented by the characters shown below Character s represent s Example c a Cartwall Player 6 Cartwall Player 6 d a volume in dB can be or 12 12 dB f a filename can include drive path Day Set 1 mlc a Cart Set file S ON OFF or ON OFF toggle option ON OFF toggle the option x or y a Player Playlist number is separate 1 Player 1 P a Playlist 1 the first or only Playlist P p a Player within a Playlist 1 2 Player 2 in Playlist 1 Where you see any of these characters in a Command you must replace the placeholder character s shown above with the appropriate number or text as shown in the Example column For example to switch the first or only Playlist to Automation mode and start automated playout you use the AUTOMATION P ON Command followed by the AUTOMATION P PLAY Command After replacing P with the Playlist number 1 and putting the Commands together into a set the complete Command set you need to type is AUTOMATION 1 ON AUTOMATION 1 PLAY Similarly if you want to use a Remote Control to toggle Cartwall PFL
229. t during synchronisation unless Auto Cue is enabled in the A RCAST configuration program Revision 20 Depending on the speed of your computer synchronisation processes at least one thousand items per 35 minutes or at least 1 700 items per hour During synchronisation AIRCASTDB reads all the mmd files and D3 or other file tags exactly like dragging a file into AIRCAST does synchronisation uses exactly the same mechanism which is described on page 83 You can check the progress of the synchronisation in the status bar at the bottom of the dialog As each file is successfully synchronised it disappears from the New Files list To interrupt synchronisation at any time press Esc After your storage is fully synchronised its audio files appear as items in the virtual folder hierarchy of the Library pane tree on the Library tab the storage will be listed in the Storages node of the Library pane tree and the audio files will also be listed as items in the storage You can synchronise a storage at any time to check for files which have been added to renamed or deleted from it since the last synchronisation If a file is missing the dialog gives you the option to delete the corresponding database items if a file has been renamed it will appear in both lists Vew and Missing and you can select both the old name and the new name then click Fix renamed file to rename the file in the database 11 3 4 VACUUM Command Compact Defrag
230. t for each slot In AIRCASTDB mapping your hour templates on to the week is called template assignment To set up your template assignments click Administration Template Hour Assignments to open the Hour Template Assignments dialog The 24x7 grid in the dialog shows each slot hour of the week as a separate cell Each column is a day from Monday to Sunday each row is a slot from the midnight 0100 slot to the 2300 midnight slot No playlists will be generated for empty slots and you do not have to fill every slot To make changes click one slot or select a block of slots by dragging then right click your selection On the context menu click Clear to clear the slot s or click the name of the Hour Template you want to use when generating playlists for the slot s Repeat this process until you have selected an Hour Template for each slot which needs a generated playlist There is no undo function but you can click Cancel to abandon all changes made since you opened the dialog Each different hour template you add to the grid is shown in a different colour to make it easier to check that hour templates are correctly placed in the grid We suggest that you click Export to save a copy of your template assignments You can then click Import later to re load your assignments You can use Export and Import to create and use as many different template assignments as you wish perhaps for different weeks or quarters
231. t object only Select the command or type the command set to be executed when the text object is clicked 7 6 5 1 4 Actions tab Button object only Use this tab to specify the Actions see 4 1 on page 19 to be executed when the button is clicked 7023 41 Advanced tab Position default Top Select Top or Bottom to display the object above or below the Browser Automatically hide or minimise Self explanatory Remote ID A unique arbitrary text name ID for the control which you can use in a A RCAST script to associate the control with script code which is run when the control is clicked Remote Control You can operate AIRCAST using only a mouse or a touch screen but most users also need various functions to be operated remotely that is not directly on your AIRCAST computer A classic example is fader start where lifting a fader on your mixer also starts the associated AIRCAST Player AIRCAST supports many more types of Remote Controls than this obvious example By default Remote Controls do not work in the AFRCASTDB and AIRCASTTag programs but you can easily change this see O on page 64 for details All Remote Controls in AIRCAST work in the same way When you create a Remote Control you link it to one or more AIRCAST commands when the Remote Control is operated AIRCAST processes those commands For example the command START PLAYER 1 2 starts the second Player in the first or only Playlist The Remote Con
232. t on STOP default off If this option is on the item fades out instead of stopping dead when it is stopped Linked to next item default off If this option is on the item is Linked to the next item This option duplicates the function of the Link column in the Playlist and is useful if the item is always to be Linked to the following item Don t move to history default off If this option is on the item is not moved to the Playlist History when it ends or is stopped 9 6 4 Attributes tab Attributes such as Genre Album Track number Year and Album Art as the item s icon are imported automatically from files whose internal tags contain them but you can add any Attributes you wish You can add change or delete any value or Attribute including imported Attributes If you use AIRCASTDB Attributes are automatically shown as nodes in the Library tree To add an Attribute press Insert to add before the selected Attribute or press down arrow to append after the final Attribute in the list then type the new Attribute s Name and Value If you have created a fixed set of Values for an Attribute see 7 12 3 on page 62 you can select a Value from the dropdown list otherwise the dropdown list will be empty To change an Attribute type a new Name or Value To delete an Attribute blank out the Name and Value Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 88 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK
233. ta to the specified serial Port If the specified serial port is not already open this Action may fail Execute command Execute the command s specified A list of AZRCAST commands is in Appendix A on page 111 You cannot execute external programs or commands with this Action to do so create a AIRCAST script which executes the program or command then use the Run script Action Run script Runs the AJRCAST script mls file specified in Filename Aol 22 File Actions Play file This Action only works in Automation mode It is not recommended for use as an Action on Start Stop Inserts the file named in Filename at the top of the Playlist and plays the file immediately Insert file Inserts adds the file named in Filename at the top of the Playlist 4 1 2 3 Network File Actions Play network file Not recommended for use as an Action on Start Stop in Automation mode Inserts the file named in URL at the top of the Playlist and plays the file immediately You can optionally type in a Title for the network file the default Title is the URL 13 Insert network file Inserts adds the file named in URL at the top of the Playlist You can optionally type in a Title for the network file the default Title is the URL 4 1 2 4 Stream Actions Play stream Not recommended for use as an Action on Start Stop in Automation mode Inserts a Stream item for the audio stream specified by URL at the top of the Playlist and plays t
234. tab 15 The marked item will start at or as soon as possible after the soft fixed time Playing items will continue playing to the end but items not yet played and before the soft fixed item in the Playlist will be skipped over and will not be played Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 22 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 4 1 2 8 Encoder Actions To use these Actions you must first set up one or more Encoders see 7 13 6 on page 68 Use these Actions to connect disconnect the Encoder or enable disable live feed and local output 4 1 2 9 Windows Mixer Actions These Actions are often used to manage live feeds on an input of the computer s sound card The Mute mixer channel and Unmute mixer channel Actions are self explanatory and both have a Mixer tab on their Configure Action dialog On the Mixer tab you select the Device sound card Destination usually Volume Control for output or Recording Control for input and the Source one or all sound card mixer channels you want to mute un mute 4 1 2 10 SAS Actions These Actions are specific to the Lawo series of digital mixing consoles If you use a Lawo digital console AIRCAST offers several Actions specific to these consoles such as setting a fader level toggling PFL and fader start button lights and switching GPIs on off 4 1 2 11 Work an action list Action Use this Action to nest one Action List within ano
235. tags in audio files Import ReplayGain as Amplification default on If this setting is off any ReplayGain values in file tags are ignored Use Album ReplayGain values if available default on If this setting is off track ReplayGain values are used in preference to album ReplayGain values Prevent clipping when using ReplayGain amplification default on If this setting is off ReplayGain values are not checked for clipping during import You can optionally use Central folder for MMD files to specify a folder where AI RCAST stores all mmd files normally mmd files are stored in the same folder as the related audio file You may wish to do this to secure your mmd files from accidental amendment or deletion or to reduce the total number of files in folders containing audio files for performance reasons You can optionally use Default Item Type for Imported Files to specify a default Type for files 22 MusiFile is an MP2 audio file format developed by DAVID Systems GmbH which contains cue point information These files usually but not always have the extension mus Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 62 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 7 12 2 File Repository These settings allow you to specify jingles or other audio files which AIRCAST automatically adds to a hook container item when you create it see 3 3 50n page 18 for more details You can specify an opener played before a set of hooks
236. te aabehe 133 DONDE cn 133 MOT A O O II doce amcesdiedaat eacemseuncs 133 DRS 20 OG ura 133 Dp MED erste ee ee O gq y E T ines cause E E EEEE AS 134 MPOT odos dido pate 134 IOW Lo ses Pe Po 0 O O O tees ua ate lea Seas eta patented 134 AS AA OE y aa ener aa ia 134 Mise Database S si sisas 134 Mido A A E CRTC NT COROT ae ee Tt nenen TC NOT nT rant nen nn renTe Orne 134 PAY OU ROCCA 134 PO WEES Old A A A A cake A A A 134 GA PI dle caerasins ctapnd rp ota tem erence aa aan atom eager ares 134 REST taa 134 A 134 PP cenred AS EE S N A A E E A ON E T EA A A E A EE 134 SOLDO E a a ai laca 134 WANGOWSIOY SUCK cerien r E e A 134 WINS al o a A 134 IW TCO DEIA UD do oriin o O sede 134 AI A A O A A A A 134 C Nuvola Icon Graphics Piles Used By AIRGAS T lt a cipa 135 1 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English A Personal Note From The Author The Operation Manual for a brand of professional PA digital mixing consoles famously began with a page containing the single sentence Throw a six to start Although it is true that A RCAST is an enormously configurable application I hope you will find this Manual a helpful and above all reliable companion and guide to all of AIRCAST s nooks and crannies Please don t be misled by the size of this User Manual you can simply install AJRCAST and put it live on air in just a few minutes using its default settings and after reading maybe ten pages of this manual or less But as I hope yo
237. te any PFL Player PFL 0 Resets the PFL Player jumps to zero Elapsed PFL END MON Jumps the PFL Player to near the end of the item see 7 12 7 on page 63 PFL PAUSE Pauses the PFL Player PFL PLAY Starts the PFL Player In the following Commands q represents the name of a Cue Marker chosen from this list ANCHOR CUEIN CUEOUT FADEOUT HOOKFADE HOOKIN HOOKOUT RAMP1 RAMP2 RAMP3 OUTRO STARTNEXT PFL q DELETE Deletes clears Cue Marker q PFL q MINUS Decreases the value of Cue Marker g by 10 mS PFL g PLUS Increases the value of Cue Marker g by 10 mS PFL g SET Sets Cue Marker g to the current Elapsed time 44 The main PFL Player as shown on the PFL tab of the Item Properties dialog Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 114 Revision 20 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English PFL q TEST Tests Cue Marker q same as clicking TEST PLAYER Commands PLAYER P p CLOSE Closes Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p EXTRAPEL s Main PFL mode switch for Player p in Playlist P PLAYER P p FADEOUT Fades out Player p in Playlist P In the following Command g represents the name of a Player GUI option see 7 2 3 on page 40 chosen from this list AdvancedPFL CueAlternatives CueCategoryColors CueInSeconds CueMode Dragging FlashEOF Warning ItemColor NearestRamp NoButtonsInAutomation PFLSaveButtons ShowRampWhenladle SwapArtistTitle TruncateTime PLAYER P p GUIOPTION g s GUI Option g mod
238. tems a progress bar and a countdown overlay Apart from the grid every part of a Playlist is optional 8 1 10 1 Playlist Toolbar Control Bar Settings ToolbarFontName fontname default Arial ToolbarFontSize size default 24 points ToolbarFontStyle TextStyle default 1 bold ToolbarFontColor ColourValue default FF0000 red Add these settings to change the font settings of the toolbar objects Change ToolbarFontSize to change the height of the control bar objects you cannot change the width or order of the control bar objects buttonButton Active Color ColourValue where button is one of Jump next button Start Stop Add this setting to change the background colour of the named button when inactive not selected or active selected Note that in practice ActiveColor has no effect on the Jump button 8 1 10 2 Playlist Grid Settings GridLineStyle solid default dotted Add this setting to change the gridlines above and below Playlist rows to solid gridlines GridLineColor ColourValue Add this setting to change the colour of the gridlines above and below Playlist rows focusSelection Border Color ColourValue where focus is one of Focused Unfocused Add these settings to change the background or border colour of the currently selected Playlist rows ColWidths size size size size size size size size in pixels where sizes are the widths of each column always in this order regardless of ColumnOrder
239. text use the value 10 2 8 for bold underlined text use the value 5 1 4 8 1 2 5 Text Object Settings And Values The appearance of every AIRCAST text object for example the Title in a Player is defined by four separate settings in a skin ini file e textobjectnameFontName Font name e g Arial e textobjectnameFontSize Font size in points Specify a size of O to hide a text object Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 42 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English e textobjectnameFontStyle Font style in FontStyle format see above The default font style of most text objects in AIRCAST is O normal e textobjectnameFontColor Font colour in ColourValue format see above The default FontColor of most text objects in AIRCAST is 000000 black where textobjectname is the AIRCAST name of the text object as simple examples Title or Time For example the settings below show the Time in a Player as white 17pt Verdana Bold text TimeFontName Verdana TimeFontstze 17 TimeFontStyle 1 TimeFontColor FFFFFF Before changing any font colour consider how it looks on the background colour underneath it Font colours other than black or white can be very difficult to read on some background colours Always use strong font colours which contrast well with the background this avoids potential problems for users who have mild colour blindness We recommend Microsoft s Segoe UI font distr
240. the Player section and make the appropriate changes in that section or sections A Player divides naturally into five main parts a border a background text boxes a progress bar and buttons Apart from the border and background every part of a Player 1s optional and as you will see below there are ways to make the border and background invisible as well 8 1 6 1 Player Border Settings BorderRadius 0 default 0 The border width is fixed at a size of one pixel Add this setting to draw Players with curved corners The value is the radius of the corner curves You can specify any number from 0 upwards but values much above or below 10 give near invisible results or cut off text at the Player s corners respectively BorderColor ColourValue default FFFFFF black Add this setting to change the border colour drawn around Players For an invisible border specify your Windows Application Background colour not the Player s BackgroundColor To learn how to check the colour of your Application Background type screen appearance into Windows Help and Support Center 8 1 6 2 Player Background Settings BackgroundColor ColourValue default your Windows Application Background colour Add this setting to change the default background colour of Players stateColor ColourValue where state is one of Empty EOF Error Fading Loaded Next Paused PFL Playing Stopped Add this setting to set the background col
241. the Players 7 2 1 General tab 7 2 1 1 Appearance These settings control the general look and feel of a Player Each Player is initially assigned a Caption matching its number 1 2 3 and the Colour red By default a Player s Caption and Colour are shown in the Playlist when an item is loaded into the Player Caption is a Player s name You can use any characters as a Player s Caption For example you could use letters A B C instead of numbers Although Captions can be any length you like we suggest that you keep them to one or two characters in length Unless you use a skin ini file to assign colours to Players we suggest that you give each Player a different Colour to make it easier to tell them apart For example if you have different coloured faders on your mixer you could make each Player match the colour of the corresponding fader The Default time display mode is similar to the elapsed remain time display option on a CD deck In the table below the time format used for the Examples is n ss u Mode Description Example Elapsed time Time from start of item 0 09 5 Remaining time Time remaining to end of item 3 55 9 Elapsed and remaining time Both of the above separated by a slash 0 09 5 3 55 9 Time of day when the item ends this updates until the Player is started Table 7 3 Time Display Modes Backtiming mode 16 22 34 The Default time display mode default Remaining time is the mode
242. the parameters you send Shoutcast and Icecast2 logging sends Title and Artist update information to the stream server to be shown on the listener s player but you can use any logging variables in the log entry you send Unlike all other logging types these entries are sent only when an item is started Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 55 7 8 2 Logging Variables In all log types you can use variables which are replaced by their values at the moment a log entry is written or sent For example when an item by Talking Heads starts playing the variable a in a log entry SQL statement etc is replaced by the text Talking Heads Note that you can also use variables in the Filename for the Log file type see 7 8 3 on page 56 and in many other places in AJRCAST such as in Actions see 4 1 on page 19 A complete list of the variables is shown below Log Variable Description Restricted to Tot Tab character ASCII character code 9 To Y Current year four digits oy Current year two digits TM Current month two digits D Current day of the month two digits h Current hour two digits Tom Current minute two digits Tos Current second two digits Formatted current date time OTSTE string is a time format string see Table 7 2 on page 36 Joe Broadcast duration seconds and milliseconds Stop Entry Format od Broadcast duration 1 10 000 000 second units Stop Entry Format
243. ther Often used to include the Actions in a saved mla file within an Action List by Loading the file in the Work an action list Action s list 4 1 2 12 Emergency actions Action The Emergency actions Action is a separate sub Action List which AJRCAST will only work if any preceding Action fails In other words an Emergency actions Action is a list of fallback Actions for all preceding Actions or if you prefer it is an on error Action List For example if a Load database playlist Action fails you could load an emergency playlist file instead to do this add an Emergency actions Action after the Load database playlist Action and add a Load playlist Action to the Action List in the Emergency actions dialog If you use an Emergency actions Action we recommend it is the final Action in an Action List However you can if you wish add two or more Emergency actions Actions to an Action List to provide different fallback or on error Actions at different points in the Action List 4 1 2 13 No action Action A dummy Action you can use to add comments or descriptions to Action Lists Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 23 4 2 Event Scheduler The AIRCAST Event Scheduler runs Action Lists at fixed times according to a schedule you specify You can usually set up even apparently complex date time schedules using just one event per Action Li
244. ther purposes Note that the following three settings are not mutually exclusive To create or change the list of Favourite Cart Sets see 7 3 7 on page 44 Show favourites as a drop down default off This setting has no effect if Show toolbar is off If this setting is on Favourite Cart Sets are shown in a drop down box on the Cartwall toolbar Show favourites as tabs default on If this setting is on Favourite Cart Sets are shown as tabs along the bottom of the Cartwall which may slightly reduce the height of the Cartwall Players Show favourites as buttons default off If this setting is on Favourite Cart Sets are shown as buttons down the left side of the Cartwall which reduces the width of the Cartwall Players 7 3 3 Options Player GUI Options tab These settings are identical to those on the GUI Options tab for a Player see 7 2 3 on page 41 with one extra setting Allow dragging default on This setting has no effect if a Command when clicked is specified on the Cartwall node If this setting is on an item in a Cartwall Player can be dragged and dropped on a Playlist or Player Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 43 7 3 4 Options Buttons tab These settings are identical to those on the Buttons tab for a Player see 7 2 4 on page 41 but with two extra buttons Previous and Next which are used to control cart player stacks 7 3 5 Options Progress Bar tab Th
245. tire file into RAM if smaller than 0 disable default 0 This setting has no effect if Enable File Management is off If your audio files are stored on slow media for example on a remote Web server playout can stutter or suffer gaps Performance may be improved by loading entire files into RAM up to the maximum file size you specify The spin buttons increase decrease this upper limit in 128KB steps or you can type a value into the box Only values between 0 and 32 767 inclusive are allowed A value of O the default disables this feature For any value above 0 AIRCAST loads audio files up to that size into RAM and loads players from the RAM copies of the files Cache network files default on This setting has no effect if Enable File Management is off If your audio files are stored on a slow network for example on a geographically remote file server playout can stutter or suffer gaps Performance may be improved by caching network files making a temporary copy of the file on the A RRCAST computer If this setting is on AIRCAST makes temporary copies on the local disk of any audio files stored on a network and loads players from the local copies of the files unless you also specify a Load entire file into RAM 1f smaller than size in which case players are loaded from the RAM copies of the cached files If this setting is off AIRCAST loads players directly from the network files unless you also specify a Lo
246. tly twenty fields in each line as shown in the two examples above When your CSV file is ready open AIRCASTDB click Database Import then on the Import Library dialog ensure the Files of type selection is CSV files csv navigate to and select your CSV file and click Open AIRCASTDB imports the file writing the External ID values to items in the database with matching file paths names Note that you can also use the AIRCASTDB import process to change existing External ID values in AIRCASTDB because AIRCASTDB database items are matched using only their file paths names and the External ID value in the CSV file will always be written to matching A RCASTDB database item s Tf your other application cannot export files in CSV format use a file format such as fixed width plain text file which you can convert to CSV by opening importing it into a database or spreadsheet application then saving it as a CSV file Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 106 12 12 1 PY Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English AIRCASTScript Scripting Language AIRCAST contains a powerful scripting language called AIRCASTScript which is based on RemObjects PascalScript AIRCASTScript is ideal for performing complex actions within AIRCAST or actions which have no simple manual equivalent or actions which require an external program to be run AIRCASTScript is a so called interpreted language
247. to 750 mS Now you can tell AIRCAST to fade out Cart 2 when Cart 3 starts Right click Hews Out sting Leith FM 3 TRIGGER 00 04 eee A Cart 3 click Triggers FADE FADE 2 Notice that Cart 3 now shows a TRIGGER as a reminder Now Play Cart 2 let it run for a while then start 6 Cart 3 and you will hear Cart 2 fast fade out automatically m Triggers work only when a Cart starts and you can only set triggers to start stop or fade other Carts but you can set as many triggers as you like on the same Cart You can save and load the entire Cartwall as a cart set file You can create as many cart sets as you like ready for near instant loading On the Cartwall toolbar click Save set On the Save cart set dialog navigate to your My Documents folder type a File name of tutorial and click Save Now click Close all to clear the Cartwall To load a saved cart set click Load set On the Load cart set dialog navigate to your My Documents folder select the file named tutorial and click Open Notice that the Cart 3 trigger and the changed fade duration for Cart 2 were both saved in the cart set The final distinct feature of Carts 1s that you can load more than one audio item into each Cart just as you can on a hardware NAB cartridge 1f 1t helps think of this as a virtual CD player Right click Cart 4 and click Edit Stack to open the Cart Stack dialog shown on the right Notice that this resembles a mi
248. to the full AIRCASTDB program To open AJRCASTTag click Start All Programs or Programs AIRCAST File Tagger or navigate to the AIRCAST program files folder and open the file AIRCASTTag bat AIRCASTTag looks similar to a AIRCAST Browser and PFL Player more accurately an Item Properties dialog in the same window DAK General AudofFie Options Attributes Actions CueData PPL eman 0 03 18 33 etapsed 0 00 00 00 Cue In Start Next Fade Out PLAY 0 END MON Figure 9 6 The AIRCAST File Tagging program A RCASTTag window empty and loaded On the left of the AIRCASTTag window is the Browser on the right is the Item Properties dialog If you resize the window the Browser fully resizes but the Item Properties dialog has a fixed width When you open an item in AIRCASTTag the Item Properties dialog shows the PFL tab and starts playing the item ready for you to add Cue Markers but you can click on any tab in the dialog and change any settings in exactly the same way as you could do on any Item Properties dialog in any AIRCAST application Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 85 9 5 1 AIRCASTTag Browser Use the Browser to locate and load audio items for tagging You can load items from a database from folders containing audio files or from a saved AIRCAST Playlist mlp file or Database Playlist Note that you cannot use AIRCASTTag to save changes to a databa
249. tomation using only a single Player If you use a mixer in your studio you should assign each Player to a separate mixer channel and also route each Player s output to a separate audio card output see 7 5 on page 44 so that you can control the level of each Player independently Number of items to keep in the playlist history default 0 sets the number of played items which remain greyed out at the top of the Playlist before usually being moved to the AIRCAST Recycle Bin this depends on the Options tab settings see onder Greyed out items in the Playlist are known as the Playlist history This allows the user to see the last few items played as well as those coming up For example if set to 3 the top three items in the Playlist are greyed out when they have been played when the fourth item ends the top item moves from the history to the AJRCAST Recycle Bin If this setting is O the Playlist history is disabled Played items are still moved to the AIRCAST Recycle Bin unless you disable this as well see Move deleted items into Recycle Bin below 7 1 2 Options tab These settings affect the behaviour of the Playlist as opposed to the GUI Options tab settings see onder which affect the appearance of the Playlist Allow automation mode default on If this setting is off you cannot select automation mode for this Playlist Use only a single player in automation mode default off Automation mode norma
250. tory played item 007b0000A70 icon_linked png Linked item in Link column 32x32pixels icon_notlinked png Non linked item in Link column 32x32pixels icon_playlist png Playlist item an item which is itself a playlist icon_regioncontainer png Region Container item icon_silence png Silence item e lO E icon_stream png Stream item 8 2 1 4 AIRCASTDB And Database Browser Pane Icons default size 16x16 pixels Filename Default Icon in Database Browser pane or AIRCASTDB E BO sis dbicon_artists png Artists node dbicon_attributes png Attributes node dbicon_connecting png Root while connecting to a database dbicon_customizeditem png Customised item in Playlist dbicon_database png Root Root when database is disconnected a ehicon eisaviee pue or is disabled in Configuration dbicon_fixedtime png Fixed time item in Database Playlist dbicon_folder png Folder dbicon_folderroot png Folders node dbicon_foreignitem png Non audio or imported item in Database Playlist dbicon_item png Item dbicon_originalitem png Audio item in Database Playlist dbicon_storages png Storages node MUCOSA amp dbicon_types png Types node These icons are only shown in Database Browser panes they are not used in AIRCASTDB Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 80 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 8 2 1 5 System Log Icons default size 16x16 pixels Filename Default Icon for AIRCA
251. tputs see the list below AIRCAST adds two more items to the Device dropdown default which is your computer s default audio device see boven and Encoder only shown if you have a AIRCAST Professional licence is AIRCAST s built in audio stream encoder see 7 13 6 on page 68 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 45 So the full list of possible devices in the Device dropdown are from top to bottom default devicenamel default devicenamel outputnamel devicenamel outputname2 devicename2 default devicename2 outputnamel devicename2 outputname2 ASIO ASIOdevicenamel outputname 1 ASIO ASIOdevicename 2 outputname2 Encoder Lines shown in bold type are always present subject to your AIRCAST licence the presence of other lines depends on the physical audio devices installed in your computer Text in italics is replaced by the device driver and output names of your physical audio devices For example the devicenamel outputnamel line might read VIA AC 97 Audio WAVE front 1 2 on your computer AIRCAST can use standard Windows Device Model WDM drivers or ASIO drivers to communicate with physical audio devices Don t use ASIO drivers unless you need to for example to send an encoded audio stream directly to a Web server To use the main or only output of a physical audio device choose its default device devicename default in prefer
252. trol dialogs in ATRCASTConfig contain dropdowns which list most of the commands available but you need to type in some commands yourself A Remote Control which runs a AIRCAST script is an obvious example Similarly if you want a Remote Control to run more than one command you have to type in the extra commands yourself A list of AIRCAST commands is in Appendix A beginning on page 111 Most Remote Control types allow you to set up multiple items in the same list entry For example you can set up several Hotkeys in a single list entry Note that you can add multiple list entries of the same type allowing you to group sets of Remote Controls This is useful if you are evaluating a new device such as a custom keyboard you can set up an extra list entry containing only the Remote Controls for that device making it easier to modify or remove those Remote Controls later Another use for multiple list entries is to set up for example more than one MIDI port or serial port on your computer for Remote Control e To adda Remote Control type click Add choose a Remote Control type from the menu then configure it as described below e To modify a Remote Control type or to add or remove settings within that type of Remote Control select it in the list click Configure then configure it as described below e To remove a Remote Control type select it in the list then click Remove The ten types of Remote Control and the settin
253. tting is off the Cue Out marker point will be used for end of fade if the time between the Fade Out and Cue Out marker points is less than the default fade duration Use Outro marker for EOF warning default on If this setting is on all Players start their EOF warning at the Outro marker point if it exists Although this setting overrides the individual Player and Cartwall EOF Warning time settings those settings are used if an item does not contain an Outro marker Allow only one instance of AIRCAST to run at the same time default off If this setting is off more than one instance of AIRCAST can be opened on the same computer Start in ON AIR mode default on If this setting is off AIRCAST opens in OFF AIR mode Disable logging when OFF AIR default on If this setting is off items are logged while AIRCAST is in OFF AIR mode Show splash screen default on If this setting is off AIRCAST does not show its splash screen during startup Enable remote controls in AIRCASTTag and AIRCASTDB default off If this setting is on Remote Controls operate in the A RCASTTag and AIRCASTDB programs Debug mode default off If this setting is on it enables the detailed reporting of certain errors which would normally only be reported in the AIRCAST System Log 22 Only details of items are deleted from the AIRCAST Recycle Bin The audio files are not deleted from disk Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1
254. ty Only auto load items marked as special default off If this setting is on the Player only auto loads items marked as special items in their Properties You can use this feature to reserve a Player for talkover beds news clips programme replays or any other special purpose Auto close on STOP in assist mode default on This setting applies only to STOP Commands and not to FADEOUT Commands nor reaching EOF even if Auto stop at EOF in assist mode is on If this setting is on stopping the Player closes it If this setting is off stopping the Player resets to the beginning of the item When combined with remote control by fader start this 1s useful for repeated plays of the same item in quick succession for example a timer bed for a phone in competition Auto close at EOF in assist mode default on If you want to use the Playlist Control Bar NEXT button in assist mode this setting must be on If this setting is on the Player closes when it reaches EOF If this setting is off the Player resets to the beginning of the item when it reaches EOF Tip if a Player is stuck at EOF switch this setting on to close it Auto rewind at EOF in assist mode default on This setting has no effect if Auto close at EOF in assist mode is on If this setting is on the Player resets to the beginning of the item when it reaches EOF Tip if a Player is stuck at EOF switch t
255. u will discover AIRCAST is unique in the almost total flexibility it gives you to customise the program into the radio playout and automation software you want I like to think of AIRCAST as probably the ultimate radio automation software construction set Working on this User Manual for AJRCAST has been an extremely enjoyable project and I sincerely hope that you as a user or potential user of AIRCAST find the Manual informative complete and accurate I suspect that experienced AJRCAST users will often think Oh I didn t know that as they explore these pages just as I did while I was writing them I am one of those strange types of people who enjoys writing technical manuals and as I am my own fiercest critic please do let me know if you discover any mistakes or typographic errors no matter how minor The best way to do this is in the A RCAST forums online Cad Delworth Edinburgh Scotland 26 May 2015 Terms Used Throughout This Manual Revision 20 The devil is in the detail as they say so rest assured that throughout this Manual we always use the same form of words to describe the same action For example you won t see press Enter on one page and hit the Return key on another page e Press always means press the keyboard key e Click always means press and release the left mouse button while the mouse pointer is over Verbs which refer to mouse acti
256. ual folders you can create hour templates for the hours you want to schedule An hour template is a list of virtual folder names and serves the same function as a clock or format in professional music scheduling applications When it generates playlists the Mini Scheduler selects a file randomly from each virtual folder in the list and by default you can change this behaviour it then shuffles the files it has selected into a random order You can create as many hour templates as you want For example templates for your breakfast show daytime drive time late night automated overnight playout and weekend shows each with a slightly different list of virtual folders and therefore a different music mix As you will see in 11 5 3 3 on page 101 you assign hour templates to hourly slots in a weekly template to tell the Mini Scheduler which hour template to use to generate each hour s playlist in the week To create a new hour template click Administration Manage Hour Templates to open the Manage Hour Templates dialog then click New to open the Edit Hour Template dialog The default Name for the template is New template which is used for every new template unless you change it Because this could result in several templates all named New template we suggest that you first click the General tab and type a Name and Description for your new hour template but you may prefer to create the template contents first a
257. udio editor and Open in external player buttons on this tab cannot be used in the current version of AIRCAST these planned new features are not yet implemented Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 87 9 6 3 Options tab Fixed time default off This option has no effect in Assist mode even if items are Linked To force the item to play out at a fixed time in Automation mode switch this option on and set the fixed time using the spinner control At the fixed time preceding playing items are faded out early and preceding unplayed items are dropped marked as played If Soft fixed time see below is also on then at the fixed time preceding playing items are allowed to play out in full and are not faded out early preceding unplayed items are still dropped marked as played Last played and Planned If you use a AIRCASTDB database these are the dates and times when the item was last played and when it is next scheduled to be played respectively You cannot change these values Fade duration default O mS off To override the global fade duration type a non zero duration You may wish to set short fade durations of 750 mS or so for items in the Cartwall such as beds or looped drones which are designed to fast fade out when another Cart Player such as a closing sting starts Special item default off This option has no effect unless one or more Players have the configuration
258. udio file General Audio Aile Options Attributes Actions Cue Data General Audio File Options Attributes Actions Cue Data PFL y Remain 0 03 18 33 Elapsed 0 00 00 00 Cue In Start Next 3 18 33 0 00 00 PLAY 0 END MON PLAY 0 0 0 0 0 Figure 9 7 AIRCASTTag PFL tab and optional controls Some PFL tab controls are only shown if you select specific configuration settings e Tempo and Pitch sliders are shown if the Pitch and tempo adjustment using BASS_FX DLL setting is on see 7 13 2 on page 66 and 7 13 3 on page 67 e Alternative cue point controls the list box and the small TEST ADD and DELETE buttons are shown if the PFL Player setting Enable alternative cue points is on see 7 4 on page 44 also see 7 2 3 on page 40 and 7 3 3 on page 42 Cue Markers are entirely optional you don t have to add adjust or remove any Cue Markers if you don t want to However we do suggest that e All jingles and idents use Start Next and not Fade Out e If you use automation check Fade Out and change where necessary to Start Next e If you have live presenters add Ramps one or more to assist their talkovers and add Outro so they know when it s safe to fade or start talking over the end of a song AIRCAST uses Auto Cue by default which usually sets Cue In Fade Out and Cue Out Cue Markers Again it s not required
259. udio files which you have not added or moved to any other virtual folder If you Delete an audio file from all other virtual folders it will move back to the Unsorted virtual folder Note that you can copy the same audio file or item into as many virtual folders as you like So for example you could copy the same station jingle audio file into virtual folders named Jingles Station IDs and Xmas Jingles or the same song into virtual folders named 1970s Disco and Number Ones This is especially useful if you plan to use the AIRCASTDB Mini Scheduler see 11 5 3 on page 99 to create playlists for automated playout On the other hand if you are purely a live assist station which does not use scheduled playlists at all we suggest that you at least create two virtual folders named Music and Jingles but like everything in AJRCAST that is entirely your decision based on how your station works Important If you plan to use the Mini Scheduler to create database playlists we suggest that you first learn and understand how the Mini Scheduler works see 11 5 3 on page 99 then create a set of virtual folders which will best suit your hour templates Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 96 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English 11 3 3 Synchronising a Storage Once you have added a storage you can import a list of the audio files 1t contains and read all the information file tags etc from the audio file tags and mm
260. ue to delete a line Authentication allows you to optionally add a User and Password if you need to use these to access your Web server Otherwise leave these boxes blank Tick the Scope checkboxes to specify whether the HTTP GET call is to be made when an item starts stops or both If you want to use different HTTP GET calls when items start and stop note that you need to add two HTTP GET Logging items one for start and one for stop 7 8 6 Shoutcast Shoutcast Playout Logging is only needed if you use an external Shoutcast audio stream encoder for example you use a mixer to mix AIRCAST output with other sources then encode the mixer output on a separate computer The built in AIRCAST Shoutcast encoder streams title updates automatically This Logging type sends information to an external Shoutcast audio stream server when an item starts Stop logging is not possible in Shoutcast audio streams Server URL is the URL of the external Shoutcast audio stream server For example http myshout com 8000 Password is the stream or admin password for the external Shoutcast audio stream server This is transmitted as a parameter in the URL Log Format is the title update information you want to send to the external Shoutcast audio stream server when an item starts usually this information includes logging variables for title artist etc You can optionally delay these updates by a number of seconds so that they are in sync 7 8 7 Icecast
261. ur pre recorded programmes interviews etc with a pre extension it doesn t matter whether those files are in MP3 OGG or WAV format 7 6 3 3 Quick Folders Use the Quick Folders list to add frequently used folders as items at the end of the Browser Add menu so you can quickly open them in a Browser folder pane without having to navigate the folder tree dialog When clicked a Quick Folder menu item opens a folder pane in the Browser Use the Add and Remove buttons to manage the Quick Folders list Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 49 7 6 4 Progress Bar global progress bar Separate progress bars on Playlists Players and Cartwall Players can confuse some users You can optionally create a global progress bar which tracks the most recently started Player The settings on this page affect the global progress bar and are identical to those on the Progress Bar tab for a Player see 7 2 5 on page 41 with two extra settings Auto hide when inactive default off If this setting is off the global progress bar is shown as empty when no Players are playing If this setting is on the global progress bar is not shown when no Players are playing Ignore cartwall default on If this setting is on the global progress bar does not track the progress of Cartwall Players If this setting is off the global progress bar tracks the progress of Cartwall Players Saved at
262. urchased If a module is in the Disabled Modules list you cannot use its functions in AIRCAST To read a description of what each module does see Fout Verwijzingsbron niet gevonden beginning on page 112 You can alter the settings of some modules These settings have their own nodes in the menu tree 7 13 1 BASS DLL These settings apply to BASS the audio engine used internally by AIRCAST NOTE Do not change these settings unless AIRCAST support staff have advised you to do so because changing any of these settings may adversely affect AIRCAST performance These settings exist only to resolve specific known problems which occur very rarely Performance tab Update period ms default 100 mS The time between BASS reports of playback positions player states etc Network buffer size ms default 5000 mS The time between internal BASS buffer updates when playing audio files stored on a network drive Network pre buffer amount default 75 The percentage of an audio file which BASS pre buffers when playing audio files stored on a network drive The following two settings apply only to audio fetched or sent via HTTP or FTP such as an incoming or outgoing stream They do not apply to files accessed from a LAN or other non Internet sources Network connection timeout seconds default 5 seconds The time allowed for an external server to respond to a connection request from AIRCAST Network read timeout seconds
263. us tutorial If not please replay the instructions in the previous tutorial section to set up AIRCAST exactly as it was at the end of the previous tutorial As you have seen audio files in the Playlist are automatically loaded into Players until all the available Players are loaded Something else happens when AJRCAST opens audio files it analyses the files and automatically sets some Cue Markers In the Playlist click the large quaver musical note icon to open the PFL dialog The AIRCAST jingle or other file plays in the PFL player and the list of Cue Markers contains Fade Out and Cue Out Cue Markers As this is a jingle you won t want it to fade out so remove the Fade Out Cue Marker as follows On the PFL dialog its title bar is the title of the audio file click the Fade Out row in the list of Cue Markers then click O the large button on the right between SET and TEST to clear the Cue Marker A more useful Cue Marker would be a Start Next Cue Marker which in automation mode means start the next item now Drag the slider just below the Player on the dialog so that Elapsed reads 0 00 01 00 one second before the end of the item click the Start Next row then click SET It would be a pity to lose this change so click Metadata File This saves a AIRCAST mmd file containing your changes When AJRCAST opens the audio file in future it loads all file related information metadata from the mmd file instead
264. w you to set the parameters for each serial port used by AIRCAST for example for serial port logging or for communication with SAS mixers AIRCAST shows a separate tab in the dialog for each serial port on your computer On each tab you can specify the standard serial port parameters of Baud rate Byte size Parity Stop bits and the sizes of the transmit and receive buffers in bytes The defaults are the Windows COM port settings which you can view in Windows Device Manager Typically these settings are 9600 8 N 1 1024 and 1024 7 12 7 Settings These settings control some global AIRCAST features and options Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Revision 20 64 Revision 20 AIRCAST VERSION 3 1 1 USER MANUAL UK English Default automation fade time default 5000 mS The default duration in mS of a fade out in automation mode End Mon duration default 15 seconds AIRCAST PFL dialogs contain an END MON ENDing MONitor button which you click to listen to the ending last n seconds of an audio file as defined by this setting which is relative to the Fade Out Cue Marker if this is set or relative to EOF if no Fade Out Cue Marker exists Process priority default Normal Do not change this setting unless AIRCAST support staff have advised you to do so Changing the priority of any process can adversely affect your computers performance or lock it up entirely The Windows process execution priority of AIRCA
265. with an artist separation of two hours it is possible for the final artist of the midnight playlist and the first artist of the 0200 playlist to be the same and therefore one hour apart instead of two hours If separations are particularly important to you you may want increase all separation values by one hour to allow for that possibility 11535 Mini Scheduler Configuration Options To configure the Mini Scheduler Options click Administration Configuration then click the Mini Scheduler tab Abort scheduling when no matching item can be found for a slot default on If this setting is off scheduling will continue even if no items match the criteria for a slot Suppress errors and warnings for optional items default on If this setting is off error and warning messages will be shown for optional hour template slots 11 5 3 6 Running the Mini Scheduler Once you have created and assigned your hour templates and set up your preferred separation values you can run the Mini Scheduler to create random database playlists in bulk To run the Mini Scheduler click Generate or click the dropdown arrow at the right of the Generate button then click Mini Scheduler in the dropdown The Mini Scheduler dialog opens Select the period for which you want to generate database playlists by choosing a First Day and Last Day The dialog contains some shortcut buttons like Today and One Week but you can select dates manual
266. y the days months and weekdays values needed to limit dates and or weekdays to the dates and or weekdays you want leave the others at their default values For example e first day of each month change days to 1 but leave months as 1 12 and weekdays as 1 7 e first Sunday of each month change days to 1 7 and weekdays to 7 but leave months as 1 12 e 10th January 10th April 10th July and 10th September change days to 10 and months to 1 4 7 10 but leave weekdays as 1 7 4 2 1 3 Time Settings each hour run every hour of the day Time at the same time past the hour defined O each hour at o minutesand 0 seconds by the minutes and seconds you specify a only once default run only once a day Ouser defined hours O minutes 0 seconds fo at the time default 00 00 00 you specify user defined run only at times defined by the hours minutes and seconds you specify see below 4 2 1 4 User defined Time Setting Use the user defined Time setting to create irregular time schedules The event runs at times which match all three of the hours minutes and seconds you specify and all Date setting values if you do not specify all three values the event will never be scheduled You specify hours minutes and seconds as comma separated numbers and or number ranges For example hours might be 0 7 17 21 minutes might be 16 36 56 seconds is usually left at its default of O unless the event is especially ti
267. yer at the bottom of the AIRCASTDB window To use the mini PFL Player select an item then click the Listen play button While the item is playing drag the slider to listen to any part of the item or click the Jump next button to hear the end of the item approximately twenty seconds Click Stop to stop playback Unless the double click action for an item is Playback see below you cannot listen to a different item until you either stop the mini PFL Player or select a different item and then press the Listen play button again To change the double click action for an item from Properties to Playback click the Playback speaker button at the bottom right of the AZRCASTDB window to change the double click action back to Properties click the Properties pencil button at the bottom right of the AIRCASTDB window To export the entire library as a CSV text or Raduga file click Export Export Entire Library navigate to the desired folder select the type of file you want to export type a File Name and click OK To export the items shown in the right hand pane as a CSV text or Raduga file click Export Export Current View navigate to the desired folder select the type of file you want to export type a File Name and click OK To export selected items as a CSV text or Raduga file select the item s click Export Export Selection navigate to the desired folder select the type of file you want to export type a
268. zer niet gedefinieerd on page 13 and use a file in that folder as your test audio file Revision 20 Saved at 14 16 00 on 26 May 2015 Aircast Version 3 1 1 User Manual UK English 13 items from Players A and B at the same time and that A RCAST plays items in Playlist order from top to bottom To stop your music track click the Stop button or Fade button on the Player 2 4 Load the tutorial2 playlist add another music track to the end of it then save the playlist again naming it tutorial3 Click Next twice to play the first two items the test file and your first music track Let the music track play for a little while then click Next again AIRCAST segues the tracks by fading out the first track under the beginning of the following track After a little while click Next again Nothing happens because the Playlist 1s empty Another useful assist mode feature you can link items so that they all play in the same Player Load the tutorial3 playlist then click the Link column in the top row Several things happen the top row shows a green lamp in the Link column and the second row shows a red lamp The first music track has disappeared from the Players and the second music track the final item in the Playlist has loaded into Player B AIRCAST plays all the items from the first linked item to the last in the same Player and segues the items according to their Cue Markers You can link any number of items Click the Link

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