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Autoplus User Guide V156

1. Fig 30 The final tab on the configuration screen is Web Fig 31 The features here are for web integration of Autoplus and sets the paths for formatted data output to allow the system to keep a live data feed of what is playing what is coming next It also displays information that has been saved as cart text but if none is present then it displays the backup text specified at the bottom of the page There is HTML and XML support If the specified html files cannot be found then no output file is created When a segue occurs in Autoplus automated or manual an HTML template can be parsed and saved Autoplus supports the following tags just insert them into the HTML code where you want the current information to be inserted Artist NOW Artist NEXT Title NOW Title NEXT Fact NOW takes the cart information as entered in the record box OR uses default station txt Fact NEXT 39 Za Configuration Cart Players OO bayot O Audio handling Output XML Now Playing file Output XML formatted file for Now Playing info Output to the following path C Program Files Autoplus playing xml Choose Update HTML template Use the following web template music only KO ji C Program Files Autoplus template html Choose Use the following web template other audio C Program Files Auto plu s template html Output to the following HTML file C Program Files 4utoplus playing html
2. Backup text if there is no cart information More music on the way Fig 31 40 The standard html template is coded thus lt html gt lt head gt lt meta name GENERATOR content Autoplus Broadcast Software gt lt meta HTTP EQUIV REFRESH CONTENT 20 gt lt title gt Now Playing Information lt title gt lt head gt lt font face Verdana size 2 gt lt script language JavaScript1 2 gt var fcontent new Array fcontent 0 lt strong gt Now Playing lt strong gt Title NOW Artist NOW fcontent 1 Fact NOW fcontent 2 lt strong gt Coming Next lt strong gt Title NEXT Artist NOW begintag closetag var delay 5000 set delay between message change in miliseconds var fwidth 600px set scroller width var fheight 30px set scroller height var fadescheme 0 set 0 to fade text color from white to black 1 for black to white var fadelinks 1 should links inside scroller content also fade like text 0 for no 1 for yes var hex fadescheme 0 255 0 var startcolor fadescheme 0 rgb 255 255 255 rgb 0 0 0 var endcolor fadescheme 0 rgb 0 0 0 rgb 255 255 255 var ie4 document all amp amp document getElementByld var ns4 document layers var DOM2 document getElementByld var faderdelay 0 var index 0 if DOM2 faderdelay 2500 function to change content function changecontent if index gt fcontent length index 0 if DOM2 document getElemen
3. lt lt lt lt lt Cancel 43 PLAYLIST FUNCTIONALITY Active Log The system can run a playlist from most commercial playlist software systems For specific advice please email autoplus westcountrybs co uk You can create your own basic playlist files using the Active Log interface screen accessed via the PLAYLIST button from the main screen Either way the playlist when in operation will simply load into the queue one hour at a time at the top of the hour Fig 32 shows the screen accessed via the Playlist button on the main toolbar Access to the playlist is based on user permissions As with any setup in Autoplus you can create a new playlist by dropping audio into the screen and then using the Save button or open an existing one to edit it using the open button When done save the playlist with the save button The format of the filename must be ddmmyyyy unless changed in setup ini The file saved will be in the xml data format Any log files imported from music scheduling software will be converted to XML by the Autoplus Import Engine and thus should be saved to the designated Import folder Autoplus Active Log Start Time Cart Description Artist Airtime p Time Mar Time Marker Hit Me With Yo lan Dury Th 223 582 West End Girls Pet Shop Boys 232 751 Virginia Plain Roxy Music 177 972 Karma Chamel Culture Club 232 176 Solsbury Hill Peter Gabriel 251 715 Time Marker Exact Time Marker Ti
4. Filler Category Filler Sub Category a an sl Fillers Back Timing Hour Offset Back Timing Start Min Back Timing End Min o as be Fig 24 Now pick in the Automated Hour Clock pull down list the desired Automated Hour that you have configured There are now a number of options to associate with this hour The hour can be automated no presenter or use live assist mode If you set the hour to be automated and actually a presenter is driving the system then the Mode button will be ignored and the queue will playthrough Thus you will need to use stop breaks in the queue to replace the action of the mode playstop button You can choose to backtime the hour usually with automated mode only to ensure that it fills the exact hour or other specified period of time When backtiming is selected you can specify whether the system can add carts whether it will protect the fade categories and whether it can force the changes live assist mode If you are changing from one hour to the next using different automated hours or between live assist and automation then you must tick the Force Changes option You can also specify what category and sub category of audio it should use as fillers e g more of the same or possibly jingles trails Finally for back timing you specify the offset e g to allow for news in jingles you may offset by 10 seconds This specifies how many seconds from the top of the hour you want to backtime to
5. s set up a news opt in to IRN Independent Radio News in UK We will assume that we have the IRN feed in via the sound card line input We also assume we have a 10 second 29 Fig 20 news in jingle and we will use our scheduled timer to start this command cut at 10 seconds before each hour From the command list select Fade and then click ADD Next select Local Play Cart and type in the number of your news in jingle cart then click ADD Next select Mute line off from the command list and click ADD Next select WAIT and enter 120 seconds for the duration of the news bulletin Then click ADD Next select Mute line ON and ADD Then Local play cart and enter the cart number of your news out jingle Finally select activate queue ADD and Playthrough and ADD To close the command list window click DONE To save this command cut click SAVE and if you are finished close the window If you want to test it you can click the Execute Cut button and the whole sequence will operate instantly There is also a timer that will show the cut duration the user enters a time here to specify how long the command cut should take when queued or scheduled in a playlist If you want to remove individual entries in the overall cut highlight them in the left hand pane and click remove Command Cut Editor E Open New and Delete Available Cuts stat sl L we Command Builder Command List Macro List Playthrough SendIP A Activate Queue SPE
6. Autoplus split ad player application Please contact Westcountry Broadcast for further information Switcher control commands to a matrix or router such as source switching to transmission chains Output relay control of external relay units for basic switching functionality If you would like further information on the possibilities for these functions and details of compatable equipment please contact hardware westcountrybs co uk Next enter the actual command string to be sent into the second box You have the option in the third pull down list to select yes or no to the option to distribute this command to any other Autoplus machines on the network Finally you can add additional command text in the fourth box When you have completed the command string click the Build XML string button The XML will then be entered into your command cut and you will return to the main Command Cut Editor screen Start Machine 1 2 3 4 5 Starts the specified cart player Start Playlist Will start the playlist as long as it is setup correctly for the date and hour in question see below Stop Machine 1 2 3 4 5 Stops the specified cart player Switch Automated Live Will change the mode to either state Toggle Will change the Automate state to the opposite Wait This inserts a pause between actions in a command cut useful for creating complex sequences of commands See our example next for an application An example Let
7. Boys 232 751 0 Roxy Music 0 02 0 0 0 232 176 0 251 715 0 Culture Club Peter Gabriel 46 Autoplus Active Log Start Time dd 00 00 00 Fig 36 Description Hit Me With Yo West End Girls Voice Track R Virginia Plain Karma Chamel Solsbury Hill Solsbury Hill Artist lan Dury Th Pet Shop Boys Roxy Music Culture Club Peter Gabriel Peter Gabriel Airtime 223 582 0 02 177 972 232 176 251 715 251 715 47 There are a number of associated Autoplus products available and under development The use of Autoplus across a LAN or WAN is based around Autoplus server Other systems include Remote Inventory Server file distribution Heartbeat Monitor silence detection and Presenter Cue displays now and next information for a remote presenter all used in conjunction with Autoplus Server If any of these facilities are of interest please contact Westcountry Broadcast 2001 to discuss your requirements Heartbeat Monitor 48 RITA1 The RITA1 Fig 38 is a remote keypad for use with Autoplus It is small enough to fit in the mixer script tray and removes the need for a standard PC keyboard and mouse to be constantly in use to drive the software The RITA1 plugs into a PS 2 keyboard port and thus can sit in series with a standard PS 2 keyboard Fig 38 The RITA1 provides Play and Stop buttons for all 5 cart players Quick Record start and stop Next Mode change and Automate
8. MP3 the audio file o Auxiliary data XML this file stores information such as artist description title category and all auxiliary markers We also store auxiliary data in an SQL type database for quick searching RECORDER There are a couple of ways to import audio To rip audio to your hard drive use the Ripper button see Fig 2 and below The audio should be ripped to your import directory within Autoplus C Program Files Autoplus import by default although you can store it anywhere on your PC or network and so you can import audio of supported file types mp3 wav already on your system If Import Engine is running which it will be if Autoplus has started normally and will be indicated by a white circle with arrows in it in the Systray next to the clock on the Windows desktop then any audio in the import folder will be automatically loaded into the library More detail on the Import Engine is found below The icon far left is for the import engine The green icon to its right is the Autoplus engine icon Double clicking this latter icon will show technical detail of the operation of the application If you wish to import audio already on your PC or network then click the RECORD button in Autoplus Enter a cart reference of up to 4 alphanumeric characters or click the Find Next button to have one allocated for you and hit enter Click the IMPORT button and browse to the audio file s on your hard drive or network When
9. a command cut Most are self explanatory but here is a full list 27 Fade Line In Down This applies only to domestic un balanced sound cards and fades the line input to a mute Fade Line in UP Exact opposite of above Activate Queue Starts the queue Add to queue Bot adds a specified cart number to the bottom of the queue Add to queue Top adds a specified cart to the top of the queue Auto Off turns the Automate mode to off Auto on turns the Automate mode to On Aux in line off This turns off the sound card s auxiliary input Aux in line on This turns on the sound card s auxiliary input Backup Database Creates a copy of the main mdb file Creating a Command Cut allows you to schedule this Change Power Colour Allows the colour of Power buttons to be changed Therefore as part of a CC you can change button colours to indicate processes or actions Selecting this command will allow the colour and button number to be selected Change Power Command As above but the ability to change the action of a Power Button Clear Queue removes anything in the queue Used after other commands so that you can start with a clean sheet before more commands such as add to queue commands or at the end of an automated hour to clear any unplayed audio carts Fade fades whatever is playing over n seconds where n is the fade period specified in settings IP Receive on and Off These commands turn on and off
10. appear with track numbers unless you first give them track titles and artist names or use CDDB to do this but this can be edited using the recorder It is also possible if you have an internet connection 23 to download artist and track information Click the Retrieve album info from CDDB server button and the list will refresh you will also get an album cover image if available When all is set then hit the Rip selected track s button You will be given progress indication per track This will vary with the settings you have chosen and the speed of your system The DAE will automatically set the Outro marker for you by analysing the audio levels CD Ripper beta HL DT ST DVDRRW GS4 4166B v1 02 0 0 0 sl Author Various Album Now That s What I Call Music 34 Disc 2 UK Open door Close door 06 49 George Michael Jesus To A Child Genre Pop 04 18 Oasis Wonderwall 03 18 Bluetones Slight Return Year 1996 03 02 Paul Weller Peacock Suit 04 44 Bon Jovi Hey God 03 17 Bryan Adams The Only Thing That Look 03 56 Belinda Carlisle In Too Deep CDDB server 02 57 Suggs Cecilia trang Suadev wach 04 16 Joan Osborne One Of Us 03 03 Crowded House Instinct 03 51 Lighthouse Family Ocean Drive 04 11 Tina Turner On Silent Wings 03 50 Everything But The Girl Wrong 03 45 OMC How Bizarre 04 03 OMD Walking On The Milky Way 03 18 Space Female Of The Species 03 33 Cast Wa
11. audio Each button can be customised in colour as well as setting what it does by right clicking Customisation will only take effect if there is something assigned to the button You can also drag and drop carts from 22 the Library on to buttons in the button box for speed and simplicity Each button within the page can be fired by using ALT plus a letter A U in the order top left across the top row then second row left hand button ALT F and so on Pages are changed by either scrolling with the Previous and Next links or clicking the Page n link to produce the display in Fig 12 From there simply click the page you want to access Quick Buttons Select Page EMPTY Fig 12 Digital Audio Extractor DAE Ripper The system includes a CD ripper accessed via the Ripper button see Fig 16 All CD drives available on your PC will be listed in the pull down list at the top Change this if your disc is in another drive to that shown by default If an audio CD is inserted the tracks will be displayed by number in the left hand pane You can select any or all tracks by ticking the box next to each The ripper will produce files in the deault audio file format set in the main settings screen Audio Handling tab By default the DAE rips to C Program Files Autoplus import because if the Import Engine is running see above Autoplus will then automatically load them in to the library with the outro marker set automatically These tracks will
12. below in Fig AE2 Here we can perform a variety of functions from deleting sections of audio to adding start or end fades trimming silences varying the overall level up or down and perhaps most usefully normalising the audio level to a preset level held in setup ini When the normalisation is taking place the waveform display will be inverted as shown in Fig AE3 until complete giving the user a positive progress indication 12 Autoplus Editor Device SigmaTel Audio ZOOMIN ZOOMOUT ZOOM FULL Fig AE2 Autoplus Editor transform screen Autoplus Editor Device SigmaTel Audio ZOOMIN ZOOMOUT ZOOM FULL Fig AE3 Autoplus Editor transform progress screen 13 LIBRARY When carts are recorded or imported their details are stored in the library which by default is in the bottom centre and right of the main screen See Figs 2 and 5 The carts are all listed with their cart number track name description artist and duration They can be sorted using any of these criteria in either ascending or descending order just by clicking the appropriate header in the library e g clicking ARTIST will sort carts in alphabetical order by artist name Clicking the header again will sort in the opposite order i e clicking ARTIST again will sort in reverse alphabetical order z a Cut Library IK a001 Find Clear Music VI all 51 Cut Description Artist Filename a pee A005 Young girl Puckett Gary Puck
13. carts from the Cut Library into the Queue You will notice a MODE button on the bottom of the Queue This will cause the colour of the whole queue window to change between red and green in colour When the queue is green the Queue is in Playthrough mode Each item will play in turn automatically When the Queue is red it is in Playhalt mode You will have to start each cart manually When your carts are loaded in the queue press the NEXT button The top item will start Pressing the button again will start the next item etc etc NOTE when the Queue is set in Playthrough mode it will start each item automatically Note also that playthrough mode will be enforced irrespective of user setting of the current hour is set as Automated in the hour planner see Settings below Automation The AUTOMATE button if displayed will allow basic jukebox functionality Using SETTINGS see below you can set up an automated hour of carts by category and command cuts Switching AUTOMATE on by clicking it will load the queue with carts from the appropriate categories and hitting NEXT ensuring PLAYTHROUGH mode is selected will allow the system to continue playing audio running command cuts forever with certain provisos The automated hour must have enough carts to last an hour It will not queue the same audio cart more than once in the same hour Most issues with this system are due to not having sufficient audio carts of the chosen
14. displayed when you display the play history by right clicking on a cart in the library 36 Configuration Cart Players Main screen background colours Custom Colour Use windows default desktop colour Intro and Outro Cart Displays Show Large Intro Countdown Show Large Outro Countdown Highlite played carts for Highlite played carts for ep minutes Cart played history pop up box Number of plays to display Fig 27 USER LOGONS Autoplus contains a user logon feature accessed via the LOGON button in the web bar The logon customises the Quick Buttons screen layout and permissions per user To create a user click settings and then the users tab and the screen in Fig 28 will be displayed Type in a user name and password and click CREATE Then select the username in the Edit User pull down list and select the options you wish to have accessible to the user being created It s as simple as that By default the user has no access to anything other than the main screen Quick Buttons and logon buttons You can also set a default user by selecting the username from the pull down list at the bottom of the user screen and then clicking Set Default We suggest that you have a default user with no permissions such as Presenter with a password presenter and that whenever anyone finishes with the system they login this presenter When Autoplus is restarted the default user will be logged in automatically and this will be d
15. on the RITA1 keyboard or F10 on normal keyboard to load the top cart into the next available cart player and play it Alternatively you can hit PLAY on any available cart player and it will 15 load and play the top cart If the change mode button is set to auto or Playthrough mode The body of the queue is green as in Fig 8 all carts in the queue will automatically load into players and segue until all are played If the mode button is set to Play stop The body of the queue is red the system will stop at the end of the current track You can insert a stop break into the queue so that in playthrough mode it will stop at a certain point Stop breaks are entered using a right click at the appropriate point in the queue and appear in red in the queue Queued audio carts are shown in blue text and jingles in green Carts can be colour coded in the recorder and will thus if set will appear in these colours in the queue Bulk Changer i Madison Avenue Don t Call Me Baby Madison Avenue Don t Call Me Baby Ain t No Sunshine Bill Withers One Night With You Elvis Presley Fool such as I ELVIS PRESLEY Elvis Presley 4004 Young girl Pucket Gary Puckett Are you Lonseome ELVIS PRESLEY 4008 ELVIS PRESLEY 4009 ELVIS PRESLEY 4011 ELVIS PRESLEY 4012 ELVIS PRESLEY Return to Sender ELVIS PRESLEY ELVIS PRESLEY ELVIS PRESLEY Suspicious minds ELVIS PRESLEY ELVIS PRESLEY ELVIS PRESLEY 4 little less conver ELVIS PRESLEY vs Girls Just
16. used to physical CD or MD or NAB cart players The cart players display a variety of different information See Fig 10 Initially it displays an unambiguous EMPTY when no audio is loaded From the cart start you will get a countdown on the left display showing seconds to the intro mark i e how long until you have to stop talking At the intro mark the display will revert to elapsed time The right hand display indicates time remaining on the cart At 10 seconds to the outro mark the cart background will flash between green and red with a large countdown indicating that the cart will soon reach it s outro mark and if in play through mode the next cart will start 20 You can manually invoke a fade when playing by clicking the stop button left hand button You can skip through the cart by dragging the yellow progress bar with the left mouse button Other Cart Player Functionality The colours of the player with the possibility to achieve gradients from top to bottom can be set in the settings screen see below By right clicking on the player you can set the font and font size for the text displays in the player Each player can have these set individually Finally the cart players will automatically resize with different Windows desktop sizes resolutions therefore monitor size is not an issue and TFT displays can run at their native resolution Displays At the base of the cart player stack is a comprehensive series of timing d
17. 20 05 00 hour MTWHFSU Time hh mm ss for all hours Starto J E Monday E Tuesday E Wednesday E Thursday E Friday E Saturday E Sunday To add a timed event 1 enter the time you d like the event to fire 2 select the command cut you d like to fire 3 select the days this event should be active 4 click the Add button 31 Fig 21 As Played Audit Description Artist q 18 11 2006 17 11 36 Oliver s Army Elvis Costello and q 18 11 2006 16 57 16 Love Fool Cardigans 18 11 2006 16 55 46 Love Fool Cardigans 18 11 2006 16 54 18 Oliver s Army Elvis Costello and 18 11 2006 13 14 28 Oliver s Army Elvis Costello and lt gt 18 11 2006 X Export Selection Print Selection Fig 22 Programme Code Enter programme code Ko Fig 22a AS PLAYED AUDIT By clicking the audit button you get the screen shown in Fig 22 This screen shows the date time logged in user presenter cart number title and artist copyright information and Autoplus machine if more than one in use of all audio played out This is ideal for providing records for purposes of licensing permissions logs The print button will dump all selected items to a hard copy You can select the date to view using the date pull down list bottom left You can highlight a range of data or the whole day and then print or export it The export facility is specifically designed for BBC use and formats the outpu
18. A16 which in conjunction with Autoplus software allows the software to interface with the outside world such that Autoplus can control external devices or be controlled by them using GPI contact closures Examples of the use of this feature include providing fader start of Autoplus cart players from your mixer console or using Autoplus to switch station outputs using a matrix or switcher Pressing the Digital IO configuration tab will produce the screen seen below in Fig T1 Select the card using the button top right and then for each input you can assign a command cut to action against it You can also stipulate whether the input is active low or high Outputs are assigned using Command Cut commands 42 Configure Digital I Os Lo Device nothing Select Device Digital Inputs Input 1 Input 2 Input 3 Input 4 Input 5 Input 6 Input 7 Input 8 Input 9 Input 10 Input 11 Input 12 Input 13 Input 14 Input 15 Input 16 C Active Low Cl Active Low _ Active Low C Active Low C Active Low l Active Low C Active Low C Active Low J Active Low C Active Low C Active Low C Active Low J Active Low C Active Low C Active Low C Active Low nothing nothing lt lt nothing nothing nothing nothing lt lt lt nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing Save Fig T1 lt lt lt lt
19. In our example of a 10 news in jingle it would backtime to 59 50 rather than TOH This setting will also be the point to which the TOH countdown on the queue is working to Also set here are the start point in the hour for backtiming and the end point for same Carts that are inserted by the system will appear in the queue in black Once you are happy you can save the entry with the save day button As a lot of days and hours will be the same there is a useful copy and paste feature which allows you to replicate settings between days and hours When you have the settings you want then simply click the Copy settings button and then select the Day and Hour you wish to set the same and click the Paste Settings button 34 Dump to txt This button dumps the cart inventory to a comma delimited text file called dump txt in the Autoplus working directory This could be used for management purposes or to form the basis of setting up a playlist program Refresh the artist table This button causes Autoplus to delete the artist table in its database and then recreate it by scanning the audio database This utility is useful for cleaning the database should the in built automation appear to be malfunctioning Update Library This option is only for users moving to Autoplus 3 6 from 3 1 Only use this under instruction from Autoplus support Audio handling Next in the Settings screen is the Audio handling tab See Fi
20. S AUTOPLUS al broadcast software User Guide Autoplus Radio Automation Software Version 3 6 build 156 Nick Beer Westcountry Broadcast 2001 2006 www westcountrybs co uk ist November 2006 Screen shots and Autoplus Radio Automation Software are Tim Ley Autoplus Software Welcome to Autoplus Radio Automation Software This document is intended to explain and guide you through the operation of Autoplus radio automation software Throughout the text it is assumed that the reader has a degree of knowledge of computers specifically is familiar with operating programs under the Microsoft Windows operating systems It is also assumed that the reader is familiar with radio studio techniques and terminology as would be expected of the likely user of this software Anyone working as a BA presenter or producer should have no problems If you have downloaded the software or received a demo disc it will enable you to enjoy a trial of the software If you decide to purchase then email sales westcountrybs co uk and we will advise on payment options We will then mail you USB security keys dongles for each machine you have purchased licences for Therefore if you wish to move the software to a new machine or have to reinstall the software or operating system you simply plug in the dongle to a USB port and the software is licenced If you already have a licensed copy of Autoplus then any new disc will install in the same w
21. SIS dan Cookie enter text in the search box any GEORGE BENSON gan Cookie matching artist names will be GEORGE MICHAEL za Loab 3 displ di d d list Y GERI HALLIWELL spellerheads 4 P ayec ih a eon WOU GIRLS ALOUD linda Carli 4 can scroll down and select the GIRLS AND BOYS d E artist All tracks by this artist will eg au C PAZ seal be displayed Fig 7 Each time Autoplus starts it cross checks all entries in the library with the audio present If there is no audio it deletes the entry in the library This feature can be turned on or off by editing the setup ini file Please refer to our technical support department for further information Equally if there is audio and a library entry but the associated xml file is missing it recreates one with default settings By right clicking on a cart in the library you are offered a large number of options Firstly you can select from add to top or bottom of queue rather than dragging and dropping You can also load directly to any of the available cart players by selecting the appropriate option any cart players that are in use are greyed in this list Next you can Edit cart details which will open the recorder and load the cart into it for editing You can also Find similar with three sub options of searching by track name artist name or by track length This obviously provides some very useful features especially when under pressure during a show Finally you can display car
22. Wanna H Cyndi Lauper Don t Speak No Doubt ELVIS PRESLEY ELVIS PRESLEY ELVIS PRESLEY Its now or never ELVIS PRESLEY Wooden heart ELVIS PRESLEY 4037 19 Track 20 Track 21 Track 22 Track 24 Track 25 Track 26 Track 27 Track Track Track Track Track I m Just a Girl NO DOUBT Fig 7a 16 Cart Dur Int Description Artist Category Su Type fr Start dda 2 55 Oliver s Army Elvis Costello and The Music P Audio 1 0 Ae Fig 8 Queue You can alter the order of carts in the queue by dragging the carts upwards or downwards and dropping them where required Alternatively you can highlight a cart and use the up and down arrow buttons to the right of the queue You can also highlight a cart and click the red X or hit Delete to dump it from the queue You can drag an item from the library into any position in the queue The PREVIEW button is the equivalent of the CUE or PFL button on your mixing desk console As long as you have a separate audio device assigned to the feature see SETTINGS below you can preview a selected cart in the queue If you use the same audio device then the preview audio will be heard on the same output as the cart players and so be somewhat pointless The button will change between PREVIEW PLAY END where it will play the last ten seconds and STOP just by clicking it See Fig 9 Summary of buttons under the queue from left to right o NEXT green with blue symbol The Next button will st
23. art playback of the top cart in the queue in the next sequence Cart Machine o TRASH The trash button is self explanatory To remove a cart from the Queue you must first select the cart you wish to remove by highlighting it and then press the Trash Button o PREVIEW This is equivalent to a CUE or PFL button on your desk as long as it is assigned to a dedicated audio device see settings later A preview player opens See Fig 9 and allows you to play the start then the end of a cart o CHANGE MODE The queue has two modes PlayThrough and PlayHalt This controls if the carts should start automatically If this is selected the entire contents of the queue will be played The Outro Auxiliary marker that we set in the Cart Recorder will activate the next item to play 17 Close Preview Fig 9 NOTE NO audio is played in the queue this is simply a way of sequencing audio carts ready for playback from the Cart Machines When the top item starts playback in a Cart Machine it s removed from the queue How to Play A Cart We have explored the 4 main areas of Autoplus Playing an audio cart in Autoplus is simple 1 Find the cart in the Cut Library 2 Drag and Drop the cart into the desired Cart Player OR the Queue 3 Click the PLAY button of the loaded Cart Player OR the NEXT button on the Queue How to Stack carts so they play one after the other You can stack carts in the Queue so that they play sequentially Drag and Drop the
24. ate identity If you would like us to create further customisation we can do this to your design for multiple installations 25 Devices Also under the Cart Players tab you can set which of your audio cards channels are associated with each of Autoplus s players and recorders If you have only one sound card then your choices will be limited However it is important to note in this case that the three preview devices will be the same as the main player devices so it will not be possible to preview Cue PFL separately from the main output Therefore 2 sound cards are a good idea The Fixed tick box present on the cart players and Quick Buttons determines whether the priority is for the player to use the specified device ticked or for devices to be chosen by audio type e g you could set all adverts to play via a specific audio device irrespective of which cart player they are loaded into The settings for this are held in setup ini Please contact our technical support department if you wish to implement this feature A better idea is a multi channel hardware card with balanced ins and outs such as the Echo Gina One can then associate each of the players with different channels on your mixer desk carts 1 3 4 5 and button box Previews can be sent to an aux input on the mixer and a desk aux bus can be set as the master record input to Autoplus The latter is also possible with a basic domestic soundcard as long as level balanc
25. ath to your chosen audio editor package This will then be launched when the EDIT button is clicked in the Recorder Use the Browse button to find the exe file for your chosen editor If you have purchased the Autoplus Editor do not enter anything in this box 35 Fig 25 Layover Magic Enable Autoplus Layover Magic Maximum intro length ms lo Only use layover at start of track Cart Ejecting ne Quick Buttons Fade Cart before ejecting Fade Duration Milliseconds 2000 Quick Buttons Enable audio to be killed in the Quick Buttons box Power Play Audio Engine Settings Enable jog scrubbing in the record edit box Allow the user to select recording format O Use the following Audio Editor i C e Recording Rate Hz 44100 Hz Stereo 16 bits vi Encoding Type wav y Encoding Bitrate 256 The Layout tab contains more miscellaneous settings See Fig 27 Firstly we have the options to set the main screen background colour and an option to use the Windows profile colours Next there are options to enable large countdown displays for intro and outro on the cart players If disabled the countdowns will be at the same size as the normal time counters large countdowns aren t displayed Penultimately we can determine how long we display a cart as having been recently played denoted by the lamp symbol in the library as opposed to the CD symbol Finally you can set the number of plays that are
26. auxiliary information such as description artist and copyright text can be entered here You can also select which Category and Subcategory the audio is to be stored in Here we have the markers Each marker is a position within the audio file stored in milliseconds o Intro the point where the vocals start This provides an on screen count down for presenters o Outro the position where during automated periods the next cart can be started You d typically place this marker half way through the song fade o Start this sets where you want the cart to start playback Typically this would be used to stop the playback of silence recorded at the start of a cart You can also enter additional text for each cart This could be music trivia etc This is displayed by hovering your mouse pointer over the title in the cart player when the track is playing The send to remote sites tick box is used for distributing audio files to other Autoplus machines on your LAN or WAN Finally there are control buttons that let you delete edit browse for audio and save the cart The Import Engine will automatically set the outro marker based on a level threshold set in the setup ini file If you import audio manually you can use the Detect button to perform this function so that you do not have to listen to the end of the track and set it yourself You can drag and drop a cart from the library back in to the recorder by dropp
27. ay but automatically pick up your dongle licence information Autoplus is distributed exclusively by Westcountry Broadcast directly or through its resellers Westcountry Broadcast can provide a full installation and training service for the product as well as other broadcast services Please view our website http www westcountrybs co uk The manufacturer s website is http www auto plus co uk Before delving into the software we shall look at some pre requisites Minimum recommended PC specification Intel Pentium III Processor 1GHz with 256MB of memory Creative Labs Soundblaster card SB Live or better 17 CRT or 15 TFT monitor running a screen resolution of 1024x768 Obviously the size of hard disc drive will depend on how much audio you choose to store but ideally a 7200rpm drive should be used We only support operation under Windows XP Professional SP2 or Server 2003 32 bit Autoplus radio automation software is not supported under Microsoft Windows NT 95 8 98SE ME Millennium Edition 2000 or XP Home We are carrying out compatability testing with Windows Vista and will announce compatability when this testing is complete The ideal specification for this release would be something along the lines of Intel Pentium IV Processor 3GHz or higher 800MHz FSB D965 based motherboard 512MB or 1GB of DDR2 memory 250GB 7200RPM IDE hard disc drive SCSI if you want or greater ideally with audio files held on a d
28. drivers have been installed If you are prompted about any files that are Read only on your system simply click the RETRY button If you get the same message then click IGNORE If you are asked if you want to install any new files then respond by clicking the YES button If you are asked if you want to keep a system file because it is newer than the one being copied or the one being copied is older then say YES or KEEP If you are installing as an upgrade then ensure that the Import Engine service is stopped first see P 10 for details on how to do this If after installing MDAC Microsoft Data Access Components the system asks to reboot select I ll reboot later continue with the Autoplus installation and reboot when it is complete If Autoplus is not found on the PC i e the install is new rather than an upgrade a message will confirm this and during the install you will asked if you wish to search for existing installs This is useful if you have a network install Otherwise simply say NO and a new standalone installation will take place You will be advised to reboot your PC Always reboot the PC before running the application for the first time Before you reboot plug in the Autoplus dongle if you have purchased the software and it will be detected and a driver wizard will run Select the option to install the drivers automatically When complete reboot the PC If you do not install the dongle when you reboot you will get an error m
29. edicated drive with RAID mirroring We advise a dual output graphics card to allow the various windows to be displayed simultaneously on two monitors We advise 17 TFT monitors running a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels From a sound card perspective a hardware multi channel balanced in out card is best We recommend Echo Mia and Gina cards as representing good performance and value for money Basic Functionality Autoplus is a sophisticated audio management system Its primary function is to play audio files that are stored on the local computer or network server This audio is played via a computer sound card or cards that would typically be connected to a broadcast mixing desk When a computer is employed to playback audio at a radio station it s assumed that there will a large number of songs jingles and commercials recorded onto the hard drive Many radio stations have a library of thousands of songs which means simple organisation and searching of audio is paramount We consider it important that the screen layout is non cluttered and simple to understand ensuring that even people with little experience of computers can familiarise themselves with how it works To aid this we have adopted familiar radio station terminology throughout the software Audio files are referred to as Audio Carts or Audio Cuts and audio players as Cart Machines A tape cartridge containing audio similar to the 8 track cassettes and u
30. essage telling you to insert the dongle This is because certain Autoplus components Import Engine load at startup S AUTOPLUS al broadcast software Copyright Autoplus Software 2001 2006 Product updates and support from http www auto plus co uk Build Licence Number 1711269540 0156 Licence Expires 12 15 2107 Fig 1 When you ve done this run Autoplus and enjoy If you encounter problems starting the program the first time immediately after install reboot your PC and re launch the program Always start the program for the first time from the Microsoft Windows start menu not from your desktop shortcut If you have any problems with starting the application or carrying out the initial setup close Autoplus simply delete the file setup ini in the program s installation directory by default this is C Program Files Autoplus and then restart the application Getting started We should have a look at the main screen next to see what s where Autoplus 3 6 22 working with Thslajitamta 102 2 EMPTY 9 Henn Du int Gem vi ES Description Total duration 00 31 45 Artist 3 55 22 0 05 00 3 58 14 3 46 17 4 59 17 3 30 15 4 12 54 2 30 SE 4 46 Can Dream About You Dry Playing the Best Variety Do What You Do How Do I Live Didn t We Almost Have it All Bette Davis Eyes Addicted To Love Baby Love Go Your Own Way live ESS Cut Library amp audio Cuts J Music Ij a
31. ett A005 mp3 J 80 s 0 H A007 Wooden Heart ELVIS PRESLEY A007 mp3 70 s 0 Hang Suspicious minds ELVIS PRESLEY A018 mp3 d Ge ty 3 amp 330 Madison Avenue Don t Call Me Baby amp 330 m ae 3 A034 Its now or never ELVIS PRESLEY A034 mp3 Layovers X A025 Girls Just Wanna Hav Cyndi Lauper A025 mp3 Commercials Lane Don t Speak No Doubt A026 mp3 fal BOMMANE GUES A016 Beatit A016 mp3 Lann Bad A020 mp3 Hanne Are youLonseome to ELVIS PRESLEY A006 mp3 X A035 are you lonesome to ELVIS PRESLEY A035 mp3 3 5191 Acorn FM Jingle 5191 mp3 Fig 5 The screen is split into 3 areas o Category Subcategory tree o Search window o Available audio cuts To the left of the screen is the Category Subcategory tree This resembles a standard windows directory structure Categories and their subcategories are specified in the configuration setup You can drag and drop individual carts between subcategories In this pane we can right click on any part of the tree structure and select Refresh which will also collapse the structure When reopened any changes to the library will be realised Right clicking in free space in this pane will allow you to launch the Bulk Changer a utility that facilitates the mass movement of carts between categories rather than having to use the recorder on a one by one basis to achieve this The size of this pane can be varied by simply pointing the cursor at the right hand edge of the pane at w
32. g 25 In this screen we set the flowing The Layover Magic settings are first Layover magic is a feature which automates the insertion of layovers or dry drops into the played audio whereby the timing is set to ensure that iut is tight o the intro of the following track cart If you put a cart from the layover category into the queue between two tracks it will compare the length of the layover with the length of the intro on the second track and space them accordingly introducing a delay in plying track two if the intro is shorter than the layover or starting it before the layover even though it is after it in the queue if the intro is longer than the layover The settings determine whether this feature is enabled what the maximum intro length is 0 is default and means it will layover up to the intro marker and whether layovers can only be used at the start of a track Next we have fade settings As already stated when a stop button on a player is hit once the cart audio fades before stopping Here we can set that fade duration 2 seconds by default and determine whether the fade takes place at all In the Quick Buttons section the tick box allows audio to be killed or not when another Quick Button is clicked Next you can set whether users are allowed to select the recording format using a tick box If you want to impose a standard format untick this box and select the format using the choose button It is possible to configure the p
33. hich point it changes to a double headed arrow left to right and whilst keeping the left hand mouse button depressed moving the mouse to move the pane border Above we can see that the Music category has been selected It has the following subcategories A Pop 90s 80s 70 60 and Other The subcategory A has been selected and all the audio carts in that category subcategory have been displayed You will also see that next to each subcategory is the number of carts within that group Each of the carts has an indicator beside it either a CD normal or a lamp indicating it has been played within the past n hours where n is set in the configuration This means you can immediately see if a track is being repeated too often when choosing carts 14 One of the unique features of Autoplus is the ability to effortlessly search through the audio carts Fig 6 To search the cart library enter your search text in the search box to the left of the Find Button and then press the Find Button The search looks for matching descriptions artists cart numbers and durations If you entered 3 30 in the search box all carts with the duration 3 30 would be displayed If you wish to have the characters in the search box to read from right to left right click in the search box and select Right to left reading order g V i D D o Finet SC Searching for an artist has been GARBAGE tist Ja made effortless too When you GENE
34. in turn throughout the next few pages of this document When Autoplus is closed using the standard Windows cross in the top right it will ask a reinforcing question before closing the application Are you sure Windows cannot be closed with the Start button or any soft shutdown buttons without first closing Autoplus This is a security feature to prevent you accidentally stopping your station s playout 4udio Database Hour Formats Audit Control Connected to Server Currently logged in nb Open the Quick Buttons 5 ACQUIRING AUDIO One of the first things you will want to do is to get some audio onto the system We can do this in one of two ways but either way will ultimately involve the recorder Before starting to import audio you must confirm change a Windows setting Run Windows Explorer Hold down the Windows key on your keyboard and type E From the menu select TOOLS FOLDER OPTIONS then the VIEW tab in the window that appears You will see something similar to the one below Folder Options General View File Types Offline Files Folder views You can apply the view such as Details or Tiles that you are using for this folder to all folders i Apply to All Folders Reset All Folders x E Advanced settings Files and Folders Automatically search for network folders and printers Display file size information in folder tips Display simple folder view in Explorer s Folders lis
35. ing issues are dealt with If you encounter issues with the record input not producing levels on the record input in Autoplus then set the chosen device as the Windows default device for recording in Control Panel You will then need to rest this setting in Autoplus as Windows will renumber the audio devices If you require assistance with hardware integration in your studio Westcountry Broadcast are able to help They can provide full studio design and maintenance services 26 Configuration Cart Players f layo O 4udio handling j Command Cut Editor Schedule Command Cuts Automated Hour Clocks Hour Planner Setup As Played Audits Dump library to txt Rebuild the library XML Refresh the artist table Digital I O Configuration Reset Cart Players Fig 19 Utils The utils tab contains a number of utilities accessed via buttons Each is described here COMMAND CUTS The command cuts Editor button gives access to some of the most complex features of Autoplus See Fig 20 A command cut is a MACRO or sequence of commands We can set up one command cut to carry out a single or series of actions To set up a Command Cut click the NEW button and give it a name e g StartQ The cut name will appear in the top left Using the pull down list all Command cuts set up will appear and by selecting any one you can edit it Next look at the commands from the right hand pane Here are all the commands currently available to put into
36. ing over the Cart number field or simply type its cart number in to the recorder to edit any of the properties described You can TAB between fields in the recorder screen when the recorder is not playing back Import Engine Autoplus can automatically import WAV MP2 MPG MP3 and OGG audio files that are saved to a selected directory If an audio file s is placed in this directory it s copied into the Autoplus database and the auxiliary XML file is automatically created Some users may have commercials news or travel delivered via a LAN WAN or Internet connection as an audio file Once delivered this file can be moved to the import directory Other uses of this feature include production where existing editing software is used The final mix can be saved directly to the directory and imported ready for playback Import Engine Importing from E Program Files Autoplus import Importing wav mp3 mp2 amp mpg from E Program Files Autoplus import Autoplus Audio Drive E Program Files Autoplus audio Connected to Provider Microsoft Jet OLEDB 4 0 Persist Security Info False User ID Admin Data Source E Program Files Autoplus autoplus mdb Mode Share Deny None Fig 4 Cart numbers are automatically assigned for automatic importing although you can specify the prefix for imported cart numbers and the default category and subcategory The default category and subcategory upon installation are IMPORTED and NEW The Import Engine l
37. ingle sequence player The other two can be introduced into the sequence by clicking the small blue s buttons in the top left of the players The default sequencing can be configured in setup ini Each of the players 1 3 4 and 5 can be assigned to a different audio device and thus a different channel on your desk Equally they can be all streamed through one sound card From the library you can bypass the QUEUE for single carts You can drag and drop tracks from the library in to a chosen cart player Whether you have directly loaded the cart player s or the queue you can then hit the play button on your chosen cart player or on the optional RITA1 keyboard If you hit F2 F3 F4 F5 or F6 keys on your normal keyboard you will play the top cart from the queue into players 1 2 3 4 or 5 respectively ALT plus the F keys stops the appropriate player one press for fade to stop and two presses for an immediate stop see below F11 changes the mode from play stop to playthrough and vice verse F10 is the NEXT button The cart player has three main buttons The play button Green with blue triangle on the RHS present when in stop mode becomes a yellow progress bar when playing The left hand button is a stop eject button The speed of the fade when the button is pressed is set in the configuration settings see below To stop a cart immediately click the stop button twice The buttons are designed to be familiar to those
38. isplayed in the status bar at the bottom of the screen Finally in the user screen users can be deleted by selecting their name from the pull down list and clicking Delete When creating user logins it s important to make sure you have an administration account setup before locking down with a default restricted user 37 Configuration Cart Players 4udio handling Edit User C Record Audio extract CDs Disable Queue Add V Access Playlist C Edit Playlist C Settings Cl Disable Queue Delete C Record VT C Quick Btns Cl Disable Queue Edit Add User Username Create Password Delete User L Select Default User Set Default Fig 28 When clicking the LOGON button on the main screen you get a standard user logon box as in Fig 29 Also use this to logout and return to the null or default user Clicking the button beside the password will take you into the change password screen Fig 30 where a user can manage their passwords without having access to the main settings screen Ga Login E T Please enter your user name and password User Name I l p d Passwori E Fig 29 38 Change password To change your password please enter your existing password followed by the new password then a confirmation of your new password Username nb Existing password New password Confirm new password Cancel Save
39. isplays From top left you first have a sequence remaining time This is the total length of all items remaining in the queue as well as the item currently playing Next to this is an under or over counter This 21 Quick Buttons Page 1 Fig 11 Quick Buttons Hit the Quick Buttons button from the main screen tool bar and you will see the screen in Fig 11 minus the dubious collection of audio This screen will appear on top of the main screen and each button 20 per page and 20 pages can have a cart or a command cut see below assigned to it These are hot buttons organised in pages and using LOGONS see below per presenter Clicking on a button will play the cart or action the command cut whatever the main screen is doing so audio will be played over the top making this the ideal place for jingles drops and effects The Quick Buttons can be separately configured to any available audio device When playing the button in action is highlighted and the cart player top right plays the audio with a time countdown and progress bar and will flash as the outro approaches just like a cart player Whilst playing the cart can be stopped with the STOP button There is a setting see below which determines whether you can hit another Quick Button to take over from the one playing If the Enable Audio to be killed in the quick buttons is ticked you can If not ticked pressing other Quick Buttons before the original has finished playing will produce no
40. itors such as the button box and recorder on one screen with the main screen on another The layouts are designed to work well with touch screen monitors If you would like help with purchasing hardware please contact sales westcountrybs co uk A real time clock is present bottom left also a presenter friendly time displayed as text This will be as accurate as your Windows clock We suggest some form of network time synchronisation software such as About Time or hardware device linked to a server SNMP service that keeps all PCs on the network synchronised with an internet reference such as the Rugby clock or NASA Also present is a timer detailing the current playback sequence time remaining and back timing information 3 mins past 12 12 03 30 00 56 30 Above the clock display are the cart player stacks discussed below Finally across the bottom of the screen is a thin strip of status indicators see the foot of this page Blue indicates OK and red indicates not working connected In the example below the workstation is not connected to the Autoplus server indicated by red LED To the right of the status indicators the bar displays the user currently logged on and finally the detail of the last button pressed in the menu bar in this case the Quick Buttons button To the extreme right of the main screen is the main toolbar This gives simple and quick access to all of the main areas of the application We shall address each one
41. lkaway 03 40 Boyzone Coming Home Now Rip selected track s Fig 16 24 SETTINGS Click the settings button for access to many setup features Access to this menu is permissions controlled by user The ABOUT button does exactly what it says on the tin It gives version information as well as details of support contacts and supplier details See Fig 1 Configuration Cart Machine settings Top Bottom Device Cart Machine 1 i 9 SigmaTel Audio V Fixed Cart Machine 2 mi SigmaTel Audio Fixed Cart Machine 3 mi A SigmaTel Audio E 1 Fixed Cart Machine 4 i mi SigmaTel Audio l Fixed Cart Machine 5 a 9 SigmaTel Audio Mi Fixed Quick Buttons 1 SigmaTel Audio M Fixed Quick Buttons 2 SigmaTel Audio W Fixed Preview SigmaTel Audio Record Preview SigmaTel Audio Editor Playback SigmaTel Audio VT Preview SigmaTel Audio Recording Devices Input 1 Sigmatel Audio Fig 17 The Cart Players tab allows you to set the background colours for each of the cart players and the Quick Buttons You can also set the background colour of the main screen or leave it as per the default Windows scheme by ticking the box on the Layout tab The left hand colour represents the top of the player the right hand one the bottom Therefore you can apply colour blends or gradients You can therefore customise the screen to your corpor
42. ll 158 2 New 0 J 00s 12 J 90s 11 J 80s 54 J 70s 24 J 60s 14 Party 0 J Dance 0 J Old skool 0 J Chill out 0 2 Love 0 Jingles O Layover J Commercials 12 03 30 Ei Audio Database Hour Formats Audit Control Connected to Server Fig 2 Cart Description W 1004 1005 1007 1008 IE 1009 ERUN 1011 1012 1013 W 1014 HD 1016 ww 1018 T 1019 Dan Hartman THR Jermaine Jackson LeAnne Rimes Whitney Houston Kim Carnes Robert Palmer Diana Ross Supremes Fleetwood Mac How Do I Live Fly On The Wings Of Lov Lost In Music I Want Your Love Soul tl Soul Night Birds Ooh La La La I Don t Wanna Dance Suspicious Minds Get Down On It Harlem Shuffle Papa Was A Rolling Stone Space Cowboy Do What You Do Wishing On A Star Currently logged in nick LeAnne Rimes Olsen Brothers Sister Sledge Chic Back To Life Shakatak Kool And The Gang Eddie Gram Candi Staton Kool And The Gang Bob And Earl Temptations Jamiraquai Jermaine Jackson Rose Royce SCREEN LAYOUT The main screen by default is laid out as in Fig 2 However the two main panes the queue and cut library may be moved around and resized to any layout you desire and these settings will be remembered each time you restart Autoplus per user login You can utilise a dual head graphics card with two monitors that allows you to permanently display windows on different mon
43. ln Line Off Add SPEln Line On Start Machine 1 a Start Machine 2 Start Machine 3 Mi IP Send XML Builder Total Duration 0 00 00 A v Scheduled timer This feature allows you to schedule the command cuts you create See Fig 21 Select your command cut from the pull down list on the bottom right hand side Next enter the time at which you wish it to operate in the hh mm ss format If you want it to operate at a specific time every hour then simply type __ two underscores and the cut will run at the specified minutes and seconds every hour Next select the days on which you wish this event to operate Then click ADD In Fig 21 you can see that Command Cut StartQ has been scheduled at 20 05 00 on all days of the week top highlighted line If a cut was scheduled only on Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday the other days would be indicated by Xs meaning not scheduled XTWHFXX 30 Command Cut Editor Open New and Delete Available Cuts hour v Command Builder Command List Macro List Tage Use the XML Builder to construct Local Play Cart 4060 commands to send over the network Wat 35 Command Type Playthrough a Clear Queue 7 Command String Auto ON Distribute command to other AP Machines v Additional Command Text Build XML String su x Fig 20a Schedule Player Sunday These are time scheduled command cuts
44. med Command Cut Stop Break Fig 32 Audio can simply be dragged and dropped on to the playlist but far more advanced features become available via the Insert Other and Insert Voice Track buttons Before using any of these features you must have saved the file Via the Insert other button we can insert into the pre selected point in the playlist the following items We have the ability to add a time marker These are used to set the beginning of an hour of the clock When one is inserted you are asked to specify the point in time that it represents We can also add an Exact Time Marker which is absolute the Active Log will start from this point at the given time irrespective of whether there are any other carts or events before it Following either of these one should hit the retime button so that all following carts and events are reset in time to allow for the 44 inclusion of your latest time marker The final two edit options are to insert a timed command cut and to add a Stop Break Back on the main Active Log screen the next button to consider is the Record Voice Link button This allows voice tracking and thus the pre recording of an entire as live show in a fraction of the time Select the track you wish to talk out of by highlighting it You click on the Voice Track that is inserted into the playlist and it will confirm that you wish to create the cart into which the VT will be recorded Then screen sh
45. oads automatically when Windows boots and logs on The service is accessed via the white circular icon present in the systray beside the Windows clock If you click it you are offered the choice of Show service which displays the activity window shown in Fig 4 or Close service which stops the import engine running To restart the service either double click the import engine exe icon in the Autoplus program group or reboot the PC Quick Record By hitting the F7 key at any time you instigate Quick Record This will record into the next available cart number whatever is heard on the record input at the time This is ideal for recording phone calls which can then be edited under the cart number from the library via the recorder Hitting F8 will stop the recording session and save the cart The cart will appear in the library as Quick recording ogged user with the date as the artist QR start and stop buttons are also present on the optional RITA1 remote keyboard designed for Autoplus Quick Record Recording onto cart number 4sec A072 10 Autoplus Editor The Autoplus editor is an optional extra which can be activated by an additional dongle code at any time It is accessed via the Edit button in the record edit controller screen unless you have assigned this to a third party application in the Autoplus settings screen Record Edit Controller Level Record Start lee angg Find Next Era bin Olive
46. on off buttons There is also capacity to program buttons of your choice 49 INDEX About screen Artist Separation Audio Editor Audit Automated Hour Automation Aux markers Basic functionality Bulk changer Carts Cart players Clock Colours Command Cuts Compact Database DAE Devices Dump to text Getting started Hardware specifications Hour setup Import Engine Installation and setup Intro display Jog Scrubbing Layover Magic Library Logons Main screen Outro marker Playing carts Play mode Playlist 2 7 15 17 33 23 26 31 19 31 29 30 10 3 6 33 31 32 34 33 15 37 42 Queue Quick buttons Quick record Recently played carts Recorder Refresh Artist Table Ripper see DAE RITA1 Scheduled timer Screen layout Searches Segue editor Settings Toolbar Users and logons Voice Tracking Web services 12 10 32 6 7 8 9 31 31 44 26 11 21 36 34 39 41
47. own in Fig 34 appears The selected cart will play towards its outro mark and a progress bar will be shown You can then click the RECORD button and begin your link Meantime the RECORD button becomes a Start next cart button Fig 35 Autoplus Active Log Start Time dd 00 00 00 00 07 37 dd 00 10 35 dd 00 14 27 di 00 18 39 Description Hit Me With Yo West End Girls Voice Track R Virginia Plain Karma Chamel Solsbury Hill Solsbury Hill Artist lan Dury Th Pet Shop Boys Roxy Music Culture Club Peter Gabriel Peter Gabriel Airtime 223 582 232 751 177 972 232 176 251 715 251 715 Fig 34 The previous track information is displayed above this button and the next track information and its intro length below it enabling presenter prompting When ready click this button and talk over the intro The button then changes again as in Fig 36 to STOP VT Click this when you finish talking You can now save it with the save button beside the play button If it s not what you want then click the voice track in the playlist and do it all again 45 Autoplus Active Log Start Time dd 14 00 00 dd 14 03 44 dQ 14 07 37 RY 14 07 37 dd 14 07 37 di 14 11 29 Fig 35 Time Mar Description Time Marker Hit Me With Yo West End Girls Virginia Plain Voice Track R Karma Chamel Solsbury Hill DER Artist Airtime 5 lan Dury Th 223 582 0 Pet Shop
48. r s Army HEESE Elyis Costello and The Attractions Copyright Duration Cart Colour E Volume Start Date 4 91 2003 e Cie Date 12 12 2099 Extra Info The editor is designed to provide essential features for during show and pre production situations such as importing new audio e g top and tailing and normalising and recording listener calls before transmission cutting out silences profanity etc It facilitates this without having to leave the main application and whilst playout continues 11 When the editor opens you will be presented with the screen in Fig AE1 below If you open a compressed format file you will see a conversion take place in the waveform before it is available for you to work with WAV files will not do this There are some obvious buttons Play Stop Exit and Save A progress bar will move along the waveform as the file plays The default view on the waveform display is the duration of the cart However there are zoom buttons allowing custom views One can also click at a point in the waveform and play from that point or highlight a section of audio and play that The final range of buttons on the front screen are the standard editor functions Cut Copy and Paste with Undo and Redo buttons Autoplus Editor Device SigmaTel Audio Fig AE1 Autoplus Editor screen Finally we have a TRANS for transform button circled in Fig AE1 which gives access to the separate menu shown
49. selected the track will load in to the recorder You can then hit the PLAY button and listen to the track If you have large numbers of audio files existing on your system you can copy or move them into the Import folder and the Import Engine will load them into the library Any tag information will be acquired but any that is not present e g intro outro markers can be added by editing the carts in the recorder The Import Engine will automatically set the outro marker based on a level threshold set in the setup ini file Finally you can hit record after entering a cart number and audio will be recorded from your selected recorder audio device See settings below This will allow you to record from a turntable microphone MD etc via your mixer AUX MARKS Set the intro mark by clicking the SET INTRO button at usually the point the vocals start then hit PLAY END and set the outro mark with the SET OUTRO button at the point of your choice start of fade or end of vocals The PLAY END button allows you to hear the last few seconds in order to set the outro mark without having to listen to the entire track The default setting for the PLAY END is 10 seconds i e it will play the last ten seconds of the track but you can set this value to your choice by clicking in the box and overtyping Autoplus remembers this setting for next time The Import Engine will automatically set the outro marker based on a level threshold set in the setup ini file If
50. sually referred to as NAB carts Carts have been used in nearly every radio station at some point The developers aim to have achieved the following with Autoplus Simple non cluttered interface Easy and familiar operation by using radio station terminology Selection and playback of desired audio with minimum mouse clicks Simple searching and organisation of audio Oo Oo O Installation and setup On insertion the CD ROM will auto run and ask if you want to setup Autoplus If the disc does not auto run simply browse to your CD ROM drive right click and select Explore and double click the SETUP icon on the Autoplus disc The setup will run through asking the normal questions about destination directories etc By default Autoplus will install in C Program Files Autoplus Ensure that if you do change the directory that it remains on the same drive letter as the system disc i e Windows directory You can pretty much just keep pressing the NEXT buttons Ensure that you close all applications in TASK MANAGER except Explorer and Systray otherwise the installation may fail Ensure that anti virus software is disabled This advice applies to virtually all software installations The files will then be copied to your system This is a multi part operation Initially Autoplus files then MDAC Microsoft Data Access Components then JET Setup and finally Visual Basic Run Time files You will also see a message confirming that the dongle
51. t C Display the contents of system folders Display the full path in the address bar C Display the full path in the title bar C Do not cache thumbnails Hidden files and folders Do not show hidden files and folders Show hidden files and folders _ Hide extensions for known He types Restore Defaults You need to ensure that the option Hide extensions for known file types is UNTICKED It will be ticked by default in Windows The Autoplus setup will change this but if you add profiles users it will not be correct under these new user profiles You must change this Click APPLY and OK and close Windows Explorer When browsing your files in future you will notice that you see the file extension i e each file will be of the form fi ename ext rather than just f ename If you uninstall the program at any point you may wish to restore this setting to the default All pieces of audio are referred to as CARTS Audio Carts Cuts During the design of Autoplus it was decided that presenting the user with a list of audio files wasn t particularly useful or user friendly Instead we hide the files from the user and present every audio file as a Cart or Cut Carts and cuts are the same Every audio cart is assigned a unique 4 character alphanumeric code This can be assigned manually or automatically This code is known as the Cart Number For every cart there are 2 files o Audio data WAV MPEG2 or
52. t history which will show the last n plays of the cart the actual number is set in options 2 of the settings screen see below Bulk Changer By right clicking with your mouse in a blank area of the left pane of the library one can access the Bulk Changer Split into 3 identical sections this screen is ideal for mass moving of audio between categories For example if you have ripped a series of CDs and these have been imported into the Music Pop category you may wish to move a dozen or so Beatles tracks to the 60 s sub category See Fig 7a Open bulk changer and set the first pane to the source category Music pop using the pull down lists Next set the second pane to the destination by the same method The third pane can be used As a second source or destination or ignored You simply drag and drop carts either one by one or as a group You can select more than one cart by using either Shift and cursor up down keys if they are all together or CTRL and click on disparate carts You will be asked to confirm the move when you release the mouse button It is also possible to delete carts in this screen Again select those in question and then hit Delete on your keyboard You will be questioned twice to confirm the delete QUEUE To play carts you can drag and drop or double click to drop tracks from the library into the queue see Fig 8 This will show the order of tracks to be played You can then simply hit the green NEXT button on screen or
53. t to a Sable friendly file Prior to the export being completed you will receive a dialogue box as shown in Fig 22a enabling the BBC programme number to be entered and thus included in the exported file This audit log can be stored on a central server accessed by all machines on a network to provide a central audit database AUTOMATED HOUR If you click the Automated Hour button the window shown in Fig 23 will appear You can set up an hour of carts either audio or command cuts which will be activated by the AUTOMATE button on the bottom of the queue To create an hour simply click the ADD ITEM button and the window in Fig 23a will appear Select whether you want to add an audio cart or command cut and then select which command cut or what category and subcategory of audio you want to add As you add an item the running total at the bottom of the 32 Automated Hour Setup screen will give an average duration for your list based on the average time of each of the categories sub categories chosen Click DONE to close the Add Scheduled Item window and SAVE to save the hour s settings in the first window When you are happy with the hour you have a DELETE ITEM button and have saved it click DONE to exit It is possible to setup up to 10 different automated hours 0 9 as selected with the pull down list top left Each of these hours can then be scheduled using the Hour Setup screen Automated Hour Setup The Automated Hour Setup enables you to se
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55. th calendar which indicates today s date By clicking a date you select it You can scroll through the months by using the left and right arrows beside the month and to quickly change years click on the year and up and down arrows will appear for your use You can now select a category and sub category to store the cart in by default you have Music with pop as a sub category Jingles and Layover but other categories can be added You can also add comments in the box centre and right bottom Just click in it and type Finally click Save Cut If you have an audio editor installed see settings below or have purchased the Autoplus Editor you can click edit before saving to launch the editor to carry out any work you feel necessary The operation of Autoplus Editor is described later in this manual Record Edit Controller Level Record Start Cart Find Next m aua Duration 2 55 Cart Colour Deg a OO g Play End C Send to remote sites ei es oa Playing Fig 3 At the top of the screen we have the play and record controls plus recording and playback level meters The level record start tick box allows you to set the system to wait until audio is detected before starting recording The find next button automatically enters the next available cart number The red cross allows you to close the cart without saving changes You will be asked to confirm this action The cart
56. the facility for this workstation to receive IP commands from Autoplus server Load Playlist Hour Will force the playlist for this hour to be loaded but at a scheduled time Local play cart Will play entered cart number Mute line off This switches the line input mute off no fade Mute line on This switches the line input mute on no fade Playhalt sets the play mode button beside the queue to play halt mode play one cart then stop Playthrough sets the play mode button beside the queue to play through mode keep playing items in the queue one after the other 28 Playto machine allows you to set a cart number and a cart machine number 1 5 to play the cart in Record audio Allows you to specify a cart number and duration Audio will be recorded to the specified cart for the specified duration This is ideal for capturing a news feed for example Run auto schedule Schedules an automated hour Send IP this is illustrated in Fig 20 With this option selected an extra button appears IP Send XML builder This allows you to build command strings that are then sent via a Windows network to a number of possible devices such as routers matrices other Autoplus machines etc See Fig 20a First select from the first Command Type pull down list the type of command The choices are Command Cut as above Direct Play This is for future implementation Advert Player Control This is to send commands to the
57. tup a standard hour clock for automated programming Please note that this is a basic music rotation tool and not a replacement for music scheduling software 4 Music Pop 4 Music Pop 4 Music Pop 4 Music Pop 4 Music Pop 4 Music Pop 4 Music Pop 4 Music Pop 4 Music Pop 4 Music Pop 4 Music Pop A Music Pop Mi Estimated alten Runtime TEZY Fig 23 Add Scheduled Item You can add both Audio and Command Cuts to the clock If you select to add an Audio Cut you can select the desired category and subcategory Choose the type of item you want to add to the Automated Hour 4udio Category Audio Sub Category Command Cut 33 Hour Setup This screen Fig 24 allows you to set up a music rotation based on your automated hours Start by setting the day and hour of the day 0 23 at the top of the screen Click the Open Hour Settings button and the settings will be filled in Next give this hour a title this could be the boring but accurate one in our example or maybe Monday morning Pop fest or whatever Using a sensible and clear naming convention will however help you considerably in the future when editing Hour Setup Select Day and Hour Wednesday si Open Hour Settings Setting for this Hour Hour Title Automated Hour Clock Day 4 Hour 4 o ei Automated Back Timing Can Add O Live Assist Back Timing Protect Fade Categories Back Time Hour C Force Changes
58. type To start Automation find the button on the Queue that says Automate and is coloured RED and click it Songs and Jingles will then be scheduled in the Queue The Button will then turn green 18 For stations that use various timed formats automation it is important that you do not press this Automate OFF button too early e g if your Automation starts at 10pm DO NOT press this button any time before 9 55pm After pressing the Automate OFF button you must then press the NEXT button to start the scheduled audio playing To turn the Automation off you need to press the button which reads Automation and is coloured GREEN This will stop Autoplus from scheduling any more music The songs and jingles that are currently in the Queue waiting to playback will still play unless they are removed manually It is important to understand that this button and feature is for the inbuilt audio rotation system It has no impact whatsoever on any playlist system employed and it must be further stressed that this feature is in no way intended as an alternative to music scheduling software it is not Therefore it is probable that the AUTOMATE button will not be present on your version of the software if you do not use the feature it can be turned on or off in setup ini 19 3 mins past 12 12 03 30 00 56 30 Fig 10 CART PLAYERS There are five cart players in a stack By default the top three act as a s
59. you import audio manually you can use the Detect button to perform this function so that you do not have to listen to the end of the track and set it yourself You may also set other aux marks if you wish The START marker is useful for tracks that have long or very low level intros This marker can be set to show the actual start of audio rather than start of track or start of vocals You may also set HOOK 4 and HOOK 5 markers These marks allow you to attach a Command Cut macro at specific points in a cart These are set by right clicking the hook buttons and selecting the Set marker command option You will then be presented with a dialogue box that allows you to select from any of the Command Cuts setup on your system using a drop down menu The second right click option on the hook buttons is to Clear marker command For more information on Command Cuts see below OTHER RECORDER SETTINGS Don t forget to name the artist and track description automatically entered if you import MP3 with correct header info or if you use the Autoplus Ripper and Import Engine and set the dates for start and expiry of the cart The uses of this feature are mainly for trails or adverts that are date sensitive You are able to prevent carts being scheduled played outside of prescribed date ranges For music tracks not affected just select an end date that is several years hence Clicking the pull down arrow beside either date gives you a current mon

Autoplus User Guide V156

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