So, after using it in battle rercording a show, some questions (v3.0.10 b636).
I have the files in a local database. I’d like to do a mass change on a group (Jingles, update Icon) but can’t seem to be able to do so.
I have a button set to "AUTOMATION 1 ON;AUTOMATION 1 NEXT;AUTOMATION 1 OFF which works fine, however one thing I noticed is it always started the sequence in Player 1 even though the playlist showed NEXT - 2 or NEXT - 3. If I had a fade still going on 1 then it did play on 2. No big deal but is that an option I missed. I’d like it to at least play where it tells me if possible.
If I PFL a file when I’m running a playlist like to set a RAMP1, I kept getting burnt because it defaults to CUE. Is it possible to start the PFL on RAMP1 or other-defined setting?
I had some odd thing happen on the Cartwall. I went to PFL mode, couldn’t get any audio out the default PFL output, went back to normal mode, and no audio either out of the audio port. Had to restart mAirList to get it back. Tried to repeat today but wasn’t able to.
That’s it for now. Thanks for making an very flexible and powerful program.
If you mean in a local mAirListDB database, then yes: there is no ‘mass change’ facility. What was it you were wanting to change?
Don’t know: one for Torben, I think.
Ideally, you should have all your tracks tagged in advance, so you don’t have to tag anything during a show. I agree with you though, it would be helpful to be able to specify the ‘default’ cue point marker (CueIn, Ramp1, whatever) when the PFL Player (or mAirListTag) opens.
Re the Cartwall: that does sound weird, unless the Cartwall audio devices (standard and PFL) had somehow been changed, and then changed to ‘normal’ before you could reproduce the problem? Might eb worth double-checking those in Config.
Mass update is in fact not supported yet. I agree that it would be a convenient feature, but also a PITA to implement. Let’s see…
Switching automation on or off will re-load all inactive players, to make sure that their options (use in automation mode; auto-load in assist mode; etc.) are processed correctly. They are loaded sequentially in their natural order, so it can happen that the order changes when you turn automation on and back off.
The problem is that the “AUTOMATION 1 ON;AUTOMATION 1 NEXT;AUTOMATION 1 OFF” sequence is merely a hack to emulate a feature that mAirList doesn’t have yet, that is, starting the next player (while fading out the current one) in assist mode. I haven’t implemented it because it does not make sense in the usual live-assist setup for mAirList (each player goes to a separate fader, and is controlled via fader start or hot start buttons). Perhaps I can add that feature easily.
PFL always starts at the beginning of the item (unless you’re starting “independent PFL” while the player is active, in which case it will start 10s before EOF). I mean, this is where the real playback will begin, so you most likely want to listen to that part when you PFL an item shortly before broadcasting it, don’t you? You can jump to any other cue point by selecting it in the list and clicking the TEST button.
The cartwall PFL problem sound weird to me, too. Possibly some kind of sound card or driver issue.
I want to change the icons for all my jingles so I can spot them easily in the playlist
In an ideal world yes. However I tend to add the Ramp (or Intro) to the songs in a playlist when I compile my show playlist. By stealth the songs get the Intro added and slowly the library builds. I find I was getting burnt because I would PFL a song, then hit the makrer button to discover I had set the Cue time.
Torben, I think it’s a good idea to allow what setting is ready to set first when you PFL something. Just IMHO as they say
The config was fine. Cartwall PFL was set and also the audio device. Everything else was fine. I do suspect the audio drivers for this as it’s a USB codec attached to the audio mixer (a very american Arrakis ARC-8). I’ll probably move it to the Delta 1010LT.
No worries. I’ll probably spin a quick Delphi app to add the icon tag to the MMD files. It looks like you use Sqlite3 for the database so I may get brave there as well and just use some SQL stuff. Where there is a will there is a way.
Not the end of the world. I understand it’s a cheat. I have an x-keys panel so I’m still programming that as well. Not a show-stopper.
This is where I kept getting burnt, I would mark the Ramp (or Intro) then realised that I hadn’t selected it and just blown away the Cue. Never checked, but is there an “undo” like Ctrl-Z here? However, if an option to default select a marker like Ramp1 on PFL, that would be great
I do suspect the drivers. I think it may have unloaded. For the Cartwall I use the Arrakis USB codec that connects to my mixer (Arrakis ARC-8) and it doesn’t load the driver unless the mixer is powered and connected which always causes an issue if I fire up mAirList before the mixer is powered. Not your fault though!
Yes, the database is SQLite3. However, only very few fields from the XML structure have a column of their own. The rest (including the reference to the icon) is stored as an XML block in a single text column. This is how I keep the database “extensible” for future updates and plugins. (Although there is no suppor for DLL-like plugins at the moment, mAirList internally uses some kind of plugin/module system already. Such a module can e.g. introduce new playlist item types with extra data in the XML output, and thanks to this specific database design I’m using, it is possible to store this kind of items even though there is no colums for the extra information.)
By the way, once your files are imported into the database, your MMD files are useless, because mAirList will never look at them again but rather retrieve all information from the database. With a little knowledge of SQLite, you can still retrieve the XML block from the “xmldata” column, add the reference to the icon, and store it again for each item you wish to modify.
Torben, Thanks for the info above, that’s good to now.
Questions,
1 - If I change an MMD, would a resync on the database pick up a change?
2 - If I drag’n’drop a file from iTunes into the playlist, and that file exists with an MMD and also the Database, would it read the info from the database or just assume it’s a foreign object so to speak
No - the sync algorithm cannot tell whether you changed the MMD and want to copy the data over to the database again, or whether you changed the database record in which case it should not be overwritten with the MMD data. (Looking at the file date is not a good idea.) So it assumes the latter and ignores existing MMD files altogether. In fact, the sync algorithm only checks the list of files to see if anything has changed, never their tags or MMD data.
You can, however, still remove the particular items from the database, then change their MMDs again, and re-import them through the Sync function. But, of course, they get new IDs this way, which means that the folder assignment etc. is lost.
You mean directly from the iTunes application? (Not the iTunes database facility in mAirList.) That’s the same mechanisms like dropping from Windows Explorer: mAirList will ask all connected databases if any of them has information about that file and, if so, read the meta data from that database. Otherwise, MMDs and file tags will be evaluated. The first step - checking the databases - is to make it possible to add an item from Windows Explorer while still retrieving its metadata from the database. I found that this is what the user expects. I can still make an option to turn this feature off though.
Ok, guys, there’s a new snapshot available now (Build 652) that features a NEXT button in the toolbar also in assist mode. It will fade out all active players and start the topmost loaded player instead, just like the NEXT button in automation does. Make sure to have
auto-load in assist mode, and
auto close at EOF in assist mode
enabled for all players.
The button can be turned off when not needed in mAirListConfig → Playlist → Control Bar.
There’s also a new remote command for this purpose, “PLAYLIST x NEXT”. This is only for the NEXT function in assist mode - the one in automation mode is still “AUTOMATION x NEXT”. If you want to have both functions on the same hotkey, set it to “PLAYLIST x NEXT;AUTOMATION x NEXT” - the command that doesn’t apply in the current mode will be ignored.
Oh, yes, Thanksgiving… A friend of ours who is from St. Louis but now lives in Dortmund invited us for dinner on Thursday. But no turkey, she says, because she would become all too homesick then
Did next week’s show using the latest snapshot and the PLAYLIST 1 NEXT worked an absolute treat. Just had to remember to put my faders back (That and a glass or two of red wine helped for some odd moments!)
[quote=“Cad, post:14, topic:6416”]Seriously though, delighted to hear you’re getting on well with mAirList.
BFN
CAD[/quote]
I love it for Live Assist. Very powerful and very configurable. I would love it to gain traction in the US Market. (I’m a Brit who wandered). With an X-Keys shotbox, the Global Hotkeys make it so usable!
