The more I play around with this software, the more I’m impressed. Excellent!
I don’t wish to add cue points to each individual track, so I’ve enabled the auto cue function. I understand from reading the Wiki and other posts that the “fade out” cue should start the next event. That doesn’t seem to be happeneing; instead the song ends and the next starts.
I did not disable auto cue during import and I have enabled the auto cue functions that I’ve found. I have both “cue in” and “cue out” set to “200” and “fade out” set to -20db. Could someone please tell me what I’m doing wrong? Also, I wish to have the songs overlap, but I don’t wish for my jingles to do so. Am I correct that the folders for the jingles and ID’s would have “disable auto cue” checked during import?
Thanks all for your time and help. I realize that you’re volunteering help, so I do appreciate your efforts!!
The Cue In/Fade Out/Cue Out values determined by Auto Cue can be edited manually after you imported the file to the database. Just double-click the item in mAirListDB to open its Properties dialog, go to the “PFL” tab, click the button to start PFL and edit or delete the markers as needed.
The same can be done from the playout GUI either through the Properties dialog or the player-based PFL. However, when editing cue points from the playout GUI, all changes are temporary unless you click the “Save to Database” button in the Properties dialog. This is to prevent accidental modifications, and also to allow temporary modifications for a particular show/situation that don’t affect the data stored in the library.
“Fade Out” is where the current track is faded and the next one is started. Remember that this only works in automation mode! If the song is not fading at Fade Out, then something must be wrong. Try testing the feature by setting Fade Out to somewhere in the middle of the track, just to make sure that it’s not so close to the end that you don’t hear the fade.
Also, Alec, you might need/want to adjust the global default fade time from its default of 5000 mS (it’s in Config, Miscellaneous, Settings). I personally use 3000 mS (= 3s). This sets the DURATION of the fade, which will start at your Fade Out point; and at the same moment, the next playlist item will start.
The Auto Cue settings determine the level at which the Auto Cue points are set. So -200 means that once the audio level goes above -200dB, the Cue In point will be set at that point. Similarly, Cue Out of -200 means Cue Out will be set at the last point where the level exceeds -200dB; and Fade Out of -20 means that Fade Out will be set at the last point in the track where the level is at least -20dB.
Note that the auto-setting of Fade Out can be ‘caught out’ if the track has a false or ‘double’ ending. That doesn’t happen often, but it’s always worth checking if you know that a given track has a false ending.
Finally, as Torben says, Fade Out only works in Automation mode, or when tracks are Linked in Assist mode. Ditto for Start Next.
For jingles, I wouldn’t set a Fade Out but I would set a Start Next, typically about 1s before the end of the jingle. You would have to do that manually, but if you do this in the Database, you only have to do it once per jingle.
Thanks for the additional input. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I would be interested in the Cue In, Cue Out, and Fade Out settings that most (and you) are using. I could use them as a starting point and then adjust from there. Would you mind? It seems that Cue Out is not that important in Auto Cue settings because Fade Out would, in effect, override the setting. Will the -200db of Cue In effectively trim all silence from the beginning?
Personally, I use a ripper (dbPowerAmp CD Ripper) which in its registered version, includes a ‘trim silence’ filter. It also has lots of other desirable features :D, and IMHO is THE best CD ripping program available for Windows.
Hence, all my rips don’t have any silence at start or end. For that reason, I personally don’t enable CueIn or CueOut in the Auto Cue settings: I use only FadeOut. YMMV.
Not quite true. You should enable CueOut if any tracks might have silence at the end. The two cue points perform different functions: FadeOut sets a sensible fadeout point; CueOut ‘trims’ any silence from the end of the track.
Correct: see above. However, you might like to try changing this to -90dB or -100dB. That value will also remove any ‘silent’ tape hiss or other near-silent ‘noise’ from tracks which were originally recorded on analogue equipment and dubbed directly from tape to CD without any noise reduction (i.e. very old CDs which are AAD or ADD).
Cad, it’s my understanding that a CueIn of -200dB would not be much good, it’s too low. Most CD players CueIn at about -45dB and that is indeed where I have mine set. A FadeOut of -12 to -15dB works for most. I don’t use the CueOut as, like Cad, I try and ensure that all my files are “perfect” - but the AutoCue is good for when presenters use their USB sticks to play songs and put mAirList into “Auto” where it’ll overlap without them needing to set the Cue points themselves.
I set the default value to -200 because I was looking for something “just about silence”. So in the default configuration, the Auto Cue will just trim silence from the beginning of the song, but no low noise.
Is the auto-cue information read/set only during import into the database? I ask because I have clearly set Fade-Out too low and will need to change the value in Configuration. Once the value is entered, do I then need to clear the virtual folderrs and sychronize again so that the new value is noted.
Also, on each player, there is a setting to “enable alternative cue-points.” I infer that this is the setting to enable Auto-Cue, yes?
There are three places where mAirList can store info. about an item (a music track, jingle, whatever):
[ul][li]In the database.[/li]
[li]In a small text/XML file called an MMD file. These are usually placed in the same folder as the audio file, but you can specify a ‘central’ location for ALL your MMD files in Config: in which case, all MMD files are written to the folder you specify.[/li]
[li]In a custom mAirList tag within files which support tags (MP3, APE, OGG, etc.).[/li][/ul]
Regardless of where it is stored, the mAirList data is always stored as the same XML structure, containing the artist(s), title, duration, file location, cue points, and any other information like a custom fade duration, specific icon for the item (shown in the Playlist), etc., etc.
When mAirList loads ANY audio file into any Player (INCLUDING Cartwall Players) or ANY Playlist (if you have more than one Playlist: some people do!), it will look for this ‘metadata’ in the order: database, MMD file, and file tag. If NO information already exists in any of those three places, mAirList will create the information. Part of that process is to perform the AutoCue function.
So let’s assume you have a ‘new to mAirList’ MP3 file, which has no database entry, no associated MMD file, and no custom mAirList tag within the file. If you drag that file and drop it on ANY Player or Playlist (see above), mAirList will create the ‘metadata’ (also see above) including the cue points set by AutoCue processing. This metadata is temporary unless you also save it to the database, MMD file, or file tag afterwards. It only exists in that specific Playlist or Player until it is played out: thereafter, the metadata is lost: and mAirList will re-create it again when you next add the file to a Player or Playlist.
If you DO save the metadata (to database, MMD file, or file tag), mAirList will use that metadata the next time you add the same file to a Player or Playlist, and WON’T perform AutoCue again, even if you ‘tweak’ or otherwise alter the metadata in the data in the database, MMD file, or file tag in the meantime. This saves a lot of time and processing per file, and is ultimately the purpose of the database (or MMD file, or file tag).
The same logic applies when you ‘add a file to the database’ by synchronising a Storage. If mAirListDB can find any existing metadata (in this case, in an MMD file or a file tag), it simply writes that metadata into the database. If it doesn’t find any, it will create it AND do the AutoCue thing as part of that. Ditto when you load a file in mAirListTag: it will look first in the database, then for an MMD file, and finally in the file tag. If the information isn’t found in any of those places, mAirListTag will likewise create the metadata (using the same processing) and will add the AutoCue points as part of that.
Yes: that’s the only way you can ‘reset’ the existing cue point data in the database, short of manually changing it for each item (track).
No. An ‘alternative’ cue point is an extra cue point of the same type (e.g. two different CueIn points, or different FadeOut points) for the SAME track. You know how live tracks typically have a long rambling intro? You can set TWO CueIn points,: one which plays whole thing, and one which plays from the actual start of the song (for example). You do need to create these extra or ‘alternative’ cue points manually, and select them from the PFL dialog manually, once they are loaded into a Playlist or Player.
I hope all that helps explain things? I’m off to lie down now (!!!).
Please ask again if any of that is unclear or you need to know more.
You should