So I am addicted to this amazing software. But here are a few things I have to know. I will have the Behringer DX2000 and I will be looking for it to have modifications made. Will the Home Studio version support this mixer?
Also, if I choose to stream online, I will want to use a separate machine to encode and stream. Will mAirlist send the Artist and Title information to the player and to the website? Is this even possible to have one machine stream the audio and another send the Now Playing info?
Hi Troy
Yes the Studio version will work very well with the DX2000, and indeed most other analogue mixers. I looked at one of your other posts and saw that you have several channels to feed into the mixer, so you have the necessary sound card. Good luck with that.
As for encoding and streaming you mention another PC to do that, but don’t mention what software you will use to encode the audio, or where the stream will be located. Do you intend the other PC to stream to the outside world i.e. will it be the server? Alternatively, are you sending your audio to a remote site to be streamed from there?
Either way, Mairlist will encode the audio for you and will update the now playing info if sending to a shoutcast or icecast server. There are ways to update the now playing to websites as well if required. A very simple solution would be to set it to update the now playing to a text file and get the second machine to read that.
First. My intentions will be to have the audio pass thru a mixer and to a different computer what will do all the compressor limiter functions as well as encode the audio using a stand alone encoder and stream it to a shoutcast server. I just want to make sure that I can have the now playing information sent from the mAirlist computer and the encoded audio sent from another and it will all work correctly. I feel having the automation computer limit the number of functions it has to do is best. Besided, I like having a different computer that does all the processing and encoding.
Second. Is there anyone who can assist on the custom build? Maybe a package that I can buy that includes a system? I am fairly new to all this scripting and custom build stuff and dont want to ruin anything.
However they have sold out of that model and are re-designing so hopefully available soon. The board is available if you’re up to soldering.
I use an XKeys pad as a remote control for mAirlist and works well. The USB thingy I link to, we’ve used in TV for use of a wireless clicker (for advancing weather graphics). We give the talent a “remote garage door opener clicker”, it triggers a relay. We wire that to the above box and it emulates a keyboard command.
In fact. in my new job at a major US network we make very heavy use of the big Xkeys pads for remote control. Very reliable.
I have found another version of the X-Keys USB Switch on another website and I am thinking about giving that a try.
What cables will I need to use for the remote start to work correctly?
Is there a way to make the Auto and Assist buttons larger for touchscreens?
I am learning so much about this program as I explore and its simply amazing. I have not got into any scheduling, but I assume the mini scheduler will be a breeze to understand.
Yes, you are right: mAirList is deceptively simple to use, but completely configurable to work precisely as you need it to.
If you haven’t done so yet, please download the manual from http://www.mairlist.com/en/support/. I agree that the manual appears horrifically large, but well over half of that size is simply because of the sheer number of options available, all of which are documented (disclaimer: as of v3.1: a number of options and features have been added since, of course).
I strongly recommend that you get your head around Virtual Folders before you try to implement scheduling: they will make your life MUCH easier. If you’re familiar with old-school scheduling principles, or other scheduling applications:
[ul][li]Virtual Folder = box of index cards/category/rotation/group (e.g. Heavy Rotation, Oldies, etc.)[/li]
[li]Hour Template = clockwheel/hourly list of category names[/li]
[li]Template Assignment = aranging the Hour Templates into a one-week ‘grid’ (cf. Excel)[/li]
[li]Run Mini Scheduler = generate log/create log/create playlist[/li]
[li]Database Playlist = generated log/hourly logs/playlists/output from Mini Scheduler[/li][/ul]
No, you can’t have more than one ‘weekly template:’ this is a Mini Scheduler, not Powergold, right? : But it is still surprisingly powerful once you understand it, and it does perform artist, title, and track separation; note that this is done by looking back and not forwards. Therefore, you will probably want to generate at least one week’s worth of playlists as a single operation.
Good luck, and do please ask if there’s anything else we can help you with.
Thank you so much. I can easily see that setting up virtual folders is the way to go. now what about loading playlists automatically and in the even of a outage, starting the playlist where its supposed to start. i would like to have two hours displayed at all times with a new hour loading at half past the hour. Is this available thru configuration or only scripts?
I think that almost all of that should be easily achieved using Events.
Assuming you plan to use mAirListDB to generate your hourly playlists (a.k.a. hourly logs), set up an event to run every hour on the :30:00 to Append database playlist. Remember to select Load the playlist for the next hour (instead of the current hour) when you do that.
You will also want to create an After Startup action list (you do this in Config: Actions node) to load the database playlist for the current hour, then enable automation and finally Start automation playback. Assuming you put a Hard Fixed Time marker at the top of each hour, at worst you will be under an hour ‘off’ until mAirList catches up with itself.
I’m not an expert on After Startup actions to ‘get you going’ again: someone like streamer or ethannz, plus several others here, can better advice and suggestions than I can.
Thank you for that information. I got that to work perfectly! Took a bit to understand it. It would always load the next hour (say noon hour if it was 11 and start playing that hour). My mistake!
Now what I am wondering, how can I get it to look at the playlist and restrict how far over the top of the hour will go? For instance, if a song is scheduled at xx:59, it will play, putting the next hour over. I want to be able to say that if it is xx:58 dump the song and play the next hour. Possible?
It sounds very much like you need a ‘fixed time’ set on the first item in your hour playlists. In other words, it will play out on the hour and will effectively ‘press NEXT’ for itself and thus fade/stop the currently playing item at the expected time.
It may sound a chore, but after generating them, it’s worth a quick look through the generated playlists, and where necessary manually tweak them by dragging items into a different order, to make sure each hour doesn’t end with an item that would play at (e.g.) 58’ 00" or later. Generally the way to fix this is to look for a long track (at least 3’ 30’’) and move it right to the end of the list. Usually this works out much better than the original.
But it is still surprisingly powerful once you understand it, and it does perform artist, title, and track separation; note that this is done by looking back and not forwards. Therefore, you will probably want to generate at least one week’s worth of playlists as a single operation.