Can I state up-front that I have not really got my head fully around hooks and how it is implemented in mAirlist but having watched someone else use with them last night I thought that I would throw the following into the pot.
The way I see hooks working is that the playlist would look something like:
‘Coming up we have …’
Song 1 (Hook)
Song 2 (Hook)
Song 3 (Hook)
[Adverts]
Song 1
Song 2
Song 3
If this is the case then the instruction to play the hook rather than the full song should be attached to the playlist item and not to the player rather like the ‘Link’ which is specific to the playlist item irrespective of what player it is actually played in.
Hope this makes sense.
Another nice touch would be some way of indicating in the browser list of that the track has a hook defined as I assume not all tracks will have hooks.
I would imagine the best way would be to create a “Container” item and drop it into a CartWall button (multi-select the songs you want and hold CTRL whilst dragging to the CartWall)… Then set it to Hook Mode… Perhaps that would be a nice way of sequencing files in Hook mode ? Failing that, I reckon you’d have to have a 2nd copy of each song in the Playlist, and then select “Hook Mode” in the file properties…
The latest snapshot has this container function built in. Just select a couple of songs, and you will see a “Create Hook Container” item in the popup menu.
For the upcoming .v41, I will add the ability to insert opener/sweeper/closer jingles into the Container.
Thanks for all the comments - it is a bit clearer now.
Torben - I tried the container function in the latest snapshot and it worked well (in auto mode) until the end of the container when the playlist stopped. Trying to continue with the playlist resulted in the first ‘hook’ song being played in full with the following error message:
Should the playlist not continue with the item which is after the ‘hook’ items? If this is the case then would it be possible for the songs included in the container to be identified in some way - perhaps by a different font colour?
Whilst playing with the hooks ive noticed a small problem - I think
The Hook fade point doesnt seem to fade, just start next. this results in a rather messy sounding playout of hooks.
I tend to have it so that the hook fade point is 2 secs before hook out point. is this a problem, am i not allowing long enough to get a fade?
could we not have an option with fade defaults set in it. like the fadeing options in the config for the players, have a fading option for hooks.
hope that makes sense.
Can i just say, i havent played with the latest snapshot but from what i understand the idea of gettin a list of hooks to play together using a container method seems quite lengthy. i think that rons idea of having a hook option, similar to the link option would be far better. thats if its not too difficult to incorporate!!!
Cheers
Also, where can i get hold of the latest snapshot so i can have a play?
I also noticed that the Hook fade point doesnt seem to fade, just start next.
From memory, I remember thinking that this problem did not happen on the last hook in the group - only the previous ones and I also seem to recall that the hook played beyond the hook out point (apart from the last hook).
Sorry - this is turning out to be a hook bug thread …
To Charlie and Ron: what is your global Fade Out Duration set to in Configuration? If it is the default of 0:03s, then a Fade Out set 0:02s before the end of an item will not execute a Fade!
IME, if your global Fadeout Duration is longer than the fade out of one particular item would be, you have to set the Fade Duration of that item (in the item’s Properties dialog) to the desired length (in this case, 0:02s) to force the Fade to be executed. Otherwise, mAirList will simply play the item to EOF and will not Fade it.
Of course, in assist mode, the item will only fade out at Hook Fade when you have the “automatically fade in assist mode” option set. Just like the normal Fade Out marker for ordinary playback.
Fading starts at Hook Fade (or, during ordinary playback, Fade Out) and the fade duration is determined as follows:
If the item has a Hook Out (or Cue Out) marker set, the fade goes from Hook Fade to Hook Out (or Fade Out to Cue Out).
Otherwise, if you have set a specific fade duration in the item’s properties, that one is used.
Otherwise, the global fade duration is used.
If the fade duration is larger than the remaining time until EOF, it is adjusted accordingly.
Sorry to bring this back up but I still can’t get mine to fade nicely. I didn’t have a clue what you guys said up there lol it just flew over the top of my head! Could someone put it in english for me or help me in someway?
Hooks should work AOK in AUTO mode. The fade time rules below will apply.
If you want to have hooks fade in ASSIST mode, you need to set the option Automatically fade out in assist mode for EACH Player: if not, the Hooks will just ‘stop’ instead of fading. You can see this option by right-clicking each Player and clicking Options, then looking for a tick mark beside the option. Alternatively, you will find it in Config on the Options tab for EACH Player. Use the Config method if you want to ‘pre-set’ this for your Players. Remember you need to set this for ALL Players, because you don’t know in advance which Player will play your Hooks!
The fade out time used for Hooks is decided for each Hook Item individually, by following the rules below, in order:
[ul][li]If your Hook Item has both a HookFade AND HookOut cue point, the fade will run from HookFade to HookOut.[/li]
[li]If not: the Item’s Fade Duration (on the Item’s Options, General tab) will be used if it is non-zero. NOTE: An Item won’t have a Fade Duration unless you’ve explicitly set one; zero is the usual value.
[/li]
[li]If neither of the above applies, the Default automation fade time (Config, Miscellaneous, Settings) will be used as the fade duration for the Hook.
[/li][/ul]
Does that help? Or have I just confused you even more?
(The current Hook Container function inserts the container into the playlist, right above the songs.)
