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Automation

E

elevator_opratr

Guest
I apologize if this has ever been discussed here before, but I address this question to internet broadcasters and low-power broadcasters.

What's everyone's favorite automation programs? Of course, internet and low power stations can't afford things like Prophet. So what's everyone using? Just curious.
 
> I apologize if this has ever been discussed here before, but
> I address this question to internet broadcasters and
> low-power broadcasters.
>
> What's everyone's favorite automation programs? Of course,
> internet and low power stations can't afford things like
> Prophet. So what's everyone using? Just curious.
>
DirEttor is a good program, located at http://www.mixtime.com. Both of my PT15 stations are utilizing this program.
 
> I apologize if this has ever been discussed here before, but
> I address this question to internet broadcasters and
> low-power broadcasters.
>
> What's everyone's favorite automation programs? Of course,
> internet and low power stations can't afford things like
> Prophet. So what's everyone using? Just curious.
>

Direttore. Does great.
<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
Been using Musicmatch Jukebox (musicmatch.com) for 5 years. It's stable, reliable, and you can makes changes to the playlist while it's playing on the air. Also, it's free.

DE
 
Sounds good. I guess I should have asked this originally, but do any of these programs you guys have mentioned have the ability to create separate playlists worth of PSA's, liners, etc. for inserting throughout the hour?
 
MusicMatch lets you create different playlists, but you have to bring them into the player window manually.

For example, we have a playlist for each day of the week.
It's changed and started manually. Not a problem for our type of operation.

Go download the free version and play with it. It costs you nothing but your time.

DE
 
> I apologize if this has ever been discussed here before, but
> I address this question to internet broadcasters and
> low-power broadcasters.
>
> What's everyone's favorite automation programs? Of course,
> internet and low power stations can't afford things like
> Prophet. So what's everyone using? Just curious.
>

If you're using Macintosh, you might want to look at Soundbyte which uses a cart machine metaphor and interface. The standard version is free and the pro version is $24.00.

You can both automate your station with it as well as make sound files and functions key assignable should you be doing any live broadcasting.

http://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/soundbyte.html

db
 
> I apologize if this has ever been discussed here before, but
> I address this question to internet broadcasters and
> low-power broadcasters.
>
> What's everyone's favorite automation programs? Of course,
> internet and low power stations can't afford things like
> Prophet. So what's everyone using? Just curious.
>
If you can spend $200, Virtual DJ is a good program. It lets you set up song categories, and even will announce the time. It includes overlap. I think it's still available from Progressive Concepts.
 
I just checked, and it's still in their catalog.

> > I apologize if this has ever been discussed here before,
> but
> > I address this question to internet broadcasters and
> > low-power broadcasters.
> >
> > What's everyone's favorite automation programs? Of course,
>
> > internet and low power stations can't afford things like
> > Prophet. So what's everyone using? Just curious.
> >
> If you can spend $200, Virtual DJ is a good program. It lets
> you set up song categories, and even will announce the time.
> It includes overlap. I think it's still available from
> Progressive Concepts.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
Frank
East Hill Radio

Moderator, Community Radio USA, Seattle</P>
 
Direttore is the boss here...Havent found anything better yet for my stations.
You can also set up rotations with this for your scheduling you asked about down the page.

> I apologize if this has ever been discussed here before, but
> I address this question to internet broadcasters and
> low-power broadcasters.
>
> What's everyone's favorite automation programs? Of course,
> internet and low power stations can't afford things like
> Prophet. So what's everyone using? Just curious.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
meisrc on Yahoo messenger.</P>
 
> > I apologize if this has ever been discussed here before,
> but
> > I address this question to internet broadcasters and
> > low-power broadcasters.
> >
> > What's everyone's favorite automation programs? Of course,
>
> > internet and low power stations can't afford things like
> > Prophet. So what's everyone using? Just curious.
> >
>
> If you're using Macintosh, you might want to look at
> Soundbyte which uses a cart machine metaphor and interface.
> The standard version is free and the pro version is $24.00.
>
> You can both automate your station with it as well as make
> sound files and functions key assignable should you be doing
> any live broadcasting.
>
> http://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/soundbyte.html
>
> db
>

As a follow up, here is another automation program for Mac that is also free. It's called Simple Automate.

http://mountainradio.com/downloads/SimpleAutomate1.0.dmg

I've never tried this but I understand that some LPFM's are using it with good success.

db
 
> Been using Musicmatch Jukebox (musicmatch.com) for 5 years.
> It's stable, reliable, and you can makes changes to the
> playlist while it's playing on the air. Also, it's free.
>
> DE
>

It keeps improving, but it's really not an automation system for segues and continous programming without a few seconds of dead air. It's like a CD changer, in case they upgraded just recently.
 
> > Been using Musicmatch Jukebox (musicmatch.com) for 5
> years.
> > It's stable, reliable, and you can makes changes to the
> > playlist while it's playing on the air. Also, it's free.
> >
> > DE
> >
>
> It keeps improving, but it's really not an automation system
> for segues and continous programming without a few seconds
> of dead air. It's like a CD changer, in case they upgraded
> just recently.
>
I tried some of the stuff like Winamp, Musicmatch, I Tunes, etc and the station didn't sound tight at all.

Does anyone use OtsDJ? I've heard some good things about it.
 
Nothing to apologize for, its always good to hear what others are using, you never know when a new product may pop up.

Winamp Radio Scheduler is also free, it will allow you to schedule live audio feeds, we use it to bring up a satellite audio feed on pre-scheduled times. It takes some of your time to learn it but it's free! If you have some cash ($640.00), Raduga looks like a great system!


> I apologize if this has ever been discussed here before, but
> I address this question to internet broadcasters and
> low-power broadcasters.
>
> What's everyone's favorite automation programs? Of course,
> internet and low power stations can't afford things like
> Prophet. So what's everyone using? Just curious.
>
 
Otsdj is a pretty good package, although I believe you need the scheduling module to make it work the best. The ots format gives you the most control over your music, but you can use mp3's and wavs.


> >
> I tried some of the stuff like Winamp, Musicmatch, I Tunes,
> etc and the station didn't sound tight at all.
>
> Does anyone use OtsDJ? I've heard some good things about
> it.
> <P ID="signature">______________
Frank
East Hill Radio

Moderator, Community Radio USA, Seattle</P>
 
You only need the scheduler package if you want to do fancy things and run commercial spots. I know of radio stations (not part 15) that run it without the scheduler. It's extremely flexable. You can build catagories and playlist templates to do whatever you want. It's run 3+ years here without a problem on a Duron 850 with Windows 98 as the OS. Maintenance has been as simple as creating new playlists once a week. This takes me @5 minutes and then I walk away for the week. You can go longer if you want or just run the playlists in a continous loop. Playlist generation is simple click on generate playlist, select the template you want and OTS will build the playlist accordingly. It also has a remote server so you can control it over your LAN from any computer with an internet browser. You can install the little OtsPlay program that comes with it in all your computers and have a "music on demand" sytem over your LAN using the OTS machine as the server. It's a good package for the money.

Thems my 2 cents.

Jerry

> Otsdj is a pretty good package, although I believe you need
> the scheduling module to make it work the best. The ots
> format gives you the most control over your music, but you
> can use mp3's and wavs.
>
>
> > >
> > I tried some of the stuff like Winamp, Musicmatch, I
> Tunes,
> > etc and the station didn't sound tight at all.
> >
> > Does anyone use OtsDJ? I've heard some good things about
> > it.
> >
>
 
> Winamp Radio Scheduler is also free, it will allow you to
> schedule live audio feeds, we use it to bring up a satellite
> audio feed on pre-scheduled times. It takes some of your
> time to learn it but it's free! If you have some cash
> ($640.00), Raduga looks like a great system!


Raduga is a great modest price system. We've been using it for over 3 years, and it is rock solid and reliable. I can highly recomend it. I know several commercial stations that use it as well.

But for most Part 15 community broadcasters, figuring out how to use something that is very cheap, or even better-free, is part of the challenge. It's not very often that you need pin-point accurate scheduling, which is a major feature of most professional automation systems.
 
OTSJuke all the way

Built it dynamics processing, scheduler, and runs solid.



> I apologize if this has ever been discussed here before, but
> I address this question to internet broadcasters and
> low-power broadcasters.
>
> What's everyone's favorite automation programs? Of course,
> internet and low power stations can't afford things like
> Prophet. So what's everyone using? Just curious.
>
 
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