Eela Audio DIGISPOT II brochure

Transcription

®
DIGISPOT
II
I Broadcast - System
White Paper
Introduction of the System
Concept for Radio Broadcast
The Building Blocks to set up a complete System for
Radio Broadcast operation to grow with the Needs.
interstage
Phistersvej 31, 2900 Hellerup, Danmark
Telefon 3946 0000, fax 3946 0040
www.interstage.dk
- pro audio with a smile
R.BARTH KG
Elektronik und Akustik
Grillparzerstraße 6a 22085 Hamburg
Tel.040/229 74 47 Fax:040/22 32 09
E.Mail: [email protected]
Internet: http://www.barthkg.com
Cooperation for Development of Hard-and Software for Audio
and Video Broadcast Studios in East and West Europe.
Design and Manufacturing of Studio Equipment for the Audio
recording Industry and the in field of Video Postproduction.
e.mail: [email protected]
web :http//www.tract.ru
Page 2 of 49
e.mail : [email protected]
web : www.digispot.eu
Copyright: RBKG & TRC Edition0031
Cooperation for Development of Hard-and Software for Audio and
Video Broadcast Studios in East and West Europe. Design and
Manufacturing of Studio Equipment for the Audio recording Industry
and the in field of Video Postproduction.
mail: [email protected]
web : www.tract.ru
Content
1.Introduction to the DIGISPOT®II Radio Broadcast Operating System........................................................5
2.Description of the DIGISPOT®II System Functionality and Features.........................................................9
2.1
DJiN Media Database (MDB) .................................................................................................................9
2.2
DB Import for the Media Database .......................................................................................................9
2.3
System Browser ...................................................................................................................................10
2.3.1
Media Database (MDB) Browser..................................................................................................10
2.3.2
Module File Browser.....................................................................................................................10
2.4
Clock & Grids planning tool for building the ON-AIR Schedule .....................................................11
2.5
MAG Musical Schedule Generator and Jingles Rotation Application ............................................11
2.6
Schedule Import Module (used for schedules from 3rd party applications) .................................12
2.7
The ON- AIR Schedule .........................................................................................................................12
2.8
Schedule Export Module. Merging of Schedule to Sound File........................................................13
2.9
Multi Channel Player (X Player) ..........................................................................................................13
2.9.1
X player features a new function: .................................................................................................13
2.9.2
X Player Mode of Operation .........................................................................................................13
2.10 Jingle Machine Player, CartAsisst......................................................................................................14
2.11 Fast Jingles Player...............................................................................................................................14
2.12 SJM Smart Jingle Machine..................................................................................................................15
2.12.1 SJM Touch Sreen for ON-AIR operation.....................................................................................15
2.12.2 SJM Editor ...................................................................................................................................15
2.13 Block Player..........................................................................................................................................16
2.14 PFL Player for Cueing and pre –Listening ........................................................................................16
2.15 Regional Player to insert regional elements for regional Transmission........................................16
2.16 Frame-Program Retransmission Player ............................................................................................17
2.17 Track Marking and Normalization Module .........................................................................................17
2.18 Start Point Seek Module ......................................................................................................................17
2.19 VoiceTrack Module for Recording in Schedules ..............................................................................18
2.19.1 VoiceTrack Module Version A .....................................................................................................18
2.19.2 VoiceTrack Module Version B .....................................................................................................18
2.20 Cross-fade Edit Module for Schedule & Block Player......................................................................18
2.21 Broadcast System Editor BCS Multi Channel Audio Editor. ...........................................................19
2.21.1 “Fragment Buffer” Module ...........................................................................................................19
2.21.2 Plug-ins Interface Module............................................................................................................19
2.22 Module to generate ON-AIR Log Reports ..........................................................................................19
2.23 Module for Export Information about Player Status into XML.........................................................20
2.24 Gap Filler Module .................................................................................................................................20
2.25 Reserve System by redundant Storage on the local HD of the ON-AIR Station............................20
Copyright: RBKG & TRC
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2.26 Hot AIR Standby the synchronized Play out Workstation ......................................................................... 20
2.27 R-News for News Production and News-Cast presentation...................................................................... 21
2.27.1
The automatic News Import ..................................................................................................................... 21
2.27.2
The Universal News Browser ................................................................................................................... 21
2.27.3
The DIGISPOT®II Video Logger............................................................................................................... 22
2.27.4
The News Text Editor............................................................................................................................... 22
2.27.5
The News Agenda, News reading from screen with integrated Audio..................................................... 22
2.28 ON-AIR Audio Logger ................................................................................................................................... 23
2.29 CD Grabber ..................................................................................................................................................... 23
3.
The Structure of Radio Stations...................................................................................................................... 25
3.1
Average Music and News Radio Station...................................................................................................... 26
3.2
Average Music Radio Station ....................................................................................................................... 26
3.3
Small Retransmission Radio Station. .......................................................................................................... 27
3.4
Auto Retransmission ..................................................................................................................................... 27
4.
The Environment for the DIGISPOT®II Software Installation........................................................................ 28
4.1
General Equipment Requirements ............................................................................................................... 28
4.2
General minimum requirements for the PC: ............................................................................................... 28
4.2.1
ON-AIR Station:........................................................................................................................................ 29
4.2.2
Planning Station: ...................................................................................................................................... 29
4.2.3
Editing Station: ......................................................................................................................................... 29
4.2.4
Audio Logger : .......................................................................................................................................... 29
4.2.5
Retransmission Station: ........................................................................................................................... 29
4.3
Conditions for Network Performance .......................................................................................................... 29
4.4
Digital Audio Cards........................................................................................................................................ 30
4.4.1
DIGIGRAM ............................................................................................................................................... 30
4.4.2
Marian - Digital Audio Electronics ............................................................................................................ 30
4.4.3
RME – Intelligent Audio Solutions ............................................................................................................ 30
4.4.4
Lynx Studio Technology ........................................................................................................................... 30
4.4.5
Creative Labs ........................................................................................................................................... 30
4.4.6
Yellowtec .................................................................................................................................................. 31
4.4.7
M-Audio .................................................................................................................................................... 31
4.5
Remote Control .............................................................................................................................................. 31
4.5.1
USB to GPI/O Interface for 8 In andOut................................................................................................... 32
4.5.2
ON-AIR Mixer Eela D3 with USB Interface ............................................................................................. 32
4.5.3
VoiceTrack 4 Fader Unit for manual Control of Cross fade .................................................................... 32
5.
Selection of Screenshots of the DIGISPOT®II Software package ................................................................ 32
6.
Personal Remarks and Notes......................................................................................................................... 49
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web : www.tract.ru
1.
Introduction to the DIGISPOT®II Radio Broadcast Operating System
About two decades ago when digitised audio and the technology of large storage capacity on Hard
Disk Drives appeared as a reality, it became obvious that the marriage between networked computer
technology and centralized storage of large amount of audio files, would be a tremendous
opportunity to improve the workflow for program production and ON-AIR delivery.
DIGISPOT®II has been one of the early developments, which introduced this opportunity to the radio
broadcast industry.
Within a minimum of time it changed the workflow of small and large radio stations totally and
consequently, it became the bases for a revolution to the about 70 years of experienced
management and workflow in large and small radio broadcast stations.
DIGISPOT®II, however did refer to this many years of experiences in the field of international
broadcasting and combined the new technology by careful conceptual system engineering to a
complete and functional system, it is now a modular radio broadcast operating system, combining
both, software and adequate hardware components, that allows to carry out all stages of radio
program production and the ON-AIR broadcasting process in an efficient easy going workflow.
The software structure permits you to use a great variety of modules to easily adapt to specific
stations requirements, allowing you to create and configure a system installation that helps to
optimise the workflow for each radio station with individual task related functions.
This booklet, the so called White Paper, is offering an overview to the DIGISPOT®II Radio Broadcast
Operating System, its versatile functionality and the possibility to use it like building blocks for any
kind of Radio Station, from a small city station or a university radio to business orientated
commercial radio stations without or with regional program content as commercials and local news
and station ID’s, up to radio houses with multiple Programs ON-AIR and large News departments.
DIGISPOT®II is based on a very versatile and comprehensive SQL database handling engine. This
Media Database (MDB) is a special database working under the control of the Microsoft SQL Server
2008. MDB stores descriptions of the elements, a set of categories created by the user, attributes
and other information. The main task of the MDB is to provide for the well-ordered storage of
elements and permitting for the convenient allocation of materials and for fast searches. A large
number of DIGISPOT®II modules used the database as support for a wide variety of individual tasks.
The redundant data storage for two or even three days of schedules and their related material at the
local hard drive of the ON-AIR station, the so called “Reserve system”, is based on the versatile
MDB management functions, increasing the system reliability and provides failsafe broadcasting,
even in the event of LAN or Internet breakdown.
To reach total failsafe operation the “Hot AIR Standby System” does provide for full play out
redundancy in synchronized play mode. For this the DJiN ON-AIR application with the X-Player and
the special software module “Hot AIR Standby“ have to be installed on two separate Workstations.
These workstations have no equal rights, one is preconfigured as the Main, the other - as the
Reserve ON-AIR Play out station with the equal schedule. Both workstations are interconnected by a
“Watch connection”, this is an Ethernet cable connected to a dedicated network card in each
computer, this direct cross wired network connection by thus avoiding any additional Ethernet
equipment and cable patching.
The “Hot AIR Standby” Software consists of two parts, the Hot AIR Standby module and a special
version of the X-Player Play out module installed on each of the two workstations.
The following functionality is provided for full redundant ON-AIR operation including some features
for special requirements as technical service:
Automatic changeover to Reserve workstation in case of failure of the Main workstation
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Workstation, which is quitting, stops play out ON-AIR
Workstation, taking over, starts play out ON-AIR
Manual changeover of Play out from Main workstation to Reserve by controlling from the actual ONAIR module:
Generation of control commands, necessary for workstation changeover (GPO for routing, control of
equipment, indication of actual status e.g.)
Furthermore the MDB can be enhanced by another software building block, the specialized
“Distributed Data Base” (DDB) handling engine. The DDB Agent helps building up radio station
networks with centralized schedule preparation facilities allowing with the DDB Agent, for the easy
exchange of data and audio material between separated locations, which permits a convenient and fast
allocation of content for production and final ON-AIR delivery from any location.
DIGISPOT®II DDB Agent software module allows you to build a branched network for the
retransmission of radio broadcasts using cheap, low-speed Internet channels, which noticeably reduces
the network support expenses, that are associated with standard satellite communication channels or
wide band network links. The DDB Agent performs also the transfer of the ON-AIR schedules the
moment they are ready direct to the remote regional Station, whereby any later changes will be
synchronized on both sites automatically. For each schedule being transferred the local storage is
checked for completeness of the ON-AIR material in reference to the received ON-AIR schedules, and
starting the transfer of those elements which are missing in the local storage.
The integrated administration facilities in the MDB and DDB allow for the limitation of the rights for the
user, allowing each one to work only with a certain range of materials and perform only a specifically
defined range of actions related to his workflow and responsibilities.
The R-News building block of the DIGISPOT®II System type installation is a must for all radio stations
which are delivering beside the Music program a certain part of actual information content, as a news
cast at each half or each full hour and in between reports in politics, sports and other actual fields of
information. The following functionality is available for running a news department in the radio station
including a versatile module for the ON-AIR delivery of the information content.
The software provides the automatic text and audio import from News agencies by FTP server or
satellite connections, from the e-mail and internet automatically categorised in the System database by
settings in the system configuration. Easy and fast access for the journalist is supported by settings of
search filters and key word search functions. The DIGISPOT®II Broad-Cast System (BCS) Editor for
text and audio editing as an integrated tool in the system allows for a very smooth and effective
workflow in the news department.
The completed news items are stored in the database for a chief operator to place them in the ON-AIR
news Agenda Schedule, or the journalist can place them from any workstation direct in the next actual
news agenda or any agenda schedule ahead of time.
The news ON-AIR Agenda can be called up on the second screen of the Main ON-AIR station if the
moderator in a self –op studio is presenting the news cast and the reports, or on a separate workstation
and screen in the News booth separated from the ON-AIR studio. The main feature of the agenda ONAIR presentation software is the combined handling of the text and related audio elements on the news
reading screen.
In the sequence of the text elements, the audio elements are indicated by a coloured line at the position
of the text where the audio is scheduled to be played. The coloured line is showing the title and the
length of the audio element and also the last words in the audio, so that the presenter knows when to
start reading again.
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web : www.tract.ru
The Smart Jingle Machine (SJM) module is a new element in the stack of building blocks for the
DIGISPOT®II radio automation system. The module provides universal interface for playing of audio
elements, decorating the ON-AIR program. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) of this module is
designed for working with a touch-screen monitor, which helps to combine the known CartAssist
visual interface and button field for controlling by one functional hand on surface.
Screen layout can be arranged under tabs; each of them representing audio packaging elements for
various ON-AIR sessions for a morning show, or game show e.g. That helps avoiding "overloading"
the GUI with too many elements which are not needed always to be on the screen.
The most significant difference of the new Smart Jingle Machine is a new approach to correlate the
next musical element by changing its tempo without changing the pitch, to start as an opener or
stinger over a music bed, or in a crossover in the beat rhythm of the previous sound or underlay,
whereby the start point can also be defined precisely on the first or any other bar of the beat. Thus
creating a smooth perception listening to a changeover from one musical piece in the crossover to
the next one.
Further on the moderator can use a fader on the bottom of the touch screen to fade the intensity of
the playing elements to meet the optimal sound impression during a talk over or in the play out of
two or more elements being played in a mix.
The SJM system has two parts, the editor and the play out module for the moderator to be controlled
by the intuitive control via the touch screen monitor.
The set up of the touch screen can be configured by the moderator himself using the SJM Editor or
by the producer on his workstation. The screen can be easily set up in a flexible structure of buttons
in different positions and sizes including labelling the content under the button. An automatic follow
up order of element starts can be programmed and stored indicating the sequence on the screen
when the screen layout is called for the session. These screen layouts in an unlimited number,
organised in groups or categories, are stored in the DIGISPOT®II media database (MDB) and can be
called up on any workstation in the network.
The complete music, jingle and sound effect archive of the MDB is at hand for the producer and
moderator to be used in the jingle machine for a creative composition of a perfect radio show with an
ergonomic GUI for intuitive and secure handling.
The above given introduction selected only such building blocks of the DIGISPOT®II system
functionalities, which stand out and underline the measure which has been taken to provide a
reliable software system securing the highest possible operational availability for the radio station
and those which confirm that the system engineering department is supporting the actual demand of
the user by providing new, state of the art developments. Thus keeping the DIGISPOT®II equipped
radio stations on top of the media industry.
On the following pages a brief description of all available building blocks of the system which can be
obtained for covering the complete workflow in a radio station or a big radio house.
For references and actual system related news for new developments please refer to the following
Web site. http://www.digispot.eu
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web : www.tract.ru
2.
Description of the DIGISPOT®II System Functionality and Features
This section describes the various functions of the DIGISPOT®II radio automation system that can
be described as elements or building blocks. They are combined together in the different boxes in
such a way to optimize the workflow in reference to the needs of any workstation. This also ensures
that nothing unnecessary is included in the system, meaning that the customer doesn’t end up
paying for something he or she doesn’t need. Maintaining only those elements necessary, will also
prevent overloading of the user interface.
When we refer to a “function”, we mean either an element of some application (e. g., player, in the
ON-AIR application) or a separate application designed for carrying out of a specific task (e. g., the
music play-list generation application MAG).
In some cases, we describe these functions as software module, or simply module. The control
panels for such modules may become visible on the monitor screen, or they do not have control
panels and their parameters can be set for general parameters within the system.
Some applications have personal names, e.g. ON-AIR application DJIN, music play-list generation
application MAG e.g.
2.1 DJiN Media Database (MDB)
The Media Database is a special database
working under the control of the Microsoft SQL
Server 2008. MDB stores descriptions of the
elements, a set of categories created by the user
attributes and other informations. The MDB
structure provides for the allocation of elements
according to categories. A single element may
belong to several categories. A lot of useful things
can be done using the database: the
establishment of a hierarchical category structure
with unlimited nesting capacity, provision of a fast
search engine with complex search conditions
(e.g. you can easily obtain a list of titles, written by
one author of all news items prepared by the
same journalist), and much more.
The main task of the MDB is to provide for the
well-structured storage of elements for easy and
fast searches for material when it is needed.
The integrated administration facilities allow for
the limitation of the rights of the different users,
allowing them to work only with a certain range of
materials and perform only a specifically defined
range of actions in relation to their specific tasks,
This secures unintended changes or deletion of
material.
A large number of DIGISPOT®II modules use the
database for the support of a wide variety of
individual tasks.
2.2 DB Import for the Media Database
The MDB import application allows you to add
new material automatically to the Media
Database (MDB) of the DIGISPOT®II System
from files, folders or external databases. There
are several methods of data import. In the
simplest case, it allows you to add files
appearing in specified system folders. Every
folder can be configured as a source of a
certain MDB category. Description data, so
called Meta Data, can be taken from a
neighbouring ASCII file residing in the same
folder as a data file. The format of this ASCII
file can be configured. In another case, we can
perform an analysis of description information
from specified folders in order to find out the
exact place where new data files and their
descriptions can be found in the system. It is
possible to organize the synchronization of the
musical database with the external rotation
system or the commercial database with the
external system for commercial schedule
planning. Further on different files can be
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and Video Broadcast Studios in East and West Europe. Design
and Manufacturing of Studio Equipment for the Audio recording
Industry and in the field of Video Postproduction.
obtained from Internet sources or News agencies
for the news department. For the text import
special filter can be configured to organize the
incoming material direct in defined categories for
immediate access.
The key for such filters can also be a symbol or a
number which can be used to indicate the receipt
of a priority or emergency message. Beside the
possibility to pop up a related message on
selected workstations it is also possible to
configure a GPO Out signal to activate an
outside alarm system to switch on a flash light or
any other type of signalling system.
2.3 System Browser
The DIGISPOT®II System does provide for fast
search in the Database for the Metadata and
also in folders for the material a Database
Browser and a file browser.
2.3.1 Media Database (MDB) Browser
This is the main module for communicating with
the Media Database (MDB). All functions of DB
access are supported in that window: preview,
search, sorting, filtering, adding, erasing of
elements and categories, and other operations.
Besides this, the module also carries out some
administrative functions: the setting of database
parameters, adding and erasing radio stations, the
recovery of elements being erased by mistake,
and some other specialized functions. The
number of possible operations can be limited by
the administrative system of the DIGISPOT®II
radio automation system. You can print out the
contents of any MDB category using the report
skeleton.
Media database is a specialized database
operating under Microsoft SQL Server 2008. The
database contains descriptions of items, a set of
categories and attributes created by the user and
other relevant information. The database solves
the problem of categorizing the items, allowing
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an item belonging to several categories at the
same time. Some of these capabilities are as
follows. It allows for a hierarchic category
structure with an unlimited number of nesting
levels to be created. Also, items that have the
same value for a certain attribute can be filtered
out. For example, all songs by a certain artist or
all news items prepared by the same reporter
items can be searched for using compound
search conditions. This list of database
capabilities could go on, but those already
enumerated should be sufficient to give an idea
about its advantages. The main task of the
database is to store items in order for rapid
location of the needed material. The built-in
administration system makes it possible to limit
the rights of an individual user, allowing him or
her to work only with the necessary materials
and perform only a predefined set of functions.
2.3.2 Module File Browser
The files module window allows you to play back
audio items (elements), preview information and
edit the descriptions of audio elements. The user
can access both the local hard disks of the
workstation and of network disks. The operator
gets information about the sound file format and
duration of the audio item. Depending upon the
file format, some additional information can be
accessed, such as text description, marking of
an audio item, e.g. Information of this type can
be viewed and edited and sorting by the fields is
possible. Frequently used folders can be put into
favourites for fast access. Selected files can be
added to the Media DB, schedule, players and
other system modules.
manufacturing of Studio Equipment for the Audio recording Industry
and in the field of Video Postproduction.
web : www.tract.ru
2.4 Clock & Grids planning tool for
building the ON-AIR Schedule
2.5 MAG Musical Schedule Generator
and Jingles Rotation Application
The basis for the ON-AIR schedule is the skeleton
which provides the frame for the format genre of
the ON-AIR schedule for the individual broadcast
station. Skeletons are common, periodically
repeated building blocks of the schedule. The first
task to be solved for a newly created radio station
is to define the volume and thematic content of
material to be broadcasted.
The Grid Editor module provides creating of
separate Clocks (hour skeletons) and then out of
them forms the grid. The same clocks could be
used for various grids, which simplify planning
process enormously. The created clocks and
grids are stored in the Media Data Base. If your
schedule features constant elements like jingles,
background sounds etc, it is sensible to mark
them in the clocks and the schedule operator will
be saved from the routine tasks of adding these
elements manually. It is possible to set up a jingle
rotation by setting them up in a grid structure.
During schedule generation, the system will take
one of the jingles accessible to the rotation and
put it into the appropriate place, so the operator
will not need to rotate jingles manually.
The Grid Editor module is included in the option
"Schedule Skeletons and Grids". In order to use
this module at a particular working place it should
also have schedule module.
It is possible to work with this tool from practically
any workstation in a network that includes the
skeleton master module. The new schedule will
be generated according to the skeleton,
independently of the workplace where it was
constructed.
This Software module does support the
production and editing of the daily ON-AIR
Schedule. Providing the logistics to coordinate
Commercial and News fixed ON-AIR time with the
Music clock and all in between elements for the
actual play-out.
The MAG is one of the building blocks of
software applications to complete the
DIGISPOT®II system for the entire workflow of
a Radio station. It performs computer aided
generation of musical play lists, like other
popular applications widely used in the
broadcast industry. Taking into account their
broad orientation, those applications are
overloaded with functions and options that
make the everyday work difficult and time
consuming.
Due to the fact that MAG is using the
DIGISPOT®II media database as well, the data
re-consolidation of non played items in the last
days ON-AIR schedule is at hand any time,
avoiding complicated or insufficient interfacing
to third party data base systems. The MAG
uses also the principle of the rotation of
musical material as other systems. Each
musical element is accompanied with a
description “card” providing the necessary
“meta data” for every title in the record library.
All musical elements (songs) are divided into
categories. Within the category limits, songs
are building virtual stacks that are rotated
according to the hourly clock, defined by the
user. The user sets special parameters
describing the selection process of a song in a
stack, defining the necessary rotation rules
and assigning priorities to these rules. The
application automatically generates a play list,
which can be edited if needed.
MAG includes several methods of musicalelement-rotation control. They can be divided
into two large groups using the artistic
characteristics of songs and historical
mathematical rules. The first group provides
rotation control according to artistic rules that
were defined by the user: tempo, the “texture”
of musical material, mood e.g. The second
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group of rules is based on the control over the
time of the possible playing of music elements
relative to the time of its last usage.
MAG follows rules which are set by the user.
These rules tell the system how to interpret
different artistic characteristics of the musical
element or the time of its last play ON-AIR. The
rules are very flexible. Each user can employ
them according to his or her individual
expectations. Everything depends upon the
concrete format and goals of the radio station.
2.6 Schedule Import Module (used for
schedules from 3rd party Systems
The schedule import module provides for the
import of ASCII files with a schedule prepared by
a 3rd party application (like Power Gold or
Selector). The import module has a flexible
settings system that allows you to choose the
necessary types of fields, types of blocks and
other parameters. The module can be configured
for import from practically any known ASCII file
format that holds something similar to a
schedule. In special cases, we can provide preprocessor utility for preliminary processing of an
ASCII file before it can be imported into the
system. In practice, almost every big radio
station using our system is importing a schedule
or parts of it from one or another external system
as Music selection systems or commercial
disposition applications.
2.7 The ON- AIR Schedule
The software module which is handling the daily
ON-AIR Schedule is the core of the System. It
does provide all necessary logistics to handle the
stations specific program during 24 hours of the
day. Supporting the individual choices of
operation in manual mode , live assist mode and
last not least in automated mode. The flexibility
of the software does allow to change at any time
in between the type of operation
Automated mode can be used for 24/7
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Broadcasting according to the schedule as fully
automated broadcasting (no operator), supported
by the possibility to pre produce live type
moderation by the DIGISPOT®II VoiceTrack
software module.
The block structure of the schedule allows for
work with blocks of various types – commercial,
music etc. Whereby it is possible for the
moderator to select blocks as such as
Commercial blocks to be hided in the schedule
and expanded again for keeping the space on
screen for the more important information.
Also the number of columns presenting the a
versatile amount of information for the system
logistics based on the field information in the
database, can be extended or limited to the most
important content as the timing information and
the title and artist or cross fade settings. The
notification of stop positions live moderation
places intro and outtro time length, indication of
schedule element type : music, jingle, audio, text,
also play duration and indication of timing
conditions for start and stop as “not later” or “not
before”. Conflict indication inside the timeline
field supports the user when editing the schedule
The ON-AIR schedule logistics does further on
provide the possibility for settings to send or
except external commands associated to single
elements or schedule blocks. The logistics for
regional play out separation is also included
Automated synchronised insertion of dedicated
elements as newscast by parameter settings in
the schedule.
The active ON-AIR Schedule can be handled
“on-line” from any workplace in the production
departments for editing and insertion of
additional information and audio elements for the
ON-AIR presentation. This can be limited to a
chief editor position or to be completely blocked
by means of system administration settings..
Graphic User Interface (GUI) can be defined to a
certain degree by flexible adjustment of schedule
outlook and displayed fields, in size and Colour.
The standard MS Windows® command shortcuts
can be used for schedule editing as cut & past or
drag & drop, undo & redo e.t.c. Report
generation tools for materials being broadcasted
are provided in the DIGISPOT®II system.
Further on a number of versatile pop up tools are
available for the moderator and the production
department for intuitive operation.
web : www.tract.ru
2.8 Schedule Export Module.
Merging of Schedule to Sound File
This allows you to export all schedule content
material (or some of it) to audio (sound) files in
standard formats. The resulting file can be
created much faster than it occurs in real time
during ON-AIR playback. All data like block and
audio item attributes, cross-fades, e.g. are taken
into account during this process.
As an example, you can merge a day of schedule
material to 24 1-hour long sound files. It is also
possible to store commercial or news elements in
the form of sound files. Each file will represent a
schedule block of commercials or news.
This module can be used in news and
advertisement agencies and at the centre of
network radio stations. Ready sound files can be
transferred to other radio stations where any
automation system can provide their playback
ON-AIR. Thus it is possible to use our system of
planning and production service for any other
play-out system at regional radio stations. The
digital audio format of the merged audio can be
defined in most of the common versions.
2.9 Multi Channel Player (X Player)
The X Player has extended functionalities in
comparison to former and mostly used two
channel A-B Player systems. The X Player can
deliver a sequence of elements ON-AIR as they
are indicated in the schedule.
The player can be used in a system with several
physical outputs (up to 4).
The player window depicts a queue of elements
with defined depth (contrary to a 2-track player,
which shows only the currently playing and next
elements). It is possible to edit the queue of
elements inside the player. It is also possible to
open cross-fade editor and to add new
elements that are not listed in a schedule. It is
possible to edit the cross-fade of element
being played with the next element (2-track
players don’t allow this).
2.9.1 X player features a new function:
A search for the start point for every element
being loaded into queue. This mode can be
supported effectively using a number of
buttons on a computer keyboard or by a
dedicated remote control unit – an external key
panel.
Another feature of this player is that it allows
you to assign a certain physical output to audio
element, for example, it lets you play musical
elements via one output and voice elements
via another. The signals for these channels
can be processed separately by FM
processors with different settings, providing
better audio quality results in radio output. X
player can distribute audio elements
automatically by physical outputs according to
their type (voice track, commercials, music,
e.g.) and to the DB category to which they
belong. It is possible to define this manually for
a certain audio element either beforehand,
during schedule preparation or element Meta
data description, or in the player itself before
actual delivery ON-AIR.
2.9.2 X Player Mode of Operation
There are 3 modes of operation for X player,
distinguished by the degree of manual control
provided by the operator: MANUAL, LIVE and
AUTO.
MANUAL mode assumes that the operator
starts playback of every audio element by him
or herself. In LIVE mode, playback is
performed automatically, but can stop in
special places of the schedule, if this was
planned beforehand. The operator then has to
launch playback manually. The operator may
then influence the playback process at any
time, either by starting the next audio element
or by stopping that currently being played.
LIVE Mode of the X player. is intended to allow
the moderator individual control for creative
freedom to personalize his ON-AIR show. The
AUTO mode provides a full autonomous mode
of operation. Broadcasting does not even stop
at the special points mentioned in a schedule.
The operator can employ a non-planned-gap
filler if necessary. The player can be controlled
remotely by "Fader Start" and "Cue" signals
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from the mixing console and from the external
key panel. X player is mostly effective in the DB
based DIGISPOT®II systems and voice-track
recording module.
2.10 Jingle Machine Player, CartAsisst
Jingle machine player is used for the instant
(one-key) start of a necessary audio element.
Audio elements are represented on a monitor
screen in the form of a spreadsheet. This allows
for the easy location of the necessary element
among all others. The remote control of such a
player from an external key panel is also intuitive
and simple (the geometry of the key panel — the
number of rows and columns — should fit into
the outlook of a jingle machine table on the
screen). Any player element can be started by
the press of a button either on the computer
keyboard or the external key panel. This player
can play audio elements from jingles categories.
The player is most often used in the following two
ways.
In the first, the player is used as intended for
airing various audio items: audio effects,
background sounds, e.g. Most often, this is
necessary when preparing live broadcasts,
interactive games e.g. The operator can prepare
the needed audio items in advance and place
them on the buttons of the jingle machine in the
way that is most convenient for him or her. This
can be done not only from the broadcasting
station but from any production workplace. This
player variation is included in practically all
typical configurations of the DIGISPOT®II DJiN
program.
The other method presupposes using the jingle
machine as a data source for a group of block
players. The screen button field buttons can be
used to switch to another category. This makes it
possible to organize a system for rapid
navigation over the collections of audio items
prepared in advance. In this case, clicking the
jingle machine button in the button field simply
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selects an audio item. It can then be added to
the end of the block player play list by clicking
the corresponding button-field button, which
allows a play list to be prepared rapidly. In this
version, the greatest efficiency is achieved when
the jingle machine is used with an external
specialized key panel that has both the jingle
machine control button and the block control
buttons. Specialized remote control devices
manufactured by Eela Audio can be used as
these external key panels. Another option is to
use specialized computer keyboards, the keys of
which can be combined into buttons and have
commands assigned to them.
A typical configuration consisting of a jingle
machine and block players is a replicate of the
antiquated NAB cartridge machines, mostly
being seen as 4 in a row with a stack of NAB
cartridges above each machine prepared for the
sequence play.
2.11 Fast Jingles Player
The Fast jingles player is a development out of
Jingle machine player. Its main function is to
provide the broadcasting operator with a means
of playing a certain type of jingle on the fly. The
player can play back a jingle from a group of
jingles by simply pressing a keyboard key or a
button in the external button field. The player has
its own simple rotation algorithm to avoid
repeating jingles from the same group, even if
the items are played back from several
workstations simultaneously. A group of items
may be made up of the contents of one of the
categories of the F-Categories module or any
category of the MDB items.
Unlike the jingle machine player, the fast jingle
player can play not only jingles, but any type of
MDB item.
The minimal version of the player does not have
its own window. The system administrator
creates groups from his or her workplace and
informs the operator about the keys or buttonfield buttons assigned to these groups by
messages "Press 1 for a short jingle, 2 for a long
jingle, 3 for a jingle before news."
If necessary, a window can be added to the
system to show groups of items. The window's
appearance and functionalities are virtually the
same as those of the jingle machine player.
Several players of this type can exist
simultaneously in the system. In this way, items
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from different groups can be played back through
different physical outputs.
2.12.2 SJM Editor
2.12 SJM Smart Jingle Machine
The DIGISPOT®II SJM module provides universal
tool for playing audio elements, decorating the
ON-AIR program. The Graphical User Interface
(GUI) of this module is designed for working with
a touch-screen monitor, which helps to combine
the known CartAssist visual interface and button
field for controlling one functional hands on
surface.
2.12.1 SJM Touch Sreen for ON-AIR
operation
The most significant difference of the new
Smart Jingle Machine is a new approach to
correlate the next musical element by
changing its tempo without changing the pitch,
to start as an opener, or stinger over a music
bed, or in a crossover in the beat rhythm of the
previous sound or underlay whereby the start
point can also be defined precisely on the first
or any other bar of the beat. This creates a
smooth perception listening to a changeover
from one musical piece in the crossover to the
next one.
The screen layout can be arranged under tabs;
each of them representing audio packaging
elements for various ON-AIR sessions for a
morning show or game show e.g. That helps
avoiding "overloading" the GUI with too many
elements which are not needed always to be on
the screen.
The SJM system has two parts the editor and the
play out module for the moderator to be controlled
by the intuitive control via the touch screen
monitor.
Further on the Moderator can use a fader on the
bottom of the touch screen to fade the intensity
but not the playback level of the playing elements
to meet the optimal sound impression during a
talk over, or in the play out of two or more
elements being played in a mix.
The set up of the touch screen can be
configured by the moderator himself using the
SJM Editor or by the producer on his
workstation. The screen can be easily set up in
a flexible structure of buttons in different
positions and sizes including labelling the
content under the button. An automatic follow
up order of element starts can be programmed
and stored indicating the sequence on the
screen when the screen layout is called for the
session. These screen layouts in an unlimited
number, organised in groups or categories, are
stored in the DIGISPOT®II media database
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(MDB) and can be called up on any workstation
in the network.
The complete music, jingle and sound effect
archive of the Station MDB is at hand for the
producer and moderator to be used in the jingle
machine for a creative composition of a perfect
radio show with an ergonomic GUI for intuitive
and secure handling.
2.13 Block Player
2.14 PFL Player for Cueing and pre –
Listening
The DIGISPOT®II system provides a versatile
functionality to pre-listen to an audio Item at any
time in any module of the software, inside every
position of the schedule or the player even if the
audio item is already playing ON-AIR to prelisten the ending.
In the CartAssist database window and in the
block player, the command is activated by the
mouse pointer in the related window by a click of
the left mouse button or by a special key from
the key board or dedicated key pad.
Moving the mouse pointer left and right it is even
possible to scrap through the audio for the right
point of listening.
2.15 Regional Player to insert regional
elements for regional Transmission
Block player can be used for playing sequences
of audio elements (play-lists). Playback is carried
out via a single device, taking into account crossfades between elements. The play-list
represents a single block of the schedule. All
means of schedule editing with regard to audio
items (cross-fade, marking, normalizing, go to
next, voice track recording) can be applied to
contents of the block player. Play lists can be
loaded to the player automatically from blocks of
the schedule or manually by the operator. A
combined approach is also possible. In this case,
the schedule should list only obligatory material
to be delivered ON-AIR while all other elements
(audio items, jingles, etc) can be loaded
manually by the operator from a media DB, FCategories, jingle machine, files and other
windows. Players can be controlled from a
mixing console with the help of the “Fader start”
and “PFL” signals. Players can be set for
automatic start at a specified time or it can wait
for a command from the operator. There are a
large number of parameters that define the
player behaviour.
A system usually has a number of block players,
each of which has its own tasks to fulfil and can
be configured in reverence to its task.
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This player is used at regional radio stations for
the playback of regional (own) programs or socalled “inserts” to the frame (main) program.
Insert player automatically replaces parts of the
frame program with regional content.
The insert player is a part of a regional ON-AIR
workstation and works under the control of the
main ON-AIR station. The main ON-AIR station
generates a special control signal (command)
prior to the beginning of a part of the frame
program that can be replaced by regional
content. This command is fed to all regional
stations. Upon receiving this command, the
insert player begins to play back loaded regional
content.
Two types of audio elements of the frame
program are usually replaced: ID jingles and
commercial or news blocks of regional
importance. The ID jingle is a short jingle
providing information about the name of the radio
station and the broadcast frequency (e.g. “Radio
GAGA 100 FM”). The ID jingles of the main radio
station should never be played at the regional
radio stations, because the regional stations may
have different names and/or broadcast
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frequencies. So the main station always sends a
command which is combined with the ID jingle of
the main station, and the regional stations
automatically replace it with their own ID jingles.
Blocks replacement happens only if the regional
insert player is loaded with actual material.
The user can build up a system of several
regional stations. A set of insert players can be
configured to work simultaneously: each of them
with their own regional schedule and an individual
set of ID jingles. This provides for the centralized
production of radio programs with several regional
commercial and news services. The system
makes it possible to generate schedules for main
and regional stations in the same environment.
This feature, together with automatic content
replacement with smooth transitions between
frame and regional programs, provides regional
broadcasting of high quality. An additional
argument for this approach is the total control
provided over the content of all regional stations
from the main station and the simple structure of
the overall system, which does not require
complex equipment.
2.16 Frame-Program Retransmission
Player
If a retransmission signal fails, the system
launches the guard player, containing a
reserve block of audio items.
2.17 Track Marking and Normalization
Module
This module prepares audio items for the
Media DB. Based on general settings, the
module can automatically define a pause in
the beginning and in the end of an audio
element, set the start and stop playback
marks, estimate the signal level and normalize
it, if this is needed. This module saves the
operator from routine work on each and every
audio item, if not needed for special settings
for an Item.
2.18 Start Point Seek Module
The main difference between retransmission
players and other players is due to the presence
of an embedded switcher, which provides for
change-over from the retransmission signal
(frame program) to the regional signal (own
program). This switching can be performed either
manually (from mouse/keyboard or GPI signal) or
automatically (according to time or a command
from an audio-pattern recognition module). With
the reception of a command, the switcher initiates
the playback of audio material loaded into the
player while simultaneously (or even earlier –
depending upon the settings) fading out of the
retransmission signal. Thus, the system enters
the own-program delivery mode. Upon the
completion of the loaded block playback (or even
earlier), the switcher starts fading in the
retransmission signal, bringing the system back to
retransmission mode.
The blocks of the regional program are loaded to
the player from the regional schedule
automatically in advance of their actual air time.
The start point seek module defines the exact
piece of the audio element that will be used as
a start point during playback. You can assign
the start point to any of the three previously
defined character points of the audio element
(INTRO) or search it by playing the element at
a different speed and in different directions.
The search window shows the waveform of the
audio, which simplifies the process. It is
possible to change the start point of the audio
element either from schedule or in a player.
This function is often used by ON-AIR
operators when they need to change the
INTRO duration of a musical element. You can
control the process either from a computer
keyboard or from an external key panel.
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2.19 VoiceTrack Module for Recording
in Schedules
Its responsibility is in the recording of audio
(usually voice) fragments during cross-fades
from one audio element to another. Maximum
performance can be achieved if the mixing
console provides the possibility in its remote
control interface to read the fader level control
data for the DIGISPOT®II software as with
broadcast mixers like DHD, AXIA or D.MAX. A
special 4 Fader remote control unit can be
obtained also from the DIGISPOT product line.
One fader provides fade out of the first audio
item, while the second fader provides the fade in
of the second audio item. The start of the second
audio item is initiated by the second fader start
signal, so voice track recording is reminiscent of
the real, live ON-AIR process. The software
application will remember the fader’s movements
and, while ON-AIR, it will repeat them, providing
a feeling of a live show. During cross-fade
rehearsal, the operator can switch on the
recording process and record a voiced section
that will be played through the cross-fade.
2.19.1 VoiceTrack Module Version A
2.19.2 VoiceTrack Module Version B
This new Voice-Track
module provides
recording and editing in the same function on
screen and also does allow not only to record
the voice, it gives also the possibility to add a
jingle or opener / stinger or just an additional
soundtrack to the Voice-Track position between
two songs or before the beginning of a music
bed.
It offers a much more versatile possibility to give
the automated play out of the night time
schedule the real live sounding performance.
With the Voice-Track Module a third and fourth
fader will be used to add additional sounds like
sound effects or jingles to the Voice-Track
element.
2.20 Cross-fade Edit Module for
Schedule & Block Player
This module can easily be used without a special
remote controller by using the mouse or hot keys
from the keyboard but this implies some
limitations as fixed fade in and fade out slopes as
they are settable in the software. At present, it is
possible to control the start point of the next
audio item and switch the record function on and
off. The schedule can be marked preliminary at
the places where voice track elements are
needed. Afterwards, the moderator can jump
from position to position, so the voice tracks can
be recorded one after another.
If in case a cross-fade does not sound in the
rehearsal as expected or wanted it can be
optimized by the Cross-fade Editor Module which
can be called up by just a click with the mouse.
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This module allows you to create cross-fades
between neighbouring schedule elements,
providing more dense and accurate broadcasting
without pauses between audio items. It can
“glue” 2 or 3 neighbouring audio items that are
located in the same or in neighbouring blocks.
The user interface of this module is similar to the
BCS editor, so a user who is familiar with it will
not need much time to get going. Cross-fade
editing can be done either in a schedule window
from any workstation in the network, or inside the
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play list of a block player, but only at an ON-AIR
workstation. The block player can provide a crossfade of an already playing audio element with the
next one, while the schedule window allows for
the cross-fade of next element after that being
played.
2.21 Broadcast System Editor BCS Multi
Channel Audio Editor.
The editor is a separate application that can be
installed on workstations together with other
applications of the system or as a stand-alone
application. It allows for the production of
proprietary audio and text material for later
delivery ON-AIR and for refilling and / or editing
from the MDB. The BCS editor is designed and
developed by the DIGISPOT®II software
development team which has lead to the
presence of common modules and commands
facilitate the easy learning of the system and
simplify the handling of overall operations.
The BCS Editor is an integrated software module
with the ON-AIR application and appears on the
screen of the ON-AIR Workstation without
interrupting the ON-AIR session for a fast editing
of a listener telephone call or the change of a
report which is on the schedule. Editing can be
performed on one or more tracks, while recording
can be done only on one track. The application is
oriented toward the easy implementation of
standard editing operations used on radio stations
for recording, editing, level control by envelop
settings for fade in and out.
Text editing is an integrated function of the BCS
Editor also being orientated for the type of text
editing which is common practise in the news
department of the radio stations. This underlines
the importance of a persistent software design for
an optimised workflow in all departments.
2.21.1 “Fragment Buffer” Module
The “Fragments buffer” module provides the
means for the temporary storage of pieces of
audio and text in the editor application and
actually works as a specialized multi-level
clipboard. It can be very useful when source
material has to be edited severely and cleaned
from unneeded parts. In such cases, search
operations can take a lot of time.
This buffer preserves its contents after the
restart of the application so that it can be used
for the “long term” storage of frequently used
elements, such as jingles and music beds.
2.21.2 Plug-ins Interface Module
The plug-ins interface module provides the
possibility to use 3rd party plug-ins supporting
DirectX technology. A selected fragment of
audio track can be processed by a chosen
plug-in or a chain of plug-ins. This module
allows to save and load presets. It has several
auxiliary modes: rehearsal mode, looped
playback and bypass.
2.22 Module to generate ON-AIR Log
Reports
This module generates an ASCII file with
information about audio elements that had
actually been played ON-AIR. The file stores
information about the time at which each item
was played, player name, fader condition and
item details (file name). This file can be printed
out using the report skeletons form.
The format of the ASCII file can also be
configured to generate the GEMA report log for
the precise ON-AIR time.
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2.23 Module for Export Information
about Player Status into XML
This software module provides some status
information to the external systems in XML
format. This information refers to the currently
playing audio elements and those that are
already in the playback queue. Any player in the
system can provide this information, which can
be stored in a previously specified folder and
updated dynamically according to the status of a
system. Files of the XML format hold the audio
element name, duration, author, e.g. It can be
used by external applications for various
purposes, e.g. for the generation of an RDS text
string or placing data on the radio station’s web
site.
2.24 Gap Filler Module
Gap (or unexpected and non-planned pause)
filling technology is necessary for radio stations
with full or partial autonomous broadcasting.
When a non-planned gap occurs (due to a
breakdown in communication lines, planning
errors, e.g.) the gap filler module automatically
prepares a piece of schedule from the elements
stored in the database. This audio content will fill
the gap until the system gets a valid audio
element from the schedule to play. There are
different algorithms for filling long (minutes) and
short (seconds) gaps. These algorithms are
developed in a way to provide the smoothest
possible fill in for the program failure. System
administrator can set up parameters for the gap
filler, which can vary for different time intervals.
The administrator can assign special DB
categories,
filling
skeletons
and
other
parameters. Special diagrams are provided to
indicate the effectiveness of the gap filler.
element is changed somehow, then the copy will
be updated automatically. Audio elements that
are used as a reserve are stored for 2 days,
which helps to eliminate the frequent copying of
the same files. Thus, when the system is set up
carefully, the broadcast never happens from a
network, as the network is being used only for
preliminary copying of files. Besides audio
elements, the schedule itself is also being
copied. So, in the case of a network breakdown,
the ON-AIR station has both the schedule and
data on its local hard drive to provide at least a
day of broadcasting. After the re-establishment
of the network communication, the system will
automatically synchronize schedules. The usage
of lower-bit-rate channels like slow Internet
between the ON-AIR workstation and the
production / planning workstation is possible due
to a Reserve module that can transfer all the
needed data to the local hard disk in advance. In
special cases, it is possible to organize
broadcasting with a connection channel that
does not provide real time throughput of material.
Assume that the material volume is not so high,
like when we need to transfer just 10 minutes of
commercials
per
hour,
and
that
the
communication channel provides a transfer rate
of a half the playback rate (64 Kbit/s). To transfer
10 minutes of audio, you will need 20 minute of
real time. But, if the schedule is prepared
beforehand (one day in advance), all the
necessary files will be transferred safely to the
ON-AIR workstation before the moment of actual
delivery ON-AIR.
2.26 Hot AIR Standby the synchronized
Play out Workstation
2.25 Reserve System by redundant
Storage on the local HD of the ONAIR Station
This module solves two tasks: providing
uninterrupted broadcasting in the case of LAN
breakdown and the physical delivery of audio
material to the exact place where it should be
played. The idea of this module is to perform
background copying of all the audio elements
used in a schedule to the local hard disk of the
ON-AIR workstation. During playback the system
checks if a copy of next audio element exists on
a local HD. If it exists, then it is used instead of
the distant audio element. If the original audio
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To reach total failsafe operation the “Hot AIR
Standby System” provides for full play out
redundancy in synchronized play mode. For this
the DJiN ON-AIR application with the X-Player
and the special software module “Hot AIR
Standby“ has to be installed on two separate
Workstations. These workstations have no equal
rights, one is preconfigured as the Main, the
other - as the Reserve ON-AIR play out station
with the equal schedule. Both workstations are
interconnected by a “Watch connection”, this is
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an ethernet cable connected to a dedicated
network card in each computer, this direct cross
wired network connection is avoiding any
additional ethernet equipment and cable patching.
The “Hot AIR Standby” software consists of two
parts, the Hot AIR Standby module and a special
version of the X-Player play out module installed
on each of the two workstations, one as MAIN
and the other as SLAVE.
The following functionality is provided for full
redundant ON-AIR operation including some
features for special requirements as technical
service:
Automatic changeover to Reserve workstation in
case of failure of Main workstation
Workstation, which is quitting, stops play out ONAIR
Workstation, taking over, starts play out ON-AIR
Manual changeover of Play out
from Main
workstation to Reserve by controlling from the
actual ON-AIR module:
Generation of control commands, necessary for
workstation changeover (GPO for routing, control
of equipment, indication of actual status e.g.)
2.27.1 The automatic News Import
This is part of the DB import software module
providing the automatic text and audio import
from News agencies by FTP server or satellite
connections and also from the e-mail and
internet, automatically categorised in the
system database by settings in the system
configuration. Easy and fast access for the
journalist is supported by settings of search
filters and key word search functions.
2.27.2 The Universal News Browser
In radio house installations, in conjunction with
ON-AIR mixing consoles combined with audio
router systems like DHD or AXIA, the Hot AIR
Standby system allows an “on the fly change
over” from one to the other studio without any
drop of the ON-AIR signal.
2.27 R-News for News Production and
News-Cast presentation
The R-News building block of the DIGISPOT®II
System type installation is a must for all radio
stations which are delivering beside the music
program a certain part of actual information
content, as a news cast at each half or each full
hour and in between reports in politics, sports and
other actual fields of information. The following
functionality is available for running a news
department in the radio station including a
versatile module for the ON-AIR delivery of the
information content.
The News Browser of the DIGISPOT®II RNews system provides access to the actual
incoming news material as well as to the news
archive.
The presentation of the incoming news reports
is following the international standards
indicating the day and the daytime the source
and the headline with the next two following
lines of the text which normally are being used
as Slug lines in which the keywords are listed
to which the search filter can refer to.
The GUI for the news journalist offers a
versatile set of different configurations for the
fast and secure content the user is orientated
Page 21 of 49
to for the type of news he is working with. The
categories for the source can be selected
followed by the selection of the resort and priority
being set by for the specific reports.
The individual user can set filters for a key
search whereby the key can be a keyword or any
kind of symbol or number as it used, by example
to mark a priority message. The search function
accesses the full text of the messages. Priority or
emergency
messages
are
automatically
recognised by the system and a notice will be
indicated as a pop-up on the screen of the user
and there is also the possibility to generate a
command for a GPO, activate an alarm system
as a flashlight in the newsroom.
2.27.3 The DIGISPOT®II Video Logger
For the news department it is common practise
to use the TV News and actual Information as
source for the radio newscast. For this it is very
helpful to have a workstation with video ingest
possibilities for up to four channels to
automatically record video signal and the related
audio, whereby the audio is stored as a separate
file in the MDB for direct editing with the BCS
editor. On each workstation in the news
department a Video Logger client is installed
which provides the possibility for the journalist to
access the recorded video and audio selected by
the TV station and the time of transmission.
2.27.4 The News Text Editor
The DIGISPOT®II News Editor for text editing as
an integrated tool in the system allows for a very
smooth and effective workflow in the news
department. It is possible to load a number of
reports and start editing the text for the newscast
and if in case more detailed information has to
be researched where the answer will come some
minutes later, the next story can be addressed in
the meantime. If an O-Soundtrack is part of the
news text, this soundtrack can be inserted within
the related text file at the position where the
soundtrack should be started during the
newscast presentation.
The completed news items are stored in the
database for a chief operator to place them in the
ON-AIR news agenda schedule or the journalist
can place them from any workstation direct in the
next
actual news agenda or any agenda
schedule ahead of time.
2.27.5 The News Agenda, News reading
from screen with integrated Audio
The news ON-AIR agenda can be called up on
the second screen of the main ON-AIR station if
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web : www.tract.ru
the moderator in a self –op studio is presenting
the news cast and the reports, or on a separate
workstation and screen in the news booth
separated from the ON-AIR studio. The main
feature of the agenda ON-AIR presentation
software is the combined handling of the text and
related audio elements on the news reading
screen.
In the sequence of the text elements, the audio
Elements are indicated by a coloured line at the
position of the text where the audio is scheduled
to be played. The coloured line is showing the title
and the length of the audio element and also the
last words in the audio, so that the presenter
knows when to start reading again.
possible to determine the compression ratio,
shelf life and other parameters.
The number of recording modules present in
the system is unlimited, so it is possible to set
up multi channel recording of the signal.
A logger client software module can be
obtained for any workstation in the radio
station network system providing easy access
for the program department for checking and
re-use of material also to assemble sequences
of commercial play out for customer reference.
2.29 CD Grabber
2.28 ON-AIR Audio Logger
This module is used to record the signal from the
workstation’s external to the hard disk
automatically. A typical application is the aroundthe-clock
high-compression
recording
of
broadcast material and its subsequent long term
storage (up to 8 weeks) for the content control
purposes as required by the Legislation regarding
mass media. Another common application is the
high-quality recording of broadcast fragments for
subsequent playback or for using the recorded
material to prepare your own programs.
The recording panel of the application contains an
extensive set of parameters. Turning recording
on/off can be initiated according to a schedule,
using a specific signal level at the input or by GPI
command. The system can use one stereo input
as two independent mono inputs and can record
different programs with independent settings. It is
This module is used to import information from
audio CDs into files. During the copying
process, the signal can be normalized,
compression into MPEG performed, gaps at
the beginning and the end of the track
removed e.g. The application automatically
accesses a CD database on the internet and
reads information from it about track names,
performers and the like. The imported
information can be automatically added to the
specified MDB categories.
Remark :
It is not possible to use this tool for protected
CD’s
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web : www.tract.ru
3.
The Structure of Radio Stations
The details of the new DIGISPOT®II II system have been defined by the requirement for a smooth
and fast workflow for production and ON-AIR delivery for radio stations.
The DIGISPOT®II software development in cooperation with international experts in concept
engineering for the radio industry provides a wide range of technology and tools for automation,
providing the basis for adequate and modern design of all kinds of radio station structures.
When planning to renovate the station or replace equipment, the technology already in place at the
radio station has to be taken in account in conjunction with the intention for improvements the new
installations should provide. If the radio station is going to broadcast live programs, then it is
necessary, by all means, to provide live-program support. Live ON-AIR broadcasts require DJ live
inserts for informational and promotional messages, microphone inserts for moderators and guests in
the studio, the ability to broadcast telephone conversation ON-AIR e.g. The software of the radio
station operating system and an adequate ON-AIR mixing console should be selected as an inter –
coordinated system for an easy going and efficient live program presentation.
The automation functionality of the software system provides considerable cost savings for radio
station by pre-produced ON-AIR schedules. A workstation together with a small mixing console can
be used for pre-production including inserting of commercials, news and other kinds of broadcast
material.
The type of program and its list of content does finally define the size of system installation in regard
to software and hardware. The range of program content will be defined by the general orientation of
the radio station to be a music station or a 24 hour news and information provider, or a combination
of both in different percentages of both, for music and news.
The choice of the program type will determine the needed production capacity in personal
employment and the technical installation, which will allow to avoid missing equipment for an efficient
workflow or unnecessary investment in not fully used workplaces This to the same time, to allow for
the full installation of necessary technology for aiding in production and maintaining the necessary
reserve capabilities. To follow this needs will be supported by a flexible and modular designed
software package like DIGISPOT®II which is providing a comprehensive number of building blocks to
assist for a stepping up process from the smallest functional radio station to grow up in a radio house
installation with a future prove technology.
The main points to be looked at for the definition of the radio station structure is the daily broadcast
volume and the amount of its content, that will involve the station production capacity. This parameter
influences the volume of resources necessary and the quantity and balance of various workplaces in
the nowadays type of modern radio stations.
The correlation between various types of broadcast materials in the program, as music, news,
commercials and pre-produced programs defines the genre of a radio station and influences the
structure of the whole.
The number of workplaces and employments of the station and its investment on system technology
will also depend on the time frames with live moderated programs and time shifts with VoiceTrack
prepared programs running in automation.
Finally the necessary investment will depend upon the type of material intended to be produced in
house as commercials, news, music play-lists, pre-produced theme programs e.g. Buying external
content material and in what form, can be considered also. For this the software system has to have
the right tools to support the transfer of data and content an automated procedure in data
communications with these third party deliveries.
Retransmission of a frame program is a choice for stations being organized in a radio station chain
just efficiently equipped to provide the program content as news and reports which is orientated to the
local area at the position of the station.
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The structure of the DIGISPOT®II task related software packages provide always the right building
blocks for an optimized workflow and efficiency for each size and type of radio station.
The following samples might help to orientate the general structure of the intended installation.
3.1 Average Music and News Radio
Station
Such radio station broadcasts its own program
around the clock. Music is used as a
background element for ON-AIR decoration.
Information content: news, city info (traffic,
weather, sports), pre-produced thematic programs
e.g.
ON-AIR workstation
Music play-list generation workstation MAG
Commercial-planning workstation: schedule
preparation station plus schedule and data
import option.
Journalist workstation (2 stations), audio editing
station, plus schedule editing option.
ON-AIR recording: logger
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3.2 Average Music Radio Station
This is a typical musical radio station for mediumsized and large big cities. It broadcasts its own
programming 24-hours-a-day The main part of
the content is provided by music of a particular
format.
The news content for such stations is in many
cases delivered by news agencies as complete
recorded Newscasts which can be automatically
imported from a FTP server to the place holder of
the news in the ON-AIR schedule just a minute
before the actual ON-AIR time.
The radio automation system consists of 4
working places:
ON-AIR workstation
Musical play-list generation workstation MAG
Commercial-planning
workstation:
schedule
preparation station plus schedule and data import
option.
ON-AIR recording workstation: Logger.
web : www.tract.ru
3.3 Small Retransmission Radio
Station.
Based on the DIGISPOT®II retransmission
software package a framing program delivered by
means of a satellite transfer or via a codec
system over the Internet, will be connected
automatically to the transmitter line by the ONAIR workstation. Only for the insertion of local
program content at the defined time frames the
DIGISPOT®II software does switch over the
transmitter line to the output of the local ON–AIR
schedule for transmitting the local content like
commercials and local pre-produced news and
reports.
The second production workstation is used for
the local ON-AIR schedule preparation including
the audio elements for the commercials and
reports. The DIGISPOT®II software also provides
the settings for the switching logistics and the
data for automatically organised import of the
commercials to the local storage.
Both computers are connected to the local
network. The second workstation may have a
separate traffic manager application for the
generation of a commercial schedule and its
export to an ASCII file.
The DIGISPOT®II commercial data management
system can also be installed on this workstation.
The ON-AIR workstation should have a digital
audio card corresponding to the needed
functionality of crossfading between the play out
signal from the local hard disk and the audio
card input signal , e.g. Digigram VX222, Marian
trace Pro or Trace Alpha as well as the Yellowtec
PUC 2 USB audio play out unit. The planning
workstation may use any sound card for the prelistening function.
3.4
Auto Retransmission
This product is designed for networked regional
radio stations retransmitting a frame program
while inserting fully automated their local
commercials, news e.g. It consists of a single
ON-AIR workstation with DJiN 777 software
package .
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4.
The Environment for the DIGISPOT®II Software Installation
The very high demand for the system stability in a radio station to secure the steady presence of the ONAIR signal will not only be dependent on the quality of the software design and it’s bug-free performance
as it can be expected from the DIGISPOT®II application, it is also very much dependent on the computer
hardware and its performance.
The first and very basic condition will be that the computer units should be installed in a so called
centralized rack room. This room should have an extra air conditioning system which also will protect the
room from dust and other problems as to high humidity.
Also the ventilation noise of the computer hardware will not be able to build up a noise floor in the ON-AIR
studio and the production rooms which can later be recognized as a room noise floor ON-AIR, or on the
produced material.
In case the distance from the central rack–room is too long for the standard VGA monitor and keyboard
mouse cabling and even a passive extension which is normally not possible for more than 3 to 5 meters,
so called keyboard video-monitor extension systems can be used for distances to 50 and more meter,
using CAT 5e network cable. Nowadays these distance extender units are mostly used for USB ports.
It will be recommended always to refer to an expert with related skills and experience to prepare such
qualified environment conditions for a secure and long term performing technical installation.
The direct related hardware system requirements for the workstations including the needed audio cards
and the network installation will be briefly described in the following Position.
4.1 General Equipment Requirements
The DIGISPOT®II radio automation system
creates high reliability requirements for
computer hardware. In order to provide for the
handling of audio MPEG or PCM streams, you
don’t need the most modern processor or
fastest RAM. But the hardware must provide
continuous fail-safe functionality for the system
in the course of long-term operation. We
recommend using equipment from well-known
manufacturers that has already proved its
quality and reliability. We recommend
performing tests on this equipment in severe
conditions during a long period to ensure
concordance with the declared characteristics.
Special attention is required when setting up the
device
drivers
and
operating
system
parameters. Incorrect settings may lead to nonsystematic failures while ON-AIR.
ON-AIR computers should use a multilayer
reserve system: uninterrupted power supplies, 2
or 3 power supplies in the case of one computer
as, additional ventilation fans, a temperature
and power-control system and a fan-speed
indication system.
For the comfort and convenience of the ON-AIR
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operator, we recommend using 2 and 3 monitor
configurations. This helps to provide the most
necessary information on monitors in an
adequate and understandable format and with
eye-friendly density.
We recommend setting up ON-AIR material and
the system root directory at a separate file server
on the basis of RAID massive. Total storage
space can be calculated out of the needed ONAIR material volume and audio bit rate.
4.2 General minimum requirements for
the PC:
The DIGISPOT®II BASIC software application
has been designed to work on the standard
Computer hardware with the Windows™
operating system XP professional or Windows
7 in near future.
The experience has been made at many
installations, that the big player in computer
manufacturing deliver, like HP or
Dell,appropriate units which can fulfil the
following described minimum condition to run
the software.
Such suppliers do offer also a more than two
years onsite warranty within a very short time
to repair or exchange the defect system.
web : www.tract.ru
4.2.1 ON-AIR Station:
CPU: PIV and higher, RAM: minimal
requirements for operating system +512 MB,
HDD: +128 MB + reserve system
requirements (= daily ON-AIR material volume
x times and x number of days to be reserved).
4.2.2 Planning Station:
HDD: +128 MB
4.2.3 Editing Station:
HDD: +128 MB + locally stored audio material
volume.
4.2.4 Audio Logger :
HDD: +64 MB + space for storage of recorded
material during needed time frame.
4.2.5 Retransmission Station:
HDD: +128 MB + reserve system
requirements (= daily ON-AIR material volume
x time and x number of days to be reserved).
4.3 Conditions for Network
Performance
Requirements for the components of the local
network can be formulated as follows:
component characteristics must correspond to
the parameters declared by the component
manufacturers.
The most important factor here is network
throughput:
It
should
correspond
to
broadcasting requirements. If playback is
taking place from the file server, then the
stream between the file server and the ON-AIR
workstation may reach 500-700 KB/sec (if
working with non-compressed audio). In order
to facilitate this, you can use 10MB/sec
networks. But, in this case, there should be no
other workstation that can overload the
channel file server – ON-AIR workstation. We
recommend using networks with 100MB/sec
throughput.
A very important parameter for the network is
the network file access timeout (file read, write
and open requests). Incorrect network settings
may result in ON-AIR failures! That is why it is
strongly recommended to provide conflict-free
network settings. The average response
network time to read/write requests should not
exceed 100 milliseconds, and the average
response network time to open/create file
should not exceed 200 milliseconds. Breaking
this rule may lead to interface freezing for
random applications. In the case of relatively
long freezing, ON-AIR gaps may occur. Such
things happen often in office networks, but
they are not catastrophic and are often not
even noticeable. But they must not happen at
a radio station, when an ON-AIR gap is
audible and disturbing.
The DIGISPOT®II radio automation system
works on the Windows XP operating systems,
which is recommend for systems with digital
audio and video Signal handling.
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4.4 Digital Audio Cards
The DIGISPOT®II radio automation system can work with any kind of digital audio card that is supported
by the Windows operating system as an audio device and which can be accessed by a user application.
After installation of the digital audio card, check the sounds and multimedia section of the control panel
(bookmark “Audio”). If it indicates that the card is installed, then you can count on the application
working with this card with high probability. Nevertheless, they’re a lot of specific details and nuances
with various digital audio cards from different manufacturers. These nuances can be discovered at the
most inappropriate moments, so we recommend studying this part attentively.
As long as the manufacturer does provide a qualified and reliable ASIO driver for his audio cards the
DIGISPOT®II system has no limitations to work with the selected cards.
In the following an overview is given for the manufacturers based on made experiences
4.4.1 DIGIGRAM
DIGIGRAM is a well-known French company that
designs and manufactures digital audio cards for
radio broadcasting and radio production.
DIGIGRAM cards are most widely used in the
European radio industry. DIGIGRAM provides
API, which makes it possible for other companies
to use the internal capabilities of its cards.
DIGIGRAM provides a wide choice of digital
audio cards. They can be used on any type of
workstation. The high quality mixer in VX-series
cards allows you to use them at retransmission
radio stations.
4.4.2 Marian - Digital Audio Electronics
The product range of audio cards Marian has
developed to a wide range of adequate audio
cards since CAPS made the first approach to
use the Marc X card for Applications in the
broadcast industry.
The meanwhile developed spate of TRACE cards
from Marian with balanced analog in- and outputs
and or AES/EBU in-and outputs provide a perfect
opportunity to equip all different type of
workstations with the adequate solution for the for
the type of application it is determined for, just
using one brand of audio cards with a very good
relationship between price and quality.
All cards have DSP power on board allowing level
control and on board mixing. Ideal for multi
channel play out with remote controlled level
control and cross-fading.
Marian does provide API support
Positive points:
Good price/quality ratio
Availability of digital inputs and outputs (SPDIF
optical and coaxial, ADAT).
For the Marc X card for multi channel play out in
conjunction with the Marian ADCON breakout box
Page 30 of 49
4.4.3 RME – Intelligent Audio Solutions
This
German
company
designs
and
manufactures digital audio cards of good studio
quality. The main product is the Hammerfall
series of multi channel (up to 56) cards. For the
radio broadcast industry, DIGI96/8 cards (PST
and PAD) can be used, as well as Hammerfall
DSP. The cards feature analogue input/output,
coaxial and optical SPDIF, ADAT, and may be
used at editing, planning, ON-AIR workstations.
Due to digital I/O, they can be used in a studio
with a digital mixing console.
Positive points:
High quality audio and high hardware reliability
Good driver quality
Advanced interfaces
Good price/quality ratio
4.4.4 Lynx Studio Technology
Lynx provides multi channel professional cards
with mostly digital I/O of good quality. Their cards
can be used for radio broadcasting. We primarily
recommend Lynx AES 16 and Lynx L22.
4.4.5 Creative Labs
This manufacturer is probably the best-known in
the world. Their cards feature good quality and
reliability, but at the consumer level. During
recent years, they have introduced several series
of cards for the consumer market: SBLive, SB
Audigy, SB Audigy 2 and SB Extigy. SBLive can
be used for the pre-listening system at any
working place. It can also be used at Logger
workstations, due to possibility of installing
several cards in one computer (the last version of
drivers supports multi card modes). Audigy cards
can be used on simple editing workstations and
simple musical editor workstations.
web : www.tract.ru
4.4.6 Yellowtec
In such cases where the given circumstances will
make it preferable not to install an extra audio card
inside the computer the USB audio interface box
PUC 2 from the German company Yellowtec is a
perfect and suitable alternative:
4.4.7 M-Audio
Recognized around the world as the top choice in
host-based PCI digital audio solutions, the rackmount Delta 1010 is designed to handle the needs
of the professional broadcast system. The Delta
1010LT delivers much of the same universal
connectivity,
high
fidelity
and
seamless
performance as the popular Delta 1010 on a single
PCI card—and at a fraction of the price. Multiple
analogue I/O, MIDI, S/PDIF and surround sound
support are all here. Two inputs even have
mic/line preamps on XLR connectors, saving the
expense of outboard preamps. It’s all on a
compact, half-size PCI card with two colour-coded
breakout cables..
4.5 Remote Control
Remote control can be understood as the control
of certain software modules (functions) of the radio
broadcast system from external hardware devices
– consoles, key panels e.g.
There is a set of commands provided by remote
control devices that can be interpreted by all
virtual players and schedule modules (Fader start,
Fader stop, PFL start, PFL stop). Some specific
commands can be interpreted by certain players
only. There is also a standard set of general
commands that can be interpreted by the base
platform of applications.
Commands are delivered to the computer with the
help of the GPI (General Purpose Interface).
Software modules that can interpret remote control
commands may be configured for specific actions
assigned to certain commands. Several remote
control devices can be used simultaneously in one
system.
The general block diagram of a remote control
interface is presented below.
In order to provide remote control for a certain
function, you have to connect the hardware
remote control device, install drivers (if this is
necessary), choose the configuration file
describing the method of device initialization
and data protocol (if needed) and assign GPI
commands to system functions.
At present, we are using LPT, COM and USB
interfaces to provide communication between
the computer and the remote control device.
LPT devices require a special driver that
provides the generation of a remote command
out of the contact closures on the LPT
connector. COM port devices do not require a
special driver, but each device needs a
configuration file (cdu-file) describing the
method of initialization of the device and data
protocol. This file will be used by DIGISPOT®II
applications. USB devices require a driver
converting the external signal to a remote
command
and
a
cdu-file
describing
communication with the USB device.
All remote control devices can be classified as:
ON-AIR consoles: each channel provides
Fader-start/stop and PFL start/stop signals.
They are usually connected to an LPT port. If
the number of channels is more as can be
covered by the limitation given by the LPT port,
we use special hardware-extension modules
that are connected to USB or COM ports.
Page 31 of 49
4.5.1 USB to GPI/O Interface for 8 In
andOut
Part of the DIGISPOT®II product line is the TP
314 USB interface converter with 8 GPI/O per
unit available as a small aluminium box with a
mounting bracket which can easily be mounted at
a place near to the connected equipment. It is
also available as a slot mountable PC card for a
PC slot position.
The very flexible RS232 and/or TCP/IP protocol
can be adjusted to communicate with various
pieces of equipment including the input for fader
control information from mixing console which
can provide the fader position as serial data,
including the possibility to read the dynamic fader
level control for performing the Voice-Track
function in live mode operation.
4.5.2 ON-AIR Mixer Eela D3 with USB
Interface
4.5.3 VoiceTrack 4 Fader Unit for manual
Control of Cross fade
A special 4 fader remote control unit to provide
manual fade out and in for the Voice-Track
recording module can be obtained also from the
DIGISPOT product line.
The
dynamic
level
movement is stored as
separate data to the ONAIR schedule for playback
in automation mode
Other well known digital
mixing consoles as DHD
and D.MAX from Germany
and AXIA form USA are
also fully controllable from
the DIGISPOT®II system to the console and from
the console to the DIGISPOT®II Software
system.
External key panels can be connected via a
COM port. They feature sets of buttons oriented
toward universal or specific functions. Usually
depressing a button once results in a single
remote command.
Most often these functions are used for remote
control as
Playback start/stop of virtual players for fader
start/stop commands from a mixing console.
PFL start/stop from mixing console modules for
the pre-listening of audio elements that are
loaded into virtual players.
Jingle-machine control commands.
Schedule-navigation commands.
Start-point search-module commands.
As example the new Eela D3 digital mixing
console is fully interfaced, even providing the
fader position for producing VoiceTrack
preproduction by means of the fader for fade in
and out and cross-fades.
5.
Selection of Screenshots of the DIGISPOT®II Software package
The screenshots on the following pages are selected for the most important system functions to give a
first overview to the functionality and features the system provides for an easy and intuitive handling by
the system operators in a radio station.
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web : www.tract.ru
6.
Personal Remarks and Notes
interstage
Phistersvej 31, 2900 Hellerup, Danmark
Telefon 3946 0000, fax 3946 0040
www.interstage.dk
- pro audio with a smile
Page 49 of 49

Eela Audio DIGISPOT II brochure

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