Hour markers

djsp1

Member
Thanks for all of the fixes and updates! Going to test tonight.

Since I'm new to Beta testing RadioBoss software, can someone please tell me if there is a way to use an "hour marker" or similar to tighten up playlists?
 
Hour Marker Within Playlists
Currently not, but we'll be adding hour markers in 6.0.1 or maybe even in this beta if there's a demand for it.
I for one would absolutely support hourly markers. The way the Playlist is created at the moment is structured not too bad, but just not structured as good as it could be, thus needs improving.
When creating a Playlist with hourly markers, it enables you to start the hour off after the News, Weather etc. (voicing in other words), always with strong upbeat fast track. Right now you have the possibility of a slow paced song starting off the hour, and this does not sound good. I cringe when it happens.
We need to have each hour worked out absolutely to a tee as to how we want it to sound.
Hourly structures would just make such a difference for our listeners. Well maybe more for me to put a smile on my face, if I am being absolutely honest about it :)
So if possible I would like to see it added to Beta 6.
PS
This is actually something I have asked for before, so maybe its been on your list somewhere.
 
There's an idea to implement this like Comments, but added automatically to the playlist. So you will see where each hour starts. The calculations will be based on the Start Time. What do you think?
I am not sure that you and I are thinking exactly alike on this. But at least something like Comments would be at least a good start method, albeit sounding very manual (my impression of thinking how you envisage it will work).
However what I am thinking of is something more automatic, like as an example the Command "resetplayedstate" (which works extremely well in a rotating playlist I use) as a visible marker (with its hour showing) whereby when it activates in the playlist (probably it would activate exactly on the hour or just before) and "jumps" to the next hour (bypassing anything remaining in the playlist that is a Music Track BUT retaining any forthcoming Scheduled Events) and retains forthcoming hours (with hour markers) in the Playlist.

There will need to be access to the future hours of a Playlist for those who want to record voice breaks. And markers to show what hour you are seeing to record or place this in.
 
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There's no manual work involved. It can simply insert markers when different hours start - automatically. It's only indicating the hour bounds - nothing else, playback order is not going to be changed.
Thank you for the clarification.
It does seem we are somewhat thinking alike then... altho clearly not fully alike. Full automation for the hour marker bringing in and stepping up/introducing the next hour is what I am wishing for, leaving overplay items from the previous hour unplayed and discarded.
Are we still thinking for your version of hour automation being implemented in Ver 6 then ?
 
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Discarding items is a questionable feature. Hour markers should only mark - not remove anything or modify the playlist or perform other actions.
I'll see if it would be possible to add in this version as an experimental feature. We'll see where to move from there.
I try to suggest things to try and evolve Radioboss to a better place than where it sits now. I don't do it just to be annoying. My ideas come from good places, and from a lot of experience in Radio.
You see discarding items as questionable, but I would see it as a dramatic improvement. Software I used 24 years ago did it. Other software available today does it. However it doesn't mean that the choice of removal, or not, could not be made optional.
Whether you uplift those ideas is up to you I guess, I can only suggest improvements, not mandate them.
But at least what you suggest is a start, but does, in my view, need further evolvement.
 
Further to my Post on Hourly Markers.
One of the things I see this leading to is Remote Voice-tracking. Its now becoming quite common for DJ's/Announcers to do their shifts from home. Absolutely has dramatically increased where I live since Covid-19.
This requires a tight hourly schedule for the remote people to see, one hour at a time, to record the voice breaks, and also mention the current time which is on their playlist schedule updating all the time whilst recording as the time moves with recorded voice tracks. Plus the remote person has the ability to add music to the schedule, for artists who have may have passed for example, or newly released artists out with a new song.
This also requires markers for News and Weather to be inserted at the top of the hour, /Half Hour News and Weather, all of which are usually a set time length with some slight degree of changeability.
And all of this is recorded locally, then "changes/additions only" to the hour of the playlist are streamed back to base via the internet.
The ability to do this would be a great move forward for Radioboss. Its certainly not going to be a detriment but a really good and vital plus.
But it needs to start off with hourly markers, and then evolve much further as I have suggested in my previous Post. The markers are just the start.
 
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You see discarding items as questionable, but I would see it as a dramatic improvement. Software I used 24 years ago did it. Other software available today does it. However it doesn't mean that the choice of removal, or not, could not be made optional.
Yes, it could be optional. If I understood right, what you propose is that once it reaches the hour marker, it removes everything above it in the playlist, leaving only the upcoming hour?

One of the things I see this leading to is Remote Voice-tracking
I'm not sure why it's connected to hour markers - remote voice tracking should allow inserting voice tracks remotely, so the markers would only be used to easier locate the position for inserting? There's Start Time column for that. Remote voice tracking is interesting, and I think we'll add it soon.
 
Yes, it could be optional. If I understood right, what you propose is that once it reaches the hour marker, it removes everything above it in the playlist, leaving only the upcoming hour?
I support this idea, I find it very interesting .. Widely used in other software
 

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Yes, it could be optional. If I understood right, what you propose is that once it reaches the hour marker, it removes everything above it in the playlist, leaving only the upcoming hour?

I'm not sure why it's connected to hour markers - remote voice tracking should allow inserting voice tracks remotely, so the markers would only be used to easier locate the position for inserting? There's Start Time column for that. Remote voice tracking is interesting, and I think we'll add it soon.
Hourly Markers
Yes. Removes previous hour unused Music Tracks and any old unused (not possibly expired) Scheduled Events.

Remote Voice Tracking
The remote person needs to be presented with just one hour at a time. No longer than that otherwise it causes confusion (for time especially). They don't see the whole Playlist, just the hour they are going to work on. When they finish that hour they move onto the next one that they will work on.
This will mean some changes for you in that this hour will also need to contain Scheduled Events for that hour. Most likely these will be just markers indicating the expected circa event length and what it is.
Right now Scheduled events just pop up and/or retire, but here you will need to see ahead of time what they are.
But not necessarily the event itself, but just a marker with Event Name and expected time duration.
Like "News - 2mins", "Weather - 1min 30 secs", "Ski Report - 3 mins" and so on. Any of these events will only be one's that take some time. Any of those events will normally be pre-recorded elsewhere, or 3rd Party, and will just be automatically inserted as the Playlist evolves for its turn on-air.
Things short term, like say Sweepers are so short lived, maybe 5 to 10 secs, and will just need an indicator in the Playlist only, "Sweeper".
 
Yes. Removes previous hour unused Music Tracks and any old unused (not possibly expired) Scheduled Events.
What about using the top of the hour event with "Clear playlist" option - wouldn't it be about the same?

Right now Scheduled events just pop up and/or retire, but here you will need to see ahead of time what they are.
This is how RadioBOSS works fundamentally. I don't think changing this is really possible as we need to maintain backward compatibility and changing the essentials of how it works is not what I'd like to happen.

But not necessarily the event itself, but just a marker with Event Name and expected time duration.
This may be possible for simple events, but when events overlap one another and also there are lots of queue options to consider (insert after event, remove previous events etc).

Remote Voice Tracking
In general, I suppose there should be a voice tracking module, that DJs use to edit the current playlist (or the paret they are allowed to), inserting music, voice tracks and having a basic overview of the events that will launch during this time?

I support this idea, I find it very interesting .. Widely used in other software
What should the TOTH marker do in your opinion?
 
Clear Playlist Option
What about using the top of the hour event with "Clear playlist" option - wouldn't it be about the same?


Reply: Yes it would. But a viewable marker like Nelson C suggests above. A visible one, not hidden as a Command might be. It clears the Playlist and puts a marker in so as the action taken can be seen.

Scheduled Events
This is how RadioBOSS works fundamentally. I don't think changing this is really possible as we need to maintain backward compatibility and changing the essentials of how it works is not what I'd like to happen.

Reply: Possibly you could over come this with a separate Voice Tracking Module


Event Markers
This may be possible for simple events, but when events overlap one another and also there are lots of queue options to consider (insert after event, remove previous events etc).

Reply: Yes, I agree, not easy.
But other software is doing it.
I spoke yesterday with someone who does remote voice breaking and they said events are in the hour that they view for recording, but they said only as markers/indicators.
They record on a Weds for a forthcoming Sunday 6 hour Country Music show.
I think that this software inserts events into the hour when they create a Playlist. The Playlist is one days worth, split in 24 separate hours. They record from 6am to Noon (for Sunday).
They also told me that the hour they have processed gets further updated by events as the days progress. As in there might be a new event say for example, or one deleted, or changed to when it happens.
So bear in mind events will change, will come and go, will evolve according to needs, hence my suggestion of using markers rather than actuals.
What the voice breaker views on a Weds may not be what actually happens on Sunday.
The person does record time in their voice breaks, but not every time they do a voice break.


Voice Tracking Module
In general, I suppose there should be a voice tracking module, that DJs use to edit the current playlist (or the paret they are allowed to), inserting music, voice tracks and having a basic overview of the events that will launch during this time?

Reply: Yes, your on to it. I think this would just have to be a separate module. Something that the voice breaking person installs onto their computer which then connects to base to pick up the hourly playlists.
Hourly Playlists
Yesterday I spoke with 3 people who do voice breaking sessions.
I asked them what they thought about having a long playlist vs an Hourly Playlist.
The consensus of all 3 was "NO WAY" for a long Playlist.
They said that having it hourly just makes the job easier, they know where they are.
Also what I haven't mentioned before is when they add a Music Track in to an hour, its located on their local computer, so when the VB connects to Base, it then copies that track to Base.
So there must be somewhere in Base that its saved to.

Daily Playlists
As you can see from my example above who does days ahead VB's, the Daily Playlists might have to be generated a week in advance for people who do their shows so far in advance.
We would have to move from one big Playlist as is presently produced, to clearly deliniated daily lists split into 24 hours.

Technical Problems
I am sure there will be quite a few, but you have to start somewhere and just overcome these as they arise.
People will have to be tolerant of things not being perfect to start off with.
Its a bit like Beta, you don't sling it into on-air until the bugs are fixed.
I have placed Beta 6 on a test computer, and that is all it does, testing, and if you came out with a VB Module, I would only connect it to the test computer of Radioboss until all was good.
 
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This seems to be way too far from from the initial discussion about hour markers :) What you describe in essense is remote music and playlist management. This will be noted for the future implementation of Remote Voice Tracking module.
 
Righto. We await then, the future VB Module.
At this point please at least, if nothing else, get the hourly markers started. It may not be a huge move, but at least its a start. It should allow you to see the value of 24 hourly scheduling, and from there you might just feel more inspirational seeing just how well it works making that change.
 
What you describe in essense is remote music and playlist management.
No its not... its neither.
It simply presents the ability to Remote VB.
The Remote VBer cannot create a Playlist or manage it, or if they do, its very minimal.
The owner can makes decisions on what the Remote VB'er can do. Like lock the playlist to not allow music track insertions, or conversely to allow it to happen, giving the RBer some freedom in decision making, rather than excluding them altogether.
Most VBer's don't make changes, they just want to get the job done.
 
At this point please at least, if nothing else, get the hourly markers started
I'm not sure about this release. There are lots of bugs to fix in the queue. I think we'll move it to 6.0.1 update.

The owner can makes decisions on what the Remote VB'er can do. Like lock the playlist to not allow music track insertions, or conversely to allow it to happen, giving the RBer some freedom in decision making, rather than excluding them altogether.
While the options are minimal, they still edit the playlist - a part of it, inserting voice tracks and optionally music. I think we'll implement it as a spearate module that uses RadioBOSS API to perform the task.
 
This seems to be way too far from from the initial discussion about hour markers :) What you describe in essense is remote music and playlist management. This will be noted for the future implementation of Remote Voice Tracking module.
Any ideas:

Clearly this would be a perfect way to implement voicetrack. Also applies to remote Voicetrack :D
 
Sorry to insist but I have a new example that is clearly seen.
This tool is ideal for both local and remote use (the example video is about a remote control)

You can see that the moment the recording begins, it attenuates the volume of the track that ends. (Later editable of course)
The next track moves after the voicetrack.
After starting to record, you start listening to the songs by return, which would make a "live effect", now we have two options.
We can stop the recording: which will give way to the next track, or also start the new track, which will start with a low level on the voicetrack (until the recording is finished). In addition, the new track paints the Intro point to be able to stop there.

 
error en cue Sigue Editor.
Si una parte de la pista que comienza está silenciada, la vista previa aún puede escuchar

Estoy dispuesto a trabajar gratis en el código de Sigue Editor. Si está interesado podemos seguir la conversación por correo.:)
 

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I see that it's like using Segue Editor in RadioBOSS that also allows recording voice tracks. The difference here is that the volume of the music is controlled automatically in RadioBOSS and this software is in semi-manual mode.

Remote voice tracking howevder is what not really possible with RadioBOSS at this moment - but we have this feature in mind for the future.
 
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