Manual Operation with a Live Presenter

[radiodungog]

Dmitry,

We are doing more and more live shows using RadioBOSS.  Our setup is simple:

1. Studio mixer desk has inputs for presenter and guest microphones and an input for RadioBOSS
2. Output of studio mixer goes via an audio compressor limiter to the transmitter link
3. RadioBOSS is configured with the scheduler inserting playlists and adverts and news bulletins automatically
4. Scheduler is turned "On" and "Manual" is unticked
5. To make a live announcement the Presenter clicks on the "pause" button while the last song is playing.  RB pauses and allows him to make an announcement.  He clicks on the "play" button to start the next song.
6. The scheduler inserts adverts and the news automatically during the live show.
7. If a song is playing the inserts from the scheduler work well
8. If the presenter has operated the "pause" button and is mid-way through a live announcement and the scheduler inserts an advert block the advert block will start to play immediately over the top of the presenter - even though the "pause" button was still operated.

I am unclear on exactly what the "Manual" tick box does.  I'm assuming it's supposed to help us operate with a live presenter.

Obviously we don't want the scheduler inserted adverts to immediately start to play over the top of the live presenter announcement.

Is there an easy way to fix this ?


Thanks, Jamie C.

 

[djsoft]

Jamie,

8. If the presenter has operated the "pause" button and is mid-way through a live announcement and the scheduler inserts an advert block the advert block will start to play immediately over the top of the presenter - even though the "pause" button was still operated.

RadioBOSS 4.9 has this one fixed. If playlist is paused, scheduler won't unpause it when starting an event. Bad news it's still in beta...

I am unclear on exactly what the "Manual" tick box does.  I'm assuming it's supposed to help us operate with a live presenter.

"Manual" will just show that event is supposed to start, but won't actually start it. To start event in this mode, select an event in the list and click Run Now.

 

[radiodungog]

Dmitry,

That's great news which will mean our live presenters will start smiling again instead of looking puzzled and frustrated.


Thanks, Jamie C.

 

[djsoft]

That's great news which will mean our live presenters will start smiling again instead of looking puzzled and frustrated.

If things are that bad, you should consider updating to beta version It has some bugs, but pretty usable.

 

[radiodungog]

Dmitry,

When is version 4.9 due out ?  We might be better to wait.  Our live breakfast presenter gets around the problem by turning off the scheduler.  Not a good strategy at all


Thanks,  Jamie C.

 

[djsoft]

4.9 will be released in April, at leas it's planned so...

 

[radiodungog]

Dmitry,

Another thought after doing another live shift with RadioBOSS today.

It would be very useful to have a large Auto / Manual button on the visible part of the RB screen.

When I say Auto / Manual I mean automatic operation / live presenter operation.

And the difference between the two is is probably limited to which buttons the live presenter uses to control playing the playlist AND whether the silence detector is enabled or not.

Obviously when in manual mode the silence detector needs to be disabled to allow pauses in audio with the presenter OR in our case - no audio at all from the presenter as we input that directly into a mixer after RB.

Then once in auto mode the silence detector is activated again.

And in manual mode I normally use the pause button and the play button rather than the play and stop button because RB can pause or stop the music track much more accurately than I can do it.


Does this sound like a good option ?


Thanks,  Jamie C

 

[djsoft]

Jamie,

It's a good option, and I think it's already present in RB
The "Stop after this track" is very close to Manual mode you're asking.
If you have this button pressed:
- Silence Detector is disabled (you'll still see "Silence Detector: Enabled" in the status bar, but it won't action)
- Player won't advance automatically to the next track

 

[radiodungog]

Dmitry,

Very interesting.  Well if that is the case a large automatic / manual button next to the clock on the top left side might be very handy.

==========
|  Automatic  |
==========
|    Manual      |
==========


Active = green

Inactive = grey

Toggle action = Toggle from automatic to manual in a single click, a second click on an active selection sets the button to grey - so both buttons on grey is possible

Automatic:  RB operates automatically as normal with silence detector

Manual:  RB operates manually in live presenter mode with silence detector deactivated

Off (both grey):  Scheduler disabled (unticked) and Player stopped



When we are presenting live we only ever use two player buttons:

1. The "Stop playback after the current track" button (I have incorrectly referred to this as the "Pause" button in previous posts)

2. The "Play" button


However, we are unnecessarily busy with the mouse moving the mouse from one button to the other whilst trying to make a live announcement or an introduction to the next music track.  Using a mouse or keyboard while presenting live is a very difficult job - push buttons like those on an audio mixer panel are much more user friendly than using a mouse.

I'm thinking that a duplicated set of player controls for live presentation would be an easier solution and less confusing.  They could be located in a small block to the right of the existing player controls.

Only three controls would be necessary:

1. Play

2. Stop after current track

3. Stop


Maybe even just two controls (I'm not absolutely sure that this logic works):

1. Play / Stop after current track (button changes function after the track has stopped)

2. Stop (immediately)



The Automatic / Manual buttons (icons) are also an excellent indicator to the presenter so he knows what mode RB is in when he starts and finishes his shift.  When completing his shift it would be a great advantage to flick the switch to "Automatic" and see that it is in that mode as he walks out of the studio.  It's more of a confirmation than anything else. 


What do you think ?



Jamie C.

 

[djsoft]

Jamie,

I just found a 2 year old thread about the same thing: http://www.djsoft.net/smf/index.php/topic,978.msg4352.html#msg4352
This thread has many good ideas (with pictures! ) - some of them were already implemented, like the Now Playing bar, some are still in the queue.

The Manual/Auto thing is planned for the future, RB 5.0 I think - everything you wrote in this thread will be also considered during development.

For the Manual (Live) mode: there are hot keys for play/pause/next/stop and you can reassign them. Hot keys are faster than the mouse. To "stop immediately", without crossfade, click Stop button twice.

Apart from indication that you're in "Live" mode - when you have 'Stop after this track' pressed - is it enough for Manual/Live operation? Or something is missing?

 

[radiodungog]

Dmitry,

That is an interesting post.  I haven't seen that before and there is a lot to read so I'll do that on a PC tomorrow instead of on this iPad.

Yes, there are lots of similarities.  It's interesting that the keyboard shortcuts are faster than the mouse and screen.  We have already made up a pushbutton box that emulates those shortcut keys so we might try using that again too.

I'll read the whole article tomorrow.


Thanks,  Jamie C.