Simultaneous Playback - Advice Please

[sdgard]

Our broadcaster 2MBS-FM, Sydney is contemplating the purchase of RadioBOSS. As one of their Presenters I have been tasked with investigating the software, and have some questions. Please note that we are a Classical Music station, with volunteer staff. We present by reading scripts, so the time between tracks varies, and when we come to the end of a program, we have to calculate the time left and add filler.

My first question is, How to play two music tracks at once.

Why would we do that? I’ll explain.

Here’s a scenario:

1. Currently playing track will end at 11:57:12
2. Therefore, we need 2 minutes and 48 seconds of material to bring the program to a precise end at 12:00:00
3. There is a promo scheduled at this time. It’s 37 seconds long.
4. Subtract that from the 2:48 needed. Now we need only 2 minutes and 11 seconds, and we use filler music for that.

HOWEVER
We choose filler music 2 minutes and 30 seconds long, and start it early, i.e. at 11:56:53.

So it goes like this:
1. Music playing to air from Studio A ends.
2. Presenter back-announces.
3. Presenter brings up ‘filler’ music (which was started while the other track was playing to air) and announces next program.
4. Filler music plays out. Promo plays to air.
5. Program ends on the dot of 12:00:00. Next program begins from Studio B.

At present the ‘filler’ is played from a separate source, through its own fader.
I tried to do this in RadioBOSS with two playlists 1. and 2., but as soon as I clicked on the filler plus promo in Playlist 2, the Playlist 1 item stopped.

So advice please. How can I get Radio Boss to play two tracks at the same time, through two separate faders?

Stephen Gard
2MBS Fine Music, Sydney.

 

[Guillaume]

(The DJSoft team will answer your questions soon.)

You can play as many audio tracks as you want in RadioBOSS: the Playlist, the Cart Wall, and the AUX Playlist.
Adjust the audio output settings in "Settings" => "Playback." This allows you to control the audio output level of each element from your mixing console.

For example, music track 1 is playing in the Cart Wall (Studio A).

To automate the end of the hour, I suggest creating a multi-action event in the Scheduler that includes the "filler" music and the promo. The duration would be 3 minutes and 7 seconds. The event should therefore be triggered with the "Run scheduled launch without waiting for current track to finish" option enabled at 11:56:53.

Or, better still, select the "Start earlier to make it end at Start Time" option. In this case, the event should start at 12:00:00. This is simpler and avoids calculation errors.

The advantage: the presenter doesn't have to worry about manually starting this section. The software will do it. They'll only need to adjust the volume of the playlist section when they want.

This is just my suggestion, and other solutions exist in RadioBOSS. Other users employ various techniques.

 

[sdgard]

This is excellent advice. Thank you for this solution. I have now discovered also that it is possible - and permissible - to run multiple instances of RadioBOSS in one machine, with separate outputs assigned to each.

Stephen Gard