RADUGA
- Frequently Asked Questions
/ Tips & Tricks / Plug Ins |
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- On which system should I run Raduga for best results?
- How should I encode MP3 files for best results?
- How do I pre-listen a track without broadcasting it?
- How do I play a voice track over a music track?
- Installing Version 3.8 with a dongle
- Live events
- Schedule Playlists
- Changing Playlists
- Schedule Play/Stop Commands
- Schedule Programs
- Independent File Variable Overlap Explained
- Mini-Playlist Explaned
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- I Want To Use Raduga To Just To Run My Scheduled Events
- Dongle explained
- I want to keep informed about Raduga
- What about DirectX Support?
On which system should I run Raduga for best results?
| Processor | Pentium II, Pentium III or Athlon with 400 MHz or faster |
| RAM | 64 MBytes or more |
| Sound Card | SoundBlaster Live or other brand name card |
| Operating System | Windows 2000 or XP or Windows 98/ME/XP |
| Additional Software | Windows Media Player 7.0 (or higher) |
To avoid problems with corrupt or non-standard
MP3 files, it is strongly recommended that you always use the same encoder
software and the same settings to encode your files. Similar considerations
apply to the process of "ripping" tracks from a CD to the hard drive.
For high quality work in an FM environment
under MS Windows,
Audiograbber
is the tool of choice. This very versatile piece
of software grabs digital audio from cd's. It copies the audio digitally
- not through the soundcard - which enables you to make perfect copies
of the originals. The application can also automatically normalize the
music, delete silence from the start and/or end of tracks, and send them
to a variety or internal and external MP3 encoders, such as Fraunhofer,
Lame, Blade, Xing, (and a few more...) for automatic creation of MP3's.
Audiograbber can download and upload disc info from freedb, an Internet
compact disc database. You can even record your vinyl LP's or cassette
tapes and make wav's or MP3's of them. Another very reliable and easy
to use ripper/MP3 encoder is Audio
Catalyst, an application based solely on the very fast Xing codec.
Horses for courses... To mention also that there are some excellent applications
under Linux, i.e. cdparanoia.
The best bitrate depends on the required
quality of your output signal. For AM stations or Internet broadcast a
bitrate of 96 kbit/sec or 128 kbit/sec should be sufficient. High quality
FM stations will want to use at least 192 kbit/sec. Some encoders have an option called "enable
CRC check" or "include checksum data". Consider disabling these options
if you experience problems - under some circumstances, Raduga cannot play
back these files. Finally, be aware that files encoded with the LAME Codec at 256kbps
will not repay correctly in Raduga (or version of Media Player lower than version 7]
UNLESS files are encoded using the"--strictly-enforce-ISO" switch. The command line should be:lame -b 256 --strictly-enforce-ISO song.wav song.mp3
The finer points associated with digital
extraction of tracks from CDs and the creation of mp3 files can become
quiet a handful. A good starting point would be to check (at some lenght)
the very informative Audiograbber Forum.
For your convenience, we have also placed additional links to sites dedicated
to these topics in our useful link
section.
.TOP
For the pre-listen feature to work, your computer must have 2 sound cards or a sound card with 2 independent output channels. You can then use the second sound card to listen to tracks with headphones without having to broadcast them:
- Select the sound card for Raduga to use. Raduga always uses the system default sound card for broadcast. You can select the default sound card in the "Sounds and Multimedia" control panel applet. Activate the "Audio" tab and choose your preferred sound card from the drop down list box.
- Install a MP3 audio player that uses a sound card which is not the system default sound card. One such player is Juke, a (freeware) mini version of Raduga. In Juke, you can select a sound card in the Options|Plug-ins dialog box.
- Set up a tool in Raduga. Open the 'Tools' menu and choose 'Edit...'. Now press the 'New' button. This opens the 'Program Properties' dialog. Here you click on the '...' button next to the file name input box and select the executable program of your alternate audio player, for instance 'Juke.exe'. Type 'Pre-Listen' in the 'Decription' input field. In the 'Parameters' input field type '"$(FilePath)"'. Close all dialogs with 'OK'.
Now select a song from the playlist and choose 'Pre-Listen' from the 'Tools' menu.
How do I play a voice track over a music track?
Voice tracking can be achieved by using special mini-playlists. You create a mini playlist that contains a song and the corresponding voice track that you want to overlap with this song. Depending on the characteristics of the fade, the voice track can be placed at the beginning or at the end of the mini playlist. For the example below we assume a voice recording with a duration of 10 seconds and the default overlap period is set to 5 seconds.
| Playlist contents | Contents of song2.mpl | |
|---|---|---|
Example 1 |
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|
Example 2 |
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The fade can be fine-tuned by specifying individual overlap times on all songs as well as on the mini-playlist, for example by renaming the mini-playlist to song2~2.mpl you will reduce the overlap time at the end of the mini playlist to 2 seconds.
Installing Version 3.8 with a dongle- Do not connect the dongle into the USB port until Raduga 3.8 has been installed on your PC. So, first of all, install Raduga Vs 3.8, then connect the dongle. Windows will detect the device and install it - all will be well. Connecting a dongle without Raduga Vs 3.8 being installed first of all may require Windows to be re-installed. Beware!
- Configure the mixer channel for live feed in the Options/Line-In dialog. Set the preferred volume using the Windows Volume Control, then mute this channel. In the event editor, type "120.live" instead of a file name for 2 minutes of live feed (5 minutes would be 300.live). Check "Run immediately" to fire the live event at the given time. When the event is due, the currently playing track fades out and the selected mixer line is un-muted. When the event is over, the line-in channel fades out and the playlist continues.
- In
the event editor, choose a playlist (.alb) file instead of a media file.
When the playlist event is due, the playlist loads and starts with the
first track. The previous playlist is effectively removed from the Play
Window.
Note: Any changes in the previous playlist are not saved automatically.
- Add the next playlist as the last item of the previous playlist. This will load the next playlist when the current playlist is over (in Normal mode). The previous playlist is effectively removed - a very handy feature in a radio station when changing shift...
- in the event editor, type ".play" or ".stop" instead of a file name. The play command must be an immediate event. The .play command starts playback at the current playlist position. Any pending non-immediate events are reset before the playlist is started. The .stop command can be immediate or non-immediate. The .stop command fades out the current track and selects the next track in the playlist.
- You can add programs, batch files or scripts in the playlist or as scheduled events. When such a program is due, it is started asynchronously and the playlist continues instantly.
- Supported file types:
.exe, .bat, .cmd, .lnk, .vbs, .js, .pl.
It's in the filename. Just follow this simple filename format to create individual overlap lengths:
- OLD FILENAME: Beatles - Let It Be.mp3
- NEW FILENAME: Beatles - Let It Be~8.mp3 (now allows for an 8 second overlap)
NOTE 2: Setting
overlap can be achieved in one of two ways:
(i) Right click on the file and rename the file by adding "~x" where "x"
is the new desired overlap time.
(ii) Under Windows 2000 or XP, overlap marking can also be achieved on
the fly whilst listening to a file; just press "~" (tilder key) during
playback to mark the new overlap point for the current file.
Either ways, the new file name will be saved by Windows. The file you have just modified will now play according to the new overlap time you have just set. However, there is a catch here: if this track is contained in a mini playlist or an album in more than one instance - as is often the case with Station's ID - Raduga can no longer play these files. Further, if you try to load this track again into the playlist, you will be prevented to do so. This is because Raduga will try to find the file under its old name which no longer exists. The short of it is, you must reload the mini playlist or album and change all instances of this particular track detail to the track's new name. In practice, it is best to set the overlap of items frequently used (such as IDs and promos) before loading them in Raduga for replay on air.
- What in the world is
a mini-playlist and what can I do with it?
A mini-playlist is basically a playlist within a playlist. They are great for creating stop-sets of commercial spots. We also have reports of users creating mini-playlists of special formats such as an A/C station that plays Contemporary Christian Music on Sundays for 6 hours. They just create a 6 hour mini-playlist of CCM and then schedule it on Sundays using our Event Scheduler. - Here's how to create one. Open Raduga and Window's Explorer. Go to the directory in Explorer where the audio files are located. Now drag and drop each file needed to create the mini-playlist (.mpl) into Raduga's playlist window. Once you have finished adding files, choose File>Save As>.mpl. Now save the .mpl. You can drag and drop .mpl files into your existing playlist window. When Raduga encounters an .mpl file in the playlist it will open a secondary window revealing the contents of the .mpl and begin playing the first item.
- Move playlist items up and down by pushing "U" or "D
- Push "B"
for a break. When current song is done playing Raduga
will stop and cue up the next playlist item. - Push "P" for play, to start Raduga.
- Push "S" to stop Raduga.
- Push "T" to number playlist items.
- Push "L" to get the total length of the playlist.
- Push "O" for the options menu.
- Push "A" for the about box.
- Push "F" to toggle Full Path of the file.
- Push "G" to move to the next item in the playlist.
- Push "N" to start the next item in the playlist.
- Push "V" to move to the previous item in the playlist.
- Push "X" to load the mixer.
- Push "C" for the manual cross-fade.
- Note: there are many more shortcuts available, please check the help files for a complete list.
- Start Raduga. Click Media>Enable Events and that's it. Raduga will not play any playlist items unless you have pressed the play button. However, Raduga will play all scheduled events automatically.
- The last version Raduga 3.5 introduced a machine-dependant license activation mechanism, which prevents users from installing Raduga on multiple computers and enforces the machine-based license policy. However, some users feared that this license mechanism prevents them from upgrading their hardware. Some were afraid that they would have a long period of dead air in case of a computer crash, because they need to obtain a new license key. Raduga 3.8 is the solution to these problems, because it can optionally be activated by a USB hardware dongle. In case of a computer crash or if you want to upgrade your hardware, you can simply switch the dongle to another computer - no reboot is required. In this version the dongle is optional, the machine-dependant online activation and activation by license.ini file are still available. Raduga 3.8 does not have any new features compared to version 3.5. Therefore there is no need to upgrade from version 3.5 to 3.8 unless you want to use the hardware dongle.
- You should check at regular intervals the Raduga Discussion Board - another great source of information.
Raduga Features DirectX Support, allowing you to use third party plugins to enhance the sound of your station. However, a word of caution: for radio, chances are that the signal issued from the studio where Raduga has been installed is already processed using sophisticated equipment before being applied to the transmitter. You should check with your station's engineer before introducing an additional layer of audio processing.
The following DirectX plug-ins have been tested with Raduga
- FASoft Compressor (compressor)
- FASoft Parametric EQ (4-band equalizer)
- dB audioware
Visit The DirectX Files web site for more information about DirectX plug-ins and a list of available plug-ins.
There are many more plug-ins out there.
Consider doing a web search on the phrase "Directx Plugins"
A good deal of the material presented in this section has been gathered from various sources, in particular Raduga.net in the US . Our thanks go to Bill Spry.
