RadioBOSS 4.8 [beta]

[Casey]

If someone wants to send me one I will try it  ;D

Me too! 
I'm just a poor old senior living on my government pension. That doesn't go very far.

(just needs nice bright control buttons to polish it off  )

If you are referring to the buttons at bottom of the play list.. Play, Stop, SHFL etc..  I agree, even with my fairly good eyesight, I sometimes have trouble seeing if a button is selected.. Some real contrast - (colour difference) would be appreciated. 

Casey

 

[djsoft]

I was a bit concerned about how the microphone would work as it is still using SoundMax Integrated Audio soundcard.
The answer is it work just fine..

RadioBoss survived it all and is working fine! 

Very good! By the way you shouldn't worry about integrated sound cards. First ones were bad, but now they work fine mostly.

I am assuming therefore that I have to add another sound card so that I can listen to track via the music library? I have simple USB sound cards lying around

Yes, if you have another card better to use it. If you have integrated 5.1 or 7.1 card you can use channel mapping feature, eg. playlist (Main) goes to Front speakers, pre-listen (Music Library, track tool, etc) goes to Rear speakers. This is set up via Settings->Playback.

I was wondering one thing though - what is the smallest processor that RB can run on? I need to think about a back up machine at some point and was wondering if I could get away with an Atom based processor ? My station will be internet based with no presenter

If computer can run Windows XP or better - RB can work on it. I know people using Atom PC's with RB on their FM station, so it's fine. In rare case the sound may be broken - open Settings->Playback click Change for the main sound card and increase playback buffer size.

 

[djsoft]

A nice big touch screen maybe something for the future..

I'd seen radio station setups running with touch screens... very cool.. (other than the finger prints) 
I wonder how well RB would adapt to touch screens.

Currently I don't feel like I want a touch screen on a desktop... It requires keeping hands in the air all the time.
RB will behave fine with it when touch screens become popular enough

Here is a problem I have noticed, when working in what I call, operator assisted mode..
ie..  Auto mode but from time to time I may use [right click] on song in play list and select [Play next]..

Doing this can cause the Scheduler to missing events
...
Can RB be made to finish playing the scheduled tracks, before playing the next track selected?

Interesting. It's a sort of 'race condition' problem. This will be fixed somehow... I need to think about better resolution.

Here is the file http://db.tt/zMMuucv4

The issue is that it goes through strereo tools than broadcasted in mp3 at 320kb/s. I than use a second instance of RB (different Windows session) for ad management. It listen to the stream, detect the DTMF and replace by the apropriate audio and broadcast to Icecast to listeners without compression this time.

I use it that way as I expect to run more thant one RB for ad management and this way it only requires one instance of stereotool to save CPU.

When the stream doesn't go through StereoTool how good the detection works? Maybe ST is the issue?

Has the time & Weather announcements been included in the latest beta version?

Not yet, but those will be added in 4.8 for sure.

RB has made significant improves and is now very "accessible" for which I would like to thanks the developers. (just needs nice bright control buttons to polish it off  )

Thanks New buttons is the next stage of UI improvement, I think it will be done in January.

 

[Casey]

An update on my soundcard setup..

Here is an interesting problem I have run into.

On the USB soundcard I use for preListen.. The audio sounds good when I first start up but after a few hours the audio out from this gets very distorted. I tried a few things and finally fixed the audio by changing the the sound card for PreListen in RB to another sound card then shutting down RB, restarting and reselecting the USB SC and got it working without distortion. 2 or 3 hours later it was back to being distorted. No problems with the integrated sc or the USB sc in the transmitter.

At first I was blaming this in either the USB sc or windows. I'm wondering now if this is the case.

After I shut down RB this early morning, I listened to some log files in Radio Logger (which has been running for many hours) and the audio sounded fine. It was using the USB soundcard for it's output.

Casey..

 

[dave-t]

Re soundcard

Cheap USB sound cards only cost about ?3 so I will add a couple of those rather than mapping the outputs.

Re UI improvements

I will add a couple of request to "Feature Requests"

Regards

Dave

 

[djsoft]

Casey
Just to make sure - are you talking about Prelisten or Monitor sound card? Pre-listen card used to preview tracks (eg right-click->Prelisten), and to play tracks in Music Library, Track Tool and other modules. It's not supposed to be used for 2-hours playback.

dave-t
Yes, USB cards is a good solution, but I don't have enough statistics about their reliability.
Another option would be to use an ASIO sound card like E-Mu for main playback and use integrated audio for prelisten.

 

[Casey]

Casey
Just to make sure - are you talking about Prelisten or Monitor sound card? Pre-listen card used to preview tracks (eg right-click->Prelisten), and to play tracks in Music Library, Track Tool and other modules.

I was talking about Prelisten (Preview) USB soundcard.
(No problem with monitor using internal sc or the feed via USB transmitter.)

It's not supposed to be used for 2-hours playback.

I was referring  to using Prelisten 2 hours later.. not for that long a duration..

Update..

The last report was after running RB and the computer for an extended time, over 24 hours. I will not always run for this long a time, this was for testing. The area I cover has few people awake in the wee hours of the morning, other than me ..  I could always do an auto reboot during this time of morning.

The next  test, today .... I have only been running for 7+ hours, since the last computer reboot. The Prelisten soundcard is still working fine - no distorted audio.

What ever the problem was/is would appears related to something that changes over time.

I have also considered that this is a very cheap USB sc, this could be part of the problem. In future I will try some higher quality sc.. I'm sure I have some around here, likely out in my shed but with no heat, I don't plan on spending much time searching out there when it's  -20 ?C ..

This current setup was just for testing in this configuration. The USB transmitter is a backup.  I wanted to see how it would work with RB. It worked well and proved to be viable.  I will be changing to my higher power transmitter, for the Christmas season special event transmissions.

Having a separate soundcard for PrelListen and Monitor is very handy. If the cheap USB sound cards can be used, it makes this something most can afford. I plan to have this capability when I have the computer setup in a more permanent location.

Casey

 

[Casey]

Update on the PreListen Soundcard distortion problem

So today after 8 1/2 hours it came back (distorted audio on PreListen sc)

I'm not sure if it happened because of how long the programs were running or due to what I was doing on the system..

Here is the series of events.. I was showing the RB setup to a friend..

- I showed how PreListen worked.. played parts of a few mp3 files.. the audio sound fine.

- Next I was showing how RadioLogger works..  (it is uses the same soundcard for play back as PreListen)

-  played a log file on RL - the audio was distorted.

- went back to RB and tried PreListen again, the audio was distorted in RB.

- I shut down RadioLogger & then RadioBOSS ... then Restarted, first RadioLogger, then  RadioBOSS.

After this the audio for both PreListen and RadioLogger play back were working fine.

5 hours later and all is still working fine...

Casey

 

[djsoft]

So when 2 programs use the same sound card, sound becomes broken? For me it looks like sound card's driver problem. I've just tried the same setup and no distorted sound... Is it USB sound card you're trying on? Can you try the same on integrated audio?

I have also considered that this is a very cheap USB sc, this could be part of the problem. In future I will try some higher quality sc.. I'm sure I have some around here, likely out in my shed but with no heat, I don't plan on spending much time searching out there when it's  -20 ?C ..

Yes, cheap sound card can be a problem... Probably it just doesn't like to be "initialized" for a long time. RB can reset that of course, a kind of workaround for cheap cards

 

[djsoft]

RadioBOSS 4.8.0.5
Changed:
- bugs fixed in Ad Scheduler
- bugs fixed in Playlist Generator Pro
- CPU meter removed [actually moved to the Debug Window: Ctrl+D]
- added option to disable "Repeat Playlist" button (Settings->Controls)
- changed notice about upcoming scheduler event
- changed DTMF handling [details below]
- Mute button now only mutes Monitor sound card
- Monitor sound card automatically muted when MIC activated
- MIC button moved to bottom right corner under playlist window
- removed MIC button from toolbar

Download: http://dl.djsoft.net/beta/radioboss_4.8.0.5_beta.exe

How DTMF works now:
Event start time is taken into account: DTMF is checked 5 times prior event start time (all options like Repeat, Days of week and others are considered).
If event was started by DTMF it won't start on its start time. If there was no DTMF signal detected (for whatever reason) - event will launch on its start time as usual.

 

[Joshua]

Joshua
There shouldn't be any delay... Please post a screenshot of Microphone/LineIn settings here. This will help to find what could be a problem.

Hallo,

here is a Screenshot, PTT enabled (then by push 1-2 sec. hang?s), when disabled it?s ok.

Hello,

the same Problem in 4.8.0.5

Grretz
Joshua

 

[dave-t]

Looking better   

Love the larger font in the now playing window

Great improvement to the info for the next schedule

The change in background color is however not alerting me to that a schedule is due

DPI issue still exists in left window

I have just installed it on an old Atom laptop with 1gb of memory - Impressed !

All Music, playlists and database now running from a NAS box. I will try batch playlist generation in the next couple of days

 

[djsoft]

here is a Screenshot, PTT enabled (then by push 1-2 sec. hang?s), when disabled it?s ok.

the same Problem in 4.8.0.5
[/quote]
Is your setup the same as you posted here http://www.djsoft.net/smf/index.php?topic=3165.msg10347#msg10347 ?
A quick test didn't confirm the problem.

The change in background color is however not alerting me to that a schedule is due

You can also make the flashing longer than the default 10 seconds: open Settings->General and adjust the "Scheduler event flashing time".

DPI issue still exists in left window

Can you please post screenshot of a problem? Probably you've set too large font size, and it doesn't fit there...

 

[Joshua]

@djsoft,

yes, setup is the same

Greetz
Joshua

 

[djsoft]

@djsoft,

yes, setup is the same

It's really strange... Same setup here works fine. Can you try restarting your PC and try again?

 

[dave-t]

Font is set to Verdana 11pt Bold - screenshot attached

Setting the "flashing" alert for longer - already set to 30 seconds - would not make any difference.

even sitting the normal distance from the PC I am unable to see any "details". Colors are fine but there would have to be a significant difference changing a background color for it to be noticed. Quite simply, the red flashing text is great ONCE your attention has been drawn to it but it needs something quite bold to attract your attention in the first place - hence my request to flash the background color of the clock 

Any such feature should have the facility to enable/disable as it is important NOT to impose an accessibility function on those who do not need it or want it.

Regards

Dave

 

[Joshua]

@djsoft,

yes, setup is the same

It's really strange... Same setup here works fine. Can you try restarting your PC and try again?

Hello,

after PC restart it?s ok.
Sorry :-\

Greetz
Joshua

 

[Casey]

So when 2 programs use the same sound card, sound becomes broken? For me it looks like sound card's driver problem. I've just tried the same setup and no distorted sound... Is it USB sound card you're trying on? Can you try the same on integrated audio?

So far the problem is only with the USB Soundcard.

I have changed the setup so now the PreListen is using the integrated audio and monitor is using the USB soundcard. With this set up I have lost the monitor audio a couple of time and restarting RB was the only way to get it working again. The PreListen has been just fine.

Yes, cheap sound card can be a problem... Probably it just doesn't like to be "initialized" for a long time. RB can reset that of course, a kind of workaround for cheap cards

It looks very much like the USB soundcard it the problem.  
Tomorrow I will be installing a PCI soundcard in the computer, we will see if this fixes the problem.

- - - - - - - - -
Here is one for you.. a little funny, after the fact. The positive side, this is not RB fault but this sure had me wondering/confused for a bit.

I picked up my headphones that were connected to the USB soundcard.. music stopped - RB hung up, the only thing that was working was the time & playback counters.. nothing else worked. The USB transmitter I was using for testing on this setup shut down.. no carrier. What the....

I stopped a moment to think this situation over.. At 65, sometimes things don't come so fast.. finally the light bulb lite up.. I had to be that static some how went from the metal band on the headphones to the computer.. I never thought the metal band was actually connected to the cable.. Static electricity is a common problem during the winter, where I live, due to the air being very dry in the house. I am usually very careful about this but I goofed this time.

I tried restarting RB but that didn't get things going..  I did find that in RB the playback devices had all changed..  Add to this the computer audio had been muted and the USB transmitter still was not working..  At this point I was almost ready to accept that I had fried something. Anyway, to sum this up, all is well and working fine after shutting down the computer and restart. 

So the moral of the story,

1) - a little static charge can sure screw things up.
2) - if all else fails, shutting down and restarting the computer can fix a lot of problems!

Computers can be so much fun!  LOL

Casey

 

[Casey]

RadioBOSS 4.8.0.5
Changed:
- bugs fixed in Ad Scheduler
- bugs fixed in Playlist Generator Pro
- CPU meter removed [actually moved to the Debug Window: Ctrl+D]
- added option to disable "Repeat Playlist" button (Settings->Controls)
- changed notice about upcoming scheduler event
- changed DTMF handling [details below]
- Mute button now only mutes Monitor sound card
- Monitor sound card automatically muted when MIC activated
- MIC button moved to bottom right corner under playlist window
- removed MIC button from toolbar

No problems yet with RadioBOSS 4.8.0.5..

Mute button and Mic mute - excellent 

MIC button moved to bottom right corner - great idea, much easier to work with!

Thanks .. Casey

 

[djsoft]

Font is set to Verdana 11pt Bold - screenshot attached

OK, this will be fixed.

even sitting the normal distance from the PC I am unable to see any "details". Colors are fine but there would have to be a significant difference changing a background color for it to be noticed. Quite simply, the red flashing text is great ONCE your attention has been drawn to it but it needs something quite bold to attract your attention in the first place - hence my request to flash the background color of the clock 

Hmm... It can flash with red background (but that looks too aggressive), but still in the "Coming up next" box. I really don't think scheduler should be in the Clock at all - doesn't make much sense, and it duplicates the flashing in Coming up next box. 2 flashing boxes is just too much. I think a setting will be added to change the way it flashes, as you proposed.

I have changed the setup so now the PreListen is using the integrated audio and monitor is using the USB soundcard. With this set up I have lost the monitor audio a couple of time and restarting RB was the only way to get it working again. The PreListen has been just fine.

Yes, and again problem with USB card Looks like those cards are not designed to work for extended periods of time.

Tomorrow I will be installing a PCI soundcard in the computer, we will see if this fixes the problem.

That would be interesting. Let me know how it goes.

So the moral of the story,

1) - a little static charge can sure screw things up.
2) - if all else fails, shutting down and restarting the computer can fix a lot of problems!

Computers can be so much fun!  LOL

Well, that's the happy-end of your story In the past I've killed several hardware pieces with static. Some of them stopped working right away, some - just started to work incorrectly. It's a good idea to touch something like metal pipe to get rid of static before working with hardware (I've seen special pipes for those purposes in server rooms).