RadioBOSS 5.3 [beta]

RadioBOSS 5.3 beta

What's new
- Sidechain compressor for microphones: voice activated microphone and automatic music ducking while speaking
- Virtual audio sound cards included with the RadioBOSS package (thanks to VB-Audio, http://www.vb-cable.com)
- Automatic weather announcements
- Startup options: start minimized, delay startup
- New File Type option: "Do not play two or more tracks consecutively"
- Stream recording shows recorded duration in the status bar
- A setting added to select the source for the Stream Recording feature
- Remote Control API: insert after the scheduled events command
- Remote Control API: "playbackinfo" command also includes overlay events
- Reconnect time can be specified for every broadcasting encoder
- "Move to" right click command added to move tracks between playlist tabs
- Ctrl+Up arrow, Ctrl+Down arrow to move tracks in the playlist
- Drag-n-drop tracks between the playlist tabs and the cart wall
- When playing a Shoutcast stream an artwork is shown
- When relaying a Shoutcast stream an artwork is forwarded to broadcasting encoders
- More events are added to the event log
- Hot key management improved (the window is made accessible for screen reader software)
- Improved library search feature (in some cases speed should vastly increase)
- Track List feature selects tracks in the background: it should eliminate long track startup when using this feature
- Next and current track information is properly displayed when using the Track List feature
- Toolbar buttons added to show and hide work zones
- Level meter improvements: maximum level can be set to +3dB; RMS level display
- Cart wall: switch between tracks (right-click option on a cart wall tab)
- Volume control for cart wall tracks
- "Start playback after having connected to a server" option added for encoders
- "Open containing folder" playlist right-click command
- If a file doesn't have cover art, an attempt is made to load it from a folder where the track is located
- Presets for compressor (includes two predefined presets: Raido and Limiter)
- A setting added to change highlight color for the playlist
- Improved UI style saving
- Music Library search sorting improved
- Windows Mixer Control feature *REMOVED*
- Lots of minor improvements and optimizations

Scheduler
- Scheduler wizard reworked
- Additional syntax to perform calculations in filename templates
- A command added to load text or text file into notepad tab
- "download" command can download a podcast
- "download" command now works with HTTPS protocol
- %showname variable for HTTP request and "set %showname=" command
- Deafult option set for new scheduled events ("Set default" button)
- "getfile" command to select one track or playlist from a folder; optionally delete after playback
- Purely technical events like create a backup run automatically even in Manual mode
- "set autoamp on|off" command to control AutoAmp state
- "set http_request on|off" command to turn on and off the HTTP request feature

Playlist Generator Pro
- Genre, Gender, Language, Year no-repeat rules
- Calculate the estimated duration for rotation
- "On error, create an empty playlist" option added
- Ability to save and load priority rules
- "Outro" category: add only at the end of the playlist
- Take into account the "Last played" tag
- Shows the generation progress in the Windows task bar
- No-repeat feature improved

Advertisement Scheduler
- "Maximum time wait" options for generated events
- Fixed space bar selection bug
- Fixed a rarely occurring bug when scheduled events times were wrong

Voice Track Recorder
- Level slider
- Normalization
- Undo changes

Music Library
- Count the number of tracks for each artist (Statistics)
- "Check music library" feature shows tracks without a tag
- Minor UI improvements
- Track number column

Report Generator
- Track playback duration can be added to the report
- Drag-n-drop report fields
- Separate fields for date and time
- Time constraints (in addition to date) for report period
- Fixed sorting bug that occurred sometimes

Track Tool
- Lots of minor UI improvements
- "Disable song" option that prevents Playlist Generator Pro to use this track
- Previous and Next track buttons in Track Tool
- Set track playback volume

Segue Editor
- Set playback volume for all tracks
- Zoom using mouse wheel
- "Remove custom crossfade" right-click command in the playlist

Fixed:
- Large artwork was not sent to a SHOUTcast server
- Filename templates didn't work when multiple actions were used in a scheduled event
- Cart wall loop sometimes didn't work right
- Fixed several bugs in the Cart wall
- Fade out didn't work before "stop" command in the playlist
- "Use task name as title" bug fixed
- Fixed Line.In prelisten: didn't work sometimes
- Fixed: Gain was not disabled if a user didn't have rights
- Waveform display in Now playing didn't work for large tracks and sometimes was incorrect for mono tracks
- Fixed: sometimes the track selection in the playlist froze the program for a little while
- Fixed tag display when playing a podcast
- HTTPS didn't work in HTTP GET request
- Cover art failed to be retrieved from APE files
- Other minor bugs fixed

License key:
If you're a registered user and your update subscription is not expired, please use your key.

To request the free beta tester license key, please send an e-mail to sales@djsoft.net (use the "RadioBOSS 5.3 beta" subject). The free key expires July 31, 2015.

Download
RadioBOSS 5.3 beta: http://dl.djsoft.net/beta/radioboss_beta_5.3.0.1.exe (5/28/2015, 30Mb)

Please post minor bugs and requests in this topic and create a new topic for more complex requests or reports.

Anyone who contributed will get a significant discount up to 100% when the final version is released. Please contact sales@djsoft.net regarding the discount.



Automatic weather announcements
Updating weather data
To update weather data, use scheduled event with the weather command, examples:
weather New York, US
weather Sydney, AU
(set this event to start every day at, for instance, 8 hours in the morning)

Automatic weather announcement using Text-to-Speech (to add TTS in the menu click Playlist->Extra->Add Text-To-Speech)
Today weather data
?temp - temperature (degrees Celsius)
?wind_speed - wind speed (meters per second)
?wind_name - wind description in English (e.g. "Light Breeze")
?humidity - humidity (percentage)

Weather data for tomorrow (the meaning for variables is the same as for today's weather)
?temp_tom
?wind_speed_tom
?wind_name_tom
?humidity_tom

Phrase example:
Temperature today is ?temp degrees Celsius wind speed is ?wind_speed metres per second ?wind_name humidity is ?humidity percent. Tomorrow ?temp_tom degrees Celcius ?wind_speed_tom metres per second ?wind_name_tom  humidity is ?humidity_tom percent.

If using built-in voices in Windows, better results are achieved if using Windows 8 or newer. Built-in voices in Windows 7 or earlier OS'es doesn't sound very good (unless you install a custom voice).

WOW !
A lot of improvements and new increases.
I love Track Tool.
I like Set File Type color in Playlist.

I'll check tomorrow the impact of Windows Mixer *REMOVED* in Windows XP.

I have to learn all new improvements.

EXCELLENT WORK DMITRIY.
GREAT, GREAT PIECE OF SOFTWARE.

Congratulations for the work hard
These improvements are great!

Just to name a few that I love:
-Do not play two or more tracks consecutively
-Virtual audio sound cards included with the RadioBOSS package
-Remote Control API: insert after the scheduled events command
-Genre, Gender, Language, Year no-repeat rules
...


Tomorrow I'll be discussing some problems I encountered with some suggestions that I have.

Thank you for this great software.

a bug here installed version is the beta and it says that last version is 5.2.3

where is the virtual audio cable built in i didnt find maybe because i am having multiple virtual audio cables ? i like the idea and the startup options but what is the name of the builtin vac ?

This is because beta versions are not included in the update check.
Program only checks for a release versions.

This is my guess.

pety, nelson c
Thanks! Please let me know of any suggestions or bugs. This release should be better than previous betas (it should have less bugs than usual ).

radium98 said:

a bug here installed version is the beta and it says that last version is 5.2.3

Click to expand...

The Check for Updates feature only checks stable releases, it doesn't work for betas.

radium98 said:

where is the virtual audio cable built in i didnt find maybe because i am having multiple virtual audio cables ? i like the idea and the startup options but what is the name of the builtin vac ?

Click to expand...

It's located in Settings->Playback, when you click the Change button, you'll see a "Virtual audio cable" button which allows adding and removing virtual sound cards.

Allow me to begin by thanking your for this superb update. Here are my initial comments

- A setting added to change highlight color for the playlist

Click to expand...

Is there a way to change the color of the track that is playing as well? Currently the text of the track just gets bold. Is there no other way of increasing its prominence on the playlist? It would be nice if one could more easily identify/locate the track on the playlist that is playing at a given moment.

- Drag-n-drop tracks between the playlist tabs and the cart wall

Click to expand...

There could be a bug here. Can move tracks from cart wall to playlist tab but not vice versa.

- Take into account the "Last played" tag

Click to expand...

Awesome! Looking forward to testing this the next time I run a schedule. Hopefully this means when I'm creating a new playlist, Playlist Generator Pro will take into account when a track was last played so that if a song was scheduled in a previous playlist (and it played), then that song will not be included in the new playlist being generated because the no-repeat rules can now be respected across playlists (assuming there was a no-repeat rule in place).

box26609 said:

Is there a way to change the color of the track that is playing as well? Currently the text of the track just gets bold. Is there no other way of increasing its prominence on the playlist? It would be nice if one could more easily identify/locate the track on the playlist that is playing at a given moment.

Click to expand...

It's planned, yes. I think it'll be included in one of this beta version updates.

box26609 said:

- Drag-n-drop tracks between the playlist tabs and the cart wall

Click to expand...

There could be a bug here. Can move tracks from cart wall to playlist tab but not vice versa.

Click to expand...

You should start dragging a track by its icon, this way it'll allow to drag it outside the playlist.

box26609 said:

- Take into account the "Last played" tag

Click to expand...

Awesome! Looking forward to testing this the next time I run a schedule. Hopefully this means when I'm creating a new playlist, Playlist Generator Pro will take into account when a track was last played so that if a song was scheduled in a previous playlist (and it played), then that song will not be included in the new playlist being generated because the no-repeat rules can now be respected across playlists (assuming there was a no-repeat rule in place).

Click to expand...

Yes, this is how it's supposed to work. The Last Played tag works only for track no-repeat - for instance, it won't work for the "Do not repeat artist" rule.

Hello,
it begins again! many interesting improvements to this new release of RadioBOSS, now we will look at whether there are bugs.

There are small freeze when make settings or, for example, when use MIC ON/OFF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLBlACdDfk8

I'm looking forward to testing this one, especially as it contains some functionality that I may have suggested, so well done Dmitry for listening to you usrs (so many companies don't even if they say they do!).

I was wondering about scheduling rule improvements, but I haven't finalised my thoughts yet (it's around those times when you want something to "not run")

pety said:

There are small freeze when make settings or, for example, when use MIC ON/OFF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLBlACdDfk8

Click to expand...

What driver you're using for MIC (DirectSound, WASAPI, ASIO)?

howebzar said:

I'm looking forward to testing this one, especially as it contains some functionality that I may have suggested, so well done Dmitry for listening to you usrs (so many companies don't even if they say they do!).

Click to expand...

Thank you!

howebzar said:

I was wondering about scheduling rule improvements, but I haven't finalised my thoughts yet (it's around those times when you want something to "not run")

Click to expand...

This should be interesting, I'm waiting for your suggestions.

Bensisko said:

Hello,
it begins again! many interesting improvements to this new release of RadioBOSS, now we will look at whether there are bugs.

Click to expand...

Yes, this release was slightly delayed, but it's finally here

First of all thank you for taking into account some of my suggestions!

I was looking forward to automatic weather announcements and I'm happy to see they are finally here but I don't know how they work.

Maya Vu?kovi? said:

First of all thank you for taking into account some of my suggestions!

I was looking forward to automatic weather announcements and I'm happy to see they are finally here but I don't know how they work.

Click to expand...

I also find this feature anywhere

Here some problems I found:
-There is no preset for compressor (let alone one that acts as a limiter on the microphone)
-Sidechain compressor for microphones:
It's like microphone turns off every "X" seconds and is activated when I start to speak. but at the moment that becomes active, the first word is heard cut (in the beginning). (use WASAPI with the given buffer)
-The Downland command disappeared from the programmer
-Option "Set default" in the programmer does not do anything
-Sigue Editor: adjust the volume of each track does not work on pre-listening
-When are going to install a virtual card, if not is granted administrator permissions or when not accepted the certificate as a hardware manufacturer (I do not remember well which of the two), RB hangs.
-TrackTool: using next, Prev track, sometimes the program is minimized
-TrackTool: Problem with the zoom (see image atached)

Questions:
now can you do downloads of files that need username and password? you explain as?


Suggestions:
-Have as many items in the playlist popup menu, is very uncomfortable. I think that it was good as it was before.
-The "Stop" command on the menu popup (to so easy access) believe that it may cause errors. (insert a stop counselling)
-As well as be added the date field when he joined the library (for songs), I would like to a field with the date from the first time it is played
-In the PopUp menu the option "Remove points follows Editor" is disabled in songs that also produced no points. wouldn't it better to hide this option, rather than disable it when we have a song that it doesn't mix points marked? This aims to end that said before: a menu PopUp more orderly with fewer options at a glance. (turns out to be much more rapid access to a function, and more eye-pleasing)


This is implemented soon:
Show statistics when is encoded in another pc (with RadioCaster)
send and receive files from the API

Thanks for your help

Maya Vu?kovi? said:

I was looking forward to automatic weather announcements and I'm happy to see they are finally here but I don't know how they work.

Click to expand...

This feature is implemented using the text-to-speech engine. The first post updated about how to set this up.

nelson c said:

-There is no preset for compressor (let alone one that acts as a limiter on the microphone)

Click to expand...

The presets are located at the bottom - see the picture attached.

nelson c said:

-Sidechain compressor for microphones:
It's like microphone turns off every "X" seconds and is activated when I start to speak. but at the moment that becomes active, the first word is heard cut (in the beginning). (use WASAPI with the given buffer)

Click to expand...

You need to have microphone on all the time when this feature is used. Does it always cut the first word?

nelson c said:

-The Downland command disappeared from the programmer

Click to expand...

As I recall, it wasn't removed from anywhere... Can you please give more details?

nelson c said:

-Option "Set default" in the programmer does not do anything

Click to expand...

It saves current option set as default option set. The next time you create a new event, it'll have those options.

nelson c said:

-Sigue Editor: adjust the volume of each track does not work on pre-listening
-When are going to install a virtual card, if not is granted administrator permissions or when not accepted the certificate as a hardware manufacturer (I do not remember well which of the two), RB hangs.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much for reporting those bugs!

nelson c said:

-TrackTool: using next, Prev track, sometimes the program is minimized

Click to expand...

To clarify, is it minimized, or closed completely? When you use those buttons, it closes the Track Tool and then opens another one with the new track.

nelson c said:

-TrackTool: Problem with the zoom (see image atached)

Click to expand...

What's wrong there? It allows zooming in wide range - it's by design. Or the problem is somewhere else?

nelson c said:

Questions:
now can you do downloads of files that need username and password? you explain as?

Click to expand...

You can include username and password in the URL, e.g.:
http://username:password@www.example.com

nelson c said:

-Have as many items in the playlist popup menu, is very uncomfortable. I think that it was good as it was before.
-The "Stop" command on the menu popup (to so easy access) believe that it may cause errors. (insert a stop counselling)
-In the PopUp menu the option "Remove points follows Editor" is disabled in songs that also produced no points. wouldn't it better to hide this option, rather than disable it when we have a song that it doesn't mix points marked? This aims to end that said before: a menu PopUp more orderly with fewer options at a glance. (turns out to be much more rapid access to a function, and more eye-pleasing)

Click to expand...

Yes, you're right. In the next update something will be done about it.

nelson c said:

-As well as be added the date field when he joined the library (for songs), I would like to a field with the date from the first time it is played

Click to expand...

There was another similar request recently, I think RadioBOSS will keep a history of when a track was played (last 10 entries, I think). What is the "First time played" needed for?

nelson c said:

This is implemented soon:
Show statistics when is encoded in another pc (with RadioCaster)
send and receive files from the API

Click to expand...

Those features are in the queue to be added. API commands for file transfer should be added in RB 5.3.x or in one of this beta version updates.

Dmitriy

I made a PC only for RadioBOSS (Windows XP SP2).
I use 2 sound cards. That mean that I use DirectSound driver. Anytime I make settings in FX or in Playback or Input RadioBOSS freeze and sound is looping as long as RB is freezed.

First time I saw that RB freeze on windows 7.

By the way! I do need Windows Mixer for MIC anymore.