TuneTracker Basic Interface

By placing most of the power in the background, we're able to present a very clear and easy-to-use graphical user interface which we think you'll find to be friendly and straightforward.

Here are quick descriptions of the features in the TuneTracker Basic™ interface. Wherever the titles seen below are clickable links, important additional details are available. We strongly recommend you click on the links or you will miss out on important features available to you!

  System Clock

On the right side at the top of your display is the system clock, displaying the current time in hours, minutes, and seconds, in black letters.

  X-Box Options

Three x boxes at the top of the interface allow you to control important elements of your TuneTracker™'s appearance and performance.

 x  Program Log Queue

The x-box for the Program Log Queue box will make that pane appear and disappear, giving you either a dual view of the Program Log Queue pane and the Active Program Log pane, or a single, larger view of the Active Program Log.

Definitely click on the title above for a lot of important information on using the queue.

 x  Output Log

This x-box can be used to open and close a window pane displaying a scrolling list of everything that has played so far during the current broadcast day.

  Active Program Log

This is a scrolling, interactive listing of your current day's program log, which is loaded-in initially by double-clicking on a program log in the Program Log Queue. There's lots more on this subject by clicking on the title!

  Control Console

Auto-On / Auto-Off Button

This two-position button toggles automation mode on and off. In the "On" position, TuneTracker™ will roll through cut after cut, performing all of the playback and time-related functions you have placed into your program log. In the "Off" position, TuneTracker™ will only play a cut when you hit the "Start" button.

When in the "On" position, the button lights up, as a visual reminder of the mode you are in.

Live-On / Live-Off Button

This two-position button toggles the "Live" connection on and off. In the "On position, TuneTracker™ will send a signal to SoundPlay, commanding it to open a live connection to the input of your sound card, so that you can talk into a microphone or broadcast audio from other sources such as a satellite feed, control board/mixer, or remote studio.

When in the "On" position, the button lights up, as a visual reminder of the mode you are in.

The live connection is held open, regardless of whether the automation is turned on or off, until you click the button again to turn it off. Thus, it is possible, without disturbing the automation, to fade an audio selection, drop in live with a quick storm warning or other announcement, then fade the music back in, all while in automation mode.

The live input source will depend on which input you have selected in BeOS Media Preferences, and of course, what you have plugged into it. Bear in mind that the available input jack options will vary, depending on the sound card you choose. Here is a web site that lists BeOS-compatible sound cards for you to consider.

In general we recommend you use the line-in as the source of all your live material, rather than the mic input on your sound card. For that reason, a mic preamp or mixer is recommended.

Start Button

The "Start" button starts TuneTracker™ playing whichever audio event is marked as next-to-play (marked in blue) in your program log. When you first launch your automation, you must click "Start" to get things rolling. After that, if you're in Auto-On mode, the broadcast will continue unassisted.

The Start button is especially useful when running live-assist DJ shows, inserting messages into a remote broadcast or sporting event, and when doing live, call-in talk shows.

Normally, the Start button is only used in Auto-Off mode, however if it is clicked while in Auto-On mode, TuneTracker™ will abandon the currently-playing cut and do a quick transition to what is scheduled as next-to-play.

You can also start the next audio event by hitting the spacebar on your keyboard, a handy alternative when you're doing a live show and need to keep your hands "mouse-free."

Counters

There are three counters in TuneTracker™. Here they are, moving from left-to-right:

Elapsed Time

Counts up, in hours, minutes, and seconds, indicating how long the current song or other audio event has been running.

Left to Play

Counts down, in hours, minutes, and seconds, showing how much time is left before the currently-running audio event is finished. You will not get an accurate countdown number when running a "Live" event, because there is no way to know how long it will take before you are done.

Ramp Time

This special countdown timer reads a number value that you have placed into the "Ramp" attribute of your station's song files. It begins counting down from that number when the song starts playing. This is useful when you want to talk over the instrumental ramps of your songs, and assure that you don't talk over the singing when it begins. To use this feature, you must first manually check the ramp time and enter that information in the Ramp attribute of each of your songs. If you don't care to do so, no problem! When a song has no Ramp value assigned to it, the ramp timer will just sit quietly and do nothing.

  Ramp Input Box

To add ramp time information to any cut in your music library, just select it by single-clicking on it in the Active Program Log list so that it is highlighted in light grey. Then type a value in seconds into the "Ramp" input box. You do not need to click apply or hit enter or anything like that. To apply your number, just click on any other entry in your active program log.

It's important to note that the method of inputting ramp information is different in TuneTracker Command Center™, so ramp times input in TuneTracker Basic™ are not readable in Command Center. If your intention is to eventually upgrade, you might want to consider doing it prior to inputting all the ramp times into your music.

  VU Meter

This is a real-time, built-in VU meter which requires that our own special "BRS Silence Sensor" plugin be installed in the plugins folder within SoundPlay, and activated in the "Visualization" section of SoundPlay Preferences. This should have happened automatically during installation, but in case of trouble, find the spare copy of the plugin found in your /TuneTracker System/Extras/Internals/Emergency Copies/SS Plugin/ folder and drop it into /SoundPlayTT3/Plugins, then go into SoundPlay Settings, click on Preferences, then Visualization, and drag the "TuneTracker Silence Sensor Plugin" from the Inactive window pane to the Active window pane. Then close Preferences, and, importantly, close SoundPlay, since that is required in order for SoundPlay to remember the change you made. Now, providing you have also activated the plugin in your TuneTracker Preferences, you should see VU activity. If you still have a problem, contact us.

You also have the option to fire up additional VU meters and other visualization tools by activating them in SoundPlay's Preferences.

  Gain (Volume) Control

During times of automated programming, you do not need SoundPlay visible. However, when you are doing live, or live-assist programming, you will need to make SoundPlay visible in order to access the volume control.

In TuneTracker Basic™, control over the volume of audio events is done directly in SoundPlay. SoundPlay gives you independent volume control for each cut it is playing. The volume control looks like a round knob, and is adjusted by dragging left and right...though in SoundPlay Preferences you can make the knob slide up and down instead. Since that makes it more like the sliding pot on a mixer, that's probably the nicest and most familiar approach to take.

At first it may seem strange to use a volume control located in another window to fade songs when talking the ramps of songs, etc., but after using it once or twice, you'll see that it really works great, and the method quickly becomes second-nature. Make sure the SoundPlay playback display is far enough above the bottom of the screen to avoid a "bump up" effect when you access the volume knob.

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