DRS 2006® - Manual On Air Studio

The DRS 2006 On Air Radio Studio (03/23/2002)
Now it is time to go on air with the On Air Radio Studio. The On Air Radio Studio is the most important module of the DRS 2006 system.

With the DRS 2006 On Air Radio Studio you can load the playlists created with the Playlist Editor and play them. The On Air Radio Studio is, as the name says, used in the studio section of the radio station. You can load a playlist by pressing the 'Load Playlist' button on the lower left. If you have done so, it will appear in the main screen. Now everything is ready to go. If you press the 'Start' button, the On Air Radio Studio starts playing with the first item in the list.

The displays of the On Air Radio Studio
In this section you have different clocks and information fields. The most important is the actual time and date. This is taken from the PCs internal clock.

Next to the date and time, the On Air Radio Studio displays the artist and the title of the current song. Under the title and artist fields there are four clocks:

1. Full Time: This is the absolute running time of the current song.
2. Position: This is the time, the current song is already running.
3. To Cue: This is the time that remains for the current song till the Cue Point Out is reached.
3. Intro: The intro time is defined in the Audio Manager. The intro counter runs reverse. It starts with the defined time and counts backwards till it reaches zero.

The progress bar under these displays also indicates the 'To Cue' time.

The DRS 2006 system supports three virtual faders. Virtual fader means that the On Air Radio Studio can handle three playlist elements at the same time.

When the playlist is running, the used fader moves up and the CD symbol above it starts spinning. To talk over the current song, you can move the fader with the mouse or you can use the Drop Level functions. See below to find out more about this function.

Below the displays and progress bar you can find the current playlist. It shows the calculated on air time, artist, title, cue point out, end type and finally the intro time.

The controls the the On Air Radio Studio
The START/STOP controls
The 'Start' (shortcut <ENTER>) and 'Stop' (shortcut "0") buttons are the most important control functions in the On Air Radio Studio.

With these two simple buttons you have control over the running playlist. If you press 'Start' while a song is running, the next song will start and the current song will fade out. If you press the 'Stop' button within the current song, the 'Stop' button will turn red.

The song will continue playing. A red 'Stop' button indicates that the playlist will stop after the current song. We call this a 'DJ Break'. If you are in 'DJ Break' mode, the Cue Point Out will automatically be set to the end of the current song. If you remove the 'DJ Break' mode by right clicking on the 'Stop' button or clicking on the 'Start' button, the Cue Point Out time will be restored to it's original value and the 'Stop' button will turn back to green again. If you press the button for a second time while the title is still running and the button is red, the title will fade out and the playlist will stop at once. This is used for spontaneous 'DJ Breaks'. If you don't press the 'Start' or 'Stop' button while the playlist is running, it will continue playing the complete playlist with all programmed fades till the end or till the next 'DJ Live Break' item.

Another special function of these two buttons is the Manual Fade. If the 'Stop' button is pressed for the first time while a song is playing and the running time of the song has only 30 or less seconds left, the 'Start' button will also turn red. Now you can press the 'Start' button at any time to start the next song in the playlist manually. When you do so, the current song continues running till the normal end without any fade at all. If you use this feature at the end of the song, a manual fade is made. With a little practice you can make cool manual fades with this function while you are live on air.

The Prior and Next controls
Located over the 'Start' and 'Stop' buttons are two navigation buttons. The 'Prior' (shortcut F4) and the 'Next' (shortcut F9) button. With these two buttons you are able to navigate through your current playlist while all three main players are stopped. You can use this feature to jump to certain titles etc.

The drop volume level controls
There are also two very interesting buttons in this area. The 'Drop Now' (shortcut F10) and the 'Drop Next' (shortcut F5) button. These two buttons are made for ramp talks or voiceovers. If you press the 'Drop Next' button, the LED will be lighted. This means that the next song will start at a volume percentage you can define in the 'On Air Setup' (see below). If this happens and you press this button again, the volume will fade back to 100%. If you press this button again while the next song is not yet reached, the drop next function will be deactivated again (LED off). You can also press the 'Drop Now' button to talk over a title any time. If you press it again it will fade back to the full volume. You are also able to use both functions at the same time. The speed of the fades can also be predefined in the 'On Air Setup'.

The Virtual Cart Slots
Forget about the old cart machines used in every radio station. DRS 2006 supplies you with three cart slots in the On Air Radio Studio. Of course you have 30 more in the Virtual Cart Machine.

These slots can hold items of the database for instant use. Simply left click on an empty cart machine to start the Database Search Engine. Each cart slot has its own volume control so you can easily adjust the volume on the left side.
To start playing a slot after loading it with an item of the database, left click on it. To stop it while it is running left click on it once again. The sound will not immediately stop, it will fade out with the manual fade out speed set in the 'On Air Setup'. To remove an item from a slot, simply right click on it. The handling of the carts is the same as in the Virtual Cart Machine.
NOTE:
The cart slots play simultaneously over the normal sound of the playlist. You can use them to insert sound effects, jingles or requests from your listeners. If you want to use more cart slots, have a look at our Virtual Cart Machine which can be used in addition to the On Air Radio Studio.

The Shuffle Play Manager
With the 'Shuffle Manager' you can automate your playlists. With this great feature a radio station can run on it's own. It will use only items of the database you have defined. To do so you simply press the 'Shuffle Manager' button. All information like Cue Points, Intros etc. will be taken from the data you entered in the Audio Manager.

In this window you can define a real shuffle play rotation. This works like the 'Autofill Playlist' in the Playlist Editor. After you have defined a shuffle play rotation, you simply click on 'Shuffle Now' and away you go. Use the 'Start' button and the DRS 2006 system will not stop until you force it. Of course you can load and save shuffle rotations. These rotations can also be used in the Playlist Editor. After returning to the normal On Air Radio Studio screen, the shuffle play mode will be activated if you have pressed the 'Shuffle Now' button. You can also turn the shuffle play on and off by using the 'Shuffle On/Off' button on the right side of the screen.

While you are in shuffle play mode, the DRS 2006 will put a new song at the end of the playlist every time a title is finished. It will always follow your defined rotation and will never repeat any song till all songs of a certain type are played. An artist separation will always be activated by default.
Over the cart slots, the On Air Radio Studio will indicate the current mode. This can be the 'Playlist Mode' or the 'Shuffle Mode'. Of course all features like the 'Start' and 'Stop' buttons are also enabled in shuffle play mode. Just use it like you would in the normal playlist mode. To go back from the shuffle play mode to the normal playlist mode, you simply click on 'Shuffle On/Off'. You can switch between any mode even when you are on air.

The internal On Air Editor
Another feature is the internal 'On Air Editor' button (shortcut F6). If you press this button, a new window pops up.

Here you can preview the current playlist. You can scroll around as much as you want. This will have no effect on the current program. You can also see all other information added in the Audio Manager. Information is very important while being on air. But that's not all. Here you can also edit your running program while it is on air. Simply use the 'Insert New Item', 'Remove Item', 'Move Down Item' and 'Insert DJ Break' like in the Playlist Editor. You can't work on the currently playing song, but you can quickly remove, insert or move items.
The changes you made here will be taken over into the On Air Editor when you press the 'Back On Air' button (shortcut F6). Back in the On Air Radio Studio your changes will show immediately in them main screen.
You see this is a very powerful part of the On Air Radio Studio. If you have the DRS 2006 Professional Package, you can also use the On Air Editor PRO on another PC in your network to do this. With this module you are even able to prelisten to your current playlist.

The On Air Setup
If you press the 'On Air Setup' button, you can define the fade out speed of the manual fade (START, STOP, CARTS).

As you can see there are two more settings in this window. The 'Drop Level Out Seconds' and the 'Drop Down Percentage'. These two settings are used with the Drop Level feature of the On Air Radio Studio.

Additional features only available in the DRS 2006 Professional Version:
We will start off with the the additional 'On Air setup' feature. You can use up to 20 parallel running On Air Radio Studios using the same database. You'll simply have to give them numbers which can be set in the 'On Air Setup' dialog box . Please do not use the same On Air Radio Studio number twice.

Another additional feature is the 'Silence Detection'. This means that the DRS 2006 will recognize if nothing is playing and then start the next item in the playlist automatically. If there is none, it will use the last used shuffle rotation at once. In the 'On Air Setup' dialog screen you can activate this feature and set a certain time in seconds after which it activates automatically. You can also block this function while a DJ Break is active by checking the 'Do not activate at DJ Breaks' box.

Another important and powerful feature is that you have the chance to have cuts at the top of the hour or you can let the playlist/shuffle flow into the next hour without any cut of a title. Use the 'Execute Autoplay at exactly top of the hour' flag to enable this funtion. Read more about the automation modes below.

Full "walk away" automation modes
Now let's take a closer look at the full automation modes of the On Air Radio Studio Professional. Compared to the Standard version the DRS 2006 On Air Radio Studio Professional has a couple of very powerful features in addition. The autoplay modes and the Event Manager are the two main features. These two special automation utilities are part of the On Air Radio Studio Professional and of the Autoplay Manager module. To get the full information on these features read the section below and also the documentation of the Autoplay Manager module.

Autoplay Mode
The Autoplay Manager can be activated or deactivated in the On Air Radio Studio Professional with the button 'Autoplay On / Off'. The status of the Autoplay manager is indicated in the box at the top of the 'Autoplay On/Off' button.

'Autoplay at 14:59:55' means that the autoplay mode is activated and that the next information will be read at 14:59:55. This information contains either a playlist or a shuffle play rotation and an event cart of the Event Manager. All settings for this mode are made in the Autoplay Manager module.
This field could also show the following information instead:
'Autoplay Manager Off' means that the Autoplay mode is off. It can be activated by pressing the button 'Autoplay On/Off'.
'No Change' means that the Autoplay Manager is activated but there is no information for the next hour set up in the Autoplay Manager module. When the next hour is reached, the DRS 2006 On Air Radio Studio will remain in the current automation status.

Event Manager
The status of the Event Manager is indicated in the box beneath the 'Event Manager' button.

The words 'Playlist Mode' indicate that the On Air Radio Studio is in playlist mode.
This field could also show the following information instead:
'Shuffle Mode' would mean that the On Air Radio Studio is in shuffle play mode (see above).
'Event Cue' means that an event will be played at the cue point of the current title. If this status is indicated, you can't use the 'Start' or 'Stop' button until the event is played. After the event the playlist will be restarted automatically.
'Event On' means that an event is currently playing. After the event the playlist will be restarted automatically.

'Next Event at 14:20:00 Cue' means that the next event is coming up at 21:10:00. This event will not be played at the exact time. It will be played at the cue point of the currently playing title.
This field could also show the following information instead:
'Next Event at 14:20:00 Exact' means that the next event will be played at 14:20:00. This event will be played at the exact time. The current song will fade out.
'Event Manager Deactivated' means that the Event Manager is deactivated.

You can find the Event Manager in both modules, the Autoplay Manager or directly in the On Air Radio Studio. In the On Air Radio Studio the Event Manager can be reached by left clicking the button 'Event Manager' located right beside the 'Autoplay On/Off' button.

After clicking the 'Event Manager' button above dialog will open. Read about this dialog in the Autoplay Manager section of this manual. We just want to mention one thing here. When the On Air Radio Studio Professional plays a single event nothing happens with the current playlist display. When it reaches a mini playlist event, this playlist will be loaded into the playlist display. While the mini playlist is running you can't use the 'Start' and 'Stop' buttons. After the cue point out of the last item of the mini playlist is reached, the On Air Radio Studio will switch back to your normal playlist and it will go on with the next item. All this happens without any gap, so you will not hear that the playlist was switched two times. If you use this feature with a little skill, it will be very powerful.

The new playlist or shuffle mode and the events will be loaded five seconds before the top of the hour and started when the clock reaches the full hour. Either with an event or directly with the playlist. Of course you can change all options while you are on air. So you can decide to change anything just a few seconds before a event is played directly in the On Air Radio Studio.

Here is the behavior in special situations:
- If a single event or mini playlist overlaps with an automode change at the full hour, the currently running event will be played to the end. If there is already a new event, this event will be ignored.
- If an event is finished just a few seconds before the automode changes. The old playlist won't be continued. Use the 'Back Timing' button ('B') in the Event Manager to set your events exactly. We had to decide between a gap or a title playing for a few seconds and decided to use the gap. But remember if you set the events very good, then you'll never have a gap. DRS 2006 keeps playing and playing and playing....
- If two programmed events overlap, the second programmed event that would overlap will be ignored. If you want to overlap events, you can use the mini playlist feature.

Logging your on air data
Another additional feature is the On Air Analyzer. The On Air Radio Studio Professional logs all your played titles and sends them to the On Air Analyzer. This includes the playlists, carts and events, which will be logged with the exact on air times. Get more information in the On Air Analyzer section of this manual. By the way, in the Professional Package all titles from the Virtual Cart Machine and On Air DJ Studio will be logged as well.

External On Air Editor
Above the 'Start' and 'Stop' buttons you can also find more additional features of the On Air Radio Studio Professional.

Read about the 'Correction' button (shortcut F7) and the 'On Air Editor Status Panel' (located above the cart slots) in the On Air Editor section of this manual.