|
NEW IN FOUR-OH
Look at the the powerful new features found only in Command Center 4:
| 
View Output Logs in Spreadsheets, Databases |
- Database-Style Output Logging - Rather than just a list of start times and paths/filenames, Command Center 4 outputs a slick, comma-separated database containing rich data about every song that plays. The resultant ".csv" file can be imported directly into Excel, Open Office, or any other spreadsheet program, and viewed in tables, pie charts, and graphs. You'll have a terrific new way to view and truly understand what has played on your airwaves. This crystal-clear new way of seeing things will make you a more saavy programmer and lead to innovative new ideas on how to adjust and improve your programming. Read more about it.
- Cue Markers - Based on user requests, we've added a new file attribute that is a dramatic leap forward for our TuneTracker stations. Cue markers! Cue markers are "sec-tone-style" markers added to your songs which force a the next audio event to start, prior to the end of the current audio file. Each audio file can be given its own cue marker, depending on how much of its ending should be allowed to overlap with what's next. The cue marker doesn't tell the automation to stop playing the current track. It just signals that the next track should start at this point. This is a critical feature for hot, ultra-tight radio station formats, where they want to really slam their segues. But you don't have to take it to that extreme to benefit from cue markers. They're useful in any situation where you want to be very specific about the point in a track where the next-to-play cut should be triggered.
We've just added our seventh and eight configurable button types!
| 
All that's required for a Cart Button! |  "Cart" (Rotate Audio Cuts) Button - Ok, there's no way around it. This one's just plain cool. It's the Cart Button, and it works just like the old tape cartridges that contained multiple cuts in rotation. Use one button, clicked repeatedly, to cycle through a whole series of audio cuts, such as PSAs, promos, jingles, sweepers, or sound effects. And if you add more cuts later, or remove some, Command Center update the rotation automatically. Set up as many cart buttons as you like, each with its own rotation. Cart buttons are super-easy to set up, and we know you'll love 'em. They're downright fun!
| 
All that's required for Index Cards! |  "Index Card" (Rotate Scripts) Button - Anyone who has ever worked at a station where DJs rotate through a stack of index cards, each containing something that should be promoted or announced, then placed in the back of the stack, knows what this one's about! Quickly and easily assign a group of script files to a single button! Each time the DJ clicks on the button, the next script in the "stack" appears in Command Center's scrolling textbox. If you add more scripts later, or remove some, Command Center will update the rotation automatically. It's a great way to assure all your contest promos, listening reminders, etc., are presented evenly to listeners. Set up as many as you like; create one stack of cards for contest clues, another for show promos, yet another for PSAs, etc.
- Drag-n-Drop Hot Buttons - Now, you can add hot buttons in Command Center without ever even touching the interface, much less having to open the Button Editor. Just open up a folder on your hard drive, or our Lightning audio finder, select a file you want turned into a configurable button, and drop it onto a button in Command Center. Command Center will automatically detect the file as audio and create the correct type of button automatically, giving it a label based on the name of the file. It's the super-fast way to set up a show.
- Hot Button Interactivity - Not only can you drag-n-drop to create hot buttons, but you can also drag and drop the contents of existing hot buttons to other places! Drop a hot button onto ShuttlePad. Drop a hot button directly into your program log, scheduling it to play automatically whenever you like. It works in the opposite direction, too! You can drag any item from your program log, to create an instant hot button for repeated use on a manual basis.
- Drag-n-Drop Text Buttons - You can use drag-n-drop to configure text buttons now, too! Just open up a folder on your hard drive, select a file you want turned into a configurable button, and drop it onto a button in Command Center. Command Center will automatically detect that it's a text file, and create the correct type of button automatically, giving it a label based on the name of the file.
| 
Next-to-Play Event, Queued for Instant Playback | - "InstaCue" - In previous versions, during live programming, there was a slight hesitation before the gold, next-to-play event would fire, because the file had to be found first, then played. This important new feature pre-queues the next-to-play audio file, for playback the instant you touch or click the gold button. You'll feel the difference!
Lock-to-Log - With the new Lock-to-Log feature, you'll never have to touch the program log queue again. A new dynamic feature in Command Center finds each day's program log based on filename and adds it automatically. Just name your program files based on the date when you want them played, and Command Center will take care of the rest without your having to do a thing. You can lock-to files named by days of the week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday) or to dates, like 032309, 032409, 032509. And of course, you can still opt for our classic, "bottomless," drag-n-drop, loopable program log queue.
- ClearSwitcher - Our ChannelCaster users will love a new syntax that "clears the board" on Broadcast Tools switchers. A single line, # ClearSwitcher, is all it takes, and any orphaned audio routes on the switcher are instantly blanked out.
- Under the Hood - As usual, we've had our cyber-mechanics busy under the hood of Command Center, tweaking the engine compartment, tuning the timing, fixing, improving, and innovating, and you'll feel the benefit of it in increased speed, stability, and performance.
New Printed Manual - For people who like to turn pages and fold corners, an optional, printed manual is now available for the first time!
Over 200 pages long, and bound so that it can be opened flat, this great new resource will be an instant hit with our users who prefer paper over electronic documentatiion.
All by itself, 4.0 is well-worth the upgrade! But for those who haven't upgraded for a few versions,
let's also do a little looking back, and see what else has been added since 3.0.
Command Center 3.3
- Expires Attribute - "Expires" attribute assures Command Center will skip any audio file that is expired, even if it is accidentally left in the program log.
- Improved Display Layout - Artist and Title are displayed on separate lines, much easier to read, more room for both
- New Configurable Streaming Button - New configurable button mode for instant relaying of a stream or audio file from the web (each configurable button can now perform one of of six different functions)
- Label Field Added - Label field added to the syntax for Relay-For, so Command Center displays custom data onscreen about the stream or file being relayed
- Huge Log Loading Speedups - Instant log loading (no waiting for the log to load after double-clicking on it)
- CTRL-R Log Reloading - No longer a need to go to queue to reload current day's log. Just hit CTRL-R
- High-Precision Place-Finding - Exactly correct place found when program log is loaded or reloaded
- Last-Played Attribute - "Last Played" attribute shows the last time an item played
- Expanded Info - Expanded "Info" feature displays a whole profile of data (Artist, Title, Genre, Length, more) in addition to the info data you have specifically added for that song
- High-Precision GetPlay - GetPlay now plays, not only a specific correct file for a specific date, but even for a specific hour of the day! Lots less log preparation for you to do, especially at stations that voice-track.
- Extended Running Times Calculation - Displayed running times continue into the next-day's program log
- No Song Chops - Clicking Next-to-Play's gold Start button allows current song to keep playing rather than chopping it off, so you can fade it down as you wish
- Fast View Changes - Delay gone when switching to collapsed log view and back to full view...very fast now!
- LIVE Logging - Live On and Live Off events are logged to output log
- Ramp Countdown - Simplified Ramp countdown display reduces onscreen clutter
- Startup Fix - Fix for lockup that happens if you hover a mouse over a hotbutton while a log is loading
- Fast HotTrack Queueing - Much faster queuing of hottrack buttons
- Running Time Improvements Better, more consistently-updated running times
- Speedups! - Speedups everywhere! Nearly everything happens instantaneously.
Command Center 3.2
- Preview This is the one you've been asking for! Preview allows auditioning of tracks off-air through a second sound card. Just drag any audio event from your program log to the Preview button, to audition it. When you're done, click or touch the Preview button to stop playback. Unlike many automation systems that load their screen up with audition buttons for every event, we've added our Preview function without putting a single extra element on the screen! We just eliminated the big help button, the one that brought up the User's Guide. From now on, you'll get the User's Guide by hitting F1 on your keyboard.
- Crossfader lets DJs do silky-smooth, "artistic" song transitions. Click the large image above to see a full-sized illustration of the crossfader in action. In use, what you do is click-hold or touch-hold on the Start button of the song you wish to crossfade to, and the crossfader will appear. As you drag its slider to the right, the previous song will fade down as new song fades up. When your slider reaches the end, your previous song will be turned all-the-way-down, and when you release your mouse, the previous track is ejected automatically.
- Manual Volume Boost (for quiet tracks) - When you click-hold or touch-hold on a volume icon, and the ehanced volume slider appears (see illustration on the right), the standard "full" volume setting is shown at the top of the green section. If you have an especially quiet track that needs a boost, you can now slide the volume above "full," giving you lots of extra push when you need it.
- Volume Presetting (for simpler talkovers when the event begins playing). It's awkward to have to start a track manually, then quickly adjust its volume downward so it's low enough to talk over. Now, with volume control icons next to every song in your entire program log, you can pre-set the volume of any song you wish to talk over, so it will start low; letting you bring the volume up at the proper time.
- Trim Attributes let you remove silences from the front and back of existing tracks. There are two new attributes. TrimStart lets you tell Command Center how far into the song you wish it to start playing it, effectively trimming off anything prior to that without ever having to edit the song. TrimEnd does the same to the end. Great for MP3s and other audio files that were transferred into the system (not ripped in TunePrepper) which have "sloppy silences" or really long, drawn-out end fades. And as with every feature in TuneTracker System, you can do so with millisecond-level (thousandths of a second) accuracy.
- AAC/MP4 file format support. We can now play back AAC/MP4/M4A format files (non-DRM) in addition to MP2, MP3, WAV, AIFF, ADPCM, Ogg Vorbis, and 8SVX.
- Overlay (with ducking) allows stations to schedule IDs or other audio files to play over a long audio event such as a concert. The Overlay command "floats" an audio file over the top of the other audio event being broadcast, turning it down partway or all the way (set it however you like in Preferences) until the announcement is concluded, then turning the lengthy event back up to full. Great for "staying legal" during the broadcast of city council meetings, concerts, and especially, in conjunction with single, large audio files that have not been broken into pieces to allow for insertion of a break at the top of the hour. Overlay can automatically rotate through a group of cuts, cart-style, if you like.
- Real-Time Awareness, for millisecond-level accuracy when rejoining the program log during reboot recovery. With this option checked in Preferences, Command Center will not only reload the program log after a reboot, and find the exact right song or other audio event, but it will also "join" that event in progress, starting playback from the precisely-correct location. This is extremely important at radio stations that broadcast block programming, such as talk shows, satellite music, pre-recorded sermons, etc.
- Force-Exact (shift-spacebar) forces Command Center to the exactly correct event in the program log by using Shift-Spacebar. In the event that you ever need to manually force Command Center to an exact event based on calculated running times, and join it in progress, this feature gives you the power to do so.
- CTRL-R Log Reloading Previously, if you made changes to the program log in a text editor, it was necesssary to open Command Center's program log queue and double-click on the correct day's program log to re-load it with the changes. Now, you can just do CTRL-R on your keyboard and the updated program log is loaded automatically.
- Silence Immunity for the automated "Pause" feature, so the silence-sensor need not be turned off. Previously, it was necessary to schedule a "SS Off" event just prior to a sign-off pause or other silent pause, and a "SS On" following the pause. Now, Command Center is smart enough to do that on its own.
- F1 brings up the User's Guide. Previously, this was invoked using a big button on the interface, which is now put to better use as our new Preview button!
- ELO Touchscreen Support - We now support and distribute the popular ELO brand of touchscreens. We've developed a great driver for ELO that comes with our touchscreen packages. We are so pleased to now be offering this top-quality touchscreen product with our systems!
- Improved Touchscreen Behaviors through enhanced features for our touchscreen stations. Never before has Command Center been so responsive and "touchy." Even finger-dragging operations such as volume adjustments, crossfades, ShuttlePad use, and the new Preview function, are well-supported. Calibration of touches and touch accuracy are improved as well. In addition, we have made several previously mouse-only operations touch-friendly, including...
- Click-Hold/Touch-Hold on any song, to display information about that song in Command Center's scrolling textbox.
- Click-Hold/Touch-Hold to enlarge and shrink the scrolling textbox
Command Center 3.1
- Beautiful New Interface - We hope you love the new look as much as we do!
- Segue Markers - Now, during automated times, you can do artistic overlapping of your songs by specifiying how much each song may safely overlap with the songs surrounding it. Just add segue markers to your songs, and Command Center will overlap the songs by however much you allow. Every song's segue time is marked separately, giving you complete artistic control over all segues. It makes your station sound like there's a DJ sitting right there running the board.
- Ramp Countdowns - Every song's "ramptime" (the allowable amount of time a voice-track can talk over a song) is now dynamic. Not only will Command Center overlay a pre-recorded voice-track with ramps precisely, but during live DJ'ing, the ramps present a real-time countdown of the amount of available time before the singing or main melody begins, so the DJ knows when to stop talking.
- New "Info" Feature - A new attribute has been added to the TuneTracker System that will turn every member of your on-air staff into an instant musicologist! Using the included, newly-updated version of Army Knife, you'll be able to add copious amounts of information about the Artist, Album, or particular Title, to each song in your library. Then, to display that information in Command Center, right-click on a song and choose the new "get info" option, and the information will be shown in the scrolling text box.
Command Center's scrolling text box itself, which is so central to the system, has also been significantly enhanced!
- Expandable Text Display - When you hit Enter on your keyboard, the text box more than doubles in size, giving you a nice big reading area. Hit Enter again, and it returns to its more-compact size.
- Adjustable Text Size - CTRL-Up Arrow and CTRL-Down Arrow can be used to make text larger or smaller, to suit everybody's eyesight.
- Adjustable Font Style - CTRL-Left Arrow and CTRL-Right Arrow let you step through all of the available fonts in your computer, to find the one you like best. Save your favorite layout if you like. Restore the "factory default" size and style settings at any time.
- New "Run" Button - A new configurable button type! Launch any external program (such as Lightning, TuneStacker, TimeTracker, batch files, anything from any button in the configurable ButtonPad or MyShow areas. A great way to get things done quickly without having to ever having to change to another workspace or minimize Command Center.
- Edit Log Option - Need to make some "wholesale changes" to your currently-running program log? More than just some quick drag-n-drop edits? Right-click on the program log, right in Command Center, and choose, "Open program log in editor," and your program log will open up automatically in the text editor of your choice.
- Smart Start! In previous versions of TuneTracker, the automation would take its "best guess" as to where to resume in the program log after a restart or reboot, based on the last item played, or the location of certain time markers in the log. In Command Center 3.1, smart new logic chooses the exact right song to start with, based on calculated running times.
- Pre-Queue Feature - Hovering your mouse over any HotButton in Command Center now causes the audio file associated with that file to be pre-queued and "readied." You'll know it has happened, becauses the text of button will turn green when ready. Now, when you click the button, the track plays intantly, with no "lookup delay."
- Persistent Relaying - Great news if your station relays a streaming Internet signal from another location. Command Center 3.1 is much more robust about maintaining a connection, and if the signal is completely lost, recovering gracefully. This means that, for the first time, Command Center can be set up at the transmitter site and used to relay an Internet-based "STL stream" from your main studio location, or to allow you an alternate or backup method of feeding your main signal to a translator station location.
- O is for Output Log - You can now view the current day's Output Log (showing everything that has already played that day) in the scrolling text box. Just right-click on the text box and choose that option, or hit the letter "O" on your keyboard.
- Free Army Knife Upgrade! - We've added a whole new section to Army Knife, along with some handy cut/copy/paste options. The new Army Knife lets you add voluminous amounts of text information to your songs, for use with Command Center's new "Get Info" feature.
Now's the time to act!
Don't miss out on all the wonderful features and innovations we've added since your last upgrade. Whether you've been keeping up-to-date, or have let things lapse for awhile, this is the time to act. We've priced our upgrades to make them accessible to even the smallest of stations.
Ready to order?
Choose a form below, or call us and place your order by phone.
Please also feel free to call with any pre-sale questions!
920-273-0543
|
|
