TUNETRACKER SYSTEM IN ACTION - Using TuneTracker Command Center™

Configurable ButtonPad and MyShow Buttons

TuneTracker Command Center™ provides you with a bottomless supply of user-configurable buttons, organized into two onscreen areas; the ButtonPad area, and the MyShow area.

Let's start by identifying those two onscreen areas, and understanding why there are two areas rather than just one.


ButtonPad Buttons

During certain dayparts (times of day), specific items might need to be made available to every announcer or engineer who uses TuneTracker during those dayparts. For instance, it might be that during early-to-mid-morning, or even all day long, there's a universal need for certain opens, closes, jingles, scripts, or channels to be easily accessible. That's the purpose of ButtonPad area buttons. They're considered "station" buttons rather than personal DJ buttons.


MyShow Buttons

The buttons in this area are intended for "show prep," for individual announcers. Each DJ can be assigned a button set labeled with his or her name, and within that set they can create as many pages of personalized buttons as they like. They can flip through the pages of buttons in their set using the left and right arrow buttons. If a DJ needs a separate set of buttons for, say, a weekend show, it's easy to add as many additional sets as necessary, naming them whatever makes sense.


What the Buttons Can Do

Any configurable button in the ButtonPad and MyShow areas can be used to perform two different functions, or three if you have our ChannelCaster switcher package. You choose which kind of button you want via the "Button Type" dropdown box.

  1.   Hot Button - Clicking on a "hot" button will cause TuneTracker to play whichever audio file has been assigned to it. Hot buttons are great for show opens and closes, intro themes, jingles, sound effects, sweepers, contest sounds, mock audience reactions, bumper music, talk beds, even specialty and novelty songs. A pre-queue feature (Command Center 3.1 and above) lets you hover your mouse over a hot button to give the system the chance quickly retrieve the track and queue it in SoundPlay before you try to play it. Just wait a quarter second or so until the text of the button turns green before clicking. That way playback will be instantaneous when you do click on it.


  2.   Text Button - Clicking on a "text" button will cause whichever text file has been assigned to it to be displayed in TuneTracker's scrolling text box. Text buttons are ideal for displaying anything that needs to be read live over the air, such as customized forecasts, PSAs, promos and teasers, image lines, even news and sportscasts.


  3.   Switcher Button - Clicking a "switcher" button will open up a live audio channel on an external audio switcher device. See the ChannelCaster button page for simple instructions on setting up configurable sitcher buttons.


  4.   Run Buttons (Command Center 3.1 and above) - A Run button is capable of launching an external program, such as Lightning, or a batchfile script written to accomplish a specific task such as doing a download, doing backups, etc. This is useful when you want to quickly accomplish a task without ever moving away from the Command Center screen.

Customizing ButtonPad Buttons

To edit buttons in the ButtonPad area, right-click on any button along the right side of the TuneTracker Command Center™ interface and choose "Edit Buttons." A ButtonPad Layout Editor will appear. If you are creating your first set of buttons, first click on "Default button set" and type in a new name for the set. Then do the following for each button you wish to edit:

  1.   Click on the line representing the button you wish to edit.
  2.   Click to select the Button Type you want to create.
  3.   For hot buttons, run buttons, and text buttons, drag and drop the file of your choice onto the configuration screen and release. Or, click the browse button to find the file you want. For switcher buttons, choose the input you want the switcher to open, and the output you want it routed to.
  4.   In the label area on the left, type in up to three lines of text that describe the item. You are limited as to the number of characters because this will be the label displayed on the button in TuneTracker. You do not need to fill all three lines. You can use one, two, or three lines, and TuneTracker will auto-center your label text on the button for you.
  5.   Click "Apply"
  6.   Edit additional lines (buttons) as required. The lines are numbered according to the order in which they will appear in TuneTracker.
  7.   If you want to create another completely new set of buttons, click "New Set." If you want to re-use some of the buttons in a previously-created set when creating a new set, take advantage of the "Copy Set" and "Paste Set" buttons, then make whatever adjustments you need to make in the duplicated set. If you want to delete a set, and you're certain of it, click the "Cut Set" button. Just don't accidentally wipe out a set of needed station buttons or the Program Director will show you a creative new way to leave the building.
  8.   Once you have more than one set of buttons, you can choose the set you wish to display in TuneTracker by clicking on the name of the set in the upper window pane, and then clicking the "Use This Set" button.

Customizing MyShow Buttons

To edit buttons in the MyShow area, right-click on any button in the area at the very bottom of the TuneTracker interface, and select "Edit Buttons." A "MyShow Layout Editor" will appear. If you are creating your first set of buttons, first click on "Default button set" and type in a new name for the set. Then do the following for each button you wish to edit:

  1.   Click on the line representing the button you wish to edit.
  2.   Click to select the Button Type you want to create.
  3.   For hot buttons and text buttons, drag and drop the file of your choice onto the configuration screen and release. Or, click the browse button to find the file you want. For switcher buttons, choose the input you want the switcher to open, and the output you want it routed to.
  4.   In the label area on the left, type in up to three lines of text that describe the item. You are quite limited as to the number of characters because this will be the label displayed on the button in TuneTracker. You do not need to fill all three lines. You can use one, two, or three lines, and TuneTracker will auto-center your label text on the button for you.
  5.   Click "Apply"
  6.   Edit additional lines (buttons) as required. The lines are numbered according to the order in which they will appear in TuneTracker.
  7.   If you want to make another page of buttons for the current set, click "New Page," then click on the line representing the new page, click in the Name text box below, and give it a new name.
  8.   If you want to create another completely new set of buttons, click "New Set." If you want to re-use some of the buttons in the previous set when creating the new set, take advantage of the "Copy Set" and "Paste Set" buttons. If you want to delete a set, and you're certain of it, click the "Cut Set" button. Careful! Don't accidentally delete another DJ's entire set of buttons or on your next shift you might find your favorite headphones glued together with crazy glue.
  9.   Once you have more than one set of buttons, you can choose the set you wish to display in TuneTracker by clicking on the name of the set in the upper window pane, and then clicking the "Use This Set" button.

  
DOING WEATHER REWRITES

TuneTracker Command Center™'s built-in weather retrieval feature gives you instant access to the latest forecast information, which is displayable in the scrolling text box by just clicking on the current conditions in the WeatherPad area. Simple! But some stations like to do rewrites of the forecast that suite the style of the station. Here's a quick way to do it...

  1.   Create a text document called Weather and save it to your hard drive.
  2.   Assign the text document to a button with the label, WXYZ Fore Cast or whatever you like. Click Apply and close the Button Layout Editor.
  3.   Display the current forecast in the scrolling text box, drag across its contents (or do CTRL-A to select "all"), then do CTRL-C to copy.
  4.   Right-click on your forecast button and choose "Edit Text." The editor will appear in a little word processor.
  5.   Paste-in the contents of the current forecast, edit it as you like, then save the document and close the word processor.
Now, your staff can retrieve your station's forecast writeup instantly by just clicking on your new weather button!


Editing Text Scripts

Some text scripts need routine updating, so we have added a feature that makes the edits fast and painless. While using TuneTracker Command Center™'s main interface screen, just right-click on the text button, choose "Edit Text," and your script will instantly appear inside a word processor. Make your changes, then choose Save. Close the word processor. You're done! If you accidentally right-click on a non-text-button, and select "Edit Text," TuneTracker will display an error message.


Selecting Button Sets

To choose the button set you want displayed in TuneTracker, just select it in the button editor and click "Use This Set." You can also have TuneTracker automatically select and display a specific set of buttons at any time of the day by using this simple syntax in your log:

# UseButtonPadSet MorningShow Set

or

# UseMyShowSet Nate Miller Request Show

To be certain the wording and spelling of the specified set is exactly right, you can drag across the name in the text box in your button layout editor, do CTRL-C for copy, then paste it into your log using CTRL-V.


TuneTracker's SoundDog Surprise!

When your system arrives, the first couple pages in the MyShow area are pre-populated with a complementary set of 25 great, full-fidelity sound effects and music beds we hand-picked for broadcast purposes from among the hundreds of thousands of selections available at SoundDogs.com. These can be rearranged, moved, replaced, however you'd like. You'll likely discover certain "favorites" among them that find their way into nearly every set of TuneTracker buttons you configure. Just make certain to limit their use to TuneTracker. Our licensing agreement with SoundDogs requires that the sounds we distribute may only be used within the confines of your TuneTracker automation software. If you need more or other effects or beds for use in TuneTracker or other purposes, we think you'll find the ala-carte approach they take at SoundDogs to be an exceptionally cost-effective way to get the exact cuts you need.



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