TUNETRACKER SYSTEM IN ACTION - TuneTracker
TUNETRACKER COMMANDS "JUMP LIST"
Find any command quickly.
Commonly-Used Commands
Comment
Hour
Live
Interrupt
Pause-For
Time-Correct
TempAnnounce
TimeAnnounce
Special-Use Commands
FadeInto
GetPlay
HotTrack
Relay-For
Run
ShowText
SS (Silence Sense)
UseButtonPadSet
UseMyShowSet
VT (Voicetrack)
Switcher-Related Commands
Ignore
Listen
Overlay
Route-For
SendRelay
SendTone
Sine
TuneTracker™ Commands
Simple automation commands, included in your format clocks, are used to tell the TuneTracker™ automation program what to do, and when to do it. All TuneTracker™ commands must begin with a single # (pound sign). TuneTracker™ commands are "case insensitive," though when they specify a path and a filename, you must use the same upper and lowercase letters as actually exist in the path and filename.
The quickest way to access information about any TuneTracker command is to click on the item in our "Jumplist" on the right. You will note that some commands are only available with certain versions of TuneTracker, and those exceptions are noted in each command's description.
Where offered, be sure to click "Read More" for more detailed information on commands, including lots of really helpful hints and examples. If you don't read them, you'll miss a lot of what these features can do for you!
For full, in-context examples of these commands "in action," be sure to view the format clock and master log template files and the sample program log, found in your TuneTracker System's "Templates" folder, or in the "Logs" folders found inside your "Station" folder.
# Hour (required)
# Hour is a marker that must be included at the top of each hour in your program day, including at the start of each of your format clocks and at the start of every hour in your 24-hour master logs. The # Hour statement tells TuneTracker™ that all the entries following it should occur in the hour specified. The # Hour command is expressed in 24-hour "military" time format, where hour 13 is 1 p.m., hour 14 is 2 p.m., etc. The first hour of the day, from midnight to 1 a.m., is expressed as "# Hour 0".
- Examples:
# Hour 0 (midnight hour)
# Hour 8 (8 a.m.)
# Hour 12 (noon)
# Hour 15 (3 p.m.)
# Time-Correct (strongly recommended)
A Time-Correct is an industry standard radio automation function which is used to help keep your programming running on-schedule. At least once each half hour, a Time-Correct should be included in your format clock. The Time-Correct command tells TuneTracker™ to skip any unneeded events at the time specified.
- Examples:
# Time-Correct@:19:00
# Time-Correct@:59:45
Read More about using this feature.
# Pause-For
The "# Pause-For" command tells TuneTracker™ to cease further operations for a specified period of time. This command can be used in tandem with other commands in a number of ways.
- Examples:
# Pause-For 01:00:00 (pause for one hour)
# Pause-For 00:01:00 (pause for one minute)
# Pause-For 00:00:15 (pause for 15 seconds)
# Pause-For 99:00:00 (infinite pause)Read More about using this feature.
# Interrupt
The "# interrupt" command is a powerful command which is extremely useful in joining (or breaking away from) programming at a specific time. A single "# interrupt" command fades the currently playing audio event for a specified length of time, then takes it off the air and starts the next event at an exact time.
IMPORTANT: Note in the examples below that there is a : (colon) just after the @ sign. Note also that the time shown after the colon is expressed in minutes and seconds. Do not express the hour here, just a colon, followed by minutes and seconds.
- Example:
/boot/path/song.mp3
# interrupt@:30:00 10
/boot/path/news.wav
Read More about using this feature.
ALERT!
There are TWO different versions of the following command. One is for use in TuneTracker Basic™ (and the old TT Pro program). The other is for use in Command Center™. Be certain to use the correct syntax for the version of TuneTracker you have, or your automated live events will not behave properly!
# Live On and # Live Off (TuneTracker Basic ONLY)
The "# Live" command is an automated method of opening a live connection to whatever is audio source is plugged into your sound card. There are two possible parameters: "live on" and "live off."
The # Live automation event is NOT intended for frequent, day-in, day-out satellite automation. Use a Command Center ChannelCaster-equipped system with switcher package for that sort of broadcast operation.
- Examples:
# Live on
# Pause-For 00:05:00
# Live off
# Live-For (Command Center ONLY)
The "# Live-For" command is an automated method of opening a live connection to whatever is audio source is plugged into your sound card. In Command Center, you specify the period of time for the live event right in the same line, so no Pause-For line is necessary.
- Example 1:
# Live-For 00:05:00
- Example 2:
# Live-For 99:00:00
# Interrupt@:18:00
In the second example, Live-For uses an "infinite pause" which will keep your live event active until it is taken off the air by an # Interrupt.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The # Live-For and # Live On/Off automation events are NOT intended for frequent, day-in, day-out, satellite-based automation. For that kind of broadcasting, use Command Center and a ChannelCaster switcher package.
Read More about using this feature.
## Comment Lines
Any line which begins with ## (two pound signs) is considered a "comment line" in the TuneTracker System™. It is disregarded by TuneStacker™ and automatically passed on to the program log TuneStacker™ generates. That allows you to add notes of clarification and blank lines for spacing, to keep your log easier to read.
- Examples:
## (blank line)
## Noon News Segment
## Remove item below on January 1st
## /boot/path/sports/fishingreport.wavRead More about using this feature.
# Fadeinto
Fadeinto does just what you'd think. It lets you start a live event or a digital audio cut at zero volume and fade it up. It's especially useful when you need to join live audio "in progress" and don't want the transition to sound chopped and abrupt. The number following your # fadeinto indicates how many seconds the fade-in should last. As little as one-second of fade-in can sound good. The example below shows a long, five-second fadein.
- Examples:
# fadeinto 5
# live on
Read More about using this feature.
# SS On / # SS Off
It is possible to automatically turn the silence sensor on and off via your program log. This is done extremely easily, and is handy for situations where you are joining a live audio event that can have unpredictable amounts of silence such as a concert, church service, lecture, etc, or when you plan to use the "# Pause-For" event to pause the automation silently for a period of time, such as overnight.
Note that in Command Center 3.2 and above, the silence sensor is "immune" to pause-for events, and thus you do not need to turn it off during a long, silent pause.
- Examples:
# ss off
# live on
# Pause-For 01:00:00 (hour-long live concert)
# live off
# ss onRead more about using this feature.
# Relay-For
TuneTracker's "# Relay-For" lets you receive and relay an MP3 audio stream coming from a Internet/intranet radio station located elsewhere, for any specified length of time. Relay-For can also be used to play an audio file located elsewhere such as on the Internet or from across a LAN.We have other commands that also contain the word "relay" and refer to swticher relays, so please don't let the word "relay" in this command confuse you. The Relay-For command refers to the relaying of an Internet/intranet stream or the playing of an audio file from a remote server.
- Examples:
# Relay-For 00:10:00 http://123.456.789.101:123456
# Relay-For 99:00:00 http://123.456.789.101:123456Read more about using this feature.
# Run (Command Center™ Only)
# Run allows you to launch programs and scripts at specific times. Since TuneTracker™ is a 24 hour "time machine," you can take advantage of its time awareness to perform duties such as downloading news reports, generating program logs, retrieving files from another computer, uploading a playlist to the web, doing a reboot; essentially, any task that can be run as a script or a program can be launched by TuneTracker's # Run command.
Note that at the end of each line containing a # Run command, you must include an ampersand (&). Do not fail to include that or it could cause TuneTracker™ to stop at the line and go no further.
If you are unable to create such scripting yourself, our staff is available to write scripts to perform almost any function you can dream up. Write to us to discuss your ideas!
- Examples:
# Run /boot/home/config/bin/GetWeather.sh &
# Run /boot/home/config/bin/shutdown -r &
# Run /boot/home/config/bin/SendPlaylist.sh &
# Run /boot/home/config/bin/DownloadNews.sh &
To assure they are not skipped-over, # Run commands are normally best placed right after a Time-Correct.
# GetPlay (Command Center™ Only)
# GetPlay is a huge time-saver and an excellent way to assure that a program whose content changes every day gets played consistently. It behaves similarly to the TuneStacker™ command called "Play," but instead of finding the file at the time you generate your program log in TuneStacker, # GetPlay tells TuneTracker™ to do the work instead. One of the big benefits of this approach is that it is very forgiving about missing files. By letting TuneTracker™ retrieve the files a split second before they are needed, you'll have the opportunity to add files in right up to the very last minute.
To get a sense of how # GetPlay works, let's use an imaginary situation. Let's say you have a daily one-minute program called "Today in Tech History." It arrives on CD once a week, and you normally dub them into your /boot/Station/Programs folder as soon as the CD arrives in the mail each week. From now on, dub them in with filenames that look like this:
TechHistory_11-03-06.mp3
TechHistory_11-04-06.mp3
TechHistory_11-05-06.mp3
TechHistory_11-06-06.mp3
Then, on your format clocks/master logs, the line you add to your programming should look like this:
- Example:
# GetPlay /boot/Station/Programs/TechHistory_%D.mp3
TuneTracker™ will see the line and automatically substitute the current day's date for %D when looking for the file. Thus, you only need to add the line once to your master log, and from then on you never have to touch the logs again! Just make sure your files follow the same naming scheme all the time and you'll be all set.
# Overlay (Command Center™ Only)
Overlay lets you play an audio file at a specified time, "over the top" of other programming you're running. This is useful for situations where you're broadcasting a meeting, concert, lecture, or other block programming that runs past the top of the hour, necessitating the playing of a station-ID over the top. The completely list of overlays for a given day's programming must be placed at the beginning of your program log.
- Example:
# Hour 0 (start of day)
# Overlay 20:00:00 Comment StationID
The example above will result in Command Center playing a station ID at the top of the 8 p.m. hour. If more than one audio file with the Comment, "StationID" is found, Command Center will rotate through them, playing the next one in the rotation each time that particular type of Overlay is required.
There's lots more information available on this feature...Read more about using this feature.
# VT (Voice-Track) (Command Center™ Only)
Identifies the line following it as a voice-track, so TuneTracker™ knows to overlap it with the tracks preceding and following it if those tracks have their ramp times marked.
- Example 1:
/boot/Station/PSAs/PSA03.mp3
# VT
/boot/Station/VoiceTracks/MonHr21Track3.wav
/boot/Station/Music/Westminster Abbey/StraightUp.mp3
TuneTracker™ will attempt to overlap MonHr21Track3.wav with the available ramp time assigned to the song, StraightUp.mp3
TuneTracker™ will attempt to overlap MonHr21Track3.wav with the song that precedes it, and the song that follows it. No song names are shown, since this example shows what the log looks like prior to being processed by TuneStacker™.
- Example 2:
Rotate Genre Rock
# VT
/boot/Station/VoiceTracks/MonHr21Track3.wav
Rotate Genre ClassicRock
# TimeAnnounce (Command Center™ Only)
Command Center™ comes with a full set of professionally-voiced time announcements that can be added to your log whenever you want them.
TimeAnnounce can be customized and personalized in many exciting ways, and be turned into a sellable feature that can generate nice ongoing income for your station.
- Examples:
# TimeAnnounce
# TimeAnnounce /boot/path/foldernameRead More about using this feature.
# TempAnnounce (Command Center™ Only...requires purchase of Temperature Announcement Package)
Temperature announcements, a purchasable add-on to Command Center™, are intended to play immediately following a time announcement. Always use the temperature announcements right after a time announcement, because the temperature announcements are worded to follow them, as shown in the example below.
- Example:
# TimeAnnounce
# TempAnnounce
Play /boot/Station/Commercials/ttsponsor_1stnationalbank.mp3
As you can see in the example above, the syntax is almost identical to TimeAnnounce. Not only do temperature announcements give your station a great new service and a more "live" sound, they're also easily profitable. The announcement of time and temperature is a very a sellable commodity. Many stations offer a "time and temp" package to advertisers such as banks and other institutions. In the example above, the listeners might hear something like:
"It's 7:35 and 46 degrees. A time and temperature check from your friends at 1st National Bank...the friendly bank, downtown Spotsville. Open your account today!"Read more about using this feature.
# HotTrack (Command Center Only)
HotTrack is a feature for owners of our ChannelCaster 4, ChannelCaster 8, and ChannelCaster 16 switcher-based systems. It is used to play a digital audio file such as a DJ liner or call letters over the top of a live satellite audio feed, When a relay closure is received on a particular relay channel, Command Center plays an audio file based on the attribute you specify, such as "Comment ID."
In the first example above, Command Center will listen to relay channel 2, and if a closure is received, a file marked with the Comment "CallLetters" is played. In the second example, Command Center will listen to relay channel 7, and if a closure is received, a file marked with the Comment "JoeSmith" is played.
- Examples:
# HotTrack 2 Comment CallLetters
# HotTrack 7 Comment JonSmith
HotTrack finds every file matching the criteria you've specified, and rotates through them, so if the same Comment is requested in a future HotTrack, Command Center will play the next matching track in the rotation.
To tell Command Center to stop listening to the specified relay channel, use the "Ignore" command, as described elsewhere on this page.
There's more information available under the "Read More" link, just below.Read More about using this feature.
# Route-For (Command Center Only)
Route-For is a switcher control feature for use with our ChannelCaster 4, ChannelCaster 8, and ChannelCaster 16 switcher-based systems.. It is used to automatically switch among different input and outputs on the Broadcast Tools line of switcher boxes. Regardless of which of the switcher boxes came in your ChannelCaster package, the syntax you use is the same.
In the first example above, switcher input channel two will be opened and sent to output channel one for ten minutes. In the second example, which uses our 99 hour "infinite" designation, the switcher channel will be held open until it is interrupted using our # Interrupt command. The wording in quotation marks will be displayed in Command Center as the description of the switcher event.
- Examples:
# Route-For 00:10:00 Input 2 to Output 1 "NBC News"
# Route-For 99:00:00 Input 12 to Output 3 "Church Service"
There's lots more information available under the "Read More" link.Read More about using this feature.
# Listen (Command Center Only)
When the Listen command is encountered in your program log, Command Center perks up its ears and begins monitoring the Broadcast Tools switcher relay channel number you specify. It will continue to listen to relay closures on that relay channel, and respond to them with a start-advance, until told to stop doing so by an "Ignore" command (covered below). The Command Center response when receiving a relay closure on that channel will be to advance to the next event in the program log, just the same as if you had hit the Start button or the spacebar. It is useful for cutting away from network broadcasts to take local breaks.
The first example tells Command Center to start listening to relay channel one. The second example tells Command Center to start listening to ALL the relay channels. Be careful with that latter one, for obvious reasons.
- Example:
# Listen 1
# Listen ALL
Read More about using this feature.
# Ignore (Command Center Only)
# Ignore tells Command Center to no longer pay attention to relay closures received on a particular relay port of the Broadcast Tools line of switchers. It is advisable to use an # Ignore at the point in the log where a particular network broadcast that calls for local breaks is no longer being broadcast.
The first example tells Command Center to start ignoring relay channel one. The second example tells Command Center to start ignoring ALL the relay channels. The ALL command is useful as a way of quickly clearing a group of Listen channels. Beware of one thing though. ALL will also clear your default "permanent" input channel as specified in System Prefs, if you're using that feature. If it is cleared, you must go into System Prefs and just click "Save and Use" to re-establish the default relay channel again.
- Examples:
# Ignore 1
# Ignore ALL
Read More about using this feature.
# UseButtonPadSet (Command Center™ Only)
Loads and displays whichever customized set of ButtonPad buttons you specify. This allows Command Center to load the proper set of buttons for each time of day automatically.
- Examples:
# UseButtonPadSet Morning Show
# UseButtonPadSet Weekend Buttons
# UseButtonPadSet News Block Buttons
# UseButtonPadSet Ballgame Engineering Buttons
Use the exact name you gave the set when you created it in the button layout editor. To assure accuracy, you can copy and paste it directly from the editor to the line in your log, using CTRL-C for copy, and CTRL-V for paste.Read More about using this feature.
# UseMyShowSet (Command Center™ Only)
Loads and displays whichever customized set of MyShow buttons you specify. This allows Command Center to load the proper set of buttons for each person's DJ show or talk show automatically, at a convenient time, such as just before each jock shift begins.
- Examples:
# UseMyShowSet Sundays By Request
# UseMyShowSet Bill's Billboard Countdown
# UseMyShowSet Max in the Morning
# UseMyShowSet Sheila Clark Show
Use the exact name you gave the set when you created it in the button layout editor. To assure accuracy, you can copy and paste it directly from the editor to the line in your log, using CTRL-C for copy, and CTRL-V for paste.Read More about using this feature.
# ShowText (Command Center™ Only)
When Command Center arrives at the line in the program log requesting a ShowText, it displays the contents of a text file in the scrolling text box. This is handy as a way to automatically display reminders to DJs, or promo copy for them to read, at the exact right time of day.
- Examples:
# ShowText /boot/Station/Scripts/RequestShowTeaser.txt
# ShowText /boot/Station/Memos/MorningStaffMemo.txt
# ShowText /boot/Station/Text/TodaysTriviaQuestion.txt
The contents of the text file will be displayed in the scrolling text box when Command Center reaches that item in your program log. It will remain in the text box until replaced by another ShowText event, or by a DJ's decision to display other text such as the forecast, a help file, etc.
The actual ShowText lines in your program logs do appear onscreen, looking much like an audio event, complete with a Start button. This is done intentionally, so that if the DJ wishes to, he/she can display the text early, before Command Center does so automatically. To manually display a ShowText file just click on that event line's green Start button.
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