Streaming & Now Playing
AutoCast can feed its program audio directly to SignalCaster for live internet streaming, and it can write a "Now Playing" file that keeps your website, app, or streaming player metadata current — all automatically, with no extra work on your part during a broadcast.
Feeding Audio to SignalCaster
SignalCaster is the TuneTracker System's internet streaming encoder. It encodes your station's audio and sends it to a streaming server — whatever service delivers the audio to your online audience. AutoCast and SignalCaster work together over a local TCP connection: AutoCast sends its raw program audio to SignalCaster, which handles all the encoding and delivery.
Setting It Up
Go to Settings → Streaming and configure the SignalCaster feed:
| Setting | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Feed Audio to SignalCaster | Master toggle. Turn this on to enable the audio feed. |
| Port | The TCP port SignalCaster is listening on. Default is 9170. This must match the port configured in SignalCaster — if you change one, change the other. |
| Status | A live indicator showing the connection state: green (connected and streaming), orange (connecting or reconnecting), red (not connected). |
SignalCaster must be running and listening on the configured port before AutoCast can connect. Start SignalCaster first, then enable the feed in AutoCast. If SignalCaster isn't running when AutoCast tries to connect, the status indicator will show red — once SignalCaster launches, AutoCast reconnects automatically.
The status indicator in Settings → Streaming is the quickest way to confirm the stream is flowing. A green dot means AutoCast is actively sending audio to SignalCaster. If you see orange or red during a broadcast, check that SignalCaster is running and configured correctly.
How the Feed Works
AutoCast sends its program audio to SignalCaster as a raw PCM audio stream over TCP. SignalCaster handles all the encoding (MP3, AAC, or whatever format your streaming service requires) and the connection to your streaming server. From AutoCast's perspective, the feed is just an audio tap — it doesn't affect what goes out on air through your primary output.
If the connection to SignalCaster drops — because SignalCaster crashes, there's a network hiccup, or something else goes wrong — AutoCast automatically attempts to reconnect in the background. Your on-air audio is never affected. The stream just picks back up when the connection is restored.
The Now Playing File
Every time a new song starts, AutoCast can write the song's metadata to a plain text file at Misc/System/current_song.txt in your Station Folder. This file can be read by your website, a streaming metadata system, a now-playing display, or any other tool that needs to know what's currently on air.
Setting It Up
Go to Settings → Streaming and find the Now Playing File section:
| Setting | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Enable Now Playing File | Master toggle. Turn this on to start writing the file. |
| Field 1–4 | Which library fields to include in the file. Common choices: Artist, Title, Album. Leave fields blank to include fewer pieces of information. |
| Separator | How the fields are joined: Hyphen, Slash, Pipe, Space, or a custom character you specify. |
Available fields: Artist, Title, Album, Comment, Genre, Year, Decade, Gender, Tempo, Misc1, Misc2, Misc3.
A typical configuration — Artist, hyphen separator, Title — writes a line like:
Eagles - Hotel California
Your website or streaming metadata system can then read this file and display it to your audience. How you connect the file to your website depends on your web setup — most stations use a simple script that reads the file and updates a web page or streaming metadata tag.
The Now Playing file is updated every time AutoCast begins playing a new audio item. If you're running commercials, voice tracks, sweepers, or other non-music content, those items will also update the Now Playing file — which might not be what you want. Some stations only route music through the Now Playing system by using the Comment field to identify non-music content and filtering on their website side.
Internet Stream Buttons
AutoCast can also receive internet streams — not just send audio. A Stream button in the Button Pad opens any HTTP or RTMP streaming audio URL and plays it through AutoCast's program output. This is useful for:
- Joining network programming via an internet feed
- Monitoring another station's stream
- Playing a live remote feed from an internet source
A stream button appears on the deck display with the label "Stream" and an elapsed time counter. Only one stream can play at a time. To end the stream, right-click the deck and choose the appropriate option from the context menu.
Next up: Hardware Switchers →