A buddy of mine is on the lookout for some affordable and reliable automation for his small market station. He does not want to blow the dough on the Nex /Gen, Scott or the top flight rigs. I have read about Simian, Tune Tracker and some more afordable automation and/or automation & production, and traffic systems. Any of you worked with them, and which one is the best?
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Automation-Live Assist Softare/Hardware
- Thread starter Holstead
- Start date
We use Simian for satellite formats. Works OK, not that expensive.
For live assist? Depends on the format and how "intense" the format is. You can set up certain function keys as hot keys, or, with added devices, pre-program console push buttons for certain cuts or functions (play jingle, play ID, next event, etc.)
Also works fine for "walk-away" music on hard-drive. We go 24/7 Christmas each year this way. Plays 3 cuts, break three more cuts, break three more cuts, network news. You get the idea.
Service has been an issue in the past but has improved. You get 1 year service with system, they do have a users forum that can be helpful.
One thing to consider with various inexpensive systems is whether you can integrate your traffic and music scheduling software with the system. We use Natural Log and Natural Music (for Christmas), both deliver their logs over the LAN into the respective air machines, which then just loads up the next day's logs at midnight.
For live assist? Depends on the format and how "intense" the format is. You can set up certain function keys as hot keys, or, with added devices, pre-program console push buttons for certain cuts or functions (play jingle, play ID, next event, etc.)
Also works fine for "walk-away" music on hard-drive. We go 24/7 Christmas each year this way. Plays 3 cuts, break three more cuts, break three more cuts, network news. You get the idea.
Service has been an issue in the past but has improved. You get 1 year service with system, they do have a users forum that can be helpful.
One thing to consider with various inexpensive systems is whether you can integrate your traffic and music scheduling software with the system. We use Natural Log and Natural Music (for Christmas), both deliver their logs over the LAN into the respective air machines, which then just loads up the next day's logs at midnight.
M
menotti1
Guest
contact prophet systems.ask about player 101 and then add the modules you need.you'll have a good SOLID system
with Great support.Worth the extra money..you'll sleep alot better....
with Great support.Worth the extra money..you'll sleep alot better....
The Low Cost Leader
Very powerful but very simple to learn with years of proven reliability.
Raduga Automation Software
http://raduga.net
Very powerful but very simple to learn with years of proven reliability.
Raduga Automation Software
http://raduga.net
O
OttoM
Guest
Adding my vote for Player101 (formerly NexGen 101). Simian is also very reliable and stable but a bit on the quirky side to set up.
Unlike another poster, I have no finical incentive to post a certain product, just field proven experience.
Hands down the best automation system out there is OMT's iMediaTocuh, although granted it costs a bit more $$ than some of the others. If this is a small market station than Simian would almost certainly work perfectly for them. However, Simian is not just limited to small clients though, I have one major market station running Simian since WaveCart. They will not switch, as it has run great for them.
Also make sure you have a good scheduling software. Narutal Music/Log are good programs, but can be a bit difficult to use. The major market station running Simian is running something else, whose name escapes me at this second.
The best thing is to download the demos, play with them and decide for yourself! When (not if) you will certainly have some questions, post back here, I am sure no matter what product you choose, one of us will be familiar and able to help!
Happy hunting!
Hands down the best automation system out there is OMT's iMediaTocuh, although granted it costs a bit more $$ than some of the others. If this is a small market station than Simian would almost certainly work perfectly for them. However, Simian is not just limited to small clients though, I have one major market station running Simian since WaveCart. They will not switch, as it has run great for them.
Also make sure you have a good scheduling software. Narutal Music/Log are good programs, but can be a bit difficult to use. The major market station running Simian is running something else, whose name escapes me at this second.
The best thing is to download the demos, play with them and decide for yourself! When (not if) you will certainly have some questions, post back here, I am sure no matter what product you choose, one of us will be familiar and able to help!
Happy hunting!
A great bang for the buck automation system is StationPlaylilst Pro. I've installed it in several places including my own webstream with fantastic results. Check out the review I did for broadcast trade paper Radio World:
http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0051/t.6496.html
Great features, flexible and beats alot of those other low cost systems hands-down.
http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0051/t.6496.html
Great features, flexible and beats alot of those other low cost systems hands-down.
M
menotti1
Guest
OMT's Support Department is available Monday to Friday 08:30-17:00 (5:00pm) CST for all general and emergency phone inquires.
Premium Support Customers have 24/7 Phone support for Off Air Emergencies only. General Support questions will be addressed during regular business hours.
Support will respond to any Email questions within 1-2 business days.
right from the OMT web site.notice the you have to have premium support to get 24/7..won't get close to the support prophet provides.also more contract engs have used and installed the prophet or the old scott studio's over the omt systems..never the less for the posters budget simian or station playlist would work just fine...
Premium Support Customers have 24/7 Phone support for Off Air Emergencies only. General Support questions will be addressed during regular business hours.
Support will respond to any Email questions within 1-2 business days.
right from the OMT web site.notice the you have to have premium support to get 24/7..won't get close to the support prophet provides.also more contract engs have used and installed the prophet or the old scott studio's over the omt systems..never the less for the posters budget simian or station playlist would work just fine...
I was always a big fan of Jazler.. that works well and it allows you to do a lot for such a small program.
we use natural Music to create music logs then use a very old version of simian to Run them. however (probably because of the version we are using is 1.0.3 ... the timing for songs can get really off.
For my show if you want to be low budget like my radio show,
I use Radiologic DJ. this program is pretty good for low, low budget for a college student radio show like myself.
Goodluck!
For my show if you want to be low budget like my radio show,
I use Radiologic DJ. this program is pretty good for low, low budget for a college student radio show like myself.
Goodluck!
Bill DeFelice said:
I'll second that! StationPlaylist has been on air on a small FM station for 18 months without missing a beat. Very good price (for both pro scheduling and automation package) and excellent support. www.stationplaylist.com
K
kyscott
Guest
Simian. I have four clients that use it. Easy to install, setup and maintain. Two of them use it for satellite formats. Has worked flawlessly from day one.
G
Groove1670
Guest
A Third vote for StationPlaylist. Been Running it for two years. This system comes with VOICETRACKING (you don't pay extra for it) Support is excellent. If you opt for the yearly support fee it is CHEAP. Very Flexible. More user friendly than the other systems mentioned. And it supports all music and commercial log systems.
lovejamminoldies said:
Only three words describe Jazler, to paraphrase Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons: "Worst Support Ever!"
This was the first program I was considering when I came to the realization that the Windows version of the Digital Junkbox, oops, Jukebox, wasn't worthy of further consideration. It took weeks, and I mead WEEKS to get an answer to a pre-sales inquiry. Sure, I understand that these budget-priced programs may not offer the same sort of support as the big systems, but why would you treat a potential customer like crap? Excuse me, but I would think the promise of a paying customer would be worthy of a reply. I'm so glad I crossed Jazler off my list.
In contrast, the support for StationPlaylist is better than some of the big boys. You can get answers not only from fellow users, but from the developer as well. They'll even take noteworthy suggestions for future enhancements and suggestions - you can't beat that with a stick!
StationPlaylist ran in an unattended server closet for 8 months without missing a beat while I was in the process of trying to get data lines installed to my new web studio location. The only thing I need to do is voicetracking and perhaps adding new music and imaging and this thing runs like a top. I'm very happy with my decision to go with StationPlaylist.
M
menotti1
Guest
anyone running the avpro version of OTS? How would it compare to SPL? i downloaded the trial of SPL,have to say it's pretty darn impressive...works on Vista,too...Bill,what sound card(s) are you using with it?Are you using external music and traffic scheduling with it?
menotti1 said:
On my webstation I'm running onboard audio from a Dell laptop. On the school station I'm building I'm using M-Audio's Delta Audiophile 2496's. Using multiple audio cards allow you to preview audio separate from the on-air audio, which I can't do on the laptop unless I add a USB audio card as a second output.
I'm using the companion StationPlaylist Creator Pro at both stations, which allows you to use the advanced features of Pro, such as voicetracking, time and temp announcements and artist intro & outro announcements as well. I haven't played with external scheduling apps, but I've read on the SPL support list people running such programs as MusicGen Lite so I'm sure it's possible to marry external scheduling and traffic programs - that's probably a question better posed to SPL support.
M
menotti1
Guest
i use musicgen lite with my nexgen system.have a low power nearby that want to get something like the stationplaylist..so basically i could copy my drive and use the music gen lite to import the songs, is that correct?also they have one of the older 4300 series audioscience cards..
menotti1 said:
If your audio consists of MP3 files it will read the tags and be ready to use in SPL Creator. You can use a variety of music file types but you may end up entering the artist-title info by hand - I can't tell you for sure. My old DOS-based system used MP2-type files but were only 192k. I wanted the highest bit rate I could get without going WAV, so I re-ripped the entire library at 320k.
As far as the Audioscience cards go, I would assume they will work if there are WinXP drivers available for them. I've never used them myself so I'm unfamilair with them.
Holstead said:
Granted, I too like the "real" automation systems...
but if you are looking for cheap, or free...Look at zararadio.com for automation, audicy for production...
both are excellent, and can do the job, if you need basic (and not so basic)stuff
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