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Automation Software Query

D

ddrop87

I'm looking for automation software. Basic automation which will be run remotely, not live assist in a studio.
Just going to load it up with music, commercials, sweepers and let it run. I'd like to have music scheduling and automation
in the same software..Would rather not buy something like Audio Vault and Music Master...Something cheap and reliable, in one.

Any input is welcome
 
Station Playlist.

Has everything you need at a great price.

You can hear it on our station

963wlyb.com
 
In the low end market, Station Playlist is excellent, probably offering the best bang for the buck. SPL is also extremely robust. On most computer systems, SPL will run for months or years without a reboot.

Some will also suggest Zara Studio which is less expensive that SPL, but still has some real power. Zara also has a freeware version with limited features called Zara Radio. Zara Radio is still pretty powerful. It has no scheduler, but can simulate one.
 
Thanks Kmagrill! Do you know anything about SAM?
http://spacial.com/sam-broadcaster

Kmagrill said:
In the low end market, Station Playlist is excellent, probably offering the best bang for the buck. SPL is also extremely robust. On most computer systems, SPL will run for months or years without a reboot.

Some will also suggest Zara Studio which is less expensive that SPL, but still has some real power. Zara also has a freeware version with limited features called Zara Radio. Zara Radio is still pretty powerful. It has no scheduler, but can simulate one.
Click to expand...
 
Stay away from SAM. Zara or SPL will do fine for you. I have experience with all three, although most of my stations use higher priced automation, such as iMediatouch, Enco, etc.. I would choose SPL.

Also, if you have a very tight budget and you're interested in newer software that's inexpensive, take a look at some of Charlie Davy's software. I've evaluated some of it for basic things and like it.

http://www.charliedavy.co.uk/software.php
 
Simian. It'll cost you a little more than Zara or SPL, but in the way you want to use it, it will just run and run. I have a station running mostly satellite and recorded programs (a few live) and the thing is near bulletproof.

Would I use it in a situation where there are a lot of live elements, live news with sound, voice tracking from multiple talent etc? No, I'll go with RCS if the budget allows. But for a budget station, I would look at BSI Simian. It doesn't have a scheduler in it, but you could scape up a copy of MusicGen from someone (this was Prophet prior to merger with RCS) and grab Natural Logs and you'll have a good, stable, low cost system.
 
I concur. We have three stations run by Simian. Their service is not great (unless you pay for it) but there is a large user base out there. So if you run into a problem or need to do something tricky, this forum or others probably has someone watching who has an answer. The Simian light version is around $650 as I remember, the only major differences between the light version and the full version is that it will not support incoming net-cues or triggers ( in Simian parlance) or control external hardware, such as switchers. As long as you just plan a one-box music-spots-jingles type of programming this should work fine.

Simian will also play nicely with common traffic and music programming software. We use Natural Log on our three stations, and Selector on the live station, and have used Natural Music in the past on the other (Christmas music, for one year our sat net did not provide).

Also easy to use LogMeIn or GoToMyPC to program and correct the systems. Our Ops Manager has corrected problems over his I-Phone--while sitting in a parking lot 100 miles away.

Simian does not like to run on 64 bit systems, we have 32 bit "downgraded" Windows 7. A future problem for many systems--including Simian--will be getting them to work on Windows 8 as the Windows 7 installs disappear.
 
'tpt' also installed BSI Simian at our noncommercial station, WRSG. The only problem I have with it is how I have to enter new music. When I ran 'TuneTracker,' it was easy to completely install a song, which the program automatically trimmed. The 'LogMeIn' feature is a God-send. I'm the station manager (unpaid) with extrememly-limited time outside of my teaching duties, and I can do almost everything online. Without LogMeIn, we'd be lucky to just keep the sucker running, but with it, I can load a number of syndicated shows, run logs and other duties.

Overall, I completely concur; it was/is extrememly easy to change over to Christmas music. It's a solid system, which I heartily recommend.
 
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May I suggest a very interesting software? I am not using it but I am thinking to buy soon as soon as evaluate it. Until now covers all my needs but I find it a little complex for commercial scheduling.
http://www.proppfrexx.radio42.com/v3/index.html
And cheaper than the previous mentioned.
Also the developer immediately answers the questions of users.
 
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I've downloaded the SPL trial watched a couple of tutorial vids. Have a question about Mood and Tempo. From what I can see SPL Creator uses tagging to pull the mood tempo...So if I have a library without the proper tagging I either have to enter it manually or buy a library that has the appropriate tagging info?
 
I ripped my entire library over since I was moving for a legacy DOS-based program to SPL. It's something you'd have to enter in yourself.

I used custom categories that work pretty well so I never ended up using mood and/or tempo. Perhaps somebody else might have better knowledge of that functionality.
 
The updated 5.1 SP has settings for mood and tempo. Keep in mind the music scheduler is included with SP. Which makes it very affordable.
 
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