O
oldrover
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Any recommendations, up or down, on these guys? They're definitely pricey... but are their systems worth the extra?
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if i were replacing systems,i would strongly consider dave scott's captain digital.check it out.as you know he is mr scott studio's.next choice would be nexgen..great product awesome tech support..
I have used Scott Studios SS32 for a couple of years and it's definitely worth it -- IF you can afford it. It's an extremely flexible program that offers literally everything you need to run the station -- live or automated. There's lots of additional tweaks offered in the program that make other things in your station (processing, remotes, internet feeds, etc.) much easier to deal with. It does have a sort of childlike "Crayola" look to it; but it's highly customizable, and it actually makes the program much more user-friendly. As far as dependability goes, the only reason we've had to shut it down in the past 2 years was to upgrade to a new version of the software.
ditto.Sgeirk said:
We used the AXS pgm. They made no effort to fix several known bugs. They did not notify us of upgrades, but waited until we asked. They stopped supporting/selling cards and hardware without notice. I could go on but have better things to do.
Buy Prophet. You'll be a lot happier.
We've found that WaveSataion and WaveCart that Scott replaced here were superior in many ways. On-air persons, not engioneers use the program. As an On-air person, I can say Scott's clumsy, not flexible, and looks like something from an 8 color IBM monitor from 20 years ago.
The WavCart/Station allowed the on-air people an additional, wonderful feature Scott lacks. Click and drag and drop in changes at a seconds notice, and title search for music, liners and features. With Scott, you've got to got to "music", which will then display the entire library sorted by title or artist...which was fine 10 years ago. Wav lets you type in the artist or title and it'll go directly to it and, if desired, drop it in as the next event. It is so much simpler, and the jocks liked it, Wav, better...and THEY are the ones who use it. Personally, I think it sounded MUCH better on air too, as it would distinguish between cold start songs and those with intro times, so the liners NEVER stepped in vocals. Scott sounds like a trainwreck sometimes. This is only my opinion, but I use it.
The WavCart/Station allowed the on-air people an additional, wonderful feature Scott lacks. Click and drag and drop in changes at a seconds notice, and title search for music, liners and features. With Scott, you've got to got to "music", which will then display the entire library sorted by title or artist...which was fine 10 years ago. Wav lets you type in the artist or title and it'll go directly to it and, if desired, drop it in as the next event. It is so much simpler, and the jocks liked it, Wav, better...and THEY are the ones who use it. Personally, I think it sounded MUCH better on air too, as it would distinguish between cold start songs and those with intro times, so the liners NEVER stepped in vocals. Scott sounds like a trainwreck sometimes. This is only my opinion, but I use it.
Which Version?
I've seen SS32 recently at a friends station. Knowing that I'm into software, he showed me some of the features. He added a song by simply clicking on one button (Insert, perhaps?), searching for the song by artist. He could also search by song title, length, and maybe another category (catalog number?). He could either sort the results alphabetically, or page through until he found the song he wanted. IIRC, he selected the song, then just clicked in the "on deck" list to put it where he wanted. That's a much easier and intuitive procedure than the one you outlined. There were also multiple pages of "hot buttons" for sfx, drop-ins, etc. My impression is that SS32 was very easy for jocks, and he described it as "bulletproof" in operation.
Listening to his station, I've never heard the "trainwreck" that you describe. I've heard both liners and jingles into cold start songs, and I've heard liners that play over a song intro. Maybe it's in the programming, but your experience doesn't jibe with what I saw, or what I hear.
The buttons had a 3-D look, and multiple colors. It looked like a typical Windows program, and a LOT better than "an 8 color IBM monitor from 20 years ago."
I know that they're using a Windows version of SS32, and that they upgraded from a DOS-based version that they used in the past. Is it possible that you're using the old version?
BTW, you might want to check out the Scott Studios Website to see what the program does, and what it looks like.
amfmsw said:
I've seen SS32 recently at a friends station. Knowing that I'm into software, he showed me some of the features. He added a song by simply clicking on one button (Insert, perhaps?), searching for the song by artist. He could also search by song title, length, and maybe another category (catalog number?). He could either sort the results alphabetically, or page through until he found the song he wanted. IIRC, he selected the song, then just clicked in the "on deck" list to put it where he wanted. That's a much easier and intuitive procedure than the one you outlined. There were also multiple pages of "hot buttons" for sfx, drop-ins, etc. My impression is that SS32 was very easy for jocks, and he described it as "bulletproof" in operation.
Listening to his station, I've never heard the "trainwreck" that you describe. I've heard both liners and jingles into cold start songs, and I've heard liners that play over a song intro. Maybe it's in the programming, but your experience doesn't jibe with what I saw, or what I hear.
The buttons had a 3-D look, and multiple colors. It looked like a typical Windows program, and a LOT better than "an 8 color IBM monitor from 20 years ago."
I know that they're using a Windows version of SS32, and that they upgraded from a DOS-based version that they used in the past. Is it possible that you're using the old version?
BTW, you might want to check out the Scott Studios Website to see what the program does, and what it looks like.
Scott does distinguish between cold starts and intros... I've set up many a cold-starting song to accommodate a liner beforehand.
There is one problem I've always complained about, however, and every time I bring it up, I get jumped on for it by people saying "You must have it set up wrong" or "You probably are only running one audio card." Both of those assumptions are incorrect. SS32, in my experience, will not play more than two audio files at the same time. Say I'm coming out of a song, and that song has a long guitar fade at the end. I've put a talkover bed after the song that will start to fade the song at it's outcue point. However, in starting the talk segment, I want to run a show liner from the quick fire panel. If the song is still fading, the moment I click that liner on, the song will cut off. The talkover bed will still be running, and the liner will play out just fine, but the song that was fading will simply stop... no fade at all, just an abrupt cutoff.
Now I happen to know that the station at which I experienced this was engineered by a very competent engineer who has had a good 20+ years of experience in the industry. We were absolutely running more than one audio cart into the board, and the program was set up to use it. No matter how many times those settings were double-checked, reset and double-checked again, SS32 simply would not play more than two audio files at once.
Additionally, I cannot count how many times the prod studio computers would hang and freeze, always while using a Scott Studios program (usually TLC or the VT module). I've had to re-record (and re-re-re-re-record) so many voice tracks using Scott Studios that it probably would have saved me time and effort to just record my tracks straight in Audition and import them manually.
There is one problem I've always complained about, however, and every time I bring it up, I get jumped on for it by people saying "You must have it set up wrong" or "You probably are only running one audio card." Both of those assumptions are incorrect. SS32, in my experience, will not play more than two audio files at the same time. Say I'm coming out of a song, and that song has a long guitar fade at the end. I've put a talkover bed after the song that will start to fade the song at it's outcue point. However, in starting the talk segment, I want to run a show liner from the quick fire panel. If the song is still fading, the moment I click that liner on, the song will cut off. The talkover bed will still be running, and the liner will play out just fine, but the song that was fading will simply stop... no fade at all, just an abrupt cutoff.
Now I happen to know that the station at which I experienced this was engineered by a very competent engineer who has had a good 20+ years of experience in the industry. We were absolutely running more than one audio cart into the board, and the program was set up to use it. No matter how many times those settings were double-checked, reset and double-checked again, SS32 simply would not play more than two audio files at once.
Additionally, I cannot count how many times the prod studio computers would hang and freeze, always while using a Scott Studios program (usually TLC or the VT module). I've had to re-record (and re-re-re-re-record) so many voice tracks using Scott Studios that it probably would have saved me time and effort to just record my tracks straight in Audition and import them manually.
JoshC is correct. We run 3 cards. The system will not let you "layer" new audio OVER current play audio. It dumps it. Manual or Auto.
Yes, the "hot buttons" are nice, but I disagree with the search feature. If you're looking for Zager and Evans "2525", you've got to advance through thousands of songs, starting with "A", page by page to get to the end. With Wav, you hit search, type ZAG...and as John Madden would say...BOOM, you're not only there, it's loaded and ready to play next. Much simpler, in my opiunion.
Yes, the "hot buttons" are nice, but I disagree with the search feature. If you're looking for Zager and Evans "2525", you've got to advance through thousands of songs, starting with "A", page by page to get to the end. With Wav, you hit search, type ZAG...and as John Madden would say...BOOM, you're not only there, it's loaded and ready to play next. Much simpler, in my opiunion.
No Keyboard Required
Out of curiosity, I dropped in on my friend today to check out SS32 again. I read your post at his place, and he showed me the "search" feature...
If you go to the "Insert" page, and search by artist, have you noticed the numbers and letters at the bottom of the page? Simply click on Z, and all the Zs come up. Then click on A, and all the ZAs come up. Spell out Zager, and "Zager & Evans" will come up if you have the Artist Name correctly in the Artist field. If you click on the wrong character, and want to restart the search, just click on the "Artist" button again.
You could also search by Title. Click on the "Title" button on the Insert page, then click on the "I" at the bottom of the screen. All the song titles that start with "I" will come up. Click on the "N", and the "In" titles will come up. If you click on the wrong character, and want to restart the search, just click on the "Title" button again.
Other software might be simpler, but they require keyboard input. SS32 is designed for a touch screen, with no keyboard necessary for normal operation.
amfmsw said:
Out of curiosity, I dropped in on my friend today to check out SS32 again. I read your post at his place, and he showed me the "search" feature...
If you go to the "Insert" page, and search by artist, have you noticed the numbers and letters at the bottom of the page? Simply click on Z, and all the Zs come up. Then click on A, and all the ZAs come up. Spell out Zager, and "Zager & Evans" will come up if you have the Artist Name correctly in the Artist field. If you click on the wrong character, and want to restart the search, just click on the "Artist" button again.
You could also search by Title. Click on the "Title" button on the Insert page, then click on the "I" at the bottom of the screen. All the song titles that start with "I" will come up. Click on the "N", and the "In" titles will come up. If you click on the wrong character, and want to restart the search, just click on the "Title" button again.
Other software might be simpler, but they require keyboard input. SS32 is designed for a touch screen, with no keyboard necessary for normal operation.
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