Suddenly without Breakaway

[Tom Wells]

OK, the IBM thinkpad with a Pentium that's been running Zara and Breakaway for 18 months finally started locking up.
No problem until this summer, and I decided to run "ambient sound" of the beach in background full-time. Too much running out of RAM, calling for virtual RAM on hard drive, and thence while runnnig Zara for music and WMP for the "beach", started locking up on page swapping.....probably physical wear on the drive and it's getting slow. A new/used computer is in transit to put the station back on Breakaway, because it just doesn't sing otherwise. It's just OK, not WHAM, YEAH! Loud N' HOT that
Breakaway gives. It's only been 11 days, but I can't wait to get the newer computer and put Breakaway back on.
The scope "proves" I am "loud" without it, but y'know what? I can't wait to get Breakaway French Kiss back.
I need Breakaway "French Mistress" preset.

Breakaway, like tanning, and sex, is a drug, and should regulated.
I'm literally waiting for the Fedex man to get my audio fix.

 

[Charlie]

How loud is "loud" eh ? So loud that you can hear the plaque on the lead singer's teeth discussing their favourite Z100 jingle package ? ;D

 

[Tom Wells]

How loud is "loud" eh ? So loud that you can hear the plaque on the lead singer's teeth discussing their favourite Z100 jingle package ? ;D

The dynamic range of the preceding equipment does not provide for that, but that's the sort of detail
thats missing which could be heard using Breakaway. Details fall into mush-ulation at high levels where they
stayed clean and well defiined with processing. This is back where I was 2 years ago. Loud by proof on the scope,
but just doesn't sound as loud. Less clarity on vocals as well.
Glad I still have the optical gain/loss processor in line, but it's somewhat dull and easily fooled by some music.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Breakaway Broadcast is an amazing piece of software. After playing with various Freeware processors & being disappointed each time, I had my doubts when people started doing somersaults over Breakaway, but put me in the BIG FAN category. To me, it sounds cleaner than an Omnia 6 and equally loud...when used with a Marian Trace Alpha sound card, which incidentally costs more than Breakaway. But it does produce a zero overshoot output...something a Soundblaster will not do. If I lost my Breakaway for a while, I'd probably stop listening to my Part 15 & listen to "real" radio again. To me, good processing is an important piece of the listening experience.

 

[SRP]

Breakaway Broadcast is an amazing piece of software. After playing with various Freeware processors & being disappointed each time, I had my doubts when people started doing somersaults over Breakaway, but put me in the BIG FAN category. To me, it sounds cleaner than an Omnia 6 and equally loud...when used with a Marian Trace Alpha sound card, which incidentally costs more than Breakaway. But it does produce a zero overshoot output...something a Soundblaster will not do. If I lost my Breakaway for a while, I'd probably stop listening to my Part 15 & listen to "real" radio again. To me, good processing is an important piece of the listening experience.

Agreed that Breakaway is really amazing. But it's what happened to Tom that is the reason you won't be seeing it dominate the marketplace - its dependence on third-party hardware and software.

Now before you hit "reply" and post your flame about how wrong I am - answer these simple questions:

How often have you had to reboot an Optimod, Omnia or any other hardware-based box?
How often has the internal storage in a hardware-based box failed?
How often does the operating system in a hardware based box (and yes, they DO have an OS) need updating?

Those reasons - and a host of others - are why PC-based processing will never become market dominant.

 

[FFoti1]

Agreed that Breakaway is really amazing. But it's what happened to Tom that is the reason you won't be seeing it dominate the marketplace - its dependence on third-party hardware and software.

Now before you hit "reply" and post your flame about how wrong I am - answer these simple questions:

How often have you had to reboot an Optimod, Omnia or any other hardware-based box?
How often has the internal storage in a hardware-based box failed?
How often does the operating system in a hardware based box (and yes, they DO have an OS) need updating?

Those reasons - and a host of others - are why PC-based processing will never become market dominant.

SRP,

You raise some good questions/points....

However, please consider that dedicated processors, like Omnia, are also running an OS. The difference is the device is not employing the OS to do 'other' stuff as you'd find in the PC environment. I believe it comes down to how the machine, employed, is configured for operation. It is possible to create a dedicated machine, running a common OS, and alleviate the issues you pose. I think the crazier notion is how rapidly off-the-shelf PC platforms change. That's a challenge.

PC based processing has its spot in the marketplace. How well it evolves is still a bit too early to tell, in my opinion.

-Frank Foti

 

[jesseg]

Agreed that Breakaway is really amazing. But it's what happened to Tom that is the reason you won't be seeing it dominate the marketplace - its dependence on third-party hardware and software.

a Breakaway box has been in the works for years...


As far as the questions, Frank is right. All of your suppositions are a non issue with a properly designed box, and cheaper to design, part, and support than building a box that would have those issues.

Those reasons - and a host of others - are why PC-based processing will never become market dominant.

What do you think the Omnia.11 is? Not enough market dominance for ya?

How about Linear Acoustic
http://www.linearacoustic.com/
they have roughly a 70% market share on all digital TV, with about 85% on live events like sports, and not only are their main boxes running Windows XP Embeded, but the entire software is made by Leif and it uses Breakaway (albeit modified for surround use, with a meta-data processing chain, and a ton of other things added on) as the core processing. There isn't any audio processing company that has more dominance of a market than that.

You'll have to come up with some better arguments than the above if you want to turn people off from what is already a HUGE success. 8)


[edit]
ahh... just saw your post Frank. yep, all of those issues supposed are a "no-brainer" to remove from the equation, and have been possible (and affordable) for over a decade at least.

yeah the hardware changing is the real issue. that's partly what's hell from a product design and part sourcing standpoint. the huge upside is that the hardware is all standards based, so the time spent in software can be way more efficient across generations, and with any luck the cost of the box can be reduced over time and profits hopefully increased.

cheers bro.

oh and... you gotta hear this new preset i'm working on in Breakaway, it's getting real close, and it's really on a whole new level of goodness. it's doing stuff with a grace that I haven't heard any other processor do before. (note: i haven't heard the Omnia.11 much yet) i'll PM you about it.
[/edit]

 

[Sgeirk]

Back to SRP's post. I have seen Omnias and Optimods crash or need a reboot...I won't go on.

I have seen automation systems that have been running non-stop for a year suddenly become unstable and need a re-boot. You trust your on-air playout to a computer, right?

Last time I looked around our floor there are 50 computers all over the place...we depend on three of them to really keep us on the air.

It's really just the next logical step. We use Omnia 6exi's. And we are relatively happy. For now. I, for one, welcome the competition and think Breakaway is pretty astounding.

Above all, I LOVE the fact that I can easily generate RDS (now playing, too) and sync the pilot on the same computer. For me, that's a win.

Folks have resisted all kinds of things in the last 80 years of radio broadcasting, at first. Add another.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Agreed that Breakaway is really amazing. But it's what happened to Tom that is the reason you won't be seeing it dominate the marketplace - its dependence on third-party hardware and software.

a Breakaway box has been in the works for years...


As far as the questions, Frank is right. All of your suppositions are a non issue with a properly designed box, and cheaper to design, part, and support than building a box that would have those issues.

Those reasons - and a host of others - are why PC-based processing will never become market dominant.

What do you think the Omnia.11 is? Not enough market dominance for ya?

How about Linear Acoustic
http://www.linearacoustic.com/
they have roughly a 70% market share on all digital TV, with about 85% on live events like sports, and not only are their main boxes running Windows XP Embeded, but the entire software is made by Leif and it uses Breakaway (albeit modified for surround use, with a meta-data processing chain, and a ton of other things added on) as the core processing. There isn't any audio processing company that has more dominance of a market than that.

You'll have to come up with some better arguments than the above if you want to turn people off from what is already a HUGE success. 8)


[edit]
ahh... just saw your post Frank. yep, all of those issues supposed are a "no-brainer" to remove from the equation, and have been possible (and affordable) for over a decade at least.

yeah the hardware changing is the real issue. that's partly what's hell from a product design and part sourcing standpoint. the huge upside is that the hardware is all standards based, so the time spent in software can be way more efficient across generations, and with any luck the cost of the box can be reduced over time and profits hopefully increased.

cheers bro.

oh and... you gotta hear this new preset i'm working on in Breakaway, it's getting real close, and it's really on a whole new level of goodness. it's doing stuff with a grace that I haven't heard any other processor do before. (note: i haven't heard the Omnia.11 much yet) i'll PM you about it.
[/edit]

How will we know when the new preset becomes available? Leif has been Missing In Action on these boards for a long time now.

 

[jesseg]

The "MIA" appearance has been on purpose, as being available can suck up a lot of valuable time that could be (and IS) spent on developing and design.

The big thing he's been working on is a new modular framework (for coding) that has a bunch of features that needed to be done, fundamentally integrated into the design. It enables a much faster development schedule, and it enables some stuff I haven't seen done before in an audio processor - from a usability standpoint.

The current Breakaway products will take a little bit to become updated, but work was started in that direction using the new framework a few days ago. Those products have not been forgotten.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

The "MIA" appearance has been on purpose, as being available can suck up a lot of valuable time that could be (and IS) spent on developing and design.

The big thing he's been working on is a new modular framework (for coding) that has a bunch of features that needed to be done, fundamentally integrated into the design. It enables a much faster development schedule, and it enables some stuff I haven't seen done before in an audio processor - from a usability standpoint.

The current Breakaway products will take a little bit to become updated, but work was started in that direction using the new framework a few days ago. Those products have not been forgotten.

Music to my ears Jesse. Even if Breakaway never advances a bit, it's a true masterpiece in my book. The thought of it getting even better is grounds for not being able to sleep due to the anticipation!

 

[Tom Wells]

Whew! No glitches with install of Breakaway and Zara. I did spend a good deal of time reordering directory structure.
Good to hear the magic again and back way down on the ART VLA.
The hardest part was the dang networking...this laptop I use to control the musicserver and Breakaway computer remotely.
Both are XP Professional
The new computer was set up for mulitple user accounts, and it was a treat setting it up with single administator account with no password and auto login booting up Breakaway and Zara. But then the remote desktop application would not permit
logins to accounts with no passwords! OY! I created another account called admin with no password which did allow remote logins without crashing the applications already running. And it still self boots up back into full operational mode on the last playlist, not stopping on the "WELCOME" screen for multiple users.
Apparently this isn't permitted at all in XP Home version due a file sharing issue or something.

I still think French Kiss is the ultimate for AM.

Maybe next year I'll buy one o' them ASIO outboard audio cards and upgrade to real-time.
But this new setup is SO much faster than the old computer, I hardly notice the delay.
Seems to run 20-25 % cpu in mono mode on the new/used HP8430.
And it's way faster responding to the remote desktop control, and sending updates back to my screen.
Haven't heard a glitch or stutter yet.

 

[gunterm]

I know this doesn't account for other things that fail like fans, however I have been experimenting with a computer setup for various simple tasks that will be less likely to fail.

I have a bunch of pentium II & III computers in the basement that would be nice to put them to good use. Giving them away as free radio tuners to places with a large audience (bars, public pools, etc.) that will play my station. Just plug in the power and ethernet to something that has DHCP and internet access.

Using a copy of Windows Fundamentals For Legacy PCs (with a legitimate key also) you can load XP that will fit on 1 GB. Or use "nLite" to shrink XP Home to that size. Further modifying the OS, you can also install Microsoft's Enhanced Write Filter which will send all disk writes to memory (because these machines will have a $20 IDE DOM Flash disk and you don't want to wear it out with writes), not just for less wear on a SSD, but also to keep the OS from screwing itself up somehow. Finally replace the winlogon.exe with Microsoft's "minlogon" which logs on automatically (as the SYSTEM user, some programs might not like that) and cuts boot time by a LOT. My test machine using a regular HDD boots in less than 45 seconds to play. By the way I'm using an old program called "RX" that plays AAC+ and MP3.