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OAS
Playout - a comprehensive, easy
to use live assist package for the playback of music, jingles and
other sound 'bites'. It is specifically targetted towards the small
scale radio station market such as hospital radio, community radio
and Restricted Service Licenses (RSLs) where economical
leased versions are available for fixed durations.
As well as a very friendly hands on user interface,
Playout also includes flexible levels of automation, powerful
playlist generation, music logging and voice tracking
capabilities. It is supported by a separate dedicated application,
which provides the capability to quickly and efficiently load music
and audio required by your station into the system and includes
powerful editors to allow information held about tracks to be changed
for single or multiple tracks.
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OAS Playout - Basic Mode

Click Image for full size view
- Two separate Player consoles operating independently
from each other
- Support for multiple sound cards (one per Player)
- Each 'console' providing two sub players, the
Main Player and Jingle Player
- Main players used primarily for music playback
but can also play Jingles/Ads etc.
- Jingle players provide loading of adverts, jingles
etc. from a central selector
- Automatic track sequencing with 'intelligent'
overlap/fade capability
- Automation and scheduled voicetrack facility
- Custom Playlist generation capability
- Scrolling track history list
- Configurable "button wall" for fast
loading & playback of jingles & other sound "bites"
- Dynamic normalization process on existing compressed
audio formats (import engine)
- Easy to use with clearly colour coded displays
and highlights
- All audio maintained via ODBC compliant database
A closer view.....

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The Players.....
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The Main Players allow up to four audio items
(tracks) to be loaded into each of the play panels (these
are the boxes with the buttons labeled ‘Start’, ‘Load’ and ‘Clear’
next to them). Information about the item (title, artist etc.) is
then displayed in the play panel. Any of the loaded panels can be
played – the information is then displayed in the topmost play panel
(with the ‘Play’ and ‘Stop’ buttons next to it). Information about
the playing track is displayed in this section of the console –
time remaining and position. A track can be stopped/paused and cued
(via the slider).
Tracks from the 4 panels can also be automatically
played one after the other by toggling the Normal button
to Auto with automatic or predetermined overlap points.
There is also an additional play 'multi-panel'
into which any number of tracks may be loaded in queue. The panel
displays the tracks in the form of a list with only basic information
displayed for each track. As tracks are played out from one of the
4 main panels, the topmost item in the multi-panel is moved up into
the next main panel ready for playback.
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The Jingle Players can have any number
of items loaded into them from the Jingle Selector - the central
panel from which all jingles & ancillary audio are selectable.
. These are displayed in a scrollable list inside each player. Like
the main player, individual items in the list can be played or the
list can be played out automatically one item after the other. The
Jingle Players also provide an ‘Auto-Fade’ facility which will drop
the volume of the main player when an item is played from the Jingle
Player then restore it afterwards. |
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Playout's Button Wall provides instant playback of jingles
or other audio from a single keypress or mouse click. This customizable
dialog allows up to 12 buttons to be assigned jingles and when invoked
"floats" over the main players. Any number of preset configurations
may be loaded into the system and selected into the wall at a given
time. Like the jingle consoles, the wall also incorporates an auto-fade
capability to "duck" the main audio from the main players.
The assignments for each button may even be changed dynamically
within Playout via a few mouse clicks. Jingles may also be played
from the wall even when the dialog is minimized by pressing the
appropriate function key assigned to the button. The button wall
is fully resizable and many stations use a dual monitor system,
often with touch screen capability specifically for use with the
wall.
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Accessibility......

Click Image for full size preview
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The Main Players access the music via the Load buttons which
provide selection of any audio material from any available category.
This includes all music, along with any number of user defined categories
- jingles, adverts or predefined playlists. Audio can be easily located
via a fast & intuative search engine. |
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The Jingle Player's interaction with the audio database is performed
through the central Jingle Selector which is always visible on the
main screen. The selector can be loaded with a preset list of audio
clips - ads, jingles etc. which may then be loaded into any Jingle
Console via the appropriate load button or into any player through
the use of standard "drag and drop" capability. The continuous
presence of this selector on the display allows for fast and easy
loading of jingle or advert sequences. The Button Wall dialogs are
also invoked from this panel.
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Automation
Playout provides two levels of automation capability. The first
is invoked by putting a Main Player into Auto mode - by
toggling the Normal button over to Auto. In this
mode, any tracks loaded into the Player are automatically played
out in sequence, overlapping and fading out in accordance with
the cue points set for each track. Any number of tracks (hours
or even days worth) may be loaded at any time however this mode
of operation is primarily intended for short periods of automated
back to back track playback.
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The second mode of automation is only available with the retail variant
and requires one or more playlists to be defined beforehand.
These define a specific list of tracks (including adverts and jingles
if required) to be played out. Once this mode is entered, the system
proceeds to play the list out in order, automatically restarting again
once the list is completed - in this it is more suited for extended
periods of unattended operation eg. overnight.
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This mode of operation also provides several layers of failsafe
capability to deal with possible system crash including backup playlists
and the ability to automatically switch to a backup set of music
files in case of fatal system failure.
The system allows the dynamic updating of playlists during automation
mode and can action the changes immediately, it also includes the
ability to apply advanced rules to avoid track duplicates and inject
jingles and ad breaks at specific intervals.
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Voicetracking
Voicetracking
allows entire programmes to be pre-prepared by simply selecting the music
you wish to include then recording and placing your links (or segues)
at appropriate intervals between (or over) the tracks. Then at the designated
date and time the programme is to be aired, Playout automatically executes
it, including the option of switching into automation mode on completion
once the programme is complete - ideal for overnight unattended operation.
More on the voicetrack interface is on the next page - OAS
Playout Manager.
Music Logging
Playout provides the ability to maintain a music log
of all tracks which have been played within the Playout database. Each
entry is date and time stamped within the database and may be manipulated
via the Playout Manager tool.
Next....
managing the audio with OAS
Playout Manager.
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