The software here is offered free on the basis that, other than the help file, there is no support. If you find the software useful, that’s great. If it breaks, you get to keep all the pieces.
If you are still using a “registered” version, just re-download the installer as the current installations do not have the registration system. This means that you can use as many copies wherever you like. These installers can be run “over the top” to update an existing installation without losing any settings. Please note that some of these applications use a compressed EXE file which have been known to confuse overzealous virus-scanners.
Updates and bug-fixes will appear from time-to-time, plus, the “help” files will be updated with whatever changes I make, along with tips/tricks, walk-throughs etc. You are advised to read the Release Notes within the online help before committing to an update.
Audio Test Files
Here is a useful collection of test files that I regularly use to line-up equipment such as mixing consoles, recording feeds and connections between distant devices. Included is a 1KHz test tone, left/right tones (with left/right voice ident) plus a series of tones at 250Hz, 500Hz, 1KHz, 5KHz and 10KHz. There is also a stereo tone with the left-channel out of phase, which should play silently on a mono feed.
Play them from a computer, your phone, CD player or whatever device you’re testing. When lining-up a mixing desk, set the 1KHz tone to PPM5 and you’ll see an average of PPM4 for music – ideal for normal levels.
Download ZIP of Audio Test Files
AdLogGen
This is a simple application that lets you create advert logs via drag ‘n’ drop – Just drop audio files into the main window, add Break Markers to separate each Ad-Break (even transmitter codes) – then export to the format of your choice.
AdLogGen is not a scheduling program, merely a playlist editor.
It can create a daily template of “break markers” allowing you to drop audio items in via mouse-click. The duration of each “break” is shown at each “break marker” (black lines).
It is especially useful for those who wish to manage AdLogs away from their (often expensive) traffic management software.
You can import a simple M3U playlist (perhaps from StationPlaylist Creator) and then export it to a more advanced format, such as Myriad’s AdLog, RCS, etc. Once you’ve got an AdLog created, you can save it with all of the details an easily open it again later for editing.
AdLogGen Free v1.32 Setup [updated 5th July ’24]
- Drag ‘n’ drop audio files (from any Windows folder) to make Advert logs
- Define Break Markers and Transmitter Codes – great for split ads on Myriad Network and RCS Zetta
- Open and directly edit Myriad AdLogs, then save back to Myriad (or Myriad Network)
- Imports M3U – eg: StationPlaylist Creator
- Reads ID3v2 and CartChunk tags
- Built-in File Browser which can read the files in your playout system (eg: CartChunk)
- Export to a variety of formats: CSV, M3U, mAirList TPI (ExtID and/or Filename), Myriad, RCS V15Native
- Copy/Paste items to easily create a whole day’s worth of advert schedules
- Will interface with MyLibrary JMD files to retrieve Cart Numbers allowing you to turn a “domestic” folder+filename M3U file into a professional AdLog using Cart/Cut Numbers.
ButtonPanel
A simple jingle and sound-fx player – initially developed for a “Linx” Windoze tablet, it can be used on a desktop machine, too.
The software offers 48 buttons that allows either single or multiple audio playback and is a quick ‘n’ easy way of playing DJ Jingles, Drops, Effects etc on the radio, in the theatre or even a live/sports event.
Each “Set” offers up to 10 pages with the ability to colour-code your audio. This means that your “Breakfast” Set offers 480 items at your fingertips.
The Set files are directly compatible with DAC Cartwall and uDAC allowing you to share pages with other systems/users.
The window can be re-sized to suit your desktop/screen size.
ButtonPanel v1.21 Setup [updated 2nd Feb ’24]
DAC Cartwall / DACFree
Imagine being able to instantly play a jingle, sound effect, news-clip or music track at the touch of a button (or finger)…
DAC Cartwall is an easy-to-use jingle player that offers multiple pages of instant audio buttons ready for quick playback or loading into a dedicated player. It can read from a variety of tag formats allowing for easy integration with an existing automation system.
Although DAC works best on a touchscreen, navigation can be accomplished via mouse as well as F1/F2/F3 to start/stop the playback decks. Remote-start via joystick, serial and IP(UDP) is also possible.
DAC offers lightning-fast navigation of jingle pages and instant audio playback: 56 buttons per page, 10 pages per “Set” and an unlimited number of Sets allow for near-instant audio load+playback of 1000s of jingles/clips.
Items can be loaded into 1 of 3 “Decks”, either manually ready for playback or “Load n Go” mode allows for instant start of the audio in the next available Deck. A 4th “Instant” player lets you play additional items while the Decks are in use.
A “Set” for your Station IDs, Music Beds, plus each presenter can have their own – and all with a layout+colours to suit their tastes. It’s a great way to allow your presenters flexibility in playing their own content (perhaps from a USB stick) without “upsetting” your existing playout system.
Users of DACFree can run this program and enjoy the extra features.
DAC Cartwall v4.51 Setup [updated 1st August ’24]
DAC Cartwall Skin Files
A collection of MSStyles that can be used with most of my applications. These are freely available online and this ZIP file contains some of the nicer ones
DACpad
A free and simple application to play in short-form audio clips such as jingles, sound effects and clips – It works great with a USB Numberpad and offers up to 9 hotkey buttons. MP2/MP3/WAV files are dragged from any Explorer window onto a button – just touch to play. Buttons can overlap and a global “Stop All” button is also provided.
You can’t save any buttons, it’s just drag ‘n’ drop as needed – perfect for news clips, podcasts or anywhere else you may wish to play-in some audio.
v1.3 introduces the possibility to drop .bat (batch) files onto a button in order to control/trigger external applications. This can be a process, script, chain of events (eg: cleanup audio folder) – whatever you’re capable of programming.
DACpad Setup v1.3 [updated 5th July ’24]
EZCart
EZCart is a simple jingle player that allows you to drag and drop audio files into 8 playback “cart” slots”. It offers simple start/stop via the mouse, keyboard or can be used with a touchscreen. The main window can be resized to suit your display and each “cart slot” can output to a unique sound device.
Simply navigate to a folder using the built-in browser, drag ‘n’ drop the audio to a slot and click the “Play” button… Keys F1-F8 also Start/Stop the slots. The slots will attempt to read CartChunk, ID3v2 or basic filename Artist – Title information when loading. You can also drag ‘n’ drop audio from any File Explorer window into a slot.
Slots can sequence by clicking the button to the left of each slot – when the preceding slot finishes, the next one is started. A V symbol denotes the sequence mode is active. Slots can also be ejected (or not) after playback – Clicking the lower left-hand slot button toggles this mode: X means eject.
To manually eject a slot, you can right-click the Play button with your mouse.
EZCart v1.21 Setup [updated 5th July ’24]
GetBPM
A useful application to scan your music tracks and write the BPM to APE+ID3 file-tags. The “to do” list can be populated via drag ‘n’ drop from any My Computer “explorer” window or an M3U Playlist can be loaded.
Clicking Scan BPMs and Tag Files will process them and apply the tags.
GetBPM will save to APE custom/useritem “BPM” and ID3v3BeatsPerMinute file tags.
A tabbed file in the application folder will also be created containing Artist, Title, BPM, FileName.
If you only require BPM tags, then this is the application to use. MyLibrary and uTag offer further tagging features along with special output tags/formats for broadcast software.
GetBPM Setup v1.0 [updated 17th Jan ’23]
MyLibrary
MyLibrary is an audio file tagger and library application which can help you manage your audio files and/or music library. Special “broadcast” parameters like Intro/Segue times, EndType, Opener and Category can be edited ready for importing into a scheduler and/or playout system.
With this application, you only need to enter details ONCE before being able to import into any of the following:
AudioEnhance DPS, AutoTrack, AutoTrack, BCX3, Dalet, Enco DAD/Presenter, Genesys, GSelector, mAirList, Myriad Playout, Myriad Schedule, Natural Music, OmniPlayer, PlayoutONE, Powergold, PropFrexx, StationPlaylist Creator/Studio, Zetta – No other application currently handles this many playout systems.
MyLibrary v3.79 Setup [updated 31st July ’24]
- Automatically detect cue points and end-types (end or fade) for quickly getting a “playout ready” library imported
- Save Cart Chunk tags for direct import into Enco DAD/Presenter, Genesys, Myriad Playout, RCS Zetta
- Create+send Myriad v5 “transport” files
- Import a CSV/Tabbed Text file of data into Music1/Powergold
- Scans your music for BPMs
It’s probably better to ask “What can’t MyLibrary do?” – It does a fair amount, that’s for sure. In short, if you want to manage your audio library and/or export to various playout systems/schedulers whilst keeping Cart/CutIDs identical then MyLibrary is probably the tool you need. It supports popular tag formats such as APE, ID3v1+2, plus the broadcast-industry Cart Chunk format as well as FLAC, MP2, MP3, OGG, WAV (PCM) file formats.
Tag Test Files
Collection of sample MP3 and WAV files with APE/ID3 MP3 tags plus Dalet XML, AudioVault, EncoDAD, Genesys, Myriad, RCS and WideOrbit WAVs with Cart Chunk. Also, 2 PlayoutOne test files with custom ID3v2 tag. Try these on your automation system to test compatibility.
Sample JMD Files
These can be matched-up with your own audio files to see how the data works. MyLibrary filenames are *not* case-sensitive.
RadioLookup
This application makes use of the UK’s Ofcom resource known as Technical Parameters (aka: TXParams) which offers AM, DAB and FM transmitter data such as lat/lon location, Wattage ERP, RDS codes etc.
These CSV files allow for easy handling of this information making it possible to display it in a user-friendly list or map…obviously with a little coding effort.
Either by manually entering Lat/Lon values, or picking from a list of presets, you can see what transmitters are within that area along with some basic details about it. A map URL from Google, Here or OpenStreetMap can be “grabbed” from the clipboard for easy entering of Lat/Lon values.
Uses include: Identify a potential frequency for a new service (like a Community Radio Station) or simply to find out what stations are nearby and what services you can get from a nearby DAB multiplex. Options allow you to filter for nearby BBC, Commercial or Community stations “only”. You can also find for a specific service within a set distance, eg: Find all transmitters for “Heart” within 50 miles of Bristol and so on.
Interested to know how much “choice” a particular area has? Here’s a chart that was made using the data of Commercial FM transmitters within a 35-mile radius of several popular areas around the UK. Even accounting for terrain (ie: more TXs required to serve a given area), the numbers do make for interesting viewing:
RadioLookup Free v1.20 Setup [updated 27th Sept ’24]
This program is normally updated a few days after Ofcom publish their latest TXParams data. I have edited a few stations to ensure a consistent search result (ie: “Capital South Coast” becomes “Capital”, omitting their geographical names) but any other errors/typos within TXParams are faithfully reproduced in the software!
SplitVT
Networking – there’s no escaping it. A radio presenter may be broadcasting live to several different geographical areas each carrying their own local commercials – But what about localised content such as news, travel or weather updates?
SplitVT will record audio for up to 24 splits. It is especially suited as part of my AdSplits product as it can obtain the currently connected splits. Of course, it can also be used with other systems such as Genesys, mAirList, PlayoutONE, RCS Zetta and other playout systems that auto-import from a folder periodically.
A series of presets (using cart-numbers or filenames) allow for the quick recording of regular elements such as local news/weather plus DJ links that may wish to reference that “split” area.
Output filenames can be Artist/Title and/or Cart based – a simple %token% system allows you to define the formatting. Basic editing functions are offered – Remember, it’s just a simple recorder with basic editing features, not Adobe/Audacity!
Split Setup v1.30 [updated 6th July ’24]
StudioScreen
StudioScreen is a display application for showing time, on-air status and other information in a radio studio. As well as the clock+date displays, the current song from your playout system can be shown along with status indicators for Mic Live, Phone, XD/Phone2 and a Door/Alarm alert.
You get a 2 stereo VU meter, 4 main indicator LEDS plus Now Playing display and a clock/date. RS232+UDP control, RSS news “headlines” and up to 5 city weather temperature displays can also be enabled.
StudioScreen v1.70 Setup [updated 7th July ’24]
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4 main LED Status Indicator/Alerts
Can be used for OnAir “Mic Live”, Phone flash, XD line, alarm, door alert etc
A further 4 more LEDs may be enabled via a simple config tweak detailed in the help file
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Clock and Date : Analogue and digital clock plus backtiming and date display
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Now Playing Display : Reads a text file from your playout system to display the current song
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Stereo VU Meters : Left/Right VU Meters with “Too Loud” and “Silence Alert” warning labels – Also allows for split monitoring with custom left/right labels. Left+Right contact-closures to control a silence alarm are also available.
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Game/Joystick Port and/or Velleman WSI8055N Control
Buttons 1,2,3,4 control the Mic, Phone, Door and XD LEDs – The Phone and Door LEDs can be configured to flash during input or remain illuminated continuously – The 8055 outputs can also follow the 4 LEDs, eg: LED1 ON=Output1 ON.Joystick controllers can still be purchased from Aliexpress (to roll your own box) for not much cash money – these, like an Arduino board, have header connectors for wiring to a socket (such as phono or 6.35mm). See my USB/RS232 Fader-Start Interface for a similar example.
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RS232 and UDP Network Control
Using a compatible playout system (Enco DAD/Presenter, mAirList, Myriad, Zetta etc) or custom application, IP+Serial commands can be used to trigger the LED indicators. A simple string: LED1_ON or LED3_OFF controls the illumination. - RSS News Headlines
Headlines from your favourite news provider (eg: BBC/Reuters) can be displayed at the bottom of the screen – Up to 10 headlines can be rotated every few seconds depending upon configuration. A 5 second rotation on 10 headlines works well. Each time a cycle is completed, the RSS feed is refreshed for new content.
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Extensive Configuration : The colours and captions of the LEDs and Captions can be changed to suit your tastes as well as enabled/disabled to suit your configuration requirements. Language can be changed, too!
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Weather Display
Up to 5 locations can be displayed showing temperature – great for weather-checks and knowing what’s happening around your broadcast area.
SureLog / SureLogFree
SureLog is a broadcast logging application designed to record hourly audio files in either MP3 or linear PCM (WAV) format. It can create a new file at the start of each hour and name them according to the current date/time. It offers a very simple interface, auto-start, a simple layout – Start/Stop control, Settings, LED indicator, VU meter, audio properties as well as a dead-air detector.
Keeping a log of your station (or studio) output is a good idea – Especially as it may be part of your licence conditions. All OFCOM-licensed stations in the UK are required to keep an audio log for 42 days. OFCOM take a dim view when copies of your output can’t be supplied – Why risk a fine or licence breach? All you need for compliance is an off-air receiver feeding the logging computer – it should (ideally) do nothing else except this task – and be periodically checked by staff (perhaps as a “per show” checklist).
SureLog Setup v1.62 [updated 19th Jan ’23]
uCart
uCart is a free application for playout of jingles, sound-effects and other audio in a radio broadcast environment. It mimics a traditional NAB cart machine but without the wow/flutter and re-cue time! Loading a slot can be done by dragging a file from Windows’ Explorer or the built-in File Browser.
Slots can be ejected after playback if desired. Sequencing of slots is also possible – Enabling you to run an ad-break of up to 6 carts in sequence with just 1 click.
Remote-start via joystick alon with F-keys also supported.
uCart v1.34 Setup [updated 11th Nov ’23]
- Show 3, 4 or 6 Cart Slots
Flexible layout options
- Multiple Outputs
Assign each slot to different soundcards
- Auto Sequence of Slots [blue button]
Audio-based segue of each slot for perfect overlaps
- Eject or Recue Mode
Cart slots can be ejected or re-cued after playback
- Drag ‘n’ Drop
Use the supplied File Browser or drop files from any Explorer window
- Remote-Start
Joystick remote-start. Buttons 1-6 start the players.
A File Browser with 8 preset “Cart Racks” allows you to easily move between your favourite folders of audio/jingles. When loading WAV files, the CartChunk information is read (Artist/Title, CutID, Outcue, Start+End Date, Category) and MP3 files have their ID3v2 tags (Artist/Title, Year, Genre) read. The duration of the file is also shown.
uDAC
This application is designed for use on small touchscreens (or tablets) to act as a low-profile jingle player for outside broadcasts or when you can’t justify *another* 22″ screen in the studio!
The Set files are directly compatible with DAC Cartwall (and my other software) so your existing jingle pages can be used. The Set folder can be defined allowing you to network several uDAC / DAC Cartwall systems for sharing audio between various studios/sites.
uDAC v1.21 Setup [updated 1st Feb ’23]
- GUI can be skinned using MSStyles … No more “battleship grey” – click here for some examples
Download a selection of my favourite skin files here - 10 pages per Cart Set
- 24 Instant Audio Buttons per page
- Designed for use with a touch-screen for quick-fire use
- VU Meter
- Keeps a log of all played items
- Plays FLAC, MP3 and WAV audio files
- APE/ID3 and CartChunk Artist/Title support
- Remote-Control via UDP strings
Have as many cart pages/sets as you need – Station IDs, Liners, Promos, Jock Drops and even Sound Effects/News Clips. It can be used standalone or alongside your playout system to give presenters some flexibility to play there own jingles or audio from USB stick.
USBLEDs
Here’s a FREE GPIO application for your studio – it uses a joystick input to display up to 10 status LEDs as well as a simple clock and a “now playing” text file display. You can enable the elements as required and simply drag them around the screen to create your layout.
A basic “readme” file is included.
Using a similar GUI to my StudioScreen product, USBLEDs gives you some flexibility with regards to layout and feature-set. It is ideal for using in+around other applications where you have some spare screen real-estate. It can be used alongside SplitMon, which is part of AdSplits on a wall-mounted screen for presenter info.
It works best if you set your Windows’ desktop background to a solid black colour.
USBLEDs v1.16 Setup [updated 5th July ’24]
- Up to 10 LED inputs with “off+on” colours+captions
- Buttons can react to a joystick input or incoming RS232/UDP command
- Buttons can show a simple text-label or the contents of a text file
- Flexible layout, eg: 1×1, 1×5, 5×1 etc
- Text file display for “now playing”
- UDP control of LED off/on status
- RS232 control of LED off/on status
uTag
uTag (pronounced micro-tag) plays, tags and helps you manage the properties of your audio files. You can tag using APE/ID3, Cart Chunk, FLAC, OGG and the original JockMaster JMD formats (as used by MyLibrary.
uTag offers a simple to use PFL player that you can use to set cue points as well as a simple set of Track Attributes (Artist, Title, Year, Genre etc). Unlike MyLibrary, this program has no “bulk change” support or any of the advanced playout export options. It can also perform an autocue of the CueIn and/or Segue markers.
Files can be tagged using APE, ID3, JMD and/or CartChunk formats. The CartChunk “PostTimer” headers can be altered to match those required by your playout software (a few presets are provided).
uTag v1.29 Setup [updated 21st Jan ’23]
Features
- Set a variety of properties: Artist, Title, Album, Year, Genre, End Type, Gender, CartID etc
- Handles FLAC, MP2, MP3, OGG and WAV audio files
- Tag using APE,ID3 or CartChunk
- AutoCue of CueIn+Outro/Segue markers
- Can create Myriad v5 XML meta-data (best used with an import TSV file)
- Tag and Send a file directly to the Genesys playout system
- Assign the player to any sound device
- GUI can be skinned using MSStyles – freely available and can alter the look of the software in many ways
In summary, this application allows you to push data into systems such as AudioVault, Enco DAD/Presenter, Genesys, Myriad, RCS Master Control, NexGen, StationPlaylist, WideOrbit, Zetta etc.