What have we here?
Here you'll find a range of free software that is useful in the radio
studio, production booth, theatre, sports-ground, or just at home managing a
music collection.
Solutions include: a jingle/sound-effects (DAC Cartwall) application, audio/music library management and import utility for playout software (MyLibrary), a studio clock/status display (StudioScreen) and even a free split-link recorder (SplitVT) that works with a variety of playout systems. You can use the software however you like: Home, Community, Commercial, Events etc without cost.
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 and please continue to use it as much as you wish. However, if it breaks, you get to keep all the pieces.
To update any software here, just download+run the latest installer to get updated with the most recent changes/fixes. Updates and bug-fixes will appear from time-to-time, plus, the help files will detail any changes I make, along with tips/tricks, walkthroughs etc. Do read the Release Notes within the online help before committing to an update.
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 and easily open it again later for editing.
Download v1.32 Setup / View Online Help
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.
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/FX. 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 3 Decks are in use/cued.
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.
Download v4.52 Setup / View Online Help
DAC Cartwall Skin Files
These are a collection of MSStyles to tailor the window colour-scheme.
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.
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.
Screenshot (main screen) / Screenshot (songcard 1) / Screenshot (songcard 2)
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.
Download v4.0.7 Setup / View Online Help
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.
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, search by DAB “Block”, what services you can get from a nearby DAB multiplex or which Multiplexes can I hear “Radio Caroline”? 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.
This program is normally updated a few days after Ofcom publish their latest TXParams data. Please note that errors/typos within TXParams are (normally, unless I spot them) also reproduced in the software!
A series of presets allow for the quick recording of regular elements such as local news/weather plus presenter links that are custom to 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 like top+tail, normalize etc are offered - it's just a simple recorder with basic editing features, not Adobe/Audacity!
Download Setup v1.33 / View Online Help
Screenshot (main view) / Screenshot (weather close-up)
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.
Download v1.71 Setup / View Online Help
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).
Download Setup v1.62 / View Online Help
Remote-start via joystick along with F-keys also supported. 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.
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. 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.
A basic “readme” file is included.
Using a similar look 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.
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" cue-point headers can be altered to match those required by your automation software (a few presets are provided).
