Automating a live program with Line-In.

[John2103]

We have a playout computer running ProppFrexx for the non-stop programming and voice-tracked programs. At certain hours, there is a live program. The studio is located in a different room.

I would like to achieve the following:

At a specific time, the live program is scheduled. The live program should start after an overlay (the news).
The live program lasts 58 minutes and consists of a script containing a Line-In entry (Mode: LineIn) with the following entry:
In1|3480
When the Line-In track is loaded (On Track Loaded), I would like to unmute the Line-In channel and raise the fader. Is On Track Loaded the appropriate event to use for this?

After the overlay (the news), the playout computer should start the first song on the (ProppFrexx) studio computer using On Track Played.

The command is:

EXEC_SEND_TCP

Studio-PC1:8052|AUTHORIZATION MyPassword${CRLF}${CRLF}PLS_CURRENT_AUTOPLAY_ON${CRLF}${CRLF}

Alternatively, Player A could be started instead of Autoplay.

This way, the presenter knows that the live program has started. The studio is located in a different room from the playout computer.

At the end of the hour, the playout computer should fade out the Line-In and start the news overlay. The Line-In fader should then be closed and the Line-In should be muted again.

What would be the best way to configure this in ProppFrexx?

[radio42]

Why don't you directly use the INPUT option as the 'Script' type - instead of a real script.
I.e. use option b) below.
(Note, you can press in the program editor the '?' icon at the very top right to get this help...)

Script: (Script)
Identifies the name of the script to execute when the program is started.

There are two 'special' modes available:

a)
When not providing any script name at all and leaving this field empty, a so called 'Non-Scripting-Program' is created.
As a result any currently running program is stopped one time (just as for any other program), but no new playlist is created. Instead the 'old' playlist might simply be closed and the scheduler then waits until the next program is started.
This is typically used, when you have a live show or DJ performing in your studio and you want to kind of suspend any automatic scripting for that time.

b) >INPUT:
This entry identifies an Input-Mixer-Channel instead of a script name also using a 'Non-Scripting-Program'!
When used, the related Input-Mixer-Channel is unmuted and faded-in for the time this program is running and faded-out and muted back again once this program ends.

[John2103]

Thank you for your help, Bernd. This is a much easier solution: unmuting and muting with >INPUT works perfectly.

At the start of the live input program, the fader is opened, but it is not closed when the program ends. No problem, as the input fader is muted and the live input is faded out by the news overlay.

However, I am still running into one problem. In the Program Scheduler, I use the “On Program Started” option under “Control Commands” with the following event:

EXEC_SEND_TCP
Studio-PC1:8052|AUTHORIZATION MyPassword${CRLF}${CRLF}PLS_CURRENT_AUTOPLAY_ON${CRLF}${CRLF}

This causes the first song on the studio PC to start at the same time as the news overlay on the nonstop computer starts.

Would it be possible to start the studio player at the next cue point of the TOTH in the news overlay on the nonstop computer instead?

[radio42]

Yes. But then you should trigger the command from the overlay and not the program.