DRS 2006® - Manual On Air Studio STD

The DRS 2006 On Air Radio Studio (03/23/2002)
Now it is time to go on air with the On Air Radio Studio. The On Air Radio Studio is the most important module of the DRS 2006 system.

With the DRS 2006 On Air Radio Studio you can load the playlists made with the Playlist Editor and play them. The On Air Radio Studio is, as the name says, used in the studio section of the radio station. You can load a playlist if you press the 'Load Playlist' button on the lower left. If you have done so, it will appear in the middle of the screen. Now everything is ready to go. If you press the 'Start' button, the On Air Radio Studio starts playing with the first item in the list.

The displays of the On Air Radio Studio
In this section you have different clocks and information fields. The most important one is the one showing the actual time and date. This is taken from the PCs internal clock.

Next to the date and time, the On Air Radio Studio displays the artist and the title of the current song. Under the title and artist fields there are four clocks:

1. Full Time: This is the absolute running time of the current song.
2. Position: This is the time, the current song is already running.
3. To Cue: This is the time that remains for the current song till the Cue Point Out is reached.
3. Intro: The intro time is defined in the Audio Manager. The intro counter runs reverse. It starts with the defined time and counts backwards till it reaches zero.

The progress bar under these displays also indicates the 'To Cue' time.

The DRS 2006 system supports three virtual faders. Virtual fader means that the On Air Radio Studio can handle three playlist items at the same time.

When the playlist is running, the used fader moves up and the CD symbol above it starts spinning. To talk over the current song, you can move the fader with the mouse or you can use the 'Drop Level' functions. See below to find out more about this function.

Below the displays and progress bar you can find the current playlist. It shows the calculated on air time, artist, title, cue point out, end type and finally the intro time.

The controls of the On Air Radio Studio
The START/STOP controls
The 'Start' (shortcut <ENTER>) and 'Stop' (shortcut "0") buttons are the most important control functions in the On Air Radio Studio.

With these two simple buttons you have control over the running playlist. If you press 'Start' while a song is running, the next song will start and the current song will fade out. If you press the 'Stop' button within the current song, the 'Stop' button will turn red.

The song will continue playing. A red 'Stop' button indicates that the playlist will stop after the current song. We call this a 'DJ Break'. If you are in 'DJ Break' mode, the Cue Point Out will automatically be set to the end of the current song. If you remove the 'DJ Break' mode by right clicking on the 'Stop' button or clicking on the 'Start' button, the Cue Point Out time will be restored to it's original value and the 'Stop' button will turn back to green again. If you press the button for a second time while the title is still running and the button is red, the title will fade out and the playlist will stop at once. This is used for spontaneous 'DJ Breaks'. If you don't press the 'Start' or 'Stop' button while the playlist is running, it will continue playing the complete playlist with all programmed fades till the end or till the next 'DJ Live Break' item.

Another special function of these two buttons is the Manual Fade. If the 'Stop' button is pressed for the first time while a song is playing and the running time of the song has only 30 or less seconds left, the 'Start' button will also turn red. Now you can press the 'Start' button at any time to start the next song in the playlist manually. When you do so, the current song continues running till the normal end without any fade at all. If you use this feature at the end of the song, a manual fade is made. With a little practice you can make cool manual fades with this function while you are live on air.

The Prior and Next controls
Located over the 'Start' and 'Stop' buttons are two navigation buttons. The 'Prior' (shortcut F4) and the 'Next' (shortcut F9) button. With these two buttons you are able to navigate through your current playlist while all three main players are stopped. You can use this feature to jump to certain titles etc.

The drop volume level controls
There are also two very interesting buttons in this area. The 'Drop Now' (shortcut F10) and the 'Drop Next' (shortcut F5) button. These two buttons are made for ramp talks or voiceovers. If you press the 'Drop Next' button, the LED will be lighted. This means that the next song will start at a volume percentage you can define in the 'On Air Setup' (see below). If this happens and you press this button again, the volume will fade back to 100%. If you press this button again while the next song is not yet reached, the drop next function will be deactivated again (LED off). You can also press the 'Drop Now' button to talk over a title any time. If you press it again it will fade back to the full volume. You are also able to use both functions at the same time. The speed of the fades can also be predefined in the 'On Air Setup'.

The Virtual Cart Slots
Forget about the old cart machines used in every radio station. DRS 2006 supplies you with three cart slots in the On Air Radio Studio. Of course you have 30 more in the Virtual Cart Machine.

These slots can hold items of the database for instant use. Simply left click on an empty cart machine to start the Database Search Engine. Each cart slot has its own volume control so you can easily adjust the volume on the left side.
To start playing a slot after loading it with an item of the database, left click on it. To stop it while it is running left click on it once again. The sound will not immediately stop, it will fade out with the manual fade out speed set in the 'On Air Setup'. To remove an item from a slot, simply right click on it. The handling of the carts is the same as in the Virtual Cart Machine.
NOTE:
The cart slots play simultaneously over the normal sound of the playlist. You can use them to insert sound effects, jingles or requests from your listeners. If you want to use more cart slots, have a look at our Virtual Cart Machine which can be used in addition to the On Air Radio Studio.

The Shuffle Play Manager
With the 'Shuffle Manager' you can automate your playlists. With this great feature a radio station can run on it's own. It will use only items of the database you have defined. To do so you simply press the 'Shuffle Manager' button. All information like Cue Points, Intros etc. will be taken from the data you entered in the Audio Manager.

In this window you can define a real shuffle play rotation. This works like the 'Autofill Playlist' in the Playlist Editor. After you have defined a shuffle play rotation, you simply click on 'Shuffle Now' and away you go. Use the 'Start' button and the DRS 2006 system will not stop until you force it. Of course you can load and save shuffle rotations. These rotations can also be used in the Playlist Editor. After returning to the normal On Air Radio Studio screen, the shuffle play mode will be activated if you have pressed the 'Shuffle Now' button. You can also turn the shuffle play on and off by using the 'Shuffle On/Off' button on the right side of the screen.

While you are in shuffle play mode, the DRS 2006 will put a new song at the end of the playlist every time a title is finished. It will always follow your defined rotation and will never repeat any song till all songs of a certain type are played. An artist separation will always be activated by default.
Over the cart slots, the On Air Radio Studio will indicate the current mode. This can be the 'Playlist Mode' or the 'Shuffle Mode'. Of course all features like the 'Start' and 'Stop' buttons are also enabled in shuffle play mode. Just use it like you would in the normal playlist mode. To go back from the shuffle play mode to the normal playlist mode, you simply click on 'Shuffle On/Off'. You can switch between any mode even when you are on air.

The internal On Air Editor
Another feature is the internal 'On Air Editor' button (shortcut F6). If you press this button, a new window pops up.

Here you can preview the current playlist. You can scroll around as much as you want. This will have no effect on the current program. You can also see all other information added in the Audio Manager. Information is very important while being on air. But that's not all. Here you can also edit your running program while it is on air. Simply use the 'Insert New Item', 'Remove Item', 'Move Down Item' and 'Insert DJ Break' like in the Playlist Editor. You can't work on the currently playing song, but you can quickly remove, insert or move items. Back in the On Air Radio Studio your changes are taken in immediately. You see this is a very powerful part of the On Air Radio Studio.

The On Air Setup
If you press the 'On Air Setup' button, you can define the fade out speed of the manual fade (START, STOP, CARTS).

As you can see there are two more settings in this window. The 'Drop Level Out Seconds' and the 'Drop Down Percentage'. These two settings are used with the Drop Level feature of the On Air Radio Studio.