The DRS 2006 On Air DJ Studio (03/23/2002)
The On Air DJ Studio is designed for the DJ who is live on the air. The On Air DJ Studio contains ten cart machines plus a special music bed cart. Fast and easy retrieval of program resources require just a few key strokes or mouse clicks to find an artist, song or type. The On Air DJ Studio cart slots can start the next cart in sequence if 'Rotation' is enabled, freeing the DJ from starting the next cart and fading the ending cart.

Once a cart is started, it will play until the cue point is reached, and then start the next cart. This sequence will continue on to the next cart or until a blank cart is found. If all ten slots are filled, then the last cart will start the first cart and continue this sequence until stopped. Any cart not playing can be changed while another cart slot is playing.

Loading The Carts
When you first open the On Air DJ Studio module all the slots will be empty. To place an item in a slot you select it from the database. The database search engine works the same way as it did in the Audio Manager. The only difference is that in the On Air DJ Studio the database search engine is always visible for quick access.

Loading a cart is as simple as two mouse clicks. Select the item to be placed in a slot and click the left mouse button, then left click the slot position where you want to place the item and your done! If you want to remove the item just right click on the slot to remove it.

After an item is placed in the slot you will see information about the item appear on the face of the button. The title and the length of the item will be displayed. There is also a red indicator, which will be active when the cue is active.

Just like in the old cart machine days, before we can put a different cart into a slot, we must remove the one that is currently in the slot. Use the right mouse button and click on the slot to remove an item.
An item cannot be accidentally removed while it is playing or at the cue point. Again just like the mechanical cart machine, you have to wait for the cart to stop playing before you can pull it out. The big difference here is you no longer need to wait until a lot of dead tape runs until finally getting back to the beginning of the tape.

Starting And Stopping The Slots
When an item is first placed in a slot, the title information and time are displayed on the face of the button. The color of the button will be light blue in color. This will change to a green color while the item is playing, and to grey once played. With just a glance at the console screen, you have a visual indication of what has played and what has not.

Before we start a slot playing, one function will affect how the slots are started. At the very bottom of the screen directly under the database alphabet, you will find the 'Rotation' and 'Manual' selectors.

If you select the 'Rotation' button then when a cart is about to end and the cue point is reached, it will start the next slot in sequence. If the next slot is empty, it will not jump over the empty slot but instead will stop. The red indicator will become active indicating a cue start was reached for the next event, but nothing will fire.
If the 'Manual' function is selected then nothing will be sequenced or started. In the 'Manual' mode, each slot must be started manually.

To demonstrate the actions, put an item in the first three slot positions and then put an item in slot 10. Select the 'Rotation' mode and then go to the first slot position. Left click using the mouse, or use the keyboard short cut (F1) to start the item. You will see several things start to happen when the item starts.

The button face will turn green and a count down time will show the remaining time left for the item playing, when the cue point out is reached, the red indicator will become active and the next slot will start. This will continue until an empty slot is reached. Unless you start something manually, nothing will play. Once an item has been played, the button color changes from blue to grey and remains this way until replaced with a different item.

Once a slot starts playing and you left click it again to stop it, the slot will fade using the settings in the 'On Air Setup'. However, if you do choose to stop using this method, it will not start the next slot. The cue indicator will become active when the end is reached, but everything comes to a halt.

You can start any slot position at any time. If for example, slot #1 is playing and you start slot #2, then slot #2 will start and slot #1 will fade and stop. If there is an item in slot #3, then when slot #2 reaches the cue point, slot #3 will start and this sequence will continue to advance until an empty slot is found.

A Continuous Loop
If you want a continuous loop then every slot must have an item in it. If say you start slot #10, once slot #10 cues out, then slot #1 will start. As long as you have something in each slot position, it will continue to advance and start the next slot position as long as the 'Rotation' mode is selected.


Music Bed Slot
This slot is different from the others in that it will not start from any other slot. The cue out indicator will still be active when the cue out point is reached, but this is just a visual indicator for the DJ, it does not start another slot position. The 'Drop Now' control does not affect the 'Music Bed' Slot.

The manual slider level in the 'Music Bed' Slot and rate of change are all set in the 'On Air Setup'. These same settings also apply to the three virtual faders P1, P2 and P3. A Virtual fader means that the On Air DJ Studio can handle three play items all at the same time.

On Air Setup
The 'On Air Setup' functions exactly as it does in the other modules except that only the controls that pertain to the On Air DJ Studio are displayed. There are only three settings shown: the 'Manual Fade Out Seconds' , 'Drop Level Out Seconds' and the 'Drop Down Percentage'.

Manual Fade Out Seconds
This controls the rate, of how fast the fade will react when you manually adjust it. Setting this value to low could cause an item playing to sound as though it was cut off or ended abruptly. A value of three seconds is a good starting value.

Drop Level Percentage
The 'Drop Level Percentage' is the audio level you want the playing item to drop to when you click the 'Drop Now' or 'Drop Next' controls. While an item is playing click on the 'Drop Now' button and the level will drop to the setting you have in the 'On Air Setup'. This is a toggle type control, meaning you click it once to drop and click again to return to full volume. There is a red indicator that is active when the 'Drop Level' is in effect. A good value for this setting would be one second for the 'Drop Level', and sixty five for 'Drop Down'.

An example might be if a DJ wanted to talk over the current song. With just a single click on the 'Drop Now' button, the song playing would fade down to the preset level and continue to play. Once the DJ was through talking, clicking the control again returns the song to full volume.

The 'Drop Next' function works the same way, except it will drop the next item to be played to the preset level (Drop Down) when it starts. If the DJ anticipated he needed to say something, but did not want to talk over the current item playing, he could select the 'Drop Next' control. When the next item plays, it will be at a reduced level until the 'Drop Next' control is clicked again to return to full play volume.

Additionally if the DJ wanted to talk over the end of the currently playing item and the beginning of the next item, he would click the 'Drop Next' button first, then clicking on 'Drop Now' at the required moment will enable the DJ to perform this task with ease. Clicking 'Drop Next' will return the new track to full volume.

Audio Plugin
If you have an Audio Plugin installed, clicking this control will open the Audio Plugin to permit adjustments. If you have the Plugin installed but the control does not appear to function then check your settings using the Launcher.
Open the 'Audio Processor Plugins Setup' and ensure you have a check mark in the module.

Info
Beneath the Database alphabet box is a control labeled 'Info'. By clicking on this control the information about an item in the database is displayed. To view the info highlight an item in the database screen and click 'Info'. Everything about this item will be displayed. You add or modify this information using the 'MP3 Audio Tag Editor' in the Audio Manager module.

Virtual Faders
The virtual faders P1, P2 and P3 are located in the bottom right corner of the On Air DJ Studio. They are active when any of the ten slots are playing, they do not activate with the 'Music Bed' slot.

A Virtual fader means that the On Air DJ Studio can handle three play items all at the same time. They are active when the disk above the fader is spinning. You can use the slider to adjust the volume after the item begins playing. Note: you can adjust the slider even if a item is not playing, but the moment the item starts playing the slider will go to full volume regardless of where you positioned it prior to play.

With the exception of a cold start, it is normal to see two and all three virtual faders active at the same time. As items start and finish DRS 2006 will select a virtual fader for the next item as needed.

Database Functions:
The database functions exactly as described in the The DRS 2006 Database Search Engine section. The only difference is that in the On Air DJ Studio it is always viewable. In the DJ environment, the ability to find items quickly is essential. The database and search engines are powerful tools to quickly locate the title of a song or artist. If you have not read the The DRS 2006 Database Search Engine section yet, you will find it very useful to understand how the database search works. It is used in numerous modules and works the same in all of them.

Happy Dee Jaying! - Now the Force Is With You...