Free radio automation software

[stopnswop2]

What's a good one to get?

I live stream music shows on youtube and I use Winamp as my audio program.
Usually I personally queue the songs I want for a particular show, but at this moment I'm currently streaming with shuffle mode on, with my 1,639 song playlist, and since I have some of the same songs in the playlist but different versions, I'm afraid it will shuffle by 1 song and play the same song twice. Lol

[Ed Joseph]

Look at RadioDJ. It's free and it rocks. It can do voicetracking and everything. There is a third party plug-in which allows the use of WInamp2.x DSP plugins, including MuchFX, Shoutcast/Edcast/Altacast Source and even StereoTool. I find Sound Solution processor to be handy and more lightweight than StereoTool.You can set multiple sound cards up for cue and I believe the add-on cart machine modules.

The down side to this program is you have to install an SQL database (also free) and it takes a bit of tweaking to get it running how you want it. Once it's going though, it's pretty solid. Importing the music library is the most tedious part because I set markers for the intro post, outro post, mixpoints and end of file, so songs like Stairway to Heaven don't get upcut by the next track.I set it up to let the false fade on Marvin Gaye's What's Going On to play until the end.

Winamp itself is quite an impressive little player. I use Winamp 2.95 and also Foobar2000, Media Monkey and even AIMP3 for various uses. Aimp3 is great for doing a spot check on files before I add them. I just set it to a different output and bring it up on the audition channel of my console.

FWIW, I'm still running XP Pro on that box, thus I run RadioDJ 1.8.2 instead of the newer 2.x version. I've literally had it run months on end without a hiccup. I highly recommend it. BTW, it has it's own audio processing built in, but I find the best the sound I can get with it sounds a LOT like a CBS Audimax/Volumax pair. Sound Solution or Stereo Tool work much better. Another DSP I recommend for it's clean sound and simplicity is AudioStocker. If you need any of these files, PM me and I'll hook you up.

[bmw]

Winamp itself is quite an impressive little player. I use Winamp 2.95...

LOL, glad to see I'm not the only one who has clung onto Winamp v2 for about 15 years now. I use 2 plugins with mine - SqrSoft Advanced Crossfading and Wide & Dynamix. I have the compression set to absolute minimum settings for the Wide & Dynamix plugin and that brings all audio files to the same RMS level without over-processing the audio. The crossfader plugin is also excellent - sounds as good as crossfading I hear on radio stations. At about the :13 second mark of an audio file, it will cross-fade into the next song once the audio drops below a certain level.

[Ed Joseph]

Yes, I use the SQRSoft crossfader as well. I have the W&D plug in as well, but personally, I really like the AudioStocker plug-in for it's simplicity and the fact that it can sound totally transparent up to -24dB of processing, set on "transparent" mode. Winamp was, and still is, a pretty capable program for what it is. I always said Winamp was the ONLY thing AOL did right! If it doesn't do something, there's a plug-in somewhere for it. The only thing I haven't managed to get WA to do is push label scans over a ShoutCast stream, but I'm also running XP, which limits me to the SC v1 server & DSP. That's going to be changing soon as I finally upgrade that box to W7.

I love the fact RadioDJ has a plug-in to use Winamp DSP plug-ins. So does Foobar2000 and AIMP. That says a lot about Winamp.

[stopnswop2]

I don't have a SQL Server

And it's very embarrassing for me to say but I was just about done with my I.T. Degree but I payed zero attention in my introduction to database class because I was "bored". LOL.

Help?

[djb]

You don't need to be an SQL expert, and using MySQL is completely free. I run 3 instances of RadioDJ; two instances connected to one database, and another instance connected to a different database on the same database server (wife's playlist).

Ed...awesome to hear you're using Sound Solution! I'm running SS XAP (standalone). Want to exchange presets?

[Ed Joseph]

Do they still make XAP? I've only used the WA plug in. IIRC, the XAP wasn't free but the plug-in was?

[stopnswop2]

Okay. I'll get the MySqlServer.
I'll post if I have any questions.

Am I able to import my winamp playlist into RadioDJ?

I have thousands and thousands of songs on my pc but I have a very specific playlist of only 1,667 songs at the moment that I live stream

[djb]

Do they still make XAP? I've only used the WA plug in. IIRC, the XAP wasn't free but the plug-in was?

I'm don't believe it is still in Development. IIRC, the developer now designs processors for a broadcast brand.

I will PM you a link.

[Ed Joseph]

Okay. I'll get the MySqlServer.
I'll post if I have any questions.

Am I able to import my winamp playlist into RadioDJ?

I have thousands and thousands of songs on my pc but I have a very specific playlist of only 1,667 songs at the moment that I live stream

You will still have to import the MP3 files to RDJ's database through the "Track Manager" tab.

Once imported, you can open your winamp M3U playlists and it will find the files and load them into the playout window, as long as they remain in the same drive and directory. There is also a "relocate files" option.

If you don't worry about label scans,genre, setting cue points and such right away, it doesn't take all that long if you use "Import Folder". I have mine in folders by decades and Whitburn rankings, so it takes me a while to do an import, since I generally set all these items as I import the files individually. But you can always go back into the track manager and set those at your convenience.

There were many RDJ tutorials on the program on youtube. Joining their forum is always recommended as the the program's author is on there and also many RDJ power users. RadioDJ Forum: https://www.radiodj.ro/community/index.php

[stopnswop2]

I installed the mySQL server.
Now what. I have no idea how to use it

[Ed Joseph]

Sorry, this post fell thru the cracks. FWIW, you install RadioDJ and it sets up the database file, which is populated when you import song files via the Track Manager in RDJ. You really don't have to mess with the database at utility level at all. Even backups and restores are done through the RDJ interface.

[stopnswop2]

Sorry, this post fell thru the cracks. FWIW, you install RadioDJ and it sets up the database file, which is populated when you import song files via the Track Manager in RDJ. You really don't have to mess with the database at utility level at all. Even backups and restores are done through the RDJ interface.

I installed RadioDJ and it said it couldn't find the database

[stopnswop2]

Lol I need to get rolling on this.
I'm listening to the playlist off air in winamp and it keeps playing Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons every other song atm.
Wtf, lol.