The Playout Window

• 1: Playlist and Players
• 2: Cartwall
• 3: Browser
• 4: Mix Editor
• 5: Event Scheduler

1 - Playlist and Players

The playlist is the most important part of the playout window. It contains the items to be broadcasted in the specified order, through one our more players associated with the playlist.

While we talk about “the” playlist here, you can actually configure mAirList to have more than one playlist in the playout window. This can be done in the configuration app.

Managing Content

Items can be added to the playlist in various ways, for example:

• By dragging items from the Browser.
• By dragging audio files from Windows Explorer (or any other application).
• Using the “Insert” menu in the main toolbar.
• By loading or appending playlist files through the respective menu commands. mAirList supports many different playlist formats, from simple M3U to third-party broadcast playlist formats.
• By loading or appending playlist automatically through the Event Scheduler - this is typically used to reload the playlist at the top of the hour in automated playouts.

Once added to the playlist, items are displayed with several columns of information, in particular:

• Backtiming information (the projected on air time, or true on air time for items that have already been started or played)
• Artist and title
• Ramp/intro duration
• Total (remaining) duration

Items can be rearranged by dragging and dropping with the mouse.

Multiple items can be selected using the mouse while holding down the Shift or Control key. Selected items can be deleted using the Delete button in the main toolbar, or by pressing the Delete key on the keyboard.

You can save the current state of the playlist as a playlist file (again, in various formats) through the Save menu.

When you open the playout application, it will load the Default Playlist, which can be saved through the Save menu. You can reopen it through the Open menu at any time.

Editing Items

To view and edit the properties of a playlist item, double-click it, or right-click it and select Properties. This opens the Item Properties dialog, where you can adjust the item’s metadata, cue markers and other settings. The dialog is the same one used in the database, and its tabs are described in detail in the Item Properties section of the database documentation.

To change a property of several items at once, select them and choose Mass Edit from the context menu (see Mass Edit).

Players

Each playlist is associated with one or more players, which are displayed at the bottom of the playout window. In the default configuration, there are two players A (red) and B (blue), but you can adjust the number, names and colors in the configuration app as needed.

Each player can load one item at a time, and is usually associated with an output channel on your mixing console (if you use one). The audio routing can be adjusted freely in the configuration app.

Operating Modes: ASSIST and AUTO

The playlist can operate in two modes, ASSIST and AUTO, which can be toggled through the buttons in the toolbar (or through remote control commands etc.). You can toggle between ASSIST and AUTO mode seamlessly at any time, and any active player will keep playing, in the new requested mode.

ASSIST Mode

ASSIST mode is meant for situations in which the playout is operated manually by a DJ. This means:

• The players must be started manually (using the buttons in the player toolbar, remote control commands etc.).
• They will still be loaded automatically with the next available item, unless disabled in the configuration.
• You can still drag any other item from the playlist into an (idle) player manually.
• The player still stop automatically at EOF or the configured Cue Out marker, but no automatic fading will take place (unless enabled in the configuration).

The only way to have two items play automatically in ASSIST mode is to link them by clicking into the gray circle icon in the rightmost column of the playlist. The circle will turn green, and red for the subsequent items, and the two items will be played within the same player as if you were working in AUTO mode. You can link multiple items this way.

AUTO Mode

AUTO mode, also called automation, is meant for unattended automatic playback. Once enabled, and having clicked the Play button in the main toolbar, the playlist will play the loaded items one after the other, respecting cue markers, and playing the fades/segues as defined in the Cue Editor.

Items cannot be loaded manually into the players while AUTO mode is active. Instead, the playlist will load the players automatically with the next available item.

By default, only a single player is used in automation mode - either the first player, or the one that was last active when you switched from ASSIST to AUTO. This is convenient because all AUTO operation will be conducted on the player (and thus, console channel) that was active by the time you switched to AUTO. This makes it impossible to “forget” to open the other channel on the console, which would lead to dead air when playback moves to the other player. If you dislike this behavior, you can disable it in the playlist options in the configuration app.

Items will be played in a row, one by one, unless a specific timing is set in the item properties. The following timing types are available, visualized by a distinctive item:

• Normal The item will be started when the previous item has finished. This is the default.
• Hard Fixed Time: The item will be started exactly at the time set up in its properties. The current item will be faded out.
• Soft Fixed Time: The item will be started at or after the time set up in its properties, after the current item has finished.
• Backtimed: When placed directly before a (hard or soft) fixed time item, the item will be treated as being fixed as well. The start time will be calculated from the fixed time of the subsequent item, minus its own duration. You can build a chain of multiple Backtimed items this way. This feature can e.g. be used to start a variable-length advertising break so that it ends exactly at the top of the hour where a (hard fixed time) news item is placed.
• Fixed: Reserved for future use, currently the same as Normal.
• Excluded: Same as Normal, but the item will not be accounted for during backtiming calculations.

2 - Cartwall

The cartwall is a grid of cart players that can be started instantly, independent of the playlist. It is typically used for jingles, sound effects, beds and other short elements that the DJ fires manually during a live show.

By default, the cartwall is displayed below the playlist(s) in the playout window. It can also be displayed in a separate window, and the grid size can be adjusted freely. See the cartwall configuration for details.

Pages

The content of the cartwall is organized in pages, which are displayed as tabs above the grid. Each page has its own set of items, and you can switch between the pages at any time. Items on a page that is not currently visible will keep playing.

• To create a new page, click the New Page button in the cartwall toolbar, or the + symbol next to the tabs.
• To rename a page, right-click into an empty area of the page and select Rename Page.
• Tabs can be rearranged by dragging them with the mouse.
• To close a page, click the Close Page button in the toolbar, or the close symbol of the tab. A page cannot be closed while any of its items are playing.

Saving and Loading Pages

Each page can be saved to a cartwall page file (*.mcp) through the Save button in the toolbar (Save Page…), and opened again through the Open button (Open Page…). If a page file is already open, mAirList will switch to its tab instead of opening it a second time. You can also open a page by dragging a cartwall page file from the Browser into the cartwall.

When you close a page with unsaved changes, mAirList will ask whether you want to save it (unless disabled in the configuration).

Presets

A preset (*.mcpx) contains the complete set of open pages. Use Save Preset… and Load Preset… from the Save and Open menus to save and restore all pages at once.

The default preset is loaded automatically when the playout application is started. To make the current set of pages the default, select Save Default Preset from the Save menu. Load Default Preset from the Open menu restores it at any time.

Favorites

Frequently used page files can be registered as favorites in the configuration. When at least one favorite is registered, a button with a heart icon appears in the cartwall toolbar, which opens a menu from which the favorite pages can be loaded with a single click.

Adding Items

Items can be added to a page in various ways:

• By dragging items from the Browser, the playlist, or from Windows Explorer (or any other application) to the desired position in the grid.
• By right-clicking into the grid and selecting Open audio files…. The files will be inserted at the position where you clicked.

If you drop an item onto a field that is already occupied, the existing item is replaced (unless it is currently playing). When multiple items are dropped at once, they are placed into the next free fields of the grid. If there is no free space left, the remaining items are not added.

If you drop items while no page is open, a new page is created automatically.

Playing Items

Click a cart player to start it. Click it again to stop it – or to fade it out, if the Fade out when stopped option is set for that item (see below). Clicking a cart player that is currently fading out stops it immediately.

While an item is playing, the cart player shows the remaining time, a progress bar and (optionally) a ramp countdown. During the last seconds of playback, the player starts flashing as an EOF warning. The waveform of the item that was started last is displayed in the cartwall toolbar.

Cart players can also be controlled through remote control commands, e.g. CARTWALL 1 START to start the first player. Each cart player is identified by its number in the grid, which is displayed in its top left corner. The numbering scheme can be changed in the configuration, or at runtime through the Numbering submenu in the context menu of the grid.

Modes: ON, OFF and PFL

The cartwall operates in one of the following modes at any time, which are toggled through the ON and PFL buttons in the cartwall toolbar, or through remote control commands (CARTWALL MODE ...):

• ON: The cart players play through their regular (on air) outputs. The ON button is highlighted in red.
• OFF: Cart players cannot be started. This protects against accidentally firing a cart. Items that were already playing when you switched to OFF keep playing until they end or are stopped.
• PFL: The cart players play through the PFL (pre-fader listening) output, so you can preview the items without putting them on air. The PFL button is highlighted in yellow.

When you switch to ON or PFL mode, all cart players that are currently playing are stopped. By default, you cannot leave ON or PFL mode while any cart players are active.

The mode at program startup can be set in the configuration. You can also configure the cartwall to switch to ON mode automatically when a player is started in OFF mode.

During voice track recording, the cartwall is switched to a special VT mode, in which the cart players play into the voice track recording. The mode buttons are disabled while VT mode is active.

Design Mode

To arrange the items on a page, enable design mode by clicking the Design Mode button in the cartwall toolbar, or by double-clicking into an empty area of the grid. The grid lines are displayed while design mode is active.

In design mode:

• Drag a cart player with the mouse to move it to a different position in the grid.
• Click a cart player to select it. Drag one of the handles around the selected player to resize it, so that it spans multiple fields of the grid.
• Click the Color button in the toolbar to change the color of the selected item.
• Click the close button in the top right corner of a cart player to remove the item from the page.

Click the Design Mode button again (or double-click into an empty area) to leave design mode.

Item Options and Context Menu

Right-click a cart player to open its context menu:

• PFL: Opens the PFL dialog for the item, so that it can be previewed independently of the current cartwall mode.
• Options: Toggles the following options for the item:
  • Enable loop: The item will be played in an endless loop.
  • Exit loop on click: When a looping item is clicked, playback continues until the end of the item instead of stopping immediately.
  • Fade out when stopped: The item is faded out instead of stopped when clicked or stopped by a remote control command. The fade duration can be set in the configuration.
  • Don’t use icon: Display the title even if an icon is set for the item.
• Cart Settings…: Opens the cart settings dialog (see below).
• Copy: Copies the item to the clipboard, so that it can be pasted into the playlist.
• Close: Removes the item from the page. This is not possible while the item is playing.
• Item Properties…: Opens the Item Properties dialog, where you can adjust the item’s metadata, cue markers and other settings. See the Item Properties section of the database documentation for details. To set an icon for an item, use the Icon setting in this dialog.

Cart Settings

The Cart Settings dialog contains the item options described above on the General tab, and the trigger configuration on the Triggers tab.

Triggers allow you to perform an action automatically when something happens to the item. Each trigger consists of:

• A condition: When item is started, When item is stopped, or When reaching START NEXT marker.
• A primary action: Start another item, Stop another item, Fade out another item, Stop all other items on this page, Fade out all other items on this page, or Do nothing. For the actions that refer to another item, select the item from the Other Item list.
• Optional additional actions, which can be any of the actions available throughout mAirList (e.g. executing a remote control command).

Using triggers, you can e.g. build a chain of items that are played one after the other, or make sure that only one bed is playing at a time.

NEXT Function and Page Sequence

For each page, you can define a sequence of items. Clicking the NEXT button in the cartwall toolbar will then stop the item from the sequence that is currently playing (or fade it out, depending on its options), and start the next one.

To set up the sequence, right-click into an empty area of the page and select Page Settings…. On the Sequence tab, drag the items from the Available items list into the Item sequence for NEXT function list, and arrange them in the desired order.

The NEXT button is only enabled in ON or PFL mode, and when there is a sequence item left to be played.

Runtime Options

Several display options can be changed directly in the cartwall, without opening the configuration app. Right-click into an empty area of the grid and open the Options submenu. The options are described on the configuration page.

3 - Browser

The browser is located on the right hand side of the playout window. It gives you access to your audio content – the database, folders on disk, playlist files – so that you can add items to the playlist or the cartwall. It can also host a few auxiliary tools such as clocks.

The browser can contain any number of individual browsers, which are displayed as a stack of panes (or as tabs, depending on the configuration). Click a pane’s header to bring it to the front.

The browser can be hidden, displayed in a separate window, or made to use the full height of the playout window. See the GUI configuration for these and other options.

Managing Browsers

The toolbar at the top of the browser contains the following buttons:

• Add: Opens a menu from which you can add a new browser (see Browser Types below). The menu also lists the Quick Folders set up in the configuration, and the commands for loading and saving presets.
• Refresh: Reloads the contents of the current browser, e.g. to pick up new files in a folder.
• Close: Closes the current browser.

To rename a browser, right-click its header and select Rename. Leave the name blank to return to the default name (e.g. the folder path for folder browsers).

Presets

The current set of browsers can be saved as a preset (*.mlb) through Save Preset… in the Add menu, and restored through Load Preset…. The preset also contains the column layout and sort order of each browser.

The default preset is loaded automatically when the playout application is started. To make the current set of browsers the default, select Save Default Preset. Note that changes are not saved automatically when you exit the software. Load Default Preset restores the default preset at any time. If no default preset has been saved yet, mAirList starts with a single Recycle Bin browser.

Adding Items to the Playlist

Items can be transferred from a browser to the playlist in the following ways:

• Drag them with the mouse to the desired position in the playlist or the cartwall.
• Double-click an item (or press Enter in the Database browser) to insert it into the playlist at the current insertion point. Hold down the Shift key to insert it at the top of the playlist instead, or the Control key to append it to the bottom.

Multiple items can be selected using the mouse while holding down the Shift or Control key.

Browsers can also be controlled through remote control commands, such as BROWSER NEXT, BROWSER CURSOR DOWN, BROWSER INSERT or BROWSER INSERT NEXT. This is useful e.g. for selecting and inserting items with hardware buttons on a mixing console.

The columns of list-based browsers can be resized and rearranged with the mouse. Click a column header to sort the list by that column.

Browser Types

Database

Displays the contents of the database as a tree. Below each database, you can browse the items by folder, artist, attribute and item type, among others.

Right-click a database to connect or disconnect it. Right-click an item to copy it, to listen to it in the PFL dialog, or to open its properties.

Database Search

Provides a search box for finding items in the database. Enter your search terms and press Enter (or click Go) to display the matching items. If more than one database is set up, you can select which database to search, or search all of them.

The way the search terms are matched depends on the Full Text Search setting of the database (see Database Setup). Click the magnifier glass icon in the search box and select Advanced Search… to search by specific criteria, as described in the Advanced Search section of the database documentation.

If enabled in the configuration, the most recently used search terms are remembered and offered in a dropdown list, optionally with autocompletion.

Database Playlist

Displays the playlist that is stored in the database for a particular hour, e.g. one generated by the music scheduler. Use the date and hour controls, or the arrow buttons, to navigate between the hours. Select Now from the hour list to jump to the current hour. If the database contains multiple playlists (e.g. for different stations), select the desired one from the dropdown list.

The menu button provides the following commands:

• Load into playlist: Replaces the contents of the playlist with the displayed items.
• Append to playlist: Adds the displayed items to the bottom of the playlist.
• Copy to clipboard: Copies all displayed items to the clipboard.

Folder

Displays the audio and playlist files in a folder on disk. When you add the browser, you are asked to select the folder. Optionally, the duration of each file can be displayed in an additional column (see the Show file durations option in the configuration).

Files can be dragged out of the browser and onto other applications, which will copy them.

Folder Tree

Same as Folder, but the subfolders are displayed as an expandable tree, so you can navigate the entire folder structure below the selected folder.

Playlist

Displays the contents of a playlist file. When you add the browser, you are asked to select the file. All playlist formats supported by mAirList can be used. Click Refresh to reload the file after it was changed by another application.

Recycle Bin

Lists the items that have been removed from the playlist, along with the time they were started. Depending on the playlist options, this includes items that were played or skipped, and items that were deleted manually. Use it to quickly bring back an item you accidentally deleted, or to repeat an item. Only one Recycle Bin browser can be opened at a time.

Comment Viewer

Drag an item into this browser to display the comment stored in the item’s properties.

Clock and LED Clock

Display the current time, either as plain digital text (Clock) or as a studio-style clock with LED dots (LED Clock).

4 - Mix Editor

The Mix Editor displays the waveforms of several consecutive items in a row, the way they will actually be played. You can use it to listen to the transitions between the items and adjust them with the mouse – for example, to move a song’s Start Next marker so that the next song starts exactly at the right moment, or to lower the volume of a song while a jingle is talking over it.

Unlike the Cue Editor, which works on a single item, the Mix Editor always shows the items in context, so you can see and hear the effect of each change immediately.

Opening the Mix Editor

Right-click an item in the playlist and open the Mix Editor submenu. It offers the following choices for which items to load:

• Selection: All items currently selected in the playlist.
• Previous and this item: The item you clicked and the one before it.
• This and next item: The item you clicked and the one after it.
• Previous and this and next item: The item you clicked, plus the items before and after it.

When one of the last three choices is used, the Mix Editor automatically zooms in on the first transition.

Alternatively, click the Mix Editor button in the main toolbar. It opens the Mix Editor for the focused playlist, using the default mode. To change the default mode, right-click the button and select the desired mode from the menu.

Items that cannot be played (e.g. comments or commands) are not loaded into the Mix Editor.

The Mix Editor can also be embedded into the playout window as a screen object. It then follows the selection in the playlist automatically.

Playback and Navigation

The toolbar at the top of the Mix Editor contains the following buttons, from left to right:

• Pause and Play: Start and pause playback. The Mix Editor plays through its own PFL output, which can be set up under PFL / Mix Editor in the audio routing. You can also press the space bar to toggle between playback and pause.
• Elapsed and Total: The current playback position and the total duration of the loaded items.
• Jump to previous mixpoint and Jump to next mixpoint: Move the playback position to three seconds before the previous or next transition between two items, and start playback. This is the quickest way to listen to each transition in turn.
• Zoom in, Zoom out and Zoom out full: Change the zoom level. Zoom out full displays all items at once.
• Undo and Redo: Undo or redo the most recent changes.
• OK and Cancel: Close the Mix Editor and keep, or discard, all changes.

To start playback at a particular position, double-click the waveform or click into the timeline above it. Double-clicking a cue marker starts playback at that marker.

The mouse wheel can also be used for navigation:

• Mouse wheel: Zoom in and out horizontally, centered on the mouse position.
• Ctrl + mouse wheel: Zoom the waveforms vertically, e.g. to see quiet passages better.
• Shift + mouse wheel: Scroll vertically when the waveforms do not fit into the window.

To scroll horizontally, drag an empty area of the editor with the mouse, or use the scrollbar.

Editing Transitions

Click a waveform to select the item. The selected item is highlighted.

Moving Items

Drag the waveform of an item to the left or right to change when it starts. This changes the Start Next marker of the previous item. The items following the dragged one move along with it.

Hold down the Shift key while dragging to change the previous item’s Fade Out marker instead, so that the previous item fades out at the new position.

If you drag an item beyond the end of the previous item, a gap of silence (padding) is inserted between the two items. You can also hold down the Ctrl key when you start dragging to adjust the padding directly. Inserting padding requires the corresponding user permission.

Cue Markers

The cue markers of each item are displayed as vertical lines on its waveform. Drag a line to move the marker. The mouse cursor changes to a double arrow when it is positioned over a marker. You can also drag the Cue In marker from the left edge of a waveform, and the Fade Out and Cue Out markers from its right edge, even when they are not set yet.

Below the waveforms, a row of buttons shows all cue marker types for the selected item:

• If a marker is set, the button shows its position. Click the button to start playback at the marker.
• If a marker is not set, drag the button onto the waveform to set the marker at that position.

See the Cue Editor section for a description of the individual marker types.

Volume Envelope

The volume envelope of each item is displayed as a line around the waveform. Use it to lower the volume of a part of an item, e.g. the end of a song while the next jingle starts.

• Drag the envelope line up or down to add a new point at that position.
• Drag an existing point to move it.
• Drag a point out of the waveform area to remove it.

To remove all envelope points of an item, right-click its waveform and select Reset Volume Envelope.

Context Menu

Right-click a waveform for the following commands:

• Snap to Ramp 1/2/3: Moves the Start Next marker of the item so that the Ramp marker of the next item is reached exactly when this item ends. This lets the next item’s intro run under the end of this item, with the vocals starting right after it.
• Ramp 1/2/3 overlay: The opposite approach: the item is started early enough that its Ramp marker is reached exactly when the previous item ends. Additionally, a volume envelope is created that lowers the item by 6 dB until the ramp, so that the intro plays softly under the end of the previous item.
• Reset Volume Envelope: Removes all envelope points of the item.
• Effects: Applies an audio effect (e.g. a filter or compressor) to the item. This is only available for items whose audio is held in memory, such as newly recorded voice tracks.

Saving Changes

Changes made in the Mix Editor are applied directly to the items in the playlist, so you can hear them right away when the items are played.

Click OK to close the Mix Editor and keep all changes. If any changes were made, the loaded items are marked as customized. When a playlist containing customized items is saved to the database, a full copy of each customized item is stored, rather than just a link to the library item. This way, your changes are preserved without modifying the item in the library. In database playlists, customized items are indicated by a special icon, and can be restored to their original library state with the Reset command.

Click Cancel (and confirm the prompt) to discard all changes made since the Mix Editor was opened, and restore the original state of the items.

Remote Control

The Mix Editor can be controlled through the following remote control commands:

5 - Event Scheduler

The Event Scheduler runs actions automatically at predefined times. Typical uses are:

• Loading the playlist for the next hour from the database shortly before the top of the hour.
• Inserting the news, a time announcement or a live stream at a fixed time.
• Switching the automation or the streaming encoder on or off at certain times of the day.
• Starting and stopping recordings.

Each event consists of a schedule (when it runs), a scope (under which conditions it runs), and a list of actions (what it does). The available actions are described in the Actions reference.

The Event List

To open the Event Scheduler, click the Events button in the main toolbar of the playout window. It can also be opened through the remote control command EVENTSCHEDULER SHOW.

The window lists all events with the following columns:

• Next Execution: When the event will run next. Disabled and expired events show no next execution.
• Last Execution: When the event was last run.
• Description: The description entered in the event editor.
• Actions: A summary of the event’s actions.

Each event has a checkbox in front of it. Uncheck it to disable the event temporarily, without deleting it.

The toolbar provides the following commands:

• Add: Creates a new event and opens it in the event editor.
• Edit: Opens the selected event in the event editor. You can also double-click an event.
• Delete: Deletes the selected events.
• Run: Runs the actions of the selected event immediately, after a confirmation prompt. The scope settings of the event are ignored in this case. This is useful for testing a new event.
• Import and Export: Load events from, or save the event list to, an event list file (*.mle), e.g. to transfer events to another computer.

The event list is saved automatically when you close the window.

Editing Events

The event editor contains the following groups of settings.

Date

Select on which days the event should run:

• each day: The event runs every day.
• only once, on: The event runs on the selected date only.
• each: The event runs on the checked weekdays only, e.g. Monday to Friday.
• user defined: Enter the days of the month, months and weekdays in the respective fields (see User-Defined Values below). The event runs on days that match all three fields.

Time

Select at which times of the day the event should run:

• each hour, at: The event runs every hour, at the specified minute and second. For example, enter 58 minutes and 30 seconds to run the event at 0:58:30, 1:58:30 etc.
• only once, at: The event runs once a day, at the specified time.
• user defined: Enter the hours, minutes and seconds in the respective fields (see below). The event runs at all combinations of the values.

User-Defined Values

In the user-defined fields, you can enter:

• A single number, e.g. 5.
• A comma-separated list of numbers, e.g. 0,15,30,45.
• A range of numbers, e.g. 6-18.
• A combination of both, e.g. 1-5,7.

The following values are valid:

For example, hours 6-18, minutes 0,30 and seconds 0 will run the event every half hour between 6:00 and 18:30. An event with an invalid or empty field will never run.

Expiration

Check Event expires at and enter a date and time to disable the event automatically after that point in time. This is useful for temporary events, e.g. for a special programme. Expired events remain in the list, but will not run anymore.

Scope

The scope determines under which conditions the event is actually executed when its time has come:

• Automation and Assist: Whether the event should run when the selected playlist is in AUTO mode, in ASSIST mode, or both. By default, events only run in AUTO mode. This way, an event that loads the next hour’s playlist does not interfere with a live show.
• Playlist: The playlist whose mode is checked. This playlist is also the default target for the event’s actions (see Affected Playlist in the Actions reference).
• ON AIR and OFF AIR: Whether the event should run while mAirList is in ON AIR mode, OFF AIR mode, or both.
• Disable Log: If checked, the execution of the event is not recorded in the System Log. This is useful for events that run very frequently.

An event is only executed if both conditions are met: the playlist mode (Automation/Assist) and the ON AIR/OFF AIR state.

Description

A text describing the event. It is displayed in the event list and in the System Log, and in screen objects that show the next event.

Actions

The list of actions to be run by the event. Click Add… to add an action. The actions are grouped by category in the menu. Select an action and click Configure (or double-click it) to change its settings, or Remove to delete it. Drag the actions with the mouse to change their order.

The actions are executed one after the other, in the order of the list. If an action fails, the remaining actions are skipped, unless the failed action has the Ignore errors option set. See Error Handling for details.

The action list can be saved to a file (*.mla) and loaded again through the Save and Load buttons, to reuse it in other events.

Examples

Loading the next hour from the database: Create an event that runs each hour, at minute 55. Add the action Database → Load database playlist, and enable the option Load the playlist for the next hour. Additionally, enable Set fixed time on first element, so that the first item of the new hour starts exactly at the top of the hour.

News at the top of the hour: Create an event that runs each hour, at minute 0, and add the action File → Play file with the news file. Use logging variables in the filename (and enable Enable substitution of variables on the Options tab) if the file name contains the current date or hour.

Daylight Saving Time

Events are scheduled according to the local time of the computer. Times that do not exist because of the switch to daylight saving time (e.g. 2:30 on the night of the switch) are skipped.

When switching back to standard time, the hour between 2:00 and 3:00 occurs twice, so events in this hour would run twice. To prevent this, enable the option Do not execute any events during switch to standard time in the miscellaneous options.

Next Event in the Playout Window

The Time of Next Event and Countdown to Next Event screen objects display the next upcoming event in the playout window.