Conductor and Zara Radio

[travailen]

I am planning to run something like Zara radio next year and have it run the conductor by way of the contacts. Is anybody else thinking in this direction?

Rick S

[rm357]

Can you explain what you are trying to do?
I'm not familiar with Zara radio.

[rrowan]

The conductor doesn't take input from the computer. Especially audio

I don't see how that will work

Rick R.

[rm357]

If Zara can send out signals to the trigger inputs on the conductor, you could use that to control a show, but I'm curious as to why... If the conductor is just doing the lights and Zara the music, it's likely you will have sync problems... Also, the conductor has its own scheduler, so there is no need for an external scheduler unless you are doing 24 hour stuff with Zara and just want the lights coming on at night - hence the use of the triggers...

[caretaker]

I know Zara can "listen" for DTMF tones and switch from one input to another, thats how many people would use Zara they would play Christmas music all day long then just before there show a MP3 file would play and switch the input from one (local) to another (satellite) which was there show and at the end of ther show play another MP3 with DTMF tones to switch back. It also has an events file which is much easier to use which it time/day based which allows for many options (stopping play list for show then second event would restart play list when show is over.
So there is actually no need to use the triggers to use Zara with the conductor although you could set up a script to do so if you had a specific reason to, it is not really necessary.

[chrisatpsu]

have it run the conductor by way of the contacts.

I think this part is what threw some people off into thinking the triggers...  I even thought it myself

Personally, i think it would work.   I'm not a fan of hearing DTMF tones. ( i really hated it when one of the local stations would do it in between segments of a hockey game, when it went to the commercials) but how many people are really sitting there when the shows over?

[caretaker]

have it run the conductor by way of the contacts.

I think this part is what threw some people off into thinking the triggers...  I even thought it myself

Personally, i think it would work.   I'm not a fan of hearing DTMF tones. ( i really hated it when one of the local stations would do it in between segments of a hockey game, when it went to the commercials) but how many people are really sitting there when the shows over?

Actually Chris you don't even have to use the DTMF tones now, just create an event file in ZARA and it will do what you want to a set time/day format.

[combustionmark]

I think dtmf is the simplest way to go. Have the conductor send the dtmf tones to the zara computer.

Have zara set up with the conductors input muted, when the tones are received turn on the conductors input.

Just have zara listen for the tones on the conductors input.

[rrowan]

I think dtmf is the simplest way to go. Have the conductor send the dtmf tones to the zara computer.

Have zara set up with the conductors input muted, when the tones are received turn on the conductors input.

Just have zara listen for the tones on the conductors input.

What is the conductors input?

Rick R.

[chrisatpsu]

I think dtmf is the simplest way to go. Have the conductor send the dtmf tones to the zara computer.

Have zara set up with the conductors input muted, when the tones are received turn on the conductors input.

Just have zara listen for the tones on the conductors input.

i think he meant the audio output...   listen for the dtmf tones.

[combustionmark]

Yea. Conductors audio output, to zara audio input. I have used the dtmf tones to start the show, and stop zara. You don't hear the tones when the show starts, but you will hear them when the show ends.

 I just have a couple of songs play with no lights, giving every one enough time to leave, then send dtmf tones to start zara radio.

[caretaker]

From the ZARA manual:
Events
An event is a file that activates on schedule. Events are a useful way to play files or to execute
commands independent of the playlist. They can be used to program announcements, actions,
etc.
This figure shows the list of upcoming events in the main window of ZaraRadio. The events
display 15 minutes prior to activating.
Now, to add a new event, just press the New... button. Then, we will see the following dialog:
ZaraSoft 7
Radio automation software ZaraRadio
The user defined parameters of an event are:
• Start date and time
Select the date and time at which the event will play for the first time. The event will
remain active until the date and time of expiration. If the expiration check box is not
checked (default), then the event won't expire.
• Periodicity
Setting date and time defaults to playing once per day. Selecting Play every hour will do
just that. Also, it is possible to program the event to play at selected hours. Selecting
Other hours... opens the following window:
ZaraSoft 8
Radio automation software ZaraRadio
Here you can mark the hours desired. For any of the times (hours) selected, the minutes
default to whatever was selected for the start time.
• Event type
This can be a sound file, but also we can activate play or stop automatically, insert a
random track, a connection via satellite... the satellite command clears mute of the
selected sound card input for the amount of time shown in the field that is to the right.
• Wait mode
An event can be immediate or delayed. At the scheduled time of an event two things can
happen: if Delayed is selected, the event will not start until the currently playing file
finishes (if ZaraRadio is in stop, the event will not start until manually selecting Play); if
Immediate is selected, the currently playing file will be interrupted and the event will
start (if ZaraRadio is in stop, the event will cause ZaraRadio to play the event).
• Priority
Suppose the event is for a 30 minute program along with events every 5 minutes. With
this programming, after the 30 minute program there would be a backlog of 6 events. In
order to avoid this, ZaraRadio has a mechanism of priorities that discards events in these
cases. An event can have high or low priority. When an event is playing and it's time for
another event, two things can happen:
• If the new event has a lower priority, the new event would be discarded and it
would not play.
• If the new event has higher priority or the same as the playing event, the new
event would be left in the list of next events until the conclusion of the present
event.
The problem described above would be solved assigning high priority to the 30 minutes
long event and low to the other events. Doing this, that events would be discarded while
the long event is being played.
• Maximum wait
Maximum wait specifies how long an event can be delayed before being removed from
the list of events. For example, if a delayed event programmed to start at 13:15 has a
maximum wait of 5 minutes and cannot start by 13:20, it disappears from the window of
next events and it does not play this time.
ZaraSoft 9
Radio automation software ZaraRadio
Modify
Click to modify one or more parameters of an event. It is necessary to have previously selected
an event in the list. The same action can be carried out by double-clicking on an event.
Delete
Click to delete one or several events. In order to select several events, hold the Ctrl key while
events are selected at random with the mouse. In order to select a block of events, click on an
event and while holding the Shift key, select the last event in the desired list.
Delete expirated
Events that have expired appear grayed out to indicate this fact. Clicking on Delete expirated
will clear all expired events from the list.
Open/Save
These two buttons are to open existing event files or to save the displayed event list
respectively. In any case, when closing ZaraRadio the current list of events is stored
automatically by Windows in the registry and is restored when ZaraRadio is restarted.

So DTMF tones are no longer necessary to use in ZARA to have it stop for your show/restart after your show is over.