Item download plugin

Two new wildcards were added to the Item download plugin:

• DayOfWeekNL - Day of week for the playlist in Dutch, e.g. maandag
• DayOfWeekNr - Number of the day of the week for the playlist starting on 1, e.g. 1(=Monday), 2(=Tuesday)

Also the FTP-downloader now correctly interprets wildcards in file names and directories.

Playlist

The Intro-time column in the playlist screen, now takes into account any cuts off the beginning of the track.

Improvements & Bug fixes

• Improved reliability of cue-point scanning during track-import
• Fixed excessive memory usage growth which sometimes occurred during recording of voice tracks and with the recorder
• Fixed issue where the Mix Editor was not able to receive focus (and did not react to keyboard short cuts as a result of that), when it was opened though the playlist's context-menu
• Fixed an error that occurred when exporting playlists to PDF files, when certain versions of Internet Explorer are installed

D&R Airence control plugin

Each channel of the D&R Airence mixer can now be assigned to any player or cart (in pre-select mode). It is now also possible to choose to use button- or fader-start.

Improvements & Bug fixes

• Improved stability and resource-use
• Fixed defect in the multi-studio function, that caused all audio-channels to switch to silent when one of the studios updated their settings
• Improved the storing of local settings

Playlist

When switching from live-assist to automation, the players are immediately reloaded. This used to be after the first track had finished. Especially for users with less than 4 players in use, this is a significant improvement.

Bug fixes

• The cursor in the Track Editor's player now moves with the current position again. (this broke in version 1.15.4)
• The Year and Tempo columns in the Track Browser are now shown correctly.

Recording

In "Advanced Audio Settings", a setting "Process recordings offline" is added which allows older computers to perform encoding and processing tasks (e.g. applying processing or encoding to FLAC, MP3) after the recording is finished as opposed to on-the-fly.

Fixed issue that occurred on some newer machines running Windows 10, were occasionally some pops occurred in the recorded material.

General improvements

A large number of stability improvements have been administered. This fixes a lot of edge-cases where Power Studio would sometimes display unexpected behavior.

Bug fixes

• The auto-update of playlists and settings, triggered by other Power Studio instances would sometimes stop working. This has been fixed.
• Various minor fixes and optimizations

Playlist scheduler

Under special conditions, some hard-to-plan lines, could be altered by the playlist scheduler when altering/dropping unbreakable rules. This has been corrected; altering/dropping unbreakable rules while creating playlists now does not result in permanent changes in the Clock Format.

Taking a track's Bpm into account while creating playlists has been optimized.

Labjack U3 plugin

Added support for U3-HV. Because of restrictions within the U3-HV device, the pins FIO0-FIO3 can not be used.

Some small bugfixes.

Bug fixes

• Minor fixes in the Track Editor's, mix-point editor.
• Improved stability of remote updating of playlists and settings.
• Improved performace of the multi-studio functionality.
• Various minor fixes and optimalizations

Track editor

In the Track Editor, cue points, such as Start Point, Fade in, Intro, Start next and Fade out can now also be set by dragging them to the desired position with the mouse.

Play start/stop keyboard shortcuts (CTRL-P / Spacebar) now pauses when pressed a second time, as opposed to stopping and resetting it's position

Download items plugin

The Download Item plugin, now also supports downloading items from a podcast/rss feed, such as podcasts or church services through Kerkdienst Gemist.

Bug fixes

• Fixed defect where zooming in caused the height of the waveform to change
• Multiple bugfixes in the LabJack plugin

Playlists

When a playlist is modified on a different computer, this change is immediately visible on other computers having that playlist open. This means that a producer can add an interview or track while the show is already on air.

In the playlist screens it has been made possible to add a column with the intro times of the tracks.

Tracks browser

In the track browser it is now possible to add columns containing album title, intro time, track tempo and year.

Track editor

The wave display in the track editor has been improved. Start, intro and next-start-positions are now more clearly marked. It is also possible to zoom in deeper and more precise. The mouse can now be used to zoom in and start playback.

Mix editor and recorder

The recording routines have now been implemented in unmanaged code, to provide even more recording-stability.

Plugins

The settings of the Item Download Plugin (content ingestion) and are now shared between all Power Studio instances.

The settings of the Shoutcast, Icecast, Omnia A/XE / Telos ProSTREAM and Xml titles plugins are now shared between al Power Studio instances.

All changes to the settings of the plugin are now immediately active. Only turning a plugin on or off, requires an application restart.

External schedulers

The block import in Power Studio now also handles external playlists that combine all hours of a day into one file.

A Power Gold Link-tool has been added to automatically link Power Studio tracks to the corresponding items in Power Gold.

Configuration

When a setting had been changed, this change is immediately active on all running Power Studio instances, even if they are on a different computer.

Bug fixes

• The grid-settings of the playlist screens is correctly used.
• Fixed the encoding of the settings-files on the local computer
• Fixed a calculation error in the track-count estimates in the Clock Format editor, which occurred when new items were added to a Clock Format.

Mix editor and Recorder

Fixed issue that sometimes caused Power Studio to use more memory and decrease the recording quality when a large number of recordings were made.

Mix editor

Spectacular improvement in zoom in/out-speed of the mix editor. Also the mix editor does not block the UI anymore during zoom. A threading issue was also fixed in the mix editor.

Training Mode

A bug was fixed in the Training Mode that sometimes caused tracks that were added to the Playout Playlist did not show up.

Mix editor improved

You can now zoom in with the mouse wheel. Zooming in is also more precise. Playout in the mixeditor can now also be start with the spacebar and by double clicking the mouse on the location it must be starting from.

Training Mode improved

When switching to Training Mode, a new playlist can immediately can be selected. (The mode opening with no playlist selected was confusing.) In Training Mode, the playlist duration is now correctly counted down is the right upper corner. In the Mix Editor the Previous Mix / Next Mix buttons are also operational during Training Mode. When the playlist is empty, some toolbar buttons/context menu items were still enabled, but did not do anything because there was no playlist. This has been fixed.

External schedulers

Using the menu-item "Export tracks…" in the Tracks region of the navigation bar, the tracks database can be exported to a comma separated text file, which can be used to import/sync the Power Studio database with an external scheduler or any other external system e.g. the request page of a website. Also the Power Studio block-import (which can be used to import) van now import macros e.g. news download.

More sound encoders included by default

The MP3 encoder is now included with the installation by default. AAC/AAC+ encoding is also included with the installation. Note that, because of licensing constraints, Winamp needs to be installed to use these AAC/AAC+ encoders.

AAC recording can also be added by downloading the free Nero AAC encoder and placing the file "neroAacEnc.exe" in Power Studio's Encoders folder. The Nero AAC encoder can be downloaded from http://www.free-codecs.com/nero_aac_codec_download.htm and other sites.

Support for MP2 recording, can be added by downloading the TwoLAME encoder and placing the file "twolame.exe" in Power Studio's Encoder folder. The TwoLAME encoder can be downloaded from http://www.twolame.org/.

Various small improvements

• Fixed defect that caused a non-floating playlist to not start on time after a 1-track-playlist.

• Fixed cart players & mixeditor control for Velleman & LabJack control plugins
• Fixed problem that in some conditions caused the on screen player controls to only control the first player
• Fixed connection problem in multi-studio communication between Power Studio instances
• When the connection with the remote central playout system is lost, the remotely playing indications in the playlist, are removed
• LiveWire channels now can be set to empty
• Fixed problem with the V-Mixer control through LiveWire in a multi-studio setup
• The maximum wait time when closing Power Studio has been decreased to 30 seconds
• Improved the reliability of the next-player indicator for the Velleman, LabJack, Midi and LiveWire control plugins
• Fixed defect in the Item Download plugin, that cause the Minimum Duration setting, to only be enforced when a music bed was added to the download.

Added training-mode

In training-mode, the changes made to the playlist are strictly local and are not written to the database. Also, in a multi-studio environment, the studio in training-mode does not go live. This is ideal for practice-sessions or recording complete shows, without trashing the station's playlist.

Added LabJack U3 remote control plugin

In this release we added support for the LabJack U3 interface module, in addition to the Velleman modules. The LabJack module has more IO, is faster, more robust and comes in a neat red case.

Control multi studio switching from Central Playout

It is now possible to control all on/off air switching from the Central Playout node. (Until now, each studio controlled its own switch, which is still possible.) This functionality can now be leveraged by the LiveWire plugin, which can control an Axia Core's V-Mixer to do the actual switching. This function will be added to the other GPIO plugins in later versions.

Added support for .OPUS files

Support for the playout of this excellent open compression format is added to Power Studio. We can now play files, encoded in this format and play icecast stream in OPUS format.

Remote license update

Power Studio can now be updated, automatically, through the internet. Very convenient and ideal for last minute updates…

Added Aeron to Library Import

The Library Import tool, now also supports conversions from the latest PC Radio family member: Aeron. Upgrading to Power Studio never was this easy!

Added Advanced Audio Settings

Power Studio's audio-pipeline is configured in such a way that every machine should be able to run without issues. However, sometimes it is nice to be able to tweak a buffer size, sample rate or player count. With the Advanced Audio Settings dialog, we make these previously hidden settings available to power-users. Use with care…

Various small improvements

• Mix Editor button now also loads the mix form the active playlist form to the Mix Editor.
• Fixed issue with how Power Studio handles regenerated playlists for today.
• Playout players now display the '&'-sign correctly.
• The playlist header of empty playlists is now displayed correctly.
• Fixed Add Track-buttons for empty playlists.
• Updated audio engine to the latest version.
• Fixed problem with the Power Traffic background sync.
• Various small fixes.

Added user settings management functions

Added functionality to allow an admin to reset a user’s settings (which contain screen positions, etc..) It is also possible to copy the settings from another user or copy one’s own settings to another user. It is now also possible to set the settings for the Default User, which determines the screen positions when no-one is logged in and supplies the default screen positions when a user opens the settings for the first time.

Tracks Browser extended

The Tracks Browser now displays the number of tracks that are currently selected in the Tracks Browser.

Improved the PC Radio Library import

An extra text-line now indicates more precisely what the import tool is doing at the moment. We also made the tool more resilient against inconsistent data-storage in de PCR database, and improved the searching for audio files by the import tool

Fixes and improvements

• Fixed issue with Playlist Insight module, where the Clock Format for the analysis lines is not set for fillout lines.
• Power Studio no longer allows a playing item to be linked to another item, when this would change the player it is playing on.
• When multiple items are playing and AutomationMode is set to AutomationChannel, keep all playling items in the automation player. (This does however cause that one of the players remains empty until the 'Double playing' player is stopped.)
• Fixed the "invalid input"-error that sometimes pops-up in the live-screen configuration screen.
• Fixed 'invalid handle'-error in the playlist generation screen.
• Improved logging of device+channel assignment on SoundPlayers. Assignment of No sound device is no longer logged as "no stream could be found".
• Preventing extra EnginePlay actions when a player is being played by the automated playout- fallback meganism.

Added multi-line display to players

The size of the playout-playlist players already could be changed by dragging the right-bottom corner of the players screen. This functionality has been extended to display title and artist on separate lines, if the available size is large enough.

Added “Criteria-seperation” functionality to playlist scheduler

This new functionality allows you generate even more balanced playlists, by setting rules to the number of consecutive times a criterion may appear in a playlist and how many positions this criteria will be blocked afterwards. E.g. after two dance tracks, three other type of tracks or two other type of tracks after a rock track. Note: These rules can only be set for the Track content type.

Added “Max per playlist” functionality to playlist scheduler

This new functionality allows you to limit the number of times a criterion may appear in a playlist. E.g. have only two Dutch records in a playlist. Note: These rules can only be set for the Track content type.

Added “Playlist insight” module

The Playlist insight module, gives the music director a perfect understanding, why a certain record was picked by Power Studio. The clock scheduler form already gives a rough estimate of how many choices are available for a specific clock-line, but the Playlist insight module shows you exactly how many choices were available at the time of playlist creation. You can even dive in deeper and view the playlists’ Search Plan which shows exactly what filter-parameters were used and what search-strategy was actually used to pick the track. From this module it is also possible to navigate directly to the related Clock Format line or Track editor to fine tune either of them, if needed.

Added remote control functionality to Recorder screen

The recorder’s record and play functions can now be controlled by the Midi- and Velleman- plugins. This allows you to, e.g.  automatically start recording every time the microphone is turned on, so you never miss that amazing quote. Which you can immediately share with Power Studio’s social media integration!

Power Traffic communication is now more secure

TLS encryption has now been added to Power Traffic and the communication between Power Studio and Power Traffic. (Note that Windows XP does not know how to handle the SNI-certificates that is used for this. Because of this, Power Studio still uses the normal communication mode on Windows XP.)

• The Library Import tool, now also supports importing PC Radio Express (6) through the NexusDB ODBC driver.
• The playlist export save dialog, did not suggest the .pdf file extension correctly on some computers.
• Fixes race-condition that could cause some files (e.g. commercials) to be started simultaneously on older computers.
• Fixed possible race condition in the end-of-file logic.

Added printing (and export to PDF) functionality for playlists

Playlists can be sent to the printer and can be exported to PDF files. The playlist can be customized by replacing the logo.png file in the Power Studio\Templates folder.

Added updating track / artist repeat value from the Track Browser popup menu

This allows for easy updating of multiple tracks at the same time. E.g. when moving tracks to another category.

Added filtering on language to the Track Browser

Added track rotation to the Format Scheduler/Clock Format

Normally tracks are selected using a random component. By selecting the "Rotate tracks" checkbox in a Clock Format line, the track that has been scheduled the longest time ago is selected from the tracks that matches the format's criteria, track/artist separation and rating rules.

Select/deselect complete rows and columns in the Track's dayparts

This makes configuring day parts easier.

Added Recorder functionality

Manually record (e.g. from broadcast). This recording could be stored and uploaded to e.g. SoundCloud. Recordings are stored in the Recorder file path (this can be configured in the Recording tab in Options and Settings. Users can also manually export the recorded file, e.g. to a network or thumb drive.

This release fixes the following issues:

• Fixed issue where the wait-cursor would sometimes remain active.
• Improved storing/restoring the tree-separator in the Tracks Browse screen.
• Added a wait time on playlist rollover. (This should also fix the continuous-rollover memory leak.)
• Fixes race-condition that could cause some files (e.g. commercials) to be started simultaneously on older computers.

• Bij items die door de "Item Download Plugin" automatisch in de playlist worden ingevoegd, kon het in versie 1.10.1 voorkomen, dat Power Studio deze bestanden niet kon vinden. Dit is in deze release opgelost.
• Wanneer een playlist van de huidige dag verwijderd wordt (bv. om een rechtgezette fout op te lossen), terwijl er nog een nummer uit deze playlist in automation mode speelt, terwijl een nieuwe playlist gepland en geladen wordt, dan startte een track van de nieuwe playlist door de nog spelende oude track heen. Dit is in deze release opgelost.

• Power Studio heeft nu een “Multi-Studio” functie. (Central/Automated playout vindt plaats vanuit een machine in de CAR. Een of meerdere live-studios kunnen de uitzending overnemen. Power Studio coördineert dit en stuurt ook het schakelen tussen de studio aan. (bv. via VM140 kaarten)
• Power Studio kan nu (bv. via VM140 kaarten) een externe recorder aansturen, zodat het programma uitzendklaar, zonder commercialblokken aan het begin/eind van het uur e.d. wordt op genomen. Via een macro kunnen deze opnames automatisch in een toekomstige playlist worden opgenomen
• De letter grootte van de Playlist en Tracks Browser is nu per gebruiker instelbaar
• Control plugin voor D&R Airlite toegevoegd
• Vanuit de Mixeditor kan meteen naar de volgende/vorige overgang van de playlist gesprongen worden, zonder dat die eerst in de playlist geselecteerd moet worden
• BulletinBuilder heeft nu een “rotate info items” functie, en kan from/to beschikbaarheidsinfo inlezen uit verschillende applicaties
• Het is nu niet meer mogelijk om per ongeluk meerdere Power Studio instanties naast elkaar te draaien
• Items die door de ItemDownloadPlugin zijn gedownload of gekopieerd, worden nu alleen opnieuw gerenderd, wanneer dit nodig is (bv. als een muziek bed is toegevoegd, of wanneer het begin of einde is bijgetrimt, of de volume curve is aangepast.)
• De volgorde van de nog-niet-spelende tracks in de Playout Players, kan nu aangepast worden tracks van plaats te wisselen door drag-en-drop
• Bij het handmatig genereren van playlists, wordt nu de datum van vandaag voorgesteld, als er geen playlist voor is
• Drag-en-drop vanuit Windows Explorer is verbeterd
• Verbeteringen aan de applicatie-afsluit-beschermings-functie
• De DayFormat-lengte-validatie geeft nu alleen een foutmelding (geen automatische correctie meer!) (Dit geeft o.a. problemen tijdens het invoeren van de wintertijd – de dag heeft dan25 uur…)
• In het playlist generatie-scherm, groeit de breedte van de messages lijst mee met de breedte van het scherm
• Power Studio gaat nu beter om met incorrecte file extenties / verkeerde container formaten van de media files
• Het batch-import scherm, kan nu ook omgaan met een situatie waarbij er geen talen gedefinieerd zijn in Power Studio
• Defect opgelost in het verslepen van tracks binnen het playout playlist scherm

• Verbeteringen in de PC Radio 6 library import.
• Bediening van de Cart Players en Mixeditor toegevoegd aan de MidiControl plugin.
• Bediening van de Cart Players en Mixeditor toegevoegd aan de Velleman VM110 and VM140 IO board plugins.
• "Automation" en "Live assist" feedback toegevoegd aan de Velleman VM110 and VM140 IO board plugins.
• Reactiesnelheid van de Velleman VM110 and VM140 IO board plugins verhoogd.
• Day format editor en Playlist generator herkennin nu Clocks die na middernacht (de volgende dag dus) starten handelen dit nu specifiek af. (In de editor wordt een waarschuwing getoond, de playlist generator slaat deze clocks over.)
• De Card Player staat nu niet meer altijd open bij het opstarten van de applicatie.
• Een betere foutmelding toegevoegd, als inslepen van files vanaf USB niet werkt, door een ontbrekende configuratie.
• Weeknummer in ISO8601 formaat toegevoegd als Wildcart in de Item download plugin.
• Mogelijkheid tot authenticatie toegevoegd bij Http downloads in de DownloadItemPlugin. (b.v. voor NOS niews download)
• Wanneer de ItemDownloadPlugin een file download, maar er zijn geen "transformaties" geconfigureerd, dan wordt nu de gedownloade file zelf gebruikt om af te spelen, ipv de download toch opnieuw te renderen.
• Aan de Power Traffic koppeling is de mogelijkheid toegevoegd, om commercialblokken voor de hele dag te downloaden, wanneer (een playlist uit) die dag ingeladen wordt, voor playout.
• Verbeteringen rondom het afsluiten van de applicatie. Zo is het wel of niet kunnen afsluiten van het programma een instelling per user geworden.

• Kleine verbeteringen in LiveWire plugin nav user feedback
• Kleine verbeteringen in het afspelen de Live input
• Verbetering in de Copy-functie van Clock- en Day formats
• Performace verbetering van de playlist rendering in de GUI
• Verbeterde timing van Linked items en niet-floating playlist-overgangen
• Fixed tooltips in "Item download plugin" GUI
• De standaard "grace period" voor playlists die voor het uur zijn ingepland (mbt bepalen van het uur tbv Power Traffic, Item download plugin en format-grafieken, naar 60 seconden. Dit kan worden aangepast middels de "graceSeconds" appSettings instelling in PowerStudio.config.

• Opnemen van live bronnen in playlists en clock formats
• Opnemen van internet stream in playlists en clock formats
• Ondersteuning voor remote control via (Axia) LiveWire
• Library Import van PC Radio databases
• Clock Formats kunnen nu langer dan 99 minuten zijn

• Clock format editor geeft nu een indicatie van het aantal beschikbare tracks per formatregel
• Het is nu ook mogelijk om in de playout playlist een aantal regels te linken, over de start van een nieuwe clock heen
• Probleem opgelost dat er soms voor zorgde dat tracks die ingesleept werden vanaf b.v. een USB stick, elkaar overschreven.

• Verbetering in hoe het trimmen van het begin van doorgelinkte tracks afgehandeld wordt.
• Authorisatie van items uit het context menu van de playlist uitgebreid
• Nieuwe versie van de data-acces componenten
• Optimalisatie van de code die de playlist op het scherm toont
• De check op reeds bestaande tracks bij de batch-import is verbeterd

• In the Playout Playlist, an extra line now indicates the start of a new clock. (Can be turned on/of by a setting)
• Players A-D can now be started from the keybord (F1 - F4) (Can be turned on/off by a setting)
• Added a screen to provide insight on at what day/hour a track is planned. (day/hour matrix)
• Added an analysis graph to provide insight in how many tracks are present with certain criteria.
• The Item Download Plugin can now check if the downloaded item is longer than a configurable duration and otherwise skip the item.
• Added a setting to configure the number of seconds a macro is executed, before it's planned/calculated Playout time.
• When importing tracks, when no Track/Title tags are found in the track, Title and Artist are now extrapolated from the filename.
• Power Studio now removes Orphaned Artists when Tracks are updated or deleted.
• Optimiszed the speed of track-deletes from the database.
• Improved tracks dragging within the Playout Playlist.

• Verschillende kleine bug fixes.
• Vanuit de Tracks Browser kunnen nu meerdere tracks tegelijk in de playlist gesleept worden. 
• De velden created by, Created on, Modified by and Modified on toegevoegd aan Tracks.
• In the mixeditor, is het nu mogelijk om het begin en einde van tracks te trimmen en un-trimmen. Hiermee kan bv. de intro van een plaat ingekort worden.
• Wanneer de titel van een Track wordt geupdate, worden nu ook de (toekomstige) playlists met deze naam ge-update.- Use the logged-in user's name as Artist for voicetracks in the playlist.
• Verbeteringen aan de Power Traffic integratie, waardoor deze beter om kan gaan met grote/veel commercial blokken.
• De afhandeling van errors die veroorzaakt worden door VST's in het settingsscherm, is verbeterd.
• Wanneer opgeslagen lokatie van het settings scherm door de een-of-andere reden buiten beeld valt, wordt dit scherm nu binnen-beeld gehaald, zodat het de applicatie niet onbedienbaar maakt, omdat het niet meer weggeklikt kan worden.

• Zoeken in de Tracks Browser is uitgebreid

• Filtering in de Tracks Browser dmv de tree is meer intuïtief gemaakt (Het gedrag van de "hoofdgroep-checkboxes" is nu logischer)

• het is mogelijk de stationsnaam (of een andere tekst) in de titelbalk op te nemen

• Database communicatie bij het genereren van playlists is nu nog efficienter

• Nieuwe implementatie van de Shoutcast title plugin
• Een nieuwe versie van de database driver met verschillende bugfixes
• Schermindeling per gebruiker
• Gebruiker kan zelf de playout players groter slepen
• Verbetering van de audio playout engine
• Verschillende kleine verbeteringen

Increased maximum file size to 2 GB.

• Created proper installer.
• Added remote error logging.
• Added icon-db files to the blacklist.

Made the DeleteDetector a little bit more resilliant to duplicate keys in the DB.

Initial release.

Increased maximum file size to 2 GB.

• Created proper installer.
• Added configuration tool.
• Added remote error logging.
• Added icon-db files to the blacklist.

Made the DeleteDetector a little bit more resilliant to duplicate keys in the DB.

Made a change to prevent different clients to have to wait for each other.

Initial release.