General Instructions

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Instruction Manual For Your Automated Music System
Starting Your Automated Music System
1. Double click ‘Automated Music System’ icon on the computer screen desktop. If you have two or more zones (like upstairs and downstairs) where music is played, you will need to repeat this process. 2. If the ‘Media Library’ window is not in the right hand side of the screen push the ‘ML’ button (yellow highlighting).
Right Clicking Your Mouse Button
There are a number of key functions when you ‘right click’ on your mouse. (menu on next page) • • • • • • • • • Show Track Info…provides information about the highlighted track including length of track. Play Track Now plays the highlighted track Set Track to Play Next puts the highlighted track next on the play list Load My Playlist this is covered in ‘Making A Playlist Of Your Own’ & How To Generate A Playlist Option 3’ Select (Highlight) selects all the songs on the list where you have clicked. Find a Track in Playlist use to find a specific song in the current playlist Shuffle Playlist Options ‘Separate the Title & Artist by 20 Tacks or Simple Shuffle’ – will ensure that the Artist or Title does not repeat within 20 songs. Simple Shuffle will ignore this rule. Save My Playlist As…this is covered in ‘Making A Playlist Of Your Own’ Cut, Copy & Paste all perform the same functions as any Windows based PC.
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Instruction Manual For Your Automated Music System
Generating a Play List Option 1
1. To generate a play list click on the ‘Generate Play List’ button at the top of the screen. Once clicked the ‘Generate Play List’ window will pop up. 2. Click ‘Load my Playlist’ and the ‘Templates’ window will pop up. 3. Choose from the list which template you want to use and double click on it. 4. The ‘Generate Play List’ window will now pop up. Un-tick the ‘Autoplay After Generate’ tick box if you DON’T want the music to start immediately after step 5 below. 5. Simply click on the ‘Go! Generate My Playlist’’ button at the bottom right and the play list will be generated. Note: See also Advanced Playlist generation
Generating a Play List Option 2
As an alternative you can choose a category from the ‘Media Library’, on the right hand side of the screen. Use the following steps to make this happen. 1. Choose which category you want to use. Simply push one of the buttons i.e. ‘All the 80’s, ‘All the 90’s’ etc (green highlighting) or use the drop down arrow (red highlighting) to show additional lists.
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Instruction Manual For Your Automated Music System
2. The following steps will now put the tracks into the ‘Playlist’ (left hand side of the screen). Right click anywhere in the music list you have just chosen from the ‘Media Library’, on the right hand side, click ‘Select (Highlight)’ then click again on ‘All’. See picture below.
3. The music list should now be highlighted. Right click again in or around the same area and choose ‘Set Track To Play Next’. This will place your music list into the left hand side of the screen into the ‘Playlist’.
4. To make sure the songs are not played in the same order every time right click anywhere in the play list area, left hand side, and choose ‘Shuffle Playlist Options’ then ‘Separate the Title & Artist by 20 Tracks’.
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Instruction Manual For Your Automated Music System
5. To start music playing, left click on the play button (blue arrow) on the top left of the screen.
Generating a Play List Option 3
Before you can use this option you first need to create a list (see ‘Making Your Own Music List’ below). If you have already made one or more lists then read on. 1. On the ‘Playlist’ side of the screen right click anywhere in the play list and choose ‘Load my Playlist’ then choose ‘Replace Current List’ or one of the other three options.
2. The ‘Import List’ window will pop up. Simply double click on the list you would like and it will be inserted into the playlist. 3. To make sure the songs are not played in the same order every time right click anywhere in the play list area, left hand side, and choose ‘Shuffle’ then ‘Separate the Title & Artist by 20 Tracks’.
How to Make Your Own Music List
You can make your own playlist in a number of ways. You can save the songs played in ‘History’, create a list in the ‘Playlist’ area, the ‘Work Area’ described below or save a category list.
1. Press the repeatedly until the ‘Work Area’ or ‘History’ appears on the right hand side. 2. Drag and drop all the songs you want to add to your music list to the ‘Work Area’. You can do this by dragging the songs from the left hand side of the screen (Playlist), by searching for each song and then dragging it from the search window (see search for a song later in this section) or copy songs from a category. 3. Once you have finished adding your songs you must save your list. Right click anywhere in your list and a pop up window will appear. Choose ‘Select (Highlight)’ then ‘All’. IMPORTANT: If you don’t select all items you will save a list with just one song in it!
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Instruction Manual For Your Automated Music System
4. Right click again in the work area except this time choose ‘Save My Playlist As…’ then ‘Playlist File’ (.Oil).
5. The ‘Export As AMS Item List’ window will pop up. Choose a name for your list and type it in the ‘File Name’ field. Click ‘Save’
How to Search for a Song
Simply click on the magnifying glass at the top of the screen.
You can search by artist, title or album. By default you search by artist or title for individual tracks. If you want to search by an album simply click on the ‘album’ box. Type in part or all of the name of the song, artist or album. Simply ‘drag and drop’ the song or album into the top of the ‘Play List’ (left hand side) or to the deck not currently playing a song.
Other General Controls
The buttons shown below and located at the top left of the screen are similar to that of a CD player. From left to right play, pause, stop, fade current track and play previous track, fade current track and play next track. The button on the far right, shown in the picture below, allows you to turn auto DJ on and off. If this shows a green tick then the music system will automatically play the next track. If it is a red cross then when the current track ends, the music will stop.
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Instruction Manual For Your Automated Music System
Advanced Playlist Generation
To make the most of the categories in your Automated Music System and to ensure the right music is played at the right time with minimum fuss, keep reading. Your Automated Music System has the most advanced playlist generation tools in the industry. In this section we’ll show you how to generate a playlist using BPM’s (Beats Per Minute), choosing just video’s, a mix of video’s and audio only and incorporate the categories already on-board.
To find the ‘Generate Playlist dialog window’ click the
icon on the toolbar.
Generate Playlist dialog window
Generate Playlist dialog window explained
Action Section Replace Existing Playlist replaces the existing playlist with the generated playlist. Insert at Beginning of Existing Playlist inserts the generated playlist at the beginning of the existing playlist. Add to End of Existing Playlist adds the playlist to the end of the existing playlist. Options Section Clear History clears the History List after generating the playlist. Auto Play After Generate the list will begin playing immediately after the playlist is generated.
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Instruction Manual For Your Automated Music System
Advanced Mode: Enables the advanced user access to the Playlist Generation Template text input area. By default this text area is disabled. Playlist Generation Template text area This text area displays a playlist template. If advanced mode is enabled, the playlist template can be directly entered or edited. Load My Template Enables you to find and load a playlist template an .otm file. See also Generating A Play List Option 1 earlier in this manual. Save My Template Enables you to save a playlist template as an .otm file. Build a Template Opens the Playlist Template Builder dialog box – The first step to creating a playlist template Go! Create my Playlist Generates a playlist based on the template.
The Playlist Template Builder
The Playlist Template Builder tool provides an easy yet powerful approach to playlist generation. You can harness much of the power of the playlist template format without understanding the gritty details. To find the ‘Playlist Template Builder dialog window’ click the ‘Build a Template’ button. on the toolbar and click the
Playlist Template Builder dialog window
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Instruction Manual For Your Automated Music System
Playlist Template Builder explained
Categories Section INCLUDE items within any of these categories - Select... button: Provides a list of categories that you select to be included in the new playlist. Keeping clicking ‘Select’ until you have all the categories you want. EXCLUDE items within any of these categories - Select... button: Provides a list of categories that you select to be excluded in the new playlist. Songs can and are in multiple categories so you can choose to have a playlist that will include all ‘Classic Hits’ but exclude all the songs from say the 1960’s, 1970’s and or ‘Easy Listening’. Ratings Section This area is not used at present Similar Item Separation Section Separate items by the same ARTIST by at least ... items input box: This is where you set the artist separation rules. This value can be set from zero and upwards, and will ensure there is separation between items by the same artist. The default is 20 which is just over 1 hour. Separate items by the same TITLE by at least ... items input box: This is where you set the title separation rules. This value can be set from zero and upwards, and will ensure there is separation between each items with the same title. The default is 20 and this just over 1 hour.
Last Play Separation Section Exclude any items played during the last.. input box and drop down menu: This is where you exclude items based on the last play information. The default is 12 hours. Items Generation Priority Weightings Section Last Play input box: Items which have not played for 1 month or more receive the biggest "boost" to the chances of them being selected. The amount of boost is scaled over a 1 month period from current to one month ago. An item that was played right now (less than a second ago), will receive no boost from this criteria. Leaving this as default should be fine. Playlist Length Section Playlist should run for at least... input box and drop down menu: Enables you to select the duration of the playlist. Playlists generated with this template will run for at least this amount of time, and possibly a couple minutes longer as songs are not cut off mid-way through. The maximum in hours is 23. Cancel button: Closes the Playlist Template Builder dialog box. Create Template button: Once you have finished pushing this button builds the Template based on the setting/categories chosen.
BPM’s, Playing Just Video’s etc
Once you have created a template and you are back at the ‘Generate Playlist’ window click the advanced box. Click on the line in the white area in the middle of the box that begins with something like this ~iq avail & rating >= 1 & ……. Hit the End button on your keyboard. You are now ready to add some of the following rules to get really specific about was is and isn’t played.
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Instruction Manual For Your Automated Music System
BPM’s To make sure the right pace of music is played use BPM’s (Beats Per Minute). The higher the number the faster the song. By adding & BPM > 110 to the end of the query all songs will have to be at least 110 BPM. In the example below the playlist would be made up of songs from the ‘Light Rock’ category that have a BPM greater than 110. ~iq avail & rating >= 1 & ("Light Rock") & lastplay > 12 hours & itemsep artist > 20 & itemsep title > 20 & BPM > 110 Tip: You can also use less than < x BPM as well in the query
Music Video & Audio only tracks This section applies if you have a Music Video System. By choosing to have music videos and audio only tracks you can ensure that your on-screen advertising will be played. If you just want to play just videos then add the following to the end of the script & .v In full it might look like this: ~iq avail & rating >= 1 & ("Light Rock") & lastplay > 12 hours & itemsep artist > 20 & itemsep title > 20 & BPM > 110 & .v
To play just audio only add the following to the end of the script & ! .v In full it might look like this: ~iq avail & rating >= 1 & ("Light Rock") & lastplay > 12 hours & itemsep artist > 20 & itemsep title > 20 & BPM > 110 & ! .v
In addition to the above you can also have multiple lines. You might want to have a Classic Hits song with a specific BPM followed by a Classic Rock video song. It might look like this 1st line ~iq avail & rating >= 1 & ("Classic Hits") & lastplay > 12 hours & itemsep artist > 20 & itemsep title > 20 & BPM > 110 2nd line ~iq avail & rating >= 1 & ("Classic Rock") & lastplay > 12 hours & itemsep artist > 20 & itemsep title > & .v
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