I had been using Radioboss on a off for a little over a year now I gave up with it I keept having to restart it every 3 1/2 days audio would drop 70% to 80%. Switched to Zararadio 1.6.2 with Radiocaster I have been using this setup for 50 to 52 hrs now without any problems. 2 yrs ago when I was using Zararadio 1.4.4 and a large playlist it would crash free every 20 to 24hrs glad the newer version has not done this yet. With Radiocaster I am using this VST plugin http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=Stardust&id=535 I tweaked the settings and my 160kbps stream sounds better pretty good I would say 7.7 to 8 out of 10. I am also using this vinly dust sound plugin http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=Vinyl&id=1234 I have it set verry minimal about 70% to 80% of the time you can not even hear it, it does not even degrade the audio much if any. Now I do not have to do much with my station I could leave it alone for awhile only I would have to do is set New Democracy Now shows to run every day.
My ZaraRadio has crashed about 3 times in a year of non-stop use.
Mine has been running 3 1/4 days now without any problems. If I can not like 3 to 4 weeks without any problems I will be happy.
Djbandit you should publish your setup files for the audio processor so that we could use it on the am band and sound really good.
I just use that VST plugin in the first post it is a stereo compresser and a EQ
Here is a link to the plugin in action
The only issue I've ever had with Zara 1.6 (the last free edition) is that extremely large random playlists (over 10,000) can slow down significantly after a while. The issue was being masked by a relatively speedy computer - it showed up when I decided to use that computer for video conversion, and moved my automation over to a slower (but still relatively modern) device. When I first start off, selecting a song takes under a second. After about a week, that delay goes up to multiple seconds. It can be 'gotten around' by renaming the directory, adding it again to Zara (so it does what it does with new directories), and then restarting.
I now do the workaround every few days. The only other way to avoid the problem is to reduce the number of files in the directory; I'm not sure whether it's a linear slow-down or exponential once it reaches a certain point. I do know that slightly over 1000 songs does not have any noticeable delay.
I am looking for another free standalone shoutcast encoder I need on that will work with Windows XP and run 2 VST plugins at the same time which one do you recommend?? I am already tried MB Recaster Altacast Butt and Sound Empire Encoder they do not fit my needs is there anything else??
I've never seen a Shoutcast encoder that will run VST plugins.
But there might be a VST framework that will allow connecting VST plugins either before or after the Shoutcast encoder.
If I can find out I will let you know.
Radiocaster and Rocket Broadcaster Pro both can do VST plugins there are $50 IMHO not worth that. So I need to find another that can do DSP or VST plugins.
Winamp can do DSP plugins and there are some Shoutcast Encoder DSP plugins.
I know winamp can do that I need a standalone shotucast encoder that will work with Zararadio.
Good luck with that since Zara doesn't support plugins anymore.
About the easiest way, without dealing with virtual cables, is to run your encoder on a separate computer. OR loopback through a mixer and set the encoder to pull from line-in. AFAIK shoutcast has no standalone but the winamp plugin works great and is what I've used in the past in addition to the SAM DSP encoder plugin.
I've been running Zara nearly non-stop for 10 years now without ever having a software issue. I think I just recently upgraded it to 1.6.2, I do have a somewhat harder to find program that pulls the metadata from Zara but I don't think its needed with newer versions of the shoutcast DSP.
I think I will go with MB Recaster only problem I have with it is listener count is not updating it is always stuck at 0. I will use Radio Toolbox to fix the listener count problem then I am able to use DSP plugin wih Recaster. Which 2 or 3 of these DSP Plugins are the best??
Enhancer
http://winampheritage.com/plugin/enhancer-017/81361
RockSteady
http://winampheritage.com/plugin/rocksteady-2-1/1099
Wide & Dynamix
http://winampheritage.com/plugin/wide-and-dynamix/3973
TOMASS LIMITER
http://winampheritage.com/plugin/sound-solution/120741
Sound Solution
http://winampheritage.com/plugin/sound-solution/120741
SqrSoft Limiter
http://winampheritage.com/plugin/sqrsoft-limiter/102777
I've used Zara for years, v1.4 through v1.62. Except for the rare occasion where a streaming source in the playlist may glitch, Zara just keeps on keeping on.
I've use it under various Windows operating systems over the years; Win 10, Vista, XP, 2K, 98.
I have it running 24/7 on four different machines and except for the Windows forced updates which reboot the machine, the only "real" problem I can recall is when a "phantom" entry in the playlist occurred.
"Phantom" meaning the item didn't show in the playlist but on review of the program log I could see Zara attempted to play this "phantom" item and errored out.
The solution was to delete the playlist and rebuild it.
Otherwise, bullet proof...
I am having trouble with one little thing I am trying to set a even to play all the track in a folder then go back to the the main playlist when this event is done. How would I go about doing this with Zararadio 1.6.2??