Hi all, I'm evaluating Salamandra 6 as a replacement for Zara Free. Has anyone got the program to load and run an eventfile on startup? The very limited documentation I've seen seems to indicate it might, it is supposed to be able to run a playlist but I can't figure it out.
Otherwise it seems an almost drop in replacement, if you exclude the eventfile structures, playlists and rotations work without modification.
Be interested in your thoughts
Christopher
YES get it! I am using Salamandra and I replaced Zara with it. Free like Zara with optional donations. The same layout as Zara and the same event compiling. Easy to save the events and playlist so if you exit and restart it comes up just as you had it. Much better track seamless transition from one to the other. Analyzes tracks perfect for ideal Q-in times. One song/jingle starts perfectly as the other ends. You can adjust in the settings and the silence between songs is eliminated and can be set perfect with fade, overlap, and time in 1/2 seconds increments. Sounds Just like commercial stations. Zara was not working right anymore with Windows 10 and 11 later versions.
Runs a playlist as Zara did with the same selections on how you want the playlist to work...random, play in order, play in order and repeat, shuffle at anytime etc.
Plus has sound settings....10 band EQ and on board compression limiting and AGC but I have the external processor so don't use that, just the EQ to fine tune things a bit.
https://github.com/ocarolino/SalamandraRadio/blob/main/Docs/Getting%20Started.md
Here's the manual. You can translate to english if it isn't. Icon is at top right to translate by URL. All functions are explained.
https://salamandraautomacao.com.br/manual/
@richpowers That question Johny C who is a member here would know that. I just suggested to switch as it is an improvement over Zara. I had to look up event file and the explanation is too complicated for me to understand just what it is for. Salamandra does have a choice to keep a log in it's history of what played whether events or from playlist but I don't know if that's what he wants to know.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=what+is+an+event+file
I don't think you can just drop in event files - they're far more complicated in Salamandra. I just redid mine - with copy and paste functions it's not too bad unless you have different shows each hour 24/7 and every day. Even then, you only have to do it once.
I asked the same question when I switched over to Salamandra and unless something has changed since then, I believe that Johny replied that he just redid his as well.
Thanks for the info. We are a hospital radio (sunshineradioiow.com).
I have set up Salamandra with the same 24/7 structures we have in Zara and rewrote the eventfiles (thank goodness they are plain text - saves a lot of time) and am running through a week's schedule picking up the coding bugs as I go - fortunately not very many!
In our station the studios are downstream of Zara, presenters merely opting in for live slots, so the automation has backup programmes to cover when one doesn't turn up (all being volunteers you have to be flexible!).
We basically have daily eventfiles which call playlists, calling rotations files and failure detection, and we have 60 secs at the end of each slot time (usually an hour) for station announcements, sponsorship, hospital announcements etc which are managed by the eventfile. The last event of the day calls the next day's eventfile.
Zara has no means to load a "startup" playlist or eventfile, so whenever a shutdown happens, planned or otherwise, it has to be manually synced to day and time which is a PITA.
We do run an identically configured parallel pc 24/7 which can be manually switched in remotely over a vpn, so we can resume airtime quickly whilst we sort any failures out without hassle.
I did manage to get Sala to load a startup playlist with a call to an eventfile, but the playlist didn't run unless I clicked the play button - not what i wanted! On startup an .lst playlist is loaded, which has an Add Schedule File command to call an eventfile start.slsche, but doesn't
The idea was to auto load a startup eventfile which would select the appropriate day and time, loading the correct eventfile and playlist so output would resume at the next slot junction, as I don't care being woken up at night because the automation has fallen over.
It may be just me, but after 17 years programming Zara I thought I should be able to sort most things out I reckon.
Guess not, so any ideas are welcome!
Christopher
Thanks for the info. We are a hospital radio (sunshineradioiow.com)...
Thinking you misspelled it I tried sunshineradionow.com (presumably the St Marys Hospital station) but that doesnt work either. Anyway Part 15 hospital radio has been around for a long time but not as common today. Would like to hear more about it.. Does it consist of both carrier current and free-radiate?
Zara has no means to load a "startup" playlist or eventfile,
I'm not sure that's true...
Hi Rich
No, the url is not misspelled, the iow at the end stands for Isle Of Wight UK where we are located (and not the VA county). We currently only broadcast on the internet and hard wires to the hospital site but are hoping to join a local island DAB consortium in development (if we can raise the funds!).
Re the Zara startup comment, Zara can load the last list on startup but does not play it automatically and it also loads a random eventfile from who knows where. I can't find any valid references in the registry and it doesn't have an ini file.
Salamandra will happily load the .m3u file on startup but doesn't process the Add Schedule File command in the playlist unless I manually click the play button. Not what I was wanting. It also behaves the same if I use a .lst file.
So if anyone has got this feature to work I would be very happy to know how!
Christopher
OK I cracked it:
Salamandra will load and run a default playlist on startup ok. My playlist (m3u or lst) had the Add Schedule file as the first line then a line to load an empty playlist, just to clear the window down.
The Add Schedule line loads a startup eventfile that has an event entry for every minute for every hour for each day (Not as complicated as it sounds, just a lot of similar lines using All Hours).
Each of these lines then loads the appropriate day's eventfile and as the playlist is cleared Salamandra will wait patiently for the next timed event.
Sounded straightforward enough but it fell over because when the playlist file was loaded at startup, Salamandra would not read the schedule file command so everything just hung.
As a last resort I created the playlist file to call an .sche file, not the .slsche file that Salamandra defaults to, and it worked fine.
So now my station will automatically reset on resumption after a power fail, which is a major advantage over Zara.
From now on I shall be using .sche rather than .slsche commands in playlist files (I prefer .lst because they don't add all the #EXT bits) and I will email the author when I get a moment.
I also found that opening up the .slsche file in Notepad++ it is possible to change data globally in the file, which is great if you have to create 7 day files that are similar. If anyone is interested just reply and I'll post the info.
Christopher
YES get it! I am using Salamandra and I replaced Zara with it. Free like Zara with optional donations...
Here's the manual. You can translate to english if it isn't. Icon is at top right to translate by URL. All functions are explained.
https://salamandraautomacao.com.br/manual/
Thanks for the manual URL! Weird, but I couldn't find it when looking for it.
The developer didn't post a donation amount choice of more than $10 USD. I think he under rates himself a bit.
I've yet to figure out how to get everything to reload the way I set it up prior to exiting the software. I can see the saved files I created for the cart, play lists, and events, but limited success so far recalling much on start up.
It appears I need to stop the play list, play a time event, and have the play list re-start in order for it to keep the play list from chopping off the last seconds of a timed event. Top and bottom of the hour station ID gets cut off if the ID is longer than 4-5 seconds and then the next tune plays. My half past the hour ID is long, like 30 seconds and right now it's getting clipped.
Presumably I could substitute a humidity announcement with some other audio file?
@chrisnotatwork Hey, Christopher. I'm going to review your note tonight when I tinker with Salamandra again. Will be useful to get mine running properly.
You just have to adjust the overlap/fade and silence etc. to fix that coming in seconds too soon. You can set the exact cue in spot in settings and you will see a little indicator near the end of the bar showing the progress of the current track whether jingle or song under the current track playing that times the transition to the next track at the right time.
Once you have all the events done you just go to save the whole bunch and on start up if you shut it down it all comes up when started again. The playlist, if you go to settings you can see keep playlist at start up and check the box. If you are in minus db the higher the number the quieter and in db not minus the higher the number the louder.