Studio Equipment

Please note the following information is provided as is to inform members of the community what is proposed for the station studio systems and has been collated into one central location to aid your understanding. For further information and also to discuss your own needs should you also be looking to setup a similar community radio project within your area please visit the official website of PSquared the software manufactures of Myriad and it's associated products.

www.psquared.net/

Many stations find that Myriad becomes the hub of all activity for the station as news, programming, presenters and engineers all use the system on a daily basis. The above diagram shows a fairly typical station set-up with a central server that stores all the Myriad audio and data. This model allows audio added to the system from any workstation, to be instantly accessible from all workstations and for the scheduled log (also called the Q-NXT log) to be viewed and manipulated in real time, from any Myriad machine.

Support applications from both within the Myriad package (AutoTrack, Advanced Advert Manager etc) and 3rd party applications (like RCS's Selector (tm) ) also contribute via the central server.

The station's broadcast output is usually routed through one of the studio based Myriad workstations although some stations prefer to have a dedicated 'playout' PC. The output from the 'on air' studio is then augmented by OCP with the addition of text and visual data for digital transmission mediums such as DAB Digital Radio and web broadcasting.

Every station is individual, and as such every station's needs are also individual, so Myriad has been designed to offer ultimate flexibility to fit any model.

The complete system, consisting of two broadcast studio's, production studio, with tracking and scheduling plus an additional portable outside broadcast / training system costs £56,052.00.

Mark Carney CEO of Pulse Radio is pleaded to announce that the station now has the entire PSquared suite less Scoop and Power Log both of which are due to join our server system in time for the December 2010 RSL broadcast. This means Pulse Radio can now not only offer the same professional sound as the larger networks but also really world experience to students and individuals looking to have a career within the radio industry.

Myriad Automation

Music Automated Playout System

Our computer playout system is a piece of software called Myriad.

Myriad is the UK's No.1 radio playout and automation system and can be found in more radio stations than any other system. Myriad is also used across the spectrum of radio broadcasters including commercial, community, hospital, internet, student and school radio.

The heart of the package is Myriad which provides manual, live assisted or fully automated playout. In addition, the Myriad package includes a music and advert scheduling, CD ripping utilities, multi-media playout (for digital platforms) and reporting / administration utilities. Myriad can also be expanded to include voice tracking and even split transmission / network programming.

The Audiowall

To play a track, our presenters simply select it from the boxes show and click the play button! Defiantly a lot easier than the days of Vinyl!

Automated Playout

When presenters are not in the studio to manually select the tracks, the Myriad software selects them for us. It knows the current time and selects an appropriate series of songs to play by itself. The Myriad software is important as it allows the studio to broadcast 24/7 without the danger of the system deciding to play Trance or Heavy Rock music at 4am!

Myriad's Key Features

Myriad is a playout and automation system designed specifically for use in modern commercial and community radio. Capable of providing live assisted or fully automated programming, Myriad delivers lively, natural sounding radio with as much or as little human input as your station desires.

The Myriad package actually consists of a number of applications to provide all the tools you need to plan, schedule, broadcast and gain feedback on your station but at the heart of it all is the actual Myriad software which is the thing that presenters use in the studio.

Myriad is a deceptively powerful system. Users are instantly drawn to it's intuitive and simple to use interface but beneath it's 'cuddly' exterior, beats the heart of a beast with a plethora of advanced and powerful features making it one of the most used systems in UK radio today. Scratch the surface and you will see that Myriad's depth and flexibility make it the ideal choice for stations of all types and sizes, a fact borne out by the level of diversity of nature of the stations relying on Myriad every day.

Myriad key features include:

Expanding Myriad

The standard Myriad package has been carefully designed to provide stations of all types and sizes with all the tools they need to broadcast whether they need automation, live assist or a mixture of the two. To this end, the standard Myriad package includes music and advert scheduling tools, Myriad itself for playout and automation, OCP for enhancing web and DAB transmission with 'live' information. Myriad can of course be used with a wide range of third party music and advert scheduling systems and packs all the administration applications, reports and security you would expect.

That said, some stations may also wish to expand their Myriad system with a range of optional modules to suit their stations needs.

Voice / Segue Editor Module: This ever popular expansion module for Myriad adds full Voice Tracking and Segue Editing to the standard Log screen within Myriad. This allows you to record 'Voice Links' in to your automated programming to make them sound as live as possible whilst optimising the time your presenters have available. The Voice / Segue Editor features a unique single button operation that guides presenters through the Voice Tracking process allowing hours of lively, engaging automation to be recorded in a fraction of the time it would normally take. In addition, the Voice / Segue Editor Module also allows you to 'fine tune' automation by manually adjusting the way automated segues sound to suit your needs.

In addition, the Voice / Segue Editor Module includes the Remote Voice Tracking Server application that allows authorised users to log in to your Myriad system using the Remote Voice Tracking Client. Once logged in, remote users can view and edit the Station Log, change segues and record remote 'Voice Links' directly in to the system. This means that you can make use of voice talent that is not located in your area and that you can make changes to your station log from the comfort of your home.

The Voice / Segue Editor Module & Remote Voice Tracking

Local Voice Tracking

At a glance, the Voice / Segue Editor for Myriad allows you to enhance your automated output by adding realistic voice links to the pre-scheduled music and audio content. In practice, the Voice / Segue Editor has a much greater impact on the sound of your station and the way you use Myriad.

The term automation is commonly used to describe the practice of using a PC (or other suitable device) to playout music, jingles, links and other audio content without the need for a human operator. Automation started as a simple way of filling the periods of time that could not be covered by live presenters but as the technology developed and the automation became more advanced, many stations began to see automation as playing a key role in the economics of modern radio. Myriad has one of the most powerful automation systems in the world and is able to take pre-scheduled program content and dynamically alter it to fit around time critical events such as 'top of the hour news'. This combined with its ability to switch outside sources and intelligently work around problems it encounters makes it an ideal tool for any station looking to automate some or all of their output.

In many ways, the Voice / Segue Editor Module actually contradicts the traditional view of automated radio in that the control is once again handed back to the presenter and he / she presents the show as if it were live, the difference is that instead of a four how show taking four hours, it should take more like twenty minutes because the Voice / Segue Editor allows you to just concentrate on the links and skip all the time consuming music and audio content.

The best way to explain how the Voice / Segue Editor does this is to step through the procedure it uses. This should serve to illustrate both how powerful the Voice / Segue Editor is and also how simple it is to use.

1. Go to the hours in the pre-scheduled log that you want to record voice links in to (tip: click on the Goto button on the Log screen to do this).
2. Highlight the song / audio that you want to be playing at the end of your link.
3. Click on the Segue Edit button to enter full Voice / Segue Editor mode.
4. Press the on the keyboard, the last few seconds of the previous song will start playing.
5. Put the 'mic' channel up (on your mixing desk) and start speaking, Myriad will automatically start recording when you start speaking.
6. Press the again, the next song / audio will start playing.
7. When you have finished speaking, press again to end the link.
8. Press one final time to save your link.

Eight easy steps using only your voice and one key on the keyboard to have a link recorded in to the system. Myriad will then play back this link exactly as you recorded it, at the appropriate time, even ducking the volume on the surrounding songs / audio just like a live presenter. Because you control the timing of the link / segue and you record your vocal link as if you were presenting it live, 'voice tracked' shows using the Voice / Segue Editor can sound as 'live' as the real thing. Whether you want to sing along with the music or have a ten minute debate on the state of the national train service, you can do it automated using the Voice / Segue Editor.

In addition, Myriad v3 and higher introduces the Mini Segue Editor which is a cut down version of the Voice / Segue Editor that is displayed on the Log screen at all times and provides a fast and simple way of fine tuning automated segues (even in live shows) to allow the output to sound the way you want it too.

You can use the Mini Segue Editor to visually adjust the way Myriad will segue between any two items in the Log, even the items that are currently playing and going to play next! Just use the mouse to 'drag' the segue points in the Mini Segue Editor, review the segue if you wish and then click on the Save button to save the results. Myriad will then segue the two selected items exactly as you have specified that time only in the log, the next time they are played, it will return to normal.

This powerful addition to the Myriad package greatly enhances both your automated and live station output, offering ultimate control without the need for a degree in rocket science!

New Remote Voice Tracking

In addition to local segue editing and voice tracking capabilities, the Voice / Segue Editor Module also adds the Remote Voice Tracking (RVT) Server application to your Myriad system to allow you to configure your system to accept remote voice tracking sessions from authorised users connecting with the Remote Voice Tracking Client. This revolutionary advancement allows the remote user to perform a number of tasks that would usually require a trip to the station. These include:

• Review and edit the Station Log from a remote site.

• Edit the Station Log, add, move delete Log Items such as Songs, Carts, Hardware events etc remotely.

• Review and edit segue, RVT will download low quality WMA previews to allow you to review and edit segues.

• Record high quality voice links that are then automatically uploaded and added to the Station Log.

So how does it work? Well basically the same as when recording voice links or editing the Log within Myriad only it is all done over your broadband web connection. The following walkthrough outlines the general procedure for recording a voice link remotely.

1. Run Remote Voice Tracking client on your remote PC

2. Connect to the Remote Voice Tracking server app at the station using your Username and Password to gain access.

3. Browse the Station Log using RVT and find the place where you wish to start Voice Tracking. Click on the Segue Edit button to enter Voice Tracking mode (just like Myriad).

4. Highlight the item you want to Voice Track in to and press the (just like Myriad). RVT will then create and download low quality (WMA) versions of the last few seconds of the previous Log item and the start of the next Log item to allow you to review them in the normal way.

5. Once RVT has downloaded the audio, playback of the previous Log item will start automatically. When you are ready to start recording, start speaking in to your microphone (just like Myriad).

6. When you want the next Log item to start playing, press the (just like Myriad).

7. When you want to stop recording, press the (just like Myriad).

8. If you are happy with the Voice Track, press the to save the Link. RVT will then upload the high quality voice recording directly in to the Station Log at the radio station. And that is it!

Imagine having a big name jock from the US voice track a show once a week directly from Dallas? What about spreading air talent throughout a group without the need for the presenters having to travel? What about the ability for a program controller to remote view and edit the Log from their own bedroom? Remote Voice Tracking makes all of this and more possible.

A young presenter

Music Cart Library

Song Information

What Is AutoTrack Pro

AutoTrack Pro is P Squared's flagship music and link scheduling system aimed at the demanding world of commercial radio scheduling. Built on more than a decade of research and development, AutoTrack Pro combines an extremely deep and powerful music scheduling engine with a simple to understand and work with, front end.

AutoTrack Pro combines music and link databases with advanced clocks, configurable scheduling rules, advanced clock assignments and a whole host of other tools to provide a truly professional music and link scheduling system that people can actually understand.

Add Songs and Links to your database, build clocks (or running orders as we call them) and assign them to your schedule. AutoTrack Pro will then schedule your station output for either live assisted or fully automated programming observing the rules you have specified for your station. AutoTrack Pro is a proper music and link scheduling system that uses category level 'deck' rotation combined with customisable schedule rules to delivery dynamic, live and interesting schedules.

AutoTrack Pro Key Features

AutoTrack Pro is the music and link scheduling system that is included with the standard Myriad package. This fully fledged music and link scheduling system boasts the following powerful features.

• Advanced music and link scheduling system.

• Organise your music in to categories, styles and characteristics.

• Add jingles, promo's, sweepers and voice links.

• Build up 'clocks' for shows including information about what music and links you want to include.

• Assign 'clocks' to your schedule to build a framework for your stations live assisted and automated output.

• Apply rules and formats to control the way your station sounds, how often songs and artists come up and which songs can be scheduled when.

• Generate weeks of lively automated and live assisted programming at the touch of a button.

• Analyse your stations schedule and view the schedule history of songs, artists and links.

• Get a professional station sound, 24 / 7 without all the hard work.

AutoTrack Pro is the culmination of a decade of experience developing music and link scheduling systems. Designed for the demanding needs of modern commercial radio, AutoTrack Pro combines powerful, advanced features with a simple to understand and use interface. AutoTrack Pro is the only music and link scheduling system developed in the UK and designed specifically to meet the needs of commercial radio, although radio at all levels benefit from it's powerful features, which include:

• Configurable Rules & Guides - applicable on a per Song / Link category basis to give you ultimate control over every aspect of how your station sounds.

• Categorise your Songs by category, type, style, gender, media type and characteristics.

• Build detailed Clocks and assign them to 'time / date' dependent Clock Assignment Grids for flexibility and variation without the hard work.

• Mass, import, change and manipulate Songs and Links and audio to setup and run your system efficiently and effectively.

• Review and edit the generated schedule and see how the changes you make clash against the Rules you set.

• Manage Artist, Artist Groups and Song Titles to schedule additional information and to control when associated Artists / Songs are scheduled.

• Set up Collections of Songs or Links to rotate them as a single item within a category.

• Tons of reports, statistics and tools to put the information you need at your finger tips.

• Import and export utilities for synchronising multiple databases (ideal for scheduling several stations from a single point).

AutoTrack Pro is used by radio stations across the UK to schedule live assisted and automated programming for stations of all shapes and sizes. It has enabled stations to use their Myriad systems to full effect, in many cases, running 24 hours a day for the first time. The beauty of AutoTrack Pro is that it offers an abundance of power but is not intimidating to use, this combined with it's integration in to the Myriad system as a whole make it a winning system.

Playout Logs

(These are required in the event of complaints or proof of transmission)

What Is Scoop Capture

Scoop Capture is the news capture and gathering element of the Scoop Newsroom system. It's basic role is to capture or gather text and audio feeds from a variety of news sources, categorise the incoming information looking for key words that are important to your station and add them to the Scoop Database.

Scoop Capture also maintains the Scoop database and ensures that your journalists always have access to latest breaking news and events without adding to their workload.

Scoop Capture can collate incoming audio and text from a number of sources simultaneously and is compatible with a number of leading news agencies including IRN, Sky News, PA (Press Association) and INN (Independent Network News - Irish news service).

What is Nexus?

Nexus is the information super hub for your station, bring together vital information and services from a range of diverse sources, for display and access from a single screen. Designed to help reduce the burden of gathering and displaying information in the modern radio studio, Nexus has been developed with the aid of a number of prominent radio stations and experienced air staff.

Essentially, Nexus provides an single user interface for presenters to view and access scripts, emails, SMS messages and the web as well as providing contact and competition/prize management from a single screen. You can even use Nexus to control your Myriad system making it the central focus for all studio activities.

Nexus is the central hub for:

• Email

• Web

• SMS

• Contact Management

• Visual Talkback

• Prize / Competition Management

• Control Of Myriad System

Nexus Key Features

Nexus provides a single interface for all your studio orientated information needs with access to a diverse range of information sources and powerful resources from a single screen. Nexus is designed to work with a touch screen or a standard mouse and keyboard and can be configured to suit your individual station's needs.

The Nexus Key Features are:

• Contact Management - Nexus has the P Squared Contacts Directory built in to it which means that it offers access to the dedicated, station wide contacts database that runs through the heart of all current generation P Squared products. Whether you are looking for contact details of people within your station or wider afield, the Contacts tab in Nexus puts all the information at your finger tips.
• Competition / Prize Management - The Competition management system in Nexus allows you to effortlessly control the way your station manages and assigns prizes and competitions. The dedicated Competition database allows you to view and manage the prizes on offer and when someone wins, you can take their details directly within Nexus. And because this integrates with the Contact Management system, Nexus will even cross reference wins with previous competitions to allow you to instantly spot repeat winners.
• Email - It seems a simple thing but the fact is that most stations have to have a separate screen for email (or a screen on a switcher) but in a Nexus equipped studio, the emails appear on screen directly in front of the presenter along with all the other vital Nexus information.
• Scripts - When you are using Nexus in a Myriad equipped studio, the Nexus screen can be used to display scripts directly from the Station Log (in real time) as well as access the pre-defined scripts that you can set up Myriad to use. For longer scripts, Nexus has a built in 'auto prompt' style SmoothScroll system to allow you to read through scripts without having to click buttons.
• SMS Messages - Working with a range of different SMS technologies, Nexus offers something for every station. You no longer have to rely on a phone tapped to the side of the CD players to get those SMS messages read on air, with Nexus, they appear on screen right in front of the presenter.
• Visual Talkback - Talkback is good but in an audio based broadcast medium, visual talkback is even better. You can set up Visual Talkback sessions between Nexus terminals to allow a tech op to communicate silently with the presenter. This technology will also be expanded in to other areas of the P Squared product range as time goes by so Visual Talkback is only going to get more useful in the future.
• Web Browsing - The web is a part of life now but that does not mean that you want presenters browsing the web on your all too important playout PC's. As Nexus is designed to run on a separate PC, it side steps the problem and as the web browser is built directly in to Nexus, the presenter doesn't have to leave the program no matter what information he or she needs.
• Myriad Control - If you use Myriad at your station, you can configure Nexus to actually control the Myriad system using the on-screen controls in Nexus. Why? Well in a talk based show, Nexus will be providing all types important information so why no trigger the advert breaks and beds from the same screen?

Future Developments

Our development team continue to work on Nexus and one of the possibilities being investigated is to incorporate call management in to the system. This would then tie in to the contact management and prize management systems to provide the ultimate information hub, the Nexus of your station.

What Is PowerLog?

PowerLog is a multi-channel software based audio and data logging system. In fact it was the first system of it's kind in the UK and is now the most commonly used system in UK commercial radio. The basic idea is that PowerLog records one or more incoming audio feeds and keeps them on the hard disk for a set time before finally removing them, thus creating a maintenance free, rolling log.

The success of PowerLog however, can be attributed to the additional facilities that we added to the basic premise. These included logging of hardware I/O which allows stations to log when the presenter 'mics' are open, silence detection, DAB text logging, RS232 logging and more.

In addition, PowerLog has the ability to have up to three different quality levels within a single logged period. This mean that you can have your logs at high quality linear for the first few days, then drop down to a lower quality for a few weeks before dropping to the final quality level for archive.

The final ingredient in the PowerLog sandwich is the PowerLog Client which is a free piece of software that can be installed on any PC in your station and offers virtually instant access to any point in any of the available logs. You can also view all the hardware events, DAB text and recorded silences. The PowerLog Client allows you to grab any sections of the log and extract it at any quality and in any supported format, so whether your are reviewing your log, making promo's, sending ROT's (Record Off Transmission) to advertisers or tracking down a problem, the PowerLog Client is all you need.

PowerLog Key Features

PowerLog was the first fully PC based audio and data logging system introduced in to the UK and is now, by far the most used system in UK radio. Now on it's fourth generation, PowerLog has built its reputation on rock solid stability and a feature set designed to move well beyond the traditional role of a logging system. PowerLog has been revolutionising radio for the past half a decade with features like:

• Multi-channel audio and data logging, recording the data and audio that you want, at the quality (and format) you want for as long as you want.

• Log up to 16 mono channels on a single PC for as long as you want at whatever quality you want.

• Up to three configurable quality levels per mono channel so you can control when to compromise quality for disk storage space.

• Customisable multiple formats per mono log to allow you to have several versions of the same log available.

• Supports multiple audio formats including PCM (linear), ADPCM, MP2, Ogg Vorbis and Windows Media Format.

• Log hardware events (such as when the 'mic' channel is open), DAB text, RS232 streams etc.

• Automatically detects silent periods and makes a note in the log. It can also email you to let you know and even email you a summary of silences for the past 24 hours each morning.

• Virtually instant access to any point in any log via the free PowerLog Client software.

• Install the PowerLog Client on any PC on your LAN / WAN that has network access to your PowerLog Capture box.

• Create 'directory' listings of all the PowerLog Capture systems in your group and access them all from a single Client.

• View audio, hardware events and DAB / RS232 text simultaneously.

• Mark and extract sections of the log in seconds to allow you burn to CD, edit or create promo's.

• Ask PowerLog Client to compile and extract lists of hardware events. You want every time the presenter 'mic' was open in the breakfast show for the past six weeks - you got it.

• The free PowerLog Monitor software checks the health of your PowerLog Capture systems every few seconds and let you know if there are any potential problems.

• Plus way too many other features to list....

PowerLog is the most used PC based audio and data logging system in UK radio today.

What Is OCP?

OCP or Online Content Processor is a small application that comes as part of the standard Myriad package and is designed to enhance digital broadcasts (such as internet broadcasts or DAB digital radio broadcasts) with additional information and content, driven directly by the 'live' information provided by Myriad.

OCP allows you to add dynamic DAB DLS text to your DAB broadcasts and add information, hyperlinks, pictures and other information to your web broadcast. OCP gets information about what is playing and what is going to play, directly from Myriad and can be used to update DAB streams, local files, HTML pages and WAP pages accordingly.

The classic use for OCP is providing 'now and next' information to your digital broadcast platforms but with a little imagination, the sky is the limit.

OCP Key Features

OCP or the Online Content Processor is used for updating multimedia content on a number of digital broadcast platforms. The key features of OCP are listed below.

• Update text & pictures on a remote http (web) page
• Update text & pictures in a local file (multiple formats)
• Update text on a DAB digital broadcast
• Configurable rules regarding what information to update when
• Manual information update option
• Exclusively compatible with Myriad

OCP can be used to update multiple digital platforms simultaneously from a single source so it is ideal for a radio station that broadcasts on several different platforms such as FM, DAB and the web.