MusicMaster Blog

By Paul Ziino

The Automatic Scheduler relies on settings in Dataset/Schedule/Schedule Properties to know how far to dig into a category before leaving the position unscheduled.  This setting is listed as “depth.”  The number here can be a whole number or a percentage.  Setting it at 5 means MusicMaster will look at the first five songs in the stack to find a song to play.  Setting at 5% tells MusicMaster to look at the first five percent of the items in that category—so if you have 500 songs MusicMaster will look 25 deep to find one to play.  If no song in the available search depth works based on the rules set for that position, it is left unscheduled.

In the past, many programmers would use 100% depths to allow MusicMaster to look through every song in the category before giving up.  This meant that a lot of songs were being tested even though we know they likely violate Minimum Rest rules.  As such, this meant the auto-scheduling process would take longer than necessary.  Now in Version 7 we introduce “Virtual Search Depths.”  To use the Virtual setting, in the depth column of Schedule Properties, type the letter V or click the edit helper button.

With the virtual setting, MusicMaster calculates and adjusts the Search Depth based on how difficult it is to find a song for each element. This means that MusicMaster may not have to search as deeply for some positions, resulting in a log that schedules much more quickly while still getting the results you expect.

You can also disable a category from being auto-scheduled by using that setting or typing D in the depth column.

Virtual Search Depths is just one of many new features you’ll find in MusicMaster 7!