MusicMaster Blog

By Paul Ziino

Have you ever seen your Info Bar spread across your MusicMaster screen like this…

…and can’t figure out how to get it back where you like it? Here’s a quick and easy way to do so.

Right click anywhere in the info bar and check Dockable. Right click in the info bar again and click on Location and set it where you want (most common is Left).

Once you have the info bar where you like, right click within and select Locked, and now you won’t accidentally drag it away from its desired location. You can do the same thing for the F6 History Graph, too. Just right click in a gray portion of the graphic, select Dockable, then set your location and lock it.

By Jesus Rodriguez

This past summer I think I received more calls about how to match elements to each other than I had ever received since joining the MusicMaster consulting team.

There’s no secret to matching elements like jingles, sweepers or imaging to songs based on tempo, artist, title, etc. There are a few ways to do it and one of them happens to be my favorite because it is very easy and requires very few steps unlike some of the other options.

My favorite way is by using the Match Flow Rule that is found in an Attribute-Multiple field type. Some may say that using Specials Sets is the way to go for matching element types to songs before or after it. Special Sets can be used to do this but in my experience the additional steps it takes to set it up aren’t always the easiest to understand for my clients doing this type of feature for the first time. Don’t get me wrong you are more than welcome to use “Special Sets” and I promise that we can still be friends. Speaking of friends, if you would like to know how to match elements using special sets we have plenty of blogs that have been written on the subject by my friends here at MusicMaster.

I remember hosting a private Genius Day for one of our Colorado clients with MusicMaster’s very own President Joe Knapp. This question came up and I began to go through the steps of how to use special sets to match imagining to songs when Joe asked if he could jump in and offer a way easier solution. Well as Joe always does, he managed to blow our minds at how easy matching elements to items around it could be done in just a few simple steps.

First, you want to make sure that you have an Attribute-Multiple Field available to use because this field contains the rule called “Match Flow” that we will need later. You can find out if you have one available by going to Dataset > Library > Fields. Below is an example of one that I had available and I decided to rename it “Intro Drop” since I will be using it to match my imaging to specific songs.

You might pick a field you no longer need. You might also have “User” fields that you could use to do this. If not, talk to us about adding a field to your data to do this.

Now go into the attribute itself and begin to create codes to use in this field for your imaging and songs. You do this by going to Dataset > Library > Attributes and find your attribute in the drop down box. Here you will be able to assign attribute codes to be used to match items like imaging to the songs around it.

In the example above I created codes for sweepers that I want to match to a song by a specific artist because the artist is saying how much they love my station. I also have imaging to overlay into songs with intros where I already set the EOM in my automation to launch simultaneously with the song. I have generic produced imaging for songs with no intros, too. I also have English sweepers to go into English songs and the same for my Spanish elements. I have codes for tempo to control my high-energy sweepers from going into slow ballads. You know the ones with all the explosions that make you drive off the road when they play before a slow song!

The third step is to assign one or as many of the codes to each one of your sweepers and your songs being used in rotation. This is the cool part because a song and sweeper can be artist specific, tempo specific, intro, no intro, and as many possibilities that you want it to match one of in the process. The sky is the limit!

In the image below I am assigning my attributes to my sweepers. This determines which songs can schedule beside sweepers, looking for a match of at least one of the same attribute. In this example the sweeper is only allowed to play next to a Ne-Yo, a Spanish, David Guerra, or Nina Sky attribute assigned song.

In the example below we are assigning the attributes that a sweeper can match if it also has at least one of these attributes assigned to it. In this example by assigning English, Pitbull, Spanish, Wisin Y Yandel, and No Intros we are allowing the sweepers to know exactly which one of them can play next to this song. The only ones that will be allowed to do so are the ones that also have been assigned at least one of the attributes assigned to this song.
Img4

There are a few more things to address: Make sure that your sweeper category is included in your clock. You also need to adjust the Schedule Properties so the sweeper category schedules after the music categories.

Finally, turn on the “Match Flow” rule in the Rule Tree. Simply drag and drop the Match Flow rule from the attribute you are using into your sweeper category’s unbreakable folder. This tells the sweep category that it must match at least one of those attributes assigned to it; either the song before, after or both.

That’s it in just a few easy steps you can now match items to others around them. Whether it’s imaging, sweepers, jingles, artist testimonials, a bank of generic voice tracks or anything else you can think of matching. It’s that easy to do!

Please be aware that the IP address for the MusicMaster license servers will be changing on October 1, 2015. This will not affect normal operations of MusicMaster, but a few customers may have created firewall exceptions based on the IP address that will need to be updated.

Old IP Address: 70.60.92.34 or 216.170.134.226
New IP Address: 162.209.76.106
Change Date: October 1, 2015

We strongly recommend that you address this server via the DNS name services.a-ware.com to make future changes more automatic.

If you need further assistance regarding this change, please contact MusicMaster support.

By Drew Bennett

These days it’s tough to get everything done. We always seem to be saying things like, “I wish there were more hours in the day, “ or, “…if I could just clone myself!”

An online company has made an attempt to automate certain corners of your life to make those days seem a little easier. It’d called IFTTT. That stands for, “If This, Then That.”

IFTTT can help you automate anything. Maybe you like to turn on the house lights when you get home or maybe you’d like to start the slow cooker at home while you work in the office. IFTTT can help you do those kinds of things. Today, I’m going to show you how IFTTT can help you automate tasks in MusicMaster. It will be like having your own Music Director who performs tasks when you want them done but without all that salary and benefits mumbo jumbo.

Today, I’m going to show you how you can send a text message to yourself that tells your office computer to open MusicMaster and schedule the next days’ log.

You need several things to get it done.

1. An account at IFTTT.
2. A recipe at IFTTT that creates a file in Dropbox when you send a text message to yourself.
3. A batch file that is used to run a Windows Script file from a Windows Scheduled Task.
4. A Windows Script file that monitors the Dropbox folder for the text messaged file, deletes the file if it exists and runs another local batch file.
5. A batch file to run a command definition file inside MusicMaster.
6. A command file to automate a MusicMaster task like scheduling a day.

First, head to http://www.ifttt.com and create an account. Login, and activate the Dropbox Channel. Create a recipe where “THIS” expects a text message sent by you and “THAT” creates a file in Dropbox. I’ve included a screenshot to show you what that setup will look like. In the example below, I’ve chosen to create the file in a Dropbox folder called, Remote_Control.

When this recipe is performed, IFTTT creates a file in your Dropbox folder called —.txt. Test this by texting your IFTTT number to make sure the file gets created in your Dropbox folder.

Next, let’s create a batch file we will use with a Windows Scheduled Task. The batch file will run every 5 minutes or so via scheduled task. This file runs the script file for us. Open Notepad and paste the following:

@Echo on
cscript IFTTTSCRIPT.wsf

Save this file and call it IFTTTSCRIPT.bat

We need to create a Windows Scheduled Task that runs this file at an interval of your choosing. Open Windows Scheduled Tasks and create a new task.

This scheduled task runs the IFTTTSCRIPT.bat file that handles the Windows Script file you’ll make next. Schedule this task so that it runs at a regular interval.

Now, it’s time to set up the Windows Script file that looks for the SMS file in Dropbox. To save you some time and heartache, I’ve pasted the file here. You’ll make changes to the sections highlighted in red.

<job>
<script language="VBScript">

Dim file1

Set file1 = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If (file1.FileExists("C:\Users\Owner\Dropbox\Remote_Control\---.txt")) Then
file1.DeleteFile "C:\Users\Owner\Dropbox\Remote_Control\---.txt"

dim shell
set shell=createobject("wscript.shell")
shell.Run """C:\Program Files (x86)\MusicMaster\IFTTT.bat"""
set shell=nothing

end if

Wscript.Quit

</script>
</job>

In the Windows Script file above, make sure the Dropbox path is the correct path on your machine. In the path to IFTTT.bat, make sure this is the correct path on your machine as well. Paste this text with your changes to a Notepad file and save it as IFTTTSCRIPT.wsf.

The Windows Script file’s job is to monitor the Dropbox folder for the existence of “–.txt.” If it exists, the script file deletes it and runs a batch file that launches a command def, scheduling a day in your database. If the file does not exist, nothing happens.

Let’s write the batch file that we use to run the command def in MusicMaster. It looks like this:

MUSICMASTER.EXE SAMPLE.mmd /STARTUP=SAMPLE.DEF /AUTOEXIT

The database and command file are in bold. Change these values to reference your database filename and your command file. Save this file and call it IFTTT.bat.

It’s time to make the command file that performs the automated task in MusicMaster. Command files can be used to automate tasks in MusicMaster like scheduling a day, exporting a log or running a history report. In fact, I’ve written another article on command files and how to set them up. Check it out here and once you’ve built your own command file, use it in this project to automate tasks in MusicMaster.

That’s it. Now, when you send yourself a text message, the scheduled task launches the WSF file which monitors Dropbox for the txt file created when you send the text. If that condition is true, the batch file runs and MusicMaster schedules a day, or whatever the command def tells it to do.

In fact, the text message doesn’t have to be the trigger. It could trigger when you pull into your driveway, when you send an email or when you turn on a light! IFTTT allows you to use all sorts of conditions in a recipe. If you have questions about this project or any MusicMaster related question, please contact your assigned Music Scheduling Consultant and happy scheduling!

By Marianne Burkett

(Disclaimer: The title of my blog may be offensive to cat lovers. I love cats, and own a giant cat that eats three cans of cat food a day…and will eat your cat food too… if you let him. It’s just a saying.)

I’ve been scheduling Music for radio most of my adult life and writing MusicMaster blogs for years now. MusicMaster is the most versatile software available on the planet, for music OR content scheduling. With MusicMaster every database IS different by design, because it is totally customizable. From data fields to custom appearance of everything, MusicMaster allows for you to design your views, colors schemes, font sizes etc. When new users come in and realize they now have a pallet of unlimited colors to mix and match to make editing or handling the library easy on their eye. It is very exciting for them. Every user can set up personalized views. Some like a dark font and white background and some users like a black background with colored fonts. It’s just a matter of creating the combo that makes you tick!

Here’s a sample of how I like to look at my logs:

So with my view when editing, I don’t focus on the words, I focus more on the color highlights to the right of the artist/title area. Recently I helped a client set up her highlights and she’s editing her logs in MUCH LESS TIME than she used to. That makes her happy and as her Music Scheduling Consultant and friend, it makes me happy too.

I do have another more conservative view in my demo database, for folks that find my crazy color view a bit too much!

You have these amazing color options in the Schedule Editor and while viewing the library, so take advantage of the appearance customization process. Here’s how:

At the top of your Schedule Editor or when you are in library maintenance you’ll see some smaller icons. Look about three-quarters of the way to the right and you’ll see these: Click on the center icon (with the pencil) and you’ll see this:

Drag what you want to look at into the Selected Fields in the middle. You can drag the fields up and down once they are in the middle. Then, you can play with the color combos and fonts until you find your perfect match.

Click on the small icon to the right of the pencil and save your view.

You can have as many views as you’d like. Everyone can have their very own view and of course, let the boss have the default view. To load your view, click on the icon to the left of the pencil icon.

Simple changes can create dramatic results and help you spend your time enjoying your custom view while editing or managing your library.

Happy Programming!

If you have any questions about today’s topic, feel free to contact me or your Music Scheduling Consultant.

By Drew Bennett

Aren’t Rule Groups awesome? You can group similar rules together, you can daypart rules in a group and you can even apply filters like category filters and song filters so Rule Groups only apply to certain categories, songs or clocks. Rule Groups can really seem magical when you apply them to a Rule Tree and today, I want to dive into a specific setting inside Rule Groups called, Group Mode. This is a super powerful setting that you’ll want to have in your toolbox of MusicMaster tips and tricks.

Group Mode appears on the right hand side of the Rule Group Properties window and it is located at the top. Group Mode has three options:

• Rule Group fails when any included rule fails
• Rule Group fails when all included rules fail
• Test rules as if they’re not in a rule group

Rule group fails when any included rule fails is a really neat way to save some scheduling time with groups of similar rules. It means if any rule within the group fails, the entire rule group will fail and the auto scheduler will move on to the next song. The program won’t waste time testing any other rules in the group once a rule fails. In the editor the Rule Group would show a failure of the rule group. When might this be useful? Let’s say I have a song with a lot of sound codes on it. Let’s say I have many songs with a lot of sound codes on them! It might be smart to place all my sound rules into a rule group called Sound. If any rule fails in it, I’ll know this fails my policy of sound. All other rules in this group are ignored and the scheduler moves on.

Rule group fails when all included rules fail is another really neat way to create some relationships between rules. It means all rules must fail in order for the group to fail and thus the song. If one condition is met, but not the other, the song passes. Let’s say that I’m ok with playing two ballads back to back and I’m ok playing two hairbands back to back at my Classic Rock station. The trouble is, I really don’t want to hear two hairband ballads back to back. I might put a rule group together with two rules in it. No two hairbands back to back and no two ballads back to back. If both of those conditions are met, the rule group fails and I’ve made sure that no two ballads performed by hairbands will play without breaking the rule group.

Test rules as if they are not in a rule group is a great way to keep things tidy! This setting tests rules as if they are not in a rule group at all and independent of one another. Group your like rules together using this setting to make it easier to find similar rules like sound, tempo or gender. You could also group some rules to keep other rules out of the group and higher in the rule stack. For instance, you might have an important sound code unlike the other rules in your data. Placing all your sound codes into a rule group and keeping one rule out allows you to favor that rule over others in the Rule Tree.

Group mode is a very powerful setting inside of Rule Groups and once you have it mastered, you can turn your Rule Tree from a task master to the main brain of your perfect music logs! If you have any questions about this or any other MusicMaster feature, please call you assigned Music Scheduling Consultant and Happy Scheduling!