MusicMaster Blog
Making Life Better Through Nexus posted on May 20th, 2013
By Drew Bennett
Did you know you can streamline a lot of your workflow between MusicMaster and your automation system? Haven’t you always dreamed of the automation system and the scheduling database talking to one another? How about adding and dropping songs in real time or adding the song to your music scheduler the instant you record it into your automation system? These things can happen for you today and you may have everything you need right now. All you need is a MusicMaster license, a ‘Nexus-Ready’ automation system (Wide Orbit, Enco, Media Touch, etc.), the Nexus Server and your MusicMaster database. Today, we’ll cover some of the great new features you can take advantage of with Nexus and your automation system.
What exactly is Nexus? The full answer to that question is covered in another article that you can find right here. To summarize, Nexus is a small application with its own API that allows third party vendors to send commands and receive replies with a MusicMaster database. In other words, Nexus allows your automation system to talk to your MusicMaster database and vice versa.
Several third-party vendors have created applications or widgets within their software to communicate with a MusicMaster database through Nexus. It is important to note that not all automation systems share the same features. Refer to the automation system’s documentation when determining the features you may use with your automation system, Nexus and your MusicMaster database.
Schedule Log Features:
Most automation systems will offer the ability to reconcile a log in real time. That means changes to the MusicMaster log happen as the automation system adds and deletes elements during playback. If your afternoon air talent drops the last three songs in the 1pm hour because he/she ran out of time, the automation system sends a command to Nexus to tell MusicMaster to drop the last three songs in that hour. That change is made and the automation system receives a reply from Nexus letting it know the action has been completed. How cool is that? Now you can schedule tomorrow’s log and songs that got dropped today have the ability to get scheduled and played tomorrow.
You can even send changes to the automation system without the need to re-export the log. Nexus gives you the ability to push the log changes to the automation system circumventing the need to send the log again. This is a great feature that gives you the power to change a song in today’s log without overwriting voice tracks or special events added to the log after export. Now, you can make a minor change in the log and buzz it over to the automation system instantaneously without losing other elements you’ve already placed.
Some automation systems go a step further with song additions and give you the power to make educated song replacements in the log based on important rules in your MusicMaster rule tree. For instance, the evening air talent can add a song to his playlist and choose a song that passes all the rules in the category of the song tested. Now, instead of making a choice based on no rules at all, the air talent can choose a song knowing he/she isn’t violating something like Minimum Rest to Artist Keyword Time Separation.
Library Maintenance Features:
Reconciling is not the only feature to use when you setup Nexus with your automation system. New interfaces give you the ability to add songs in either the automation system or MusicMaster and then see or track the addition in each database. So, if you added a song in MusicMaster, it is possible for that song to be added in the automation system and queued to be recorded and readied for playback. Conversely, it is possible to add the song in the automation system and then see that song appear instantly in the MusicMaster database. Seamless library maintenance is a great feature to take advantage of because it’s a real time saver!
Not only can you add songs and see that reflected no matter where you are, song information can be edited instantly too. If you notice the intro is incorrect on a song in the automation system, simply change it once in the automation system and you will see the change when you access the song card in MusicMaster.
We’ve been very impressed with the feature rich modules and widgets automation system companies have been able to develop recently using Nexus. From Wide Orbit Automation for Radio and Media Touch to Enco and Zenon, many of your favorite automation vendors are rolling out great new features that utilize the Nexus server. Check with your automation system to determine which features are currently available to you. If you need help setting Nexus up with your automation system, do not hesitate to call your assigned Music Scheduling Consultant at MusicMaster.
Nexus can make life so much simpler and cut down on your daily workflow. You may already have everything you need to get started! Happy scheduling!