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Music Before After Light Show

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Greg Member

Greg

Posted
Posted

I can get the play tone to work, however i can't get the stop tone to work. I am runing my show and zara from the same computer maybe that is why but since they share the same clock using the stop in the event list works fine for me.

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Richard Hamilton Member

Richard Hamilton

Posted
Posted

pixeldigger wrote:

John Hertig wrote:
Why not just have a musical sequence with no channels turned on?

This is exactly what I've done for three years now. I just make blank sequences for all my "background" music and run it all the time the show is not running


Well as you already know, that solution will work, but I've been there and done that long ago. It was too time consuming for me and had no flexibility without needing to go back in and make changes to the sequence. There are lots of reasons why I don't do this.

1. I don't want to run LOR all year long when I want to listen to other music.
2. Using some sort of radio software like Zara gives a LOT of features I use that is simpy not possible with LOR sequences.
3. I like having the time and temperature announced on the half hour and on the hour. Remember, we listen to this music throughout the house. I can have automatic critical news updates interrupt if necessary.
4. Zara will automatically select songs either in order or random (as I choose) from thousands of songs in our library. I can't imagine entering all those into LOR manually. Adding new songs at any time is as simple as drag and drop.
5. Christmas is a little different as we only have about 60 Christmas songs we play through the day. Still, I don't want to have to enter those manually in LOR.
6. I have Zara announce certain messages a specific times between songs to announce the upcoming shows or end of show.

So to sum it up, I would not do without Zara now that I've used it for 3 years.
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Richard Hamilton Member

Richard Hamilton

Posted
Posted

Greg wrote:

Richard,

I just thought of something, are you using a second computer or the lor director?

My setup is as follows:

No, I use a single computer for LOR. It is a home computer that I use as a server. It's only purpose is to record security camera video and backup files from 2 other computers in the house. It is locked in the attic. I don't need to access it. The computer does not even have a heyboard, mouse, or monitor. I access it with "Remote Desktop Control."

During Chrismas season, the computer runs LOR in addition to its other backup and recording duties. Thus, I have the 485 box connected to a USB port and transmitting data to the controllers wirelesslessly. the FM transmitter is also beside the computer and connected to the audio output..
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Richard Hamilton Member

Richard Hamilton

Posted
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Mountainwxman wrote:

Greg... my Zara is giving trouble too.

It's set-up right in the options but will not recognize the tones.


Yo mountain,

The biggest problem that causes ZR not to recognize tones is when the DTMF tone generator did not make a good audio file. There are at least 3 of them I ran across on the internet last year that generated tones poorly and also not loud enough. They also have to be at least 300 msec long.

If ZR does not respond to any tones at all, it is likely not set to "Listen" to your audio mixer. If ZR hears one tone, but not the other, it is likely due to the tone quality or your options settings. Or send me info on how your options are configured.

Anyone that wants to use my tone files, you can email me and I will send them. And I can give you a snapshot of how I have my options configured. Once set up properly, it works reliably without problems. I've used it for 3 years and used the DTMF function for 2 years since it came out.
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Richard Hamilton Member

Richard Hamilton

Posted
Posted

Folks,

I got 7 requests for information about ZaraRadio DTMF control as a result of the prior posting. Some people sent emails and others send private messages. Any way to contact is ok. More people are using it than I thought.

I apologize for this inconvenience, but I had to post the zip file on a remote server. For some odd reason, my ISP has blocked attachments of any kind in my emails. They said they know the problem and would have it fixed today, but they did not. I am even having trouble trying to attach files to a post. Ok, so I posted them to my own server.

I have a link to my own web page that includes the ZIP file download. The zip file contains 6 smaller files...... 2 files show images of the ZaraRadio Options settings, 2 LOR sequence files that send the tones to turn on/off ZaraRadio, and 2 mp3 files that are the actual DTMF tones used by the LOR sequences. I also explain where to put the sequences in the LOR show editor.

Soooooo, after you download the zip. Put the mp3 files in your audio folder, sequence files in your sequence folder, and add the sequence names to your LOR show editor startup and shutdown tabs. That should do it. If it still does not work, look at the 2 dialog images I included to make sure you have your ZaraRadio settings correct.

Let me know how it goes.... Here is the link... cheers
http://magiclightshow.com/bb/index.php?topic=64.0

If I can get the dingbats at my ISP to fix the problem on the email server, then I will email these out if you still need them in a few days.

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Richard Hamilton Member

Richard Hamilton

Posted
Posted

Mountainwxman wrote:

Richard... I looked at the attached pictures in the download and I cannot get Zara to recognize those tones.

You are focusing on the correct area. ZR monitors the "Recording" control to listen for tones. You probably noticed on my dialog that I have a selection of "What U Hear", yet I don't see that selection in your dialog. I would have thought that the "Wave Out Mix" selection on your dialog would work.

So one question that comes to mind. Do YOU hear the tones being played through your speaker? If you don't then ZR won't hear them either. The way I test ZR is to play the tones with MediaPlayer or anohter music player to see if they work. Afterwards, I put them in the LOR show editor. I am not sure how you are testing.

The key is getting the right setting on that dialog for recording. You might also look at the mixer settings for your audio card. Something may be wrong there.
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Richard Hamilton Member

Richard Hamilton

Posted
Posted

Mountainwxman wrote:

Richard... I looked at the attached pictures in the download and I cannot get Zara to recognize those tones.

Wait a second Mountain... I just saw something that might be another clue. In your dialog header, I see a local IP address in the upper screen and part of a dialog that indicates you might be using a remote control program to access another computer. Is that right?

If so, I'd go to the actual computer where you have ZR running in order to test this. Last year I had a problem with DTMF tones not working and I found out the reason was Microsoft's Remote Desktop Program. It redirected the audio to my computer instead of leaving it at the remote computer! If you are using a remote control program of some kind, then that can also be the problem.

I switched away from using the Microsoft's lame RDC program and started using "Remote Desktop Control" (not Microsoft). That solved a lot of problems I had with many things on ZR and LOR.
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Guest wbottomley

Guest wbottomley

Posted
Posted

Richard... I'll double check my sound card Thursday.

The remote program I'm using is Ultra VNC. Sound does not come to the remote pc. It stays on the host pc.

I'll access it directly to see if that make any difference.

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Richard Hamilton Member

Richard Hamilton

Posted
Posted

Rats! I'm at a loss for more suggestions. I was hopeful that you could get your audio mixer set in such a way that the ZR can hear them. I'm sure that is where the problem is.

Yup, it sounds like the event scheduler is your next best thing. There are also other ways to get Windows to start and stop programs on a schedule. That might help too.

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Guest wbottomley

Guest wbottomley

Posted
Posted

Richard... I'm timing it out close so I can use the event scheduler to do the work. It's a little tricky but will work.

Also have the time & temp at the top and bottom of the hour.

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Richard Hamilton Member

Richard Hamilton

Posted
Posted

Mountainwxman wrote:

Greg... tried that and still didn't work.

I have one more trick up my sleeve.


Just an FYI.....

I was a bit curious about this problem, so I did not experimenting.

I tried this method on an older computer and it did not work because the sound circuitry was actually built into the computer motherboard and not a sound card at all. The mixer for the card would not let me make a setting in ZaraRadio for the "What You Hear" setting. After looking at the Dell manual, I see it does not have that capability. I plugged in another sound card I had as a spare, I loaded the software and it worked fine.

Also, I tried it on a new CHEAP cost HP computer ($385) and it also worked well. Amazing how much power you get for the price these days!

Then I was talking to a friend a couple days ago who used to work at Creative Labs and designs audio cards. He told me that this technique depends on the design of the sound card and its mixer software as to whether or not it allows internal loopback of the audio.

Greg, it isn't likely that an external loopback of the audio output to the input will work unless the software supports it.

So I guess it comes down to the audio card and its capabilities along with the mixer software.
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