As mAirList 3.1 is now in Beta stage, it is time to give a little overview on the improvements introduced in this new release.

Runtime configuration through mAirList Control Panel

mAirList 3.1 Control Panel

While the basic configuration is still to be performed through the built-in mAirListConfig utility, the new Control Panel gives you access to various configuration options at runtime from within the mAirList main menu. This includes configuration of the streaming encoder, remote control interfaces, logging, databases and notification scripts. All changes can either be made temporarily for the current session or can be saved to the configuration files permanently.

Improved Mini Scheduler

The new hour template editor with attribute and type filters

The Mini Scheduler, the built-in music scheduling function in mAirListDB, has been significally improved in this release. Most notably, it now supports artist and title separation, a feature that prevents a particular song (or artist) to be played more than once within a certain period of time. Furthermore, you can now add attribute and type constraints to hour template items – for example, you can force the first item of each hour to be a Jingle one or have the “Genre” attribute set to “Rock”. Attribute filters can contain variables for the current date and time. That makes it easy to pick the right jingles for each hour of the day. It is now also possible to mark an item as optional – optional items may be left out by the scheduler in order to fill the hour as exactly as it gets. Hour templates can now be imported and exported to XML files, which makes it very easy to duplicate or save templates for later use.

mAirListDB improvements

Besides the changes to Mini Scheduler outlined above, the mAirListDB backend has been improved in various ways:

  • The complete database, as well as the content of a particular folder or search result, can be exported, for example for use with an external music scheduling software. mAirList currently supports export formats compatible with Powergold and MusicGen, as well as generic CSV output.

  • Importing playlists into the database

    Likewise, it is possible to import playlists created by external scheduling software. If the software creates playlists longer than expected (e.g. daily playlists – remember that mAirListDB uses hourly playlists instead), mAirList can split those playlists into hourly playlists. Again, Powergold and MusicGen files are supported, as well as any other playlist format understood by mAirList.

  • Database playlists can now contain items which are not from the database library. That makes it possible to quickly schedule files on the fly without adding them to the database first. It’s also possible to customize database items on playlist level.
  • In the networked setup, mAirList can keep a local cache of the next few playlists so that your automation will keep running even if the database is unavailable at the time the playlist is loaded.
  • Also in the networked version of mAirListDB, it is now possible to use multiple user accounts with different security levels (admin, manager, DJ, studio, read-only) and thereby limit the read and write access to the database. mAirList uses PostgreSQL roles to implement this feature, so you can use any PostgreSQL user/role management software to manage the user accounts. As PostgreSQL supports various password authentication backends, including LDAP, it is also possible to connect mAirListDB user management to your existing authentication infrastructure (e.g. an Active Directory server).

The database schema is compatible to the one used by the latest version of mAirList 3.0, so it is possible to install and use both releases in parallel.

Encoder supports multiple connections, airchecks and VST plugins

A VST sound processing plugin in the encoder chain

The built-in streaming encoder has now support for multiple server connections. A particular connection can be swiched on and off at any time through the new Control Panel. Additionally, there’s a new connection type Aircheck that writes the encoded audio data to an MP3 or OggVorbis file rather than sending it to a streaming server. The encoder now also features a sound processing chain into which VST processing plugins can be inserted.

New REST-style remote interface

The SOAP interface for TCP/IP remoting has been replaced by a simpler, more lightweight REST-style HTTP interface. The new interface is running on port 9300 by default (just like the old one), and currently supports only a single operation: executing commands (just like the old one). It is however planned to extend this interface over time and allow (read and write) access to mAirList’s internal data and state, manipulation of the playlist, browsing through the database and much more. The operations will be grouped into several plugins which can be turned on our of as needed, in order to limit the functionality (and threats) to what you really need. The interface also supports password protection through HTTP basic authentication.

New Layout Designer

The improved Layout Designer

The Layout Designer has been significally improved in this release. In particular, it is now possible to move all GUI objects by drag&drop, and you can also manage your layouts more easily by using the new import and export functionality. If you don’t like your current layout, you can switch back to automatic layout mode with a single click.

Support for DHD RM4200 and Series 52

mAirList now includes remote control support for the popular DHD Audio RM4200D and Series 52 digital mixing consoles. The devices can be linked through a serial connection or TCP/IP, and you can freely assign actions for all GPIO commands received from the mixer, as well as sending GPIO status changes to the desk from mAirListScript or action lists.