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You can choose to use PRO or professional formatting which will allow you 4 channels (L & R) plus numerous other options in planning your format.
BLOCK - A section of the format. Each item (for example a song) fills up one block. The point at which the item can be started in relation to any other items in other channels is divided into three TOP, MID & TAIL.
TOP, MID & TAIL - Positioning of an overlaid item in relation to the Primary channel. All items formatted in the primary channel are always TOP , or start playing at the beginning of each format block and end at its end. An item set to start at MID will begin in the middle of the primary item. An item set to play at TAIL will begin at the end of the primary item (calculated to stop at the same point).
|PRIMARY STARTS (e.g. a song) | TOP (other channel can play item starting at the same time)
| | MID (other channel can play item starting in the middle)
|PRIMARY ENDS | TAIL (other channel can play item starting back from the end)
CODED - The coded system is a separate means of selecting the music Robot plays, using codification and rules. It can be switched on and the normal means of song selection is bypassed.
The first screen you see when Robot begins is the ONAIR screen. The program is divided into seven easy to select screens:
ON AIR - The main playback screen used to interact with Robot whilst it is playing audio.
ADVERTISING - Used to schedule advertising audio (spots) for playback.
SCHEDULER - Used to play items at precise times rather than within the normal flow of the automation.
LIBRARY - Used to manage your audio resources and make them available to Robot.
FORMAT - Used to shape how the station will sound.
OPERATION - Used (optionally) to set Robot to automatically stop and start automation at specific times around live presenters.
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SETUP - Used to make setting for the hardware on your PC.
To select a screen you click the appropriate tab at the top of the screen.
Under normal circumstances you will be using the ON AIR screen, however as you are just beginning to use the software, we must first setup a basic library of audio for Robot to use.
Every button, control and area on each screen will give you a hint as to its purpose if you hold the mouse pointer over it.
Please select the "Library" screen.
Library
The library screen is divided into three sections:
The actual library functions
The "Maintain to the hour advertising" Box
The Quick Record Box
For the moment we will only be using the top section.
Important: Robot is built for use in radio broadcast. For this reason it is designed to provide the maximum quality output at standardized levels. If this software were designed for home use we would simply have Robot detect the appropriate sample rate values from each file, but files of Mismatched sampling rates would not sound very good for professional broadcast - the sound quality would rise and drop according to the differing sampling rates. We recommend that you use 128K for MP3's and 44100 for WAV files. You may use higher or lower values but you must ensure that every audio file you use in Robot is the same rate you have selected. In windows XP you can find out the bit rate of an MP3 by clicking the file in windows explorer.
If you already have prepared audio to use (subject to the guidelines above) for your station please skip the next chapter, otherwise close Robot and read on!
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