Setting Up CartReady V. 6 or 7 For the First Time The first time you setup Cartready, you will be required to make the following minor configuration choices the first time you go into the program. In some cases you may want to check these even if upgrading from a previous version 6. 1) Audio Card Configuration and Mapping: If you are upgrading from version 5, or it's a first time Version 6 or version 7 installation, or you are changing or adding audio cards you need to check your configuration of the audio cards. Also if you see any audio card initialization errors on startup, it indicates your setup is not correct. Consult the "Configuring your Sound Cards" handout for information in changing the configuration of your audio cards. Version six supports both Card-D Plus and I/O daughter cards, and all Creative Labs SoundBlaster models. The system can easily support 2 cards simultaneously for sim play/record, and dual playing. Your audio card configuration must be correct prior to continuing to step 2 below. Mapping lets you configure different playback and record screens to different cards so you can operate two screens simultaneously. For example overlapping one cut with the Quick Player over the 10 deck live-assist screen, or Playing files from Cart Deck 1 while recording them and other sources in Cart Deck 2. 2) Standard Cart Settings: Whenever you record something in a CartReady Production Deck Screen, you can load a "blank cart" by either hitting F8 and ENTER, or just hitting INS. The Standard Cart specifies the digital sampling rate, whether it is in mono or stereo, and whether it is uncompressed or compressed. It also specifies the maximum length the computer will continue to record if you ever forget to hit the STOP button. You must configure this choice the first time you go into the program. Since more choices are available, you will likely have to make this setting EVEN if you already set this up in version 5 or a previous version 6. (You will likely see a warning when you first startup, telling you if you need to make your standard cart settings again.) From the Cart Deck Production Screen, hit F10 OTHER. Choose STANDARD CART SETTINGS. Choose the appropriate sampling rate. Choose a sampling rate double the max frequency you want to preserve when recording. For example most AM stations choose 22Khz since AM is limited to 10Khz frequencies. Most FM stations choose 32Khz because they are limited to 15. The M stands for mono, the S stands for Stereo. We recommend uncompressed "U", but if you know beforehand you need 4:1 compression, choose C for compressed. For example 22KhzVOICE Mu stands for 22 Khz sampling, mono, uncompressed. A good maximum length for most stations is 120 seconds to as much as 600. Anytime you need to record longer than the standard max, you choose CUSTOM cart before recording. Pick a value that is both convenient, and guarantees you won't accidentally fill up your hard-drive if you forget to stop after recording. A standard cart setting decides two things. The quality of the playback, i.e uncompressed sounds a lot better than compressed and higher sampling rates preserve higher frequencies. But at the same time you need to calculate how much storage you need given your hard drive. For example, 44Khz stereo uncompressed uses 16 times as much as space as 22Khz mono compressed. If you aren't sure try recording several custom carts at different choices and pick the smallest sampling rate, and if possible compression as long as it sounds acceptable to you. Note if you are upgrading from version 5, and switching from an old audio card to a SoundBlaster you now have more choices including uncompressed. Even if you change your standard setting, you can still playback old files that were done differently. Also if you were using a CardD with version 5, and want to change to compression, old uncompressed files will still playback as well. 3) Live-Assist Screen Settings Consult the "On-AirReady 10 Deck screen" handout. You configure the decks to work in different ways depending on how you want the number keys to instantaneously play or stack things for playback. The 10 deck screen works slightly different from previous versions. The handout explains these improvements and changed functions. WireReady NSI 56 Hudson Street, Northboro, MA 01532 (800) 833-4459 USA & CANADA (508) 393-0200 FAX (508) 393-0255 BBS: (508) 393-0256 E-MAIL: Sales@WireReady.com WEB: www.WireReady.COM 4) Push Button Starts, and Stops It is possible to wire push buttons to COM ports so you can use remote push buttons to act as PLAY, RECORD, PAUSE, and STOP in several screens. Even the NotePad can let you put carts in typed scripts and start them individually every time you hit a push button. Consult the "Push Button Handout" for more information. Pushbuttons are not only convenience items, sometimes they are a necessity since they can control a screen, when you aren't even looking at it. For example, if you use the 10 deck screen, and want to put a rotater of beds in the quick player for overlapping beds, you can setup a push button to play the beds without even having to go to the quick player when you need to play something. You just preload it, and every time you hit the button it fires. Or for example, if you want to start recording in Cart Deck #2, but playing bits in the 10 deck screen, you'll avoid un-needed silence in the beginning if you can start recording in Cart Deck #2 when you are looking at the 10 deck screen. 5) Importing Traffic Logs and other ASCII files. Consult the Importing Logs handout if you want to scan in traffic log ASCII files to make it easier to play from pre-arranged lists of audio files. 6) Disabling Play Thru Another choice under F10 OTHER CONFIGURATION CHANGES (From the Cart Deck Production Screen) is whether you want the audio cards to play thru when recording. Depending on how you use and connect CartReady to your mixer/console, you may find yourself constantly "potting" or fading us down when recording to avoid feed-back on your mixer/console. By disabling playthru on both cards, you avoid having to do this. This can also be handy for customers with the ControlReady automation module when doing background records for delayed playbacks. 7) Enhancing Performance Previous customers who have noticed dead air between audio files when playing them back to back can tune their computers to minimize any delay to un-noticeable levels. Consult the Enhancing the Performance of CartReady handout.