Installing and activating DRS 2006 - The radio automation software Version 4

After installing and activating the DRS 2006 radio automation software, you might want to take a look at the settings. You will find the "Settings" in the "Common" ribbon on top of the DRS 2006 software. Please note that you can't do any changes while the DRS 2006 is playing any audio files.

DRS 2006 General Settings

On the left side you can chose between several sections. Depending on the plugins you have installed, you might have more or less sections.

General Settings
In this sections you will find several general settings of the DRS 2006 radio automation software.

Default audio folder:
This audio folder will be set as the default folder if you want to add new audio files with the "Update audio index" function. There is also more information about this procedure in the "Adding audio files to the DRS 2006 database" section. Of course it is just the default folder. When adding new audio files you can change the folder to any location you like in the dialog box.


Database folder:
This is a really important and powerful setting. In this folder DRS 2006 will store your database, all backups which were made by the backup manager, playlists, cart sets etc. By default DRS 2006 will install the database to C:\ProgramData\DRS2006V4. This settings is so important because this is what you need to share your database within a network. You can connect several DRS 2006 instances to a single database which is stored in a network. This can for example be a NAS or any kind of server. We will explain this later on in the "Networking with DRS 2006 Version 4" section. If you change the folder of your database and you want to keep the database you already worked on, please be sure that you close the software and copy the files from the old location over to your new location.

Color scheme:
This setting allows you to customize the look of your DRS 2006. By default the scheme is set to "DeepBlue". You can simply choose several others like "MetropolisDark", "Office2013LightGray" or "Seven". To activate a new scheme you choose the scheme and close the settings by pressing "OK". the new scheme will no be loaded automatically.

Playlist font size:
This setting allows you to set the font size of the playlist. The default is 14. You you want it larger you can for example increase the size.

Playlist horizontal auto size
: This setting lets the playlist grid fit to your screen size so all parameters columns are visible without scrolling to the left or right. Of you course you can also resize each column individually in the playlist grid.

Enable clear text:
This setting is off by default. When off it enables true type fonts. If you prefer clear text, you can uncheck this checkbox.

Load last Workspace on start:
If this setting is enabled the DRS 2006 will automatically load the last workspace you used when you start the software. This includes the last loaded playlist and the cart set.

Disable update check:
Each time you launch the DRS 2006 radio automation software it will contact our servers and check if there is an update available. In case there is an update, DRS 2006 will ask you if you allow to download and install it automatically. During this procedure your database and settings will of course remain. If you do not want to check for updates every time you launch the software, you can disable this option with the checkbox. You can of course also check our website manually and download the latest version via the link we have sent you in the order email.

Licensing

License key: This displays your license key. Please note that it is just valid for 1 PC. You can't install DRS 2006 on several PCs with the same key. If you need to install your DRS 2006 on a different PC for some reason, please deinstall the software and contact our DRS 2006 Help Desk, so we can reset your license information.

Devices
This is another important part of the Settings. Here you set your different devices. This is important if you have several inputs and outputs. DRS 2006 supports prelistening on a different device. This could be a different device on a sound card or even a different device of a different sound card.

Microphone:
You use this drop down box to select your microphone device. The options you have depend on the hardware and drivers you have installed. It should normally show you all audio inputs available on our PC. Even if they are provided by different hardware. The microphone device will correspond with the Talk button which we will explain in a different section.

Additional Input:
Coming up...Currently integrating this feature

Monitor:
Here you select our monitor device. The options you have depend on the hardware and drivers you have installed. It should normally show you all audio outputs available on our PC. On this device you are going to hear what your DRS 2006 will output or broadcast.

Prelisten:
Here you select your prelistening device. The options you have depend on the hardware and drivers you have installed. It should normally show you all audio outputs available on our PC. You can use this device to prelisten to playlists, carts, single database items and auto play playlists. Although you can chose the same device as in the monitor section, it of course does not make any sense to do this. For example you can choose the speakers for the monitor and the SPDIF-Out as your prelistening device. This way you can prelisten on a different device while you are broadcasting something else. You can also use 2 sound cards for this option.

Keyboard
Use numpad keys only: DRS 2006 can be controlled by several short cuts. If you enable this checkbox, only the keys of the numeric pad are used. This may make sense because you are using the normal keyboard keys for the database search engine etc and you do not accidently want to start the playlist by hitting enter on the normal keyboard.

On Air Studio Settings
Next section on the left side are the on air studio settings. Here you can set several global audio parameters like lake fade times and volume percentages.

DRS 2006 Program Settings

General Fade
Fade time [s]: This is the general fade out time for the playlist. Normally you can set an individual fade out time for all database items. However sometimes this general fade out time is needed. For example if the playlist is running and you press on "Stop" two times which means you want an immediate manual DJ Break. In this case the currently playing title will fade out in this time (example: 5 seconds). This time may be a

Cart Slot System
Fade time [s]: This is the fade out time for the carts on the right side. Normally the carts do not fade at all, however if you stop them manually, they will fade out at this speed. Also if the playlist will fade out in this time to the volume percentage set below.

Playlist volume [%]:
When starting a cart slot, you can also set the behavior of the playlist. If this is for example set to 50%, the playlist will fade out to 50% of the volume in the fade time set above this value. If you do not want the playlist to fade out at all, you need to set this value to 100%. The playlist will fade back to normal volume as soon as the cart is manually fading out or it ends normally.

Pause Playlist:
You also have the option to pause the playlist when starting a cart. If this checkbox is selected, DRS 2006 will ignore the playlist volume and simply pause the playlist till either the cart is manually fading out or it ends normally.

Talk System
The Talk System works pretty much like the Cart Slot System except that the the Microphone does not fade in or our. As soon as you press the "Talk" button, you will be heard at full volume.

Fade time [s]:
This is the fade out time of the playlist. As soon as you press the "Talk" button the playlist will fade out in this time to the volume percentage set below.

Playlist volume [%]:
This is the volume percentage the playlist will fade to as soon as you have pressed the "Talk" button. If you do not want the playlist to fade, you need to set this value to 100%. The playlist will fade back to full volume as soon as you deactivate the "Talk" function.

Pause Playlist:
You also have the option to pause the playlist when talking. If this checkbox is selected, DRS 2006 will ignore the playlist volume and simply pause the playlist till you deactivate the "Talk" function.
Mute Monitor while Talking: You can check this option if you want to totally mute the monitor while talking. this does not mean that you are not broadcasting anything. This just means that you won't hear anything so you will not have any acoustic feedbacks when using your microphone.

Category Settings
In this section you can define your own category names and colors which are used to categorize our audio files. Categories are used for many functions in DRS 2006. For example for shuffle rotations or to quickly sort and find audio files. How you categorize your audio files is absolutely up to you. You can for example do this by genre, year, tempo or music format (Hot AC, Mainstream CHR, All News, Classic Rock AOR etc).

DRS 2006 Category Settings

To add a new category you click on the top row. Now you are in the edit mode and you can type the category name and choose a color. To delete a category you click on the row on the left side and press delete on the keyboard. To change any category or color you simply click on the item you want to change.

Streaming Settings
In this section you setup your streaming encoders for broadcasting on the Internet. We have an own manual for this these settings right here: Setting up your online radio station (streaming encoders)

Auto Play Manager Settings
These settings are only available if you have purchased and activated the Auto Play Manager Plugin. We also have an own manual for this plugin here: The DRS 2006 Auto Play Manager Plugin

Auto Cue Point Settings
DRS 2006 lets you set the cue points automatically in the database editor. To do this you can set the Auto Cue In Level and also the Auto Cue Out Level in this section.

Auto Cue Point Settings

You can set the level percentage of these two settings by using the sliders. The percentage means that DRS 2006 will set the Auto Cue In automatically as soon as the song reaches the percentage of its full volume at the beginning of the audio file. The Auto Cue Out works the same except that DRS 2006 will start at the end of the audio file backwards till it reaches the volume level you have set. You will find more information about settings the Auto Cue Points here: Editing the DRS 2006 database.

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