Does ControlReady support Rotations within Rotations?
A: Yes. ControlReady allows you to have rotations inside other rotations. In this fashion, a rotation can not only rotate WAV files but call other rotations which, in turn, have wave files. In theory, it may be possible (within limits) to have rotations call rotations, which call rotations and so on, but we strongly advise users (for performance as well as sanity issues) to never setup rotations to go down more than one rotation level deep.
A regular rotation file (*.RPL) can refer to either WAV or other rotation files.
Note: Never have a rotation call itself. If the rotation is called "CUTS.RPL" you would never want a line that says "CUTS.RPL" in the CUTS.RPL rotation. Calling yourself from within yourself is called an endless loop. In versions lower than 7.5, we will crash. Version 7.5 and later will realize you made a tremendous goof and ignore the request. Even so, don't try it.
It is completely safe and powerful to have one rotation call other rotations. Again be careful not to have one rotation call another rotation which in turn lists the first rotation. For example:
A rotation called "ID.RPL".
FILE1.WAV
FILE2.WAV
FILE3.WAV
The first time you try to play ID.RPL, we will play "FILE1," the next time that rotation comes up, we will play "File2," the next time that rotation comes up it will play "FILE3". This assumes the files exist, and if you are using start and stop dates and times, that the times are valid. A rotation will skip a file if it doesn't exist (and jump to the next) and will also skip it if its start or end date and time is invalid. Whether or not we obey start and
stop times is an INI setting. Keep in mind, we also support the use of alternate files where if FILE1 doesn't exist but you have a FILE1_2.WAV we will play the alternate file (known as an evergreen) should that file be missing or out of date. The use of alternate files is optional and it is automatic if you use them.
After we play FILE3, we will go back to the top and the next time we play we will play FILE1. Please note: if you ever open the RPL in a text editor you will see our marker move from file to file to indicate the next up cut as the day goes on. Also note that how we rotate is INI based. Your system can be setup to wait until the time we play the rotation to rotate or we can rotate when you load a file into a deck or when the rotation is imported via a traffic log. In the latter cases, you will see which specific file will get played when you loaded/scheduled the file. If you don't have us setup to rotate when we load, then if you view a day then you will see the playlist project what will play when, but if you alter the schedule, all the rotations will shift accordingly dynamically.
Now if you have a rotation called ID2.RPL and let's assume this rotation contains other rotations.
FILE1.WAV
ROTATION1.RPL
FILE2.WAV
Similar to the first rotation, the first time we play we play FILE1. However the next file is a rotation so when it comes up we NOW look in that second rotation and will play the next file FROM that rotation where ever it happens to be. The next time we play we will play FILE2. Then we will play FILE1. And then since we've hit the ROTATION1 again, we will play the next file from that ROTATION1 and then on. Keep in mind that if ROTATION1 is used elsewhere or referred to in other rotations (which is allowed), we will play whatever file is next on that rotation. So if that ROTATION1 has been called by other rotations or elsewhere 3 times since the last time this rotation calls it, we will be playing the 4th file down in ROTATION1 the next time we call it. In other words, each rotation independently controls where it leaves off.
It is up to you how many files and rotations you list in a rotation. You can list a 100 or more. There is also no restriction on calling the same rotation more than once in the same rotation. You could for example have a rotation like:
FILE1.WAV
ROTATION1.RPL
FILE2.WAV
ROTATION1.RPL
FILE3.WAV
etc
In this case, the 2nd and 4th item in this first rotation looks at the other rotation to pick the next up from that rotation. There are endless possibilities since you can refer to different rotations in the same playlist and refer to them in any combination you like mixed with wav files.
Is there a way to specify that each file to be played for a number of times before moving to the next file in the rotation?
The only way to do this is to list the same file name more than once in the rotation list. There is no limit to the number of times the same file name can be mentioned in a rotation so if youw ant a file to play 4 times, you'd list it 4 times, before listing the next file. So if you want a file called cat.wav to play 3 times in a row and a file called dog to play 4 times in a row, then the rotation would look like this:
cat.wav
cat.wav
cat.wav
dog.wav
dog.wav
dog.wav
dog.wav
Can you have a rotation refer to a rotation which in turn refers to a rotation and so on?
Yes. We generally tell people to avoid this kind of thing, but theoretically we will parse 10 rotations deep. So if the first rotation hits a line that says ROTATION2.RPL and that rotation has a rotation, and it has a rotation and so on, we might have to open several files until we finally see a WAV file to play.
To conclude, one example of a rotation calling rotations could be a rotation called MUSIC.RPL:
FAST.RPL
SLOW.RPL
SLOW.RPL
LINER.RPL
FAST.RPL
LEGAL.ID.WAV
The above rotation, if you called it continually (or often to say the least), it would play a fast song (assuming you had lots of fast songs contained in the FAST.RPL) followed by two slow, then a liner, then another fast, and then finally this example has it playing the same legal id as the last item in the rotation.
Remember that actual WAV files in the rotations being called are still subject to start and stop date restrictions if you've built those in. And if you wanted the FAST.RPL to call another rotation that had individual rotations by artists, that is supported. Now, everytime the FAST.RPL executes instead of it referring to individual songs, you could have rotations in the FAST.RPL that are grouped by artists. Now everytime it says VanHalen.RPL, the FAST.RPL will play a Van Halen song. But it won't play the same physical song everytime the FAST.RPL refers to the VanHalen.RPL in it's list.
So you can go as deep as you like.
One more caveat: when building rotation files always include the extension in the brackets. We will assume RPL before WAV if you don't specify a rotation, so if your rotation looks like this:
FILE1
FILE2.WAV
FILE3
Whenever the rotation comes on FILE1 and FILE3 we will first see if a FILE1.RPL or FILE3.RPL exists and then look in those lists - and if they don't exist, then and only then do we look for FILE1.WAV or FILE3.WAV when those events occur. There is no harm, but if you have both a FILE1.WAV and a FILE1.RPL you won't necessarily play the file you expect if you don't include the extensions with the file names. For this reason, we also advise against
using the same file name for a rotation and a WAV file. If you always include extensions then you can - but it opens the chance for mistakes.
What are Super Rotations and how do they differ from rotations?
With all this said, don't confuse rotations within rotations with super rotations. Super Rotations are a multi-sequence play command where if you schedule a super rotation in an automation deck, we will play ALL the listed cuts back to back (automatically inserting all the referred to files in the playlist as if you scheduled them individually). A super rotation is like a mini playlist that auto-loads (like a macro). Super rotations don't have to refer to other rotations, but they usually do since they're often used to create packaged promos that blend multiple variations of intro files, with
individual advertiser or feature spots, followed by other pieces which all rotation independently with each other. A regular rotation (RPL) only will fire a single file for each time the rotation is scheduled to play in the automation deck/live assist screen. If a regular rotation contains rotation references, you're just asking us to search through more than one list to get to the eventual wav file that will fire.
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