May 15, 2012 • Alcorn McBride TourTraXX User’s Manual • Rev 1.3 • Page 27
Playlist Control
You can have a total of
17 simultaneously-
running playlists in the
TourTraXX. One system
playlist plus one per
channel.
Playlists provide a mechanism for the TourTraXX to automatically execute
commands in a predefined sequence. Since Playlists can execute any of the
commands listed in the
Command Protocol
section, they can perform a
variety of functions. These functions could be something as simple as
looping a single channel or groups of channels, or as complex as user-
initiated pacing of playback.
Overview
For an easy way to
make a playlist, use
Playlist Builder
described on Page 30
and available at the
software section of
http://www.alcorn.com
A playlist zero
(PLY00000.LST) will
automatically play on
power-up.
It is not a good idea to
have both a playlist file
and an audio file with
the same number (like
PLY00002.LST and
SND00002.MP3). If you
do, commanding the
TourTraXX to play file
#2 may not produce the
desired result (whatever
that may be) since the
TourTraXX is forced to
prioritize which file type
it should play in that
circumstance.
A playlist file is nothing more than a list of TourTraXX commands listed
in a text file.
These commands, which are listed in the
Command Protocol
section, are the same commands that are used by all of the TourTraXX’s
control interfaces
.
Although any of the supported commands can be used,
playlists usually contain
Play
commands, which cause the TourTraXX to
play audio clips from the Compact Flash card. When a playlist is being used,
the commands are processed in the order in which they appear in the list. The
playlist is an ASCII text file and can be made using any ASCII text editor
(like notepad) or using the Playlist Builder program available from
http://www.alcorn.com/support/software.html
.
Each channel of the TourTraXX can have its own independent playlist.
There is one additional system playlist that is not tied to any particular
channel.
Playlists are triggered the same way as sound files - by Serial or Ethernet
commands, or with discrete inputs. The system playlist is started by a
PL
command and the individual channel playlists are started with
PO
commands.
For example, the following serial command would start the playlist file
“ply00002.lst” as the system playlist:
2PL
The following command would start the playlist file “ply00004.lst” as the
channel 5 playlist:
4C5PO
It is a very common requirement in applications for the TourTraXX to power
up and launch a playlist on its own. This can easily be done by naming the
playlist file
PLY00000.LST
. This filename directs the TourTraXX to play
the file as the system playlist upon power up.
It is also common practice to have one playlist launch another playlist. This
is done in the same fashion as playing an audio file; by using a command
like
2PL
(where 2 is the number of another playlist).
