Ask Slashdot: Overhauling an Amusement Park's Multi-Zone Audio Player?

mcmadman writes "The multi-zone audio player I'm working with uses an almost decade old card/software combo that is prone to crashes and other anomalies. I would like to know if there are open source (read 'free') or other alternatives that would allow multiple simultaneous playlists played through the myriad of audio interfaces out there. The line outs are then plugged into a CobraNet matrix, which handles the distribution of the music/sound to their respective areas. I'm looking at eight channels minimum, timed playlist start/stops, and triggered announcements. So far the only software and hardware I've found are proprietary broadcasting solutions which tend to be a bit heavy on the wallet or meant for home use."

Proprietary is good in this instance

[Anonymous Coward]

Bite the bullet and buy a device intended for this use, the Medialon Audio Server. It outputs cobranet directly, is easily integrated into control systems and supports elegant triggering of all sorts. Plays back from SSD drives.

QLab?

[Jeremi]

I haven't used it myself, but I've heard nothing but good things about QLab [figure53.com], which is a free download for MacOS/X. You might want to have a look at that.

You might also have a look at Cricket [cricketsound.com], which is commercial software but not too expensive.

Proffesional AV Gear

[litemizer]

I did AV for a theme park in '99, and have done AV for several themed restaurants since then. When you're talking about putting together a system that's expected to run without a hitch 14 - 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, it's a lot like putting together a server you know will need high availability and reliability. Don't shoot yourself in the foot by getting something mediocre to do the job. The rule of thumb in theme/amusement park AV is to use solid state as much as possible (minimize your downtime to the extreme). My personal gear of choice is Alcorn McBride (alcorn.com). They have an 8 track unit that would to what you need it to do. I've used several of the binloop over the years, and with a near zero issue rate (and what issues I did have were due to a missing firmware update). And as a matter of disclosure, I did become a dealer for them after becoming familiar with their gear on the '99 project.

Re:make it easy on yourself?

[spikesahead]

He's not trying to outfit a house. He's trying to outfit an entire amusement park.

The scale is slightly different.

here you go! 99 bucks and does it all!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.multizoneaudioplayer.com/

Multi Zone Audio Player is not just another media player. It's a music control center for a whole facility or building with many rooms, halls, corridors or another zones. It' a reply for a need in a real application rather than simply a new idea. It's designed to work in professional and commercial environment, not just to entertain one person behind computer. Multi Room Audio Player is designed to play multiple sound tracks into many audio cards (or zones) simultaneously, with music organized into play-lists and/or play-schedules individually for every zone.

With Multi Zone Audio Player, You can:
create as many zones as required, limited only by PC capacity;
assign every zone to a corresponding sound output device;
add tracks to zone playlist, open/save/merge playlists;
full-featured media library and automatic playlist generator;
music library for easy indexing and search through your music collection;
flexible playlist generator with possibility to add advertisements, rotation and jingles;
separate equalizer for every zone;
events scheduler for each zone;
instant jingle hotkeys;
repeat all, repeat one, shuffle options;
drag & drop interface;
customize the windows layout for Your needs and specifics;
control every zone individually or all together at once.

Re:Ah ah ah!

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, Whoosh! Seriously.

Go watch the original Jurassic Park again.