RDAdmin is the Rivendell module designed for the comprehensive configuration of the Rivendell system. The RDAdmin Main Window When starting up RDAdmin, you will be prompted to login in. For a freshly created Rivendell database, the default login parameters are a User Name: of admin with no Password:. The Login Dialog To manage users in RDAdmin, touch the Manage Users to open the Rivendell User List dialog. The Rivendell User List Dialog Two different types of user exist within Rivendell: administrator users (those which have the Administer System or Administer RSS Feeds right set), who are allowed to log into RDAdmin, and operational users, who are configured to have rights to operate specific portions of the Rivendell system but do not have access to RDAdmin. It is not possible for a single user to act in both roles. A newly created Rivendell database will have one user of each type populated automatically, called "admin" and "user" respectively. To see the attributes of an existing user, select its entry on the Users list and touch the Edit button to open the User Dialog. The Rivendell User Dialog The upper third of the dialog provides fields for basic information regarding the user as well as authentication settings. If the Authenticate This User Locally box is ticked, then the login password for this user can be set by touching the Change Password button. If unticked, then authentication is delegated to the Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) specified in the PAM Service: field. The WebAPI Timeout: field sets the timeout (in seconds) when connecting to Rivendell's WebAPI component, while the Allow Web Logins box, if ticked, permits this user to use the web component of RDCastManager. The middle section of the dialog is where individual user rights are assigned for this user. The Administer System box, if ticked, will make this user an administrative user, thus permitting login to RDAdmin, while disallowing the selection of any other rights; while the Administer RSS Feeds box, if ticked, will allow the user to log in to RDAdmin, but only permit access to the Manage Feeds functionality. The other listed rights should be fairly self-explanatory. The bottom of the dialog contains three large buttons. The Assign Group Permissions button allows assignment of the specific groups which this user will be allowed to access in RDLibrary, the Service Permissions allows assignment of the services which this user will be allowed to access in RDLogEdit and the Assign Podcast Feed Permissions allows the assignment of the podcast feeds which this user will be allowed to manage in RDCastManager. Touch the OK button to commit any changes made, or Cancel to abandon them. To manage groups in RDAdmin, touch the Manage Groups button to open the Rivendell Group List dialog. The Rivendell Group List Dialog To examine and modify an existing group, touch its entry in the Groups list and then touch the Edit button to open the Group Dialog. The Rivendell Group Dialog The Default Import Title is the title string that will be assigned to carts created by dropboxes or rdimport1 when no file-specific title metadata is found. This field recognizes the following wildcards: %fBody part of the filename%eExtension part of the filename The Notification E-Mail Addresses is the e-mail address(es) to use when generating import reports with dropboxes or with the rdimport1 command-line tool. Multiple e-mail address can be used by seperating each address with a comma. The Default Cart Type: controls which type of cart (Audio or Macro RDLibrary will default to when creating a new cart in this group. The Default Cart Number: fields define a range of cart numbers to use by default for this group --i.e. by RDLibrary or rdimport1. If the Enforce Cart Range box is ticked, Rivendell will not permit carts to be created in or moved to this group whose cart number does not fall within this range. If the Include this group in Traffic reports or Include this group in Music reports box is ticked, play-outs of carts belonging to this group in a log will be included in traffic or music reports, respectively. If this Set End Date/Time box is ticked, then new cuts that belong to this group will have their end date/time automatically set to the specified number of days after the date of creation. If the Purge expired cuts box is ticked, then cuts in the group will be purged --i.e. deleted -- the specified number of days after they expire. If Delete cart if empty is also ticked, then the cart containing the deleted cut will also be deleted if it contains no other cuts. Carts in this group will be allowed to play only on those services that are shown in the Active Services list. To set a color for the group (used when the group name is displayed elsewhere in Rivendell, touch the Color button. Touch the OK button to commit any changes made, or Cancel to abandon them. A group can be renamed by touching the Rename button. If the New Group Name: given already exists, then the carts in this group will be moved into that group. The Rename Group Dialog A printable report listing the defined groups and their attributes can be generated by touching the Generate Report button. To manage services in RDAdmin, touch the Manage Services button to open the Rivendell Services dialog. The Rivendell Services Dialog To examine and modify an existing service, touch its entry in the Services list and then touch the Edit button to open the Edit Service Dialog. The Edit Service Dialog The General Section The Service Name field contains the name of the service (read-only). This value is available in filepath wildcards as %s. The Service Description field is for a free-form string that describes the service. The Program Code is a string that is sent to PyPAD scripts as part of every Now & Next update. The Log Name Template field is a string that defines how logs will be named when generated by RDLogManager. This field can take filepath wildcards. The Log Description Template field is a string that defines how the Description for each log will be formatted for logs generated by RDLogManager. This field can take filepath wildcards. The Inline Event Start/Length dropdown selects how the Start Time and Length will be calculated when inserting Inline Events. See the section on Inline Event Scheduling Parameters for details. The Voicetrack Group dropdown specifies the Rivendell group to be used for storing voicetracks for this service. The AutoSpot Group dropdown specifies the Rivendell group to be used for storing carts used for the AutoSpot functionality. The Insert CHAIN TO at log end, if ticked, will cause a CHAIN-TO event to the following day's log to be appended to the log when generated by RDLogManager. The Enable AutoRefresh By Default box, if ticked, will cause the log's Enable AutoRefresh attribute to be set to Yes when generated by RDLogManager. The Purge Logs after box, if ticked, will set the default deletion date for logs to be the specified number of days after being created by RDLogManager. See for more information. The Purge ELR Data after box, if ticked, will cause Electronic Log Reconiliation (ELR) as-played data to be purged from the database the specified number of days after being generated. See for more information. The Include Music Import Markers in Finished Logs and Include Traffic Import Markers in Finished Logs boxes, if ticked, will cause markers to indicate the base location of imported Music and Traffic events respectively to be retained even after such events have been imported. Some users find these markers distracting, so their retention can be disabled by clearing this check box. If import markers are not included in finished logs, then it will not be possible re-import data of the respective type into those logs. Certain types of Rivendell item (specifically, play-out logs and ELR data for generating "as-played" reports) tend to accumulate over time. If too many of these items exist it can impact the performance and responsiveness of the Rivendell system. Thus, it is highly recommended that auto-purging of past and no longer required play-out logs and ELR data be enabled. This can be done by ticking the Set Logs to auto-delete and Purge ELR Data boxes respectively and setting the numbers of days to keep the data before purging. Once ELR data for a particular service and date are purged it will be impossible to generate reports for that service/date. Be sure that the purge interval is sufficiently large to allow all required reports to be generated before the data is purged. When inserting an Inline Event (such as a Marker, Voice Track or Traffic Break), the Start Time and Length used will be calculated on the basis of the Inline Event Start/Length setting, as follows: From Scheduler File When this mode is specified, all inline events must be formatted as if they were a regular element of the schedule, with Start Time and Length values explicitly given and the string specified by the Insert Marker String, Insert Voice Track String or Insert Traffic Break String field values aligned as if it was a cart number. Inline Traffic Breaks will generate Traffic Links with Start Time/Length values that correspond to those specified on the respective line of the imported file. From Relative Position When this mode is specified, the string specified by the Insert Marker String, Insert Voice Track String or Insert Traffic Break String must occur somewhere on the line in the schedule file. The correct placement, Start Time and Length of each inline event will be determined heuristically, with Inline Traffic Breaks generating Traffic Links with Start Time/Length values taken from that of the parent Music Event, meaning that only one Inline Event of each type may be placed within the same parent Music Event. The From Relative Position mode is deprecated, and support for it will be removed in a future version of Rivendell. It is currently supported only to avoid breaking existing Rivendell setups. All new installations should use From Scheduler File! Example of an inline Track Marker with Inline Event Start/Length set to From Scheduler File, using the Rivendell Standard Import template: 01:18:04 250098 Southern Nights 00:02:56 01:21:00 TRACK Track Marker 00:00:45 01:22:30 250101 Come A Little Bit Closer 00:02:44 Example of an inline Track Marker with Inline Event Start/Length set to From Relative Position, using the Rivendell Standard Import template: 01:18:04 250098 Southern Nights 00:02:56 TRACK Track Marker 01:22:30 250101 Come A Little Bit Closer 00:02:44 The Configure Autofill Carts button will bring up the Autofill Carts dialog> The Autofill Carts Dialog Carts listed in this dialog will be considered for inclusion in an event by RDLogManager when the event's Use Autofill box is ticked. When filling a gap, RDLogManager will recursively scan the list of available carts, working from the longest to shortest, and insert the longest cart that will fit. The process will stop when either the available gap has been completely filled or no cart short enough to fit has been found. The Enable Hosts button will bring up the Hosts dialog, where the hosts for which this service is allowed to be played can be defined The Hosts Dialog With the exception of one field (Insert Traffic Break String), the Traffic Data Import and Music Data Import sections are identical. Thus, only the Music Data Import section will be described here. The upper part of the section consists of string fields and a dropdown box. Log Importation String Fields The Import Path field takes the fully-qualified path to the file to be used for import events by RDLogManager. This field can take filepath wildcards. The Preimport Command field takes the fully-qualified path to the command to be run before attempting to import the file specified in Import Path. This field can take filepath wildcards. This can be useful when a schedule file requires pre-processing of some sort before being imported by rdlogmanager1. The Insert Marker String field can be used to configure placement of a marker event in the generated log. When the string set here is found in the 'cart' field in a line of the specified import file, RDLogManager will insert a marker event, the text of which will be the 'title' field from that same line. See for details on how the Start Time and Length parameters are calculated when inserting a Marker String. The Insert Voice Track String field can be used to configure placement of a voice track marker in the generated log. When the string set here is found in the 'cart' field in a line of the specified import file, RDLogManager will insert a voice track event, the text of which will be the 'title' field from that same line. See for details on how the Start Time and Length parameters are calculated when inserting a Voice Track String. The Insert Traffic Break String field can be used to configuration placement of a traffic break from an entry in the music import log. When the string set here is found in the cart field. RDLogManager will insert a traffic import event, using the event specified in the Import inline traffic dropdown box in the relevant music event. This field is available only in the Music Data Import section! See for details on how the Link Start Time and Link Length parameters are calculated when inserting a Traffic Break. The Log Parser Settings Rivendell includes the ability to import log schedule files from a variety of third-party scheduling utilities. To configure an import from one of these systems, all that is usually necessary is to select the appropriate system in the Import Template dropdown in the Traffic Data Import or Music Data Import sections. However, if the target scheduler system is not on this list, or if your system requires custom settings, a custom parser can be defined by selecting [custom] from the dropdown. The Copy To Custom button will copy the selected import template values to the custom parser. Using the Copy To Custom action will cause the prior custom import template values to be overwritten! Log schedule files for Rivendell are assumed to be in so-called "column-aligned" format --i.e. each record occupies a single line in a text file that is terminated by a single linefeed or a carriage return, with each field occupying a fixed column position on the line. Each field takes two values: Offset:, which is the starting position of the field (starting from 0) on the line and Length:, which is the number of characters reserved for the field. Setting the Length: value for field to 0 disables the use of that field. Most of the fields should be self-explanatory, but a few call for some comment: Globally Unique ID Many schedulers provide an opaque string with each scheduling record which they expect to be returned as part of the corresponding Electronic Log Reconciliation (ELR) fed back to the system. This field indicates where this "GUID" string should be found. Event ID: / Annc. Type Additional fields for GUID data. As of this writing, only scheduler products from Marketron require the use of these fields. Once the parameters have been configured, they can be tested with a sample import file by touching the Test Music or Test Music buttons to bring up the Test Import dialog. The Test Import Dialog Select the date for the import to test, either by entering it in the Test Date: control or by touching the Select button. Then, touch the Import button. The import events for the day should appear in the Imported Events list. To manage hosts in RDAdmin, touch the Manage Hosts button to open the Rivendell Host List dialog. The Rivendell Host List Dialog To examine and modify an existing host, touch its entry in the Hosts list and then touch the Edit button to open the Host Dialog. The Host Dialog After changing the configuration of a Rivendell module, it is generally necessary to restart that module for the changes to take effect! The dialog is divided into roughly two parts: the upper half, which contains settings that pertain to the selected host overall, and the lower half, which contains buttons that access settings specific to a particular Rivendell module or subsystem. The Host Name: (read-only), Short Name: and Description: fields are for text strings. The value of these fields is accessible using filepath wildcards. The Default User sets the value of the Rivendell user that will be logged in by default --i.e. when the system is restarted or the Default User button is touch in rdlogin(1). The IP Address: field should contain the IPv4 address of the host. For multi-homed systems, an address that is reachable from all other Rivendell hosts should be specified. If this host is the sole host in the Rivendell database, then it is acceptable to specify the loopback address (127.0.0.1) here. The Report Editor: can be used to specify an external text editor to be used to display reports. If desired, the value should consist of the command invocation needed to start the editor. If left blank, the system will use the vi1 editor running in an xterm1 window --i.e. xterm -e vi. The Web Browser: is used to specify an external web browser to be used to display HTML content. If desired, the value should consist of the command invocation needed to start the browser. The SSH Ident. File: field contains the path to the SSH identity (private key) file used to authenticate SFTP file transfers when the Authenticate with local identity file box is ticked in an RSS feed's configuration dialog. See the ssh-keygen1 man page for information on generating SSH identity key pair files. The SSH identity file must be owned by the same user specified by the AudioOwner parameter in the [Identity] section of the rd.conf5 configuration file and have permission mode 0600, otherwise transfers with fail with an Authentication Failed error. See the rd.conf5 man page for more information. See for an example. The Time Offset: field can be used to specify a static time offset in milliseconds to by applied to events in rdcatch(1). The Startup Cart: field takes the number of a macro cart to be executed each time the Rivendell system is restarted. This can be useful for initializing state --e.g. JACK routes, etc. The Cue Output controls specify the audio output to be used for off-line "audition" uses. The Start Cart: and Stop Cart: fields take the number of a macro cart that will be executed each time a cut play starts or stops, respectively (useful for things such as dimming control room audio monitors). If the Enable Heartbeat box is ticked, then the macro cart specified in the Cart: will be executed at the specified interval as a means to provide a system watchdog heartbeat. If the Use Realtime Filtering box is ticked, then the filter parameters when searching for carts will be applied after each keystroke or parameter change. If unticked, then the Search must be touched before altered filter parameters will be applied. If the Include in System Maintenance Pool box is ticked, than this host will be included in the pool of systems eligible to run automatic system maintenance routines in the background. This setting should normally be left ticked unless the host in question has a limited bandwidth connection to the Rivendell database or audio store --e.g. is remotely located from the Rivendell server. If the Enable Drag & Drop box is unticked, then Rivendell's drag and drop system will be disabled. If ticked, then dropping carts on SoundPanels can be disabled by unticking the Allow Drops on Panels not in Setup Mode box. The System Services can be used to allow this host to use the HTTP Xport: or Core Audio Engine services of another host in the Rivendell network. To configure the rdlibrary(1) module, touch the RDLibrary button to open the Configure RDLibrary dialog. The Configure RDLibrary Dialog The INPUT and OUTPUT are used to specify the audio input and output to be used. The Max Record Time field sets the maximum time that rdlibrary(1)'s Record widget will run in record mode; when this time is reached, it will be automatically stopped. To allow an unlimited record duration, set this to 00:00:00. The VOX Threshold control sets audio level at which to automatically begin recording when the Record Mode control is set to VOX in the Record dialog. The AutoTrim Threshold control sets audio level at which to trim the ends of the recorded audio when the AutoTrim control is set to On in the Record dialog. The Tail Preroll control sets how far before an end marker the audio cursor will be positioned when auditioning a marker edit. The Ripper Device field specifies the CD-ROM device to be used for ripping audio CDs. The Paranoia Level dropdown specifies the amount of error checking/recovery to be applied when ripping CDs, with Normal being the maximum amount. With modern CD-ROM hardware, it is often possible to obtain significantly faster ripper performance by setting this control to Low or even None. For further information on the Low and None options, see the '-Y' and '-Z' options in the cdparanoia1 man page or https://linux.die.net/man/1/cdparanoia. The Read ISRC from CD: dropdown controls whether the ripper will attempt to read International Standard Recording Code data from audio tracks when loading the disc. Setting this to Yes can cause CD-ROM drives to take significantly longer to read the table of contents of newly inserted discs when the disc does not contain ISRC data. The CD Metadata Source: dropdown determines the type of data source that will be used to lookup CDs for external metadata records. Three options are available: MusicBrainz Use a MusicBrainz database. This is the default. If selected, the MusicBrainz Server: field is used to provide the hostname of the server. Default value is musicbrainz.org, a public server provided by the MetaBrainz Foundation (but kindly see the note regarding commercial use at https://metabrainz.org/supporters/account-type). CDDB Use a CDDB database. If selected, a CDDB Server: field will also appear, which takes the hostname of the CDDB server to use (default value freedb.freedb.org). None If selected, no external metadata lookup will be performed. Rivendell's CD rippers will also attempt to detect CD-Text data on all discs and will use any information so detected in preference to that supplied by an external lookup. The Format: dropdown indicates the audio encoding format to be used in Rivendell's audio store for ingested material. The Bitrate: dropdown indicates the bitrate to be used when encoding ingested material to MPEG Layer 2. If set to Yes, the Allow External Editing dropdown will cause an Edit Audio button to be displayed when editing audio carts. The Sample Rate Converter: dropdown controls which algorithm will be used when resampling ingested audio to a different sample rate. For more information regarding the various algorithms available, see http://mega-nerd.com/SRC/api_misc.html#Converters. When ticked, the Limit Searchs at Startup box will cause the Show Only First 100 Matches box to be ticked when starting a new instance of rdlibrary(1). The Channels: dropdown sets the default value of the Channels: dropdowns in rdlibrary(1). The Record Mode and AutoTrim dropdowns set the default value of the respective dropdowns in the Record dialog. The Normalization Level: control sets the default value of the Normalization Level: controls in rdlibrary(1). To configure the rdcatch(1) module, touch the RDCatch button to open the Configure RDCatch dialog. The Configure RDCatch Dialog The RDCatch Dialog consists of four sections: Record Deck, Play Deck, Defaults and Host-Wide Settings. The Record Deck dropdown selects the record deck to be configured. The Card: and Port: controls select which audio input will feed the deck, while Monitor Port: allows an audio output to be configured for monitoring audio during recording. The Format: and Bit Rate: dropdowns are used to specify the audio encoding format used in the Rivendell audio store with recordings from this deck. Bit Rate: is used only for a Format: setting of MPEG Layer 2. The Switcher Host:, Switcher Matrix: and Switcher Output: dropdowns can be used to configure a switcher device for routing multiple audio signals into this record deck on a per-event basis. The specified switcher output should be connected to the input specified by the Card: and Port: controls. See for more information on configuring switcher devices. The Channels: control sets the default value of the same control in RDCatch, while the Trim Threshold sets the default value of the autotrim Level: control. The Play Deck dropdown selects the play deck to be configured. The Card: and Port: controls select which audio output will be used by the deck. The Event Carts fields take the number of the macro cart that will be executed each time the corresponding event marker, originally placed during recording by the Cut Event ['CE'] RML is encountered during playback. See for more information. The Error RML: field takes RML code that will be executed whenever RDCatch encounters an error in operations --e.g. a file download failure. To configure the rdairplay(1) module, touch the RDAirPlay button to open the Configure RDAirPlay dialog. The Configure RDAirPlay Dialog The Channel Assignments section contains controls for configuring the audio outputs, along with associated fader metadata and automation. Channel Assignments Section Audio outputs for the Main Log, both Aux Logs, Virtual Logs and the Sound Panel are configured by means of the Card: and Port: controls. For the Main Log, if both Output 1 and Output 2 are set to different card and/or port values, RDAirPlay's output will alternate between the two outputs. Each of the corresponding Start RML: and Stop RML: fields can take RML code that will be executed each time the associated channel is started or stopped. Metadata wildcards can be used in these fields, which will reflect the values of the cart being started or stopped. To configure fader automation for a given channel, touch its Edit GPIOs button to open the Edit Channel GPIOs dialog. Edit Channel GPIOs Dialog The GPI fields specify a general input event coming into Rivendell (typically mapped from the fader ON or OFF status signal on the associated mixer desk). Reception of this signal will cause the corresponding RDAirPlay channel to be started or stopped. The GPO fields specify a general output event emitted by Rivendell each time the corresponding channel is started or stopped (typically mapped to the fader ON or OFF remote control on the associated mixer desk). See for more information on configuring GPIO devices. The Start/Stop Settings section controls the behavior of rdairplay(1) when the module is first opened and finally closed. Start/Stop Section The Exit Password: field can be used to specify a password that must be entered when exiting rdairplay(1) (useful for preventing inadvertent shutdowns). For each of the selected log machines it is possible to specify the action to take at startup by selecting the appropriate value in the At Startup: dropdown. If the Restart Log After Unclean Shutdown box is ticked, then rdairplay(1) will attempt to restart the log from the event which was playing when the unclean shutdown occurred. The Display Settings section controls the contents and formatting of the label areas of the button widget as well as the "skin" used for the overall rdairplay(1) window. Display Settings The Background Image: field takes the full path to an image file to use as the background "skin" for RDAirPlay's main window. The file should be of type JPG or PNG. The Logo Image: field takes the full pathname to an image file to display in the upper right-hand corner of RDAirPlay. The image should should have dimensions of 167x125 pixels and be of type JPG or PNG. Each of the Template: fields define the formatting of one of the lines of the label areas in the button widget. Metadata wildcards are used to define the contents to be displayed. See for a list of supported wildcards. The Log Mode Control section configures the behavior of RDAirPlay mode controls. Log Mode Control The Mode Control Style dropdown is used to specify whether operating mode of the log machines are always the same (Unified mode) or can be separately set (Indepdendent mode). The startup states of the log machines can be set by means of the Start Mode: dropdowns. The Log Settings section configures the behavior of log operations. Log Settings The Manual Segue: field specifies the duration of the segue overlap to apply when manually starting a log event while one or more other events are currently playing. The Forced Segue: field specifies the duration of the segue overlap to apply when a hard time event starts while one or more other events are currently playing. The Pie Counts Last: field specifies when the pie widget begins its countdown, relative to the setting of the Pie Counts To: dropdown. If set to Cart End, countdown will always be relative to the end marker of the cut, whereas a setting of Transition will count down relative to the start of the transition to the following event. The Default Trans. Type dropdown determines what transition type will be applied by default when adding a new event to a log. The Default Service: dropdown determins what service will be associated with a newly created log. The Sound Panel Settings section configures the behavior of Sound Panel operations. Sound Panel Settings The total number of System and User panels are set with the System Panels: and User Panels: fields respectively. If the Flash Active Buttons box is ticked, then the buttons in the button widget that correspond to playing events will flash. If the Enable Button Pausing box is ticked, then touching the button of an playing event will cause it to pause rather than stopping. A paused event can be restarted by pressing its button again. The Label Template control determines the default button legend for newly created Sound Panel buttons. Metadata wildcards can be used in this field. See for a list of supported wildcards. Miscellaneous Settings If the Check Time Sync box is ticked, the status of the kernel's time synchronization PLL lock will be check periodically. If not locked, the wall clock will flash red. Ticking Show Auxlog 1 or Show Auxlog 2 boxes will cause selector buttons for the respective log machines to be displayed. If the Clear Cart Search Filter box is ticked, the cart search dialog's filter will be cleared each time the dialog is redisplayed. If the Enable Paused Events box is ticked, touch the button for a playing event will cause that event to be paused rather than stopped. A stopped event can be restarted by touching it again, dismissed by deleting the event. Ticking the Show Extra Buttons/Counters box will cause Audition Head, Audition Tail buttons and the Run Length to be displayed as part of the List Log widget. Ticking the Show Hour Selector will cause the Hour Selector to be displ;ayed as part of the List Log widget. The Audition Preroll sets how far before the current play position an audition playout will begin. The Space Bar Action dropdown sets what action will taken when the space bar is pressed. To configure the RDPanel module, touch the RDPanel button to open the Configure RDPanel dialog. The Configure RDPanel Dialog The RDPanel application is merely a larger version of the Sound Panel portion of RDAirPlay. As such, its configuration is very similar to that of the Sound Panel section in . Please see that section for details. Although RDPanel's panels appear similar to RDAirPlay's panels, RDPanel has its own set of system and user panels that are independent of RDAirPlay and must be set up separately. To configure the rdlogedit(1) module, touch the RDLogEdit button to open the Configure RDLogEdit dialog. The Configure RDLogEdit Dialog The Input and Output controls are used to specify the audio input and output to be used for the interactive voicetracker. These channel assignments are also used for the voicetracker when it is being accessed through the RDAirPlay module! The Max Record Time field sets the maximum time that rdlogedit(1)'s voice tracker will run in record mode; when this time is reached, it will be automatically stopped. To allow an unlimited record duration, set this to 00:00:00. The AutoTrim Threshold control sets audio level at which to trim the ends of the recorded audio in the voice tracker. The Normalization Level control sets audio level at which to peak normalize the recorded audio in the voice tracker. The Audio Margin control sets how much of the end of the first track in the voicetracker will be visible by default when a new transition is loaded. The Format: and Bit Rate: dropdowns are used to specify the audio encoding format used in the Rivendell audio store with the voice tracker. Bit Rate: is used only for a Format: setting of MPEG Layer 2. If the Enable 2nd Start Button: dropdown is set to No, then the voice tracker will not display the second Start button (and hence, not run the event that follows the recorded track), but wait for the Save button to be touched after starting the track recording. The Play Start Cart:, Play End Cart:, The Record Start Cart: and The Record End Cart: fields each take the number of a macro cart to be executed when the respective audio signal starts or ends. (Useful for automated external audio paths changes to support voicetracking operations). The Channels: dropdown indicates the number of channels to use when recording voicetracks. The Default Transition indicates the transition type to use by default when adding a new log event. To configure the rdcartslots(1) module, touch the RDCartSlots button to open the Configure RDCartSlots dialog. The Configure RDCartSlots Dialog The Global Settings section is used to configure the number and arrangment of cart slots. The number of supported slots is limited only by the available resolution of the display monitor. The Slot Settings is used to configure each individual slot. Channel Assignments settings are used to specify the audio input and output to be used. (The Input Port value is used only when the slot is in Breakaway mode.) The Default Settings settings are used to configure the detailed behavior of the specified cart slot. Service: defines the slot's default service when in Breakaway mode. Slot Mode: sets the mode of the slot and Play Mode sets the default state of the Full or Hook play mode. The contents of the slot at startup can be set using the At Startup: dropdown, and the action when play-out finishes set in the At Playout End: control. A dropbox is a Rivendell process that runs in the background and performs automatic file importation. At its most basic level, each dropbox is configured to have a specific group (within whose carts audio is saved) and a path (a location in the filesystem whence the dropbox will obtain audio to import). When one or more audio files that match the path specification are copied to the path location, the dropbox will automatically import the file(s). There are a number of additional parameters which can be set to influence the way in which a particular dropbox will process audio, which will be covered below. The number of dropboxes capable of being configured on a given host is limited only by that host's hardware capabilities. To see the list of dropboxes currently configured on the system, touch the Dropboxes button to open the Rivendell Dropbox Configurations Dialog. The Rivendell Dropbox Configurations Dialog A new dropbox can be created by touching the Add button, opening the Dropbox Configuration dialog. The Dropbox Configuration Dialog The group of the new dropbox is set with the Default Group: dropdown and the path with the Path Spec: field. The Path Spec: field must match the full file path of the files to be processed, not just the sub-directory that contains those files. For example: say we have a directory called '/home/rd/dropbox', which contains the following files: mysong.mp3 mysong.wav yoursong.mp3 Table 10.2 shows the results using various example PathSpec: values. PathSpec Matches Comments /home/rd/dropbox/* mysong.mp3 mysong.wav yoursong.mp3 Matches all files in /home/rd/dropbox /home/rd/dropbox/*.mp3 mysong.mp3 yoursong.mp3 Matches every file in /home/rd/dropbox that ends with .mp3 /home/rd/dropbox/mysong.* mysong.mp3 mysong.wav Matches every file in /home/rd/dropbox that begins with mysong. /home/rd/dropbox Matches nothing. [No file part of the PathSpec]. /home/rd/dropbox/ Matches nothing. [No file part of the PathSpec]. A new dropbox created with just the Default Group: and PathSpec: fields set and no other parameters changed will detect any file that matches the PathSpec:, create a new cart in the Default Group: and then attempt to import the file into a new cut in the cart. For this process to work, the specified group must also have its Default Cart Number: fields in the Group Dialog set to a valid range, and there must be a free number within that range available. If either of these conditions are not met, the dropbox will throw an error. The importation will only happen once for each file matched. To get a dropbox to re-process files that have already been imported, touch the Reset button. The following controls can be utilized to influence how a dropbox will process a matched file: To Cart: Add a new cut to the specified cart and import into that, rather than creating a new cart. If the Delete cuts before importing box is also ticked, then any existing cuts in the specified cart will be deleted before adding the new cut. Metadata Pattern: Attempt to discern the title to give to the new cart from the name of the matched file, using metadata wildcards as a template. User Defined: Set the value of this field as the user defined field of the new cart. Log events in Syslog If ticked, log messages for this dropbox will be sent to the system syslog. Otherwise, these events will be sent to the file specified by the Log File: setting below. Log File: The full path to a file to which to write a log of dropbox operations. Useful for troubleshooting problems. If a log file is not specified, the log will be written to the log specified in the [Logs] section of rd.conf5. Delete source files after import Delete the source file after successful importation. Send e-mail reports A report will be sent to the Notification E-Mail Addresses associated with the destination group for each file processed by the dropbox. Force to Monaural Import the matched file to a single channel (mixing multiple channels together if necessary). Normalize Levels Peak-normalize the matched file to the specified Level: in dBFS. Autotrim Cuts Autotrim the matched file, using a threshold of Level: dBFS. Insert Segue Markers If no segue marker information is found in the metadata of the matched file, create segue markers, starting at the last instance of Segue Level: and lasting for Segue Length: milliseconds. Get cart number from CartChunk CutID Determine the number of the destination cart from the matched file's CartChunk CutID field. If the cart does not exist, it will be created. The destination cart must lie within the valid range for the specified group. Get cart title from CartChunk CutID Determine the title of the destination cart from the matched file's CartChunk CutID field. Offset start date If a start date is found in the matched file's metadata, add the specified days to it. Offset end date If an end date is found in the matched file's metadata, add the specified days to it. Create Dates when no Dates Exist If no start or end date is found in the matched file's metadata, add such, adding the specified number of days to the current date. Carts created by this dropbox can be assigned one or more existing scheduler codes by touching the Scheduler Codes button to open the Select Scheduler Codes dialog. The Select Scheduler Codes Dialog To configure the Switcher/GPIO devices, touch the Switchers/GPIO button to open the Rivendell Switcher List dialog. The Rivendell Switcher List Dialog To add a new Switcher/GPIO device, touch the Add button to open the Add Switcher dialog. The Add Switcher Dialog Select the type of switcher being added on the Switcher Type: dropdown and then touch the Add button to open the Edit Switcher dialog. The Edit Switcher Dialog Rivendell supports a huge diversity of third-party switcher and GPIO devices, every one of which has its own unique operating requirements. The description which follows provides a broad overview of how these devices are configured, but be sure to consult the device-specific notes for the unit question in as well. If the target device is controlled via some sort of connection (TCP/IP or serial), that connection is configured in the Primary Connection section of the dialog. (Certain devices support multiple, redundant connections, in which case the Backup Connection section will be available as well). The Type: dropdown is used to indicate if the connection is via TCP/IP or serial. If serial is selected, then the serial device to use can be selected by means of the Serial Port: dropdown. If using a serial port, be sure that the selected port has also been configured! See . If TCP/IP is selected, then the IP Address: and IP Port: fields must be populated. Certain devices also require that the Username: and Password: fields be populated as well. The Startup Cart: and Shutdown Cart: fields take the number of a macro cart that will be run after the connection established or dropped, respectively. Below the Connection settings are various miscellaneous controls and buttons. Not all of these are used for all supported devices. Use of the Card:, Device: and Layer: fields are specific to the type of device. See that device's entry in for more information. The Inputs:, Outputs:, GPIs:, GPOs: and Displays: controls should be set to the number of those resources the target device contains. In many cases, these fields will be auto-detected by Rivendell's driver. The Configure Inputs and Configure Outputs buttons can be used to assign names to each switcher input and output on the target device. These names will appear in RDCatch when configuring record events. The Configure GPIs and Configure GPOs buttons can be used to configure the default action to be taken in response to reception of a GPIO event. Touching one of these buttons brings up the List GPIs Dialog. The List GPIs Dialog To edit a particular GPIO line, select its entry on the list and touch the Edit button to bring up the Edit GPI Dialog. The Edit GPI Dialog Two macro carts may be associated with each event: one for the leading edge [ON Transition] and one for the trailing edge [OFF Transition]. The macro cart associations configured here are merely defaults, set when the Rivendell service is [re]started. They can subsequently be altered dynamically through use of the GPI Set ['GI'] command. (See ). Host variables are alphanumeric tags bracketed by '%' characters --e.g. %HOST_VAR% -- that can be assigned string values on a per host basis. When used in the command list in a macro cart, the assigned string is automatically substituted for the variable name. To add, edit or delete host variables, touch the Host Variables button to open the Host Variables dialog. The Host Variables Dialog To edit the value of an host variable, select its entry on the Host Variables list and then touch the Edit button to bring up the Edit Host Variable dialog. The Edit Host Variable Dialog To configure audio ports, touch the Audio Ports button to open the Edit Audio Ports dialog. The Edit Audio Ports Dialog As of this writing, settings made in this dialog will have effect only on audio devices using the AudioScience HPI driver. The Card: dropdown is used to select the audio card to which to apply settings. Clock Source: is used to select the source of the sample clock. Each input and output port on a card can be set to be of a certain type (Analog, AES/EBU or SP/DIFF). The Mode: dropdown controls the routing of left/right signals (see table below), while the reference level of the signal at each port can be set with the Ref. Level: control. ChannelsModeEffect 1NormalLeft+Right sum to mono1SwapLeft+Right sum to mono1Left OnlyLeft only to mono1Right OnlyRight only to mono2NormalStereo2SwapStereo, Left swapped with Right2Left OnlyLeft only, Right muted2Right OnlyRight only, Left muted To configure serial (COM) ports, touch the Serial Ports button to open the Edit Serial Ports dialog. The Edit Serial Ports Dialog Select the desired Rivendell serial port to configure in the Port ID: dropdown. The Enabled box must be ticked before parameters can be set. Touching the Audio Resources button will bring up the Audio Resource Information dialog, a read-only report detailing the current audio configuration and capabilities of Rivendell. The Audio Resource Information Dialog The JACK Audio Connection Kit is an audio integration system that allows audio to be shared in real-time between multiple programs. More information can be found at http://jackaudio.org. To configure Rivendell's integration with JACK, touch the JACK Settings button to bring up the JACK Configuration dialog. The JACK Configuration Dialog To have jackd(1) automatically [re]started whenever the Rivendell service is [re]started, tick the Start JACK Server box and enter the appropriate command-line invocation in the JACK Command Line: field. The name of the JACK instance to connect to [the "--name" option as provided to jackd(1)] can be entered in the JACK Server Name: field. Rivendell can also be configured to [re]start JACK clients automatically each time the Rivendell service is [re]started by adding the appropriate command-line invocation to the JACK Clients to Start list. Filepath wildcards can used in the command-line field. The clients will be run under the same user as that of the caed8 daemon (user 'root' [UID 0] with stock Rivendell). Port connections between JACK clients can be managed by use of the Jack Connect ['JC'] and Jack Disconnect ['JD'] RMLs. See and . PyPAD is a system that is built into Rivendell that allows processing and transmission of Program Associated Data [PAD] by means of scripts written in the Python programming language. See for information on creating your own customized PyPAD scripts. To see the list of PyPAD scripts configured to run on the selected host, touch the PyPAD Instances button to open the PyPAD Instances dialog. The PyPAD Instances Dialog To add a new PyPAD instance, touch the Add button to open the Select PyPAD Script dialog. The Select PyPAD Script Dialog Select a script from the list and then touch the Open button to open the Edit PyPAD Instance dialog. The Select PyPAD Script Dialog The Configuration box contains lines of text that control the behavior of the script that's been selected. Lines that begin with a semicolon character [;] are comments; the rest are directives to the script. When finished editing the configuration, touch the OK button to save the configuration and start the script running. The green light adjacent to the entry for the script instance just edited will turn red briefly before turning back to green, indicating that the changes to the configuration have been applied to the active instance. It is not necessary to restart RDAirPlay for the configuration changes to be made effective. Rivendell v2.x included a feature called "Rivendell Loadable Modules" ("RLM" for short) that included much of the functionality now provided by PyPAD. The following RLMs that shipped as part of Rivendell v2.x have been ported to PyPAD and shipped as part of Rivendell 3.x: rlm_ando rlm_filewrite rlm_icecast2 rlm_inno712 rlm_liqcomp rlm_live365 rlm_serial rlm_shoutcast1 rlm_spottrap rlm_tunein rlm_udp rlm_urlwrite rlm_walltime rlm_xds rlm_xmpad The formats of the configuration files used for these plug-ins are unchanged under PyPAD. Thus, a "known good" configuration file for an RLM can simply be copy/pasted into the Configuration box in the Edit PyPAD Instance dialog when setting up its replacement PyPAD script. Be sure to remove completely the default "sample" configuration entries before copy/pasting in the "known good" ones! In addition to the above, some of the functionality of the rlm_spinitron_plus RLM has been ported into the pypad_spinitron script. Specifically, support for the deprecated Spinitron v1 interface has been removed. Sites which have not yet transitioned to Spinitron v2 will need to do so in order to use this script. Sites which are already using Spinitron v2 can use their existing RLM configuration unchanged. To manage system-wide settings --i.e. those settings that apply to all Rivendell hosts -- in RDAdmin, touch the System Settings button to open the System-Wide Settings dialog. The System-Wide Settings Dialog The Realm Name: field takes a string that identifies the complete set of Rivendell hosts that share a common database. It should be globally unique. The System Sample Rate: dropdown sets the global sample rate to be used for Rivendell's audio store. This control should be set before ingesting any audio into a new Rivendell system and not altered thereafter. Changing this setting on a system with existing audio in the audio store may result in incorrect play-out of that audio! The Allow Duplicate Cart Titles box, if not ticked, will force all carts to have a unique title. If unticked, then ticking the Auto-Correct Duplicate Cart Titles box will cause duplicate cart titles to be automatically made unique when imported. The unique name is constructed by appending "[n]", (where n is an integer) to the end of the title string. The ability to disallow duplicate cart titles in Rivendell has been deprecated and may be removed from future versions; it is included strictly to keep existing setups working. Use of it can cause other features within Rivendell to operate unreliably. It should never be used in new Rivendell setups! If the Show User List in RDLogin box is ticked, rdlogin(1) will require users to enter their user name as well as their password when logging in (instead of providing all possible user names in a dropdown). The ISCI Cross Reference Path: field takes the full path to the ISCI cross reference file used by the rdrepld8 daemon (used only in conjunction with X-Digital copy-split replication). The Origin E-Mail Address: field takes the value that Rivendell will use as the "From:" address when sending e-mail. Rivendell uses the system's sendmail1 interface when originating e-mail. For many modern e-mail setups, additional site- and distro-specific configuration will be necessary to produce a working outbound e-mail setup beyond what can be covered here. The Multicast Address for Notifications: field takes the IPv4 multicast address to use for communicating state and configuration changes between Rivendell hosts and modules. It should seldom be necessary to change this value from the default (239.19.255.72) unless unless Rivendell hosts from two or more different Rivendell realms will be sharing a common multicast domain. In such cases, each realm should have its own unique multicast address. The Maximum Remote Post Length: field sets the maximum length POST submission that will be processed by the RDXport service. The Temporary Cart Group: dropdown sets the Rivendell group to be used for storing temporary carts --e.g. carts used for processing direct file play-outs in RDCartSlots. The Process RSS Updates On: dropdown sets the Rivendell host to be used for processing automatic state changes for RSS feeds. If no RSS feeds are configured, this value can safely be set to [none]. The Date/Time Formats settings can be used to customize the display formats for various date/time elements. For a list of the wildcards used in the formatting strings, see . Each service which will be employing voicetracking on its logs must have an audio group assigned to contain the service's voicetrack carts. The group should have a Default Cart Number range large enough to contain all voicetracks that will simultaneously exist for that service, and have the Enforce Cart Range box ticked. Voicetrack carts are created, managed and ultimately deleted completely by Rivendell's voicetracking system. While they are visible to and can be auditioned by RDLibrary, they cannot otherwise be updated or deleted by that module. To manage scheduler codes, touch the Scheduler Codes button to bring up the Rivendell Scheduler Code dialog. The Rivendell Scheduler Codes List Dialog A new scheduler code can be added by touching the Add button to bring up the Scheduler Code dialog. The Scheduler Code Dialog A replicator is a Rivendell service that provides the ability to move content automatically between different system realms on the basis of predefined rules. At present, Rivendell includes one such replicator, which can move audio material to an X-Digital satellite head-end system. To manage replicators, touch the Manage Replicators button to bring up the Rivendell Replicators dialog. The Rivendell Replicators Dialog To add a new replicator, touch the Add button to bring up the Replicator dialog. The Replicator Dialog The Name: is a read-only field giving the name of the replicator. The Description is a free-form text string providing a description of the replicator. The Type: dropdown should set to the type of replicator. At present, only one type is supported, Citidel X-Digital Portal. The Host System: dropdown should be set to the name of the Rivendell Host upon which the rdrepld(8) daemon is run. The Audio Upload URL: should be set to the URL of the upload location for audio to be sent to the remote system. It may also be necessary to set the Username: and Password: fields if that remote system requires it. The Upload Format: should be set to provide the file and encoding format of the replicator uploads as required by the remote system. This can be done by touching the Set button. If the Normalize box is ticked, then audio will be peak-normalized to the level set by the Level: control before being uploaded. The Active Groups list should be populated with the names of the Rivendell Groups from which audio to be replicated should be taken. Configuration of the Webget service consists of three tasks: Configure Rivendell to disallow duplicate cart titles. Configure a set of Encoder Formats Configure one or more Users for access See "Allow Duplicate Cart Titles" checkbox in . To configure Encoder Formats, log in to rdadmin1, touch the System Settings button to open the System-Wide Settings button, then touch the Edit Encoder List button to open the Encoder Profiles dialog. The Encoder Profiles Dialog To add a new Encoder Profile, touch the Add button to open the Edit Audio Settings dialog. The Edit Audio Settings Dialog Enter the description of the Profile to appear in Webget, select the desired audio parameters and then touch the OK button. Exiting Encoder Profiles can be modified or deleted by means of the Edit and Delete buttons, respectively. To configure one or more users for Webget access, log in to rdadmin1, touch the Manage Users button to open the Rivendell User List button, then create or select the desired user to open the User dialog. For downloads, each Webget user must have the Allow WebGet Login permission enabled, as well as rights to one or more Groups set by touching the Group Permissions button. For uploads, each Webget user must have the Allow WebGet Login and Create Carts permissions enabled, as well as rights to one or more Groups set by touching the Group Permissions button.