This article is part of a series on NexGen.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Tether integrates with several automation systems, including NexGen 2.10.2 or higher. This series of articles is generally geared toward your station's IT/engineering staff, but it's a good idea for program directors to be familiar at a higher level with this information too.
There are three basic pieces to integrating NexGen with Tether and Futuri Mobile:
- Now Playing information - Song elements and Export Comments will be configured to export from NexGen to Futuri.
- Voting session integration - NexGen has built-in integration for Tether, and we'll configure NexGen to communicate with our system for this information.
- Music Logs- We'll install our software, called Echo to watch the folder where your station's music logs are saved. These music logs are used for two primary purposes:
- Voting Sessions - Depending on the voting feature your station uses, music logs help to tell Futuri what the vote options should be (or to see what songs should be used for separation purposes).
- Instant Alerts - Users can sign up to receive alerts when their requests are about to play on your station. Futuri's system compares what your station is playing now with what's scheduled in the near future so that we can send these alerts ahead of when the request actually plays (so there's time for the user to turn on the radio).
Installation
To work through this installation process for the first time, please contact Futuri VIP Support. These instructions may look daunting, but a remote session with one of our Support Agents should only take about 30 minutes per station.
This process includes the following steps:
- Now Playing setup
- Audio Server (Aserv) Nexgen INI settings
- Utility Machine NexGen INI settings
- Echo Setup
Now Playing setup
The Now Playing export from NexGen to Futuri can be set up on any machine that has NexGen, but you will need to be logged in as an administrator.
In NexGen’s main menu, go to Config and click Station and select the station you’re integrating with Futuri.
Note the station’s number on the Station screen because you’ll need that later.
Once you’ve selected your station, click the Export button.
Fill out the export details as listed in the screenshot below. The credentials on lines 7 through 9 must be obtained from Futuri VIP Support.
TCP-IP Settings notes:
- The IP Address should be the internal IP of the PC that will run Echo (likely your utility machine) (and cannot be 0.0.0.0 or 127.0.0.1). The port should generally be 9000 for the first station you configure, 9001 for the second station, etc (since each port can only be used for one purpose).
- Legacy stations may still be configured to export to the IP Address 54.86.247.145 and port 8080. This is still supported, but newer stations should use the IP and port specified in the previous bullet point.
Once you've configured this Now Playing export, click OK. You'll need to restart NexGen on the Aserv in order for the changes to go into effect. However, it is NOT necessary to restart the entire computer, so this task can usually be done within the duration of one song.
Audio Server (Aserv) Nexgen INI settings
The Audio Server has to be told to treat Tether (LDR) commands as “triggers” to start checking in with Futuri for a winning song. Even if your station is not planning to use this feature right away, it's a good idea to configure it so that it's ready, should programming decide to implement one of these features.
On the Aserv, open C:\Windows\wizard.ini
At the bottom of the document, add the following lines (where # is replaced by the number of the station within NexGen, i.e. LDR5):
[LDR#]
UPick Start=true
Note that there is a space between “Upick” and “Start” for this setting, and it is case-sensitive.
If you’re setting up multiple stations on the same Aserv, add a line for each station.
Save the changes to wizard.ini and close the file. If you're setting up multiple stations on different Aservs, repeat this step on each station's Aserv.
Utility Machine NexGen INI settings
The PC that runs the station’s overnight processes is the one that checks in with Futuri and/or Echo to receive winning songs.
On the overnight/utility machine, open C:\Windows\wizard.ini
At the bottom of the file, add the following lines (where # is replaced by the number of the station within NexGen). Replace “xxxx” and “xxxx12345” with the NexGen username/password from Futuri VIP Support. This text is case-sensitive.
[LDR#]
Username=xxxx
Password=xxxx12345
Pollwebsite=stations.ldrhub.com/winner.php
[SRPlus#]
Username=xxxx
Password=xxxx12345
Pollwebsite=#.#.#.#:8085/takeover_winner.php
Instead of #.#.#.#, the IP address should be set to the IP of the computer running Echo. NOTE: This IP address cannot be 0.0.0.0 or 127.0.0.1.
If you’re setting up multiple stations on the same overnight machine, add the above lines for each station. Remember, each IP/port combo can only be used for one station at a time, so use a unique port for each station's configuration (i.e. 8085 for the first station, 8086 for the second, etc.).
Save the changes to wizard.ini. Restarting NexGen on this PC should not be necessary.
Echo Setup
Futuri's Echo software sends a copy of the station’s music logs, which are required for:
- "UPick"-style voting sessions
- Takeover / Top Song / FaceOff forward separation
- Song Alerts
As of version 2.5.3 (released Fall 2014), Echo can also send Now Playing information to Futuri and return winning Takeover/ Top Song / FaceOff choices back to NexGen.
Echo should generally be downloaded from here and you can obtain a settings file (named station.xml) from Futuri VIP Support. Do not run Echo.exe without first configuring the station.xml file.
To install Echo (typically on the station’s utility machine), create the folder C:\Echo\XXXX (where XXXX is the station’s call letters) and extract the contents of the downloaded Echo.zip (link above) to the same folder. If you are setting up multiple stations, each should have a folder in C:\Echo (with its own Echo files inside).
In the newly extracted folder, place the station.xml file which will be provided by Futuri VIP Support. It must be saved in the same folder as Echo.exe.
Note: Microsoft .NET 4.0 or higher is required for Echo. If you're running Windows 7 or higher, you should be all set, but If needed, you can download .NET 4.0 by clicking here and following the instructions. When .NET 4.0 is confirmed to be installed, run Echo.exe and navigate to File > Boot on Startup so that Echo will start up with the PC.