Spacial Debuts Accessible Radio Broadcasting Software to Let Blind and Visually Impaired Create Internet Radio Stations.

(Sherman Oaks, Calif.) October 9—Spacial, an award-winning maker of radio automation software, launched SAM VIBE, a powerful Internet radio broadcasting application that’s fully accessible to users who are blind or visually impaired.

SAM VIBE lets broadcasters produce their own cloud Internet radio programs, whether it’s news, sports, talk, or various genres of music. The software gives users the ability to upload and manage large music libraries, control scheduling and automate many aspects of program production.

Spacial created SAM VIBE to especially appeal to broadcasters who are blind or visually impaired. The software is fully compatible with text-to-speech screen readers, and can be operated using a computer keyboard instead of mouse. Additionally, the color scheme is color-blind friendly and optimized for contrast, with large fonts to make reading text easier.

Spacial created SAM Vibe to especially appeal to broadcasters who are blind or visually impaired. The software is fully compatible with text-to-speech screen readers, and can be operated using a computer keyboard instead of mouse. Additionally, the color scheme is color-blind friendly and optimized for contrast, with large fonts to make reading text easier.

“Lots of people want to be DJs but most radio broadcasting software is too complex for the average user and not designed to be accessible for people who are blind or visually impaired,” says Pascal Laflamme, Managing Director of Spacial. “SAM VIBE has an easy and fully accessible interface to allow broadcasters with or without vision to create their own commercial-quality radio stations right from their PCs.”

“As a media professional who is blind, I have expertise with many types of radio broadcasting software and believe SAM VIBE is a great solution for those new to Internet broadcasting,” says Erin Edgar, who co-founded the Tech Access Weekly podcast covering accessible technology for the blind and visually impaired with her husband, Rodney. Tech Access Weekly created an audio review of SAM VIBE’s features for low-vision and screen reader users, which can be found on the SAM VIBE website.

SAM VIBE also makes it easy for kids to explore the craft of radio programming, and it’s in use at the broadcast studio operated by SLB Radio Productions, Inc. at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. “With SAM VIBE, we now have an easy and intuitive way to teach kids to create and control their own broadcasts, whether for fun or career discovery,” says Larry Berger, founder and executive director of SLB Radio. 

SLB Radio is also evaluating SAM VIBE to manage iQ Kids Radio, its new 24/7 service launching with WQED in Pittsburgh in 2013. “Eight years ago we chose SAM Broadcaster for our studios and it has exceeded our high expectations.  We’re confident that SAM VIBE will also play an important role as we develop new forms of youth-based programming,” Berger adds.

About Spacial

Since 1999, Spacial has been developing quality audio software. In 2002, it launched SAM Broadcaster, its renowned radio automation software that allows broadcasters to stream their radio stations online. The company has also created DJ software called SAM Party DJ (now SAM DJ) and the SimpleCast live audio event streaming encoder (now SAM Cast). Spacial is utterly focused on the technology of its products, making for sophisticated software that lets you broadcast at an advanced level. For more information visit http://www.spacial.com.

To set up SpacialNet statistic relays, open SAM Broadcaster and follow these steps:

• Click on “Desktop B” in the toolbar.
• In the “Statistics” window, click the plus sign (+) to add a new relay.
• Select “SpacialNet Relay” from the list.
• Click “OK.”

The “SpacialNet Relay” window will appear.

• In the “Service” tab, enter your SpacialNet username and password.
• Click “Login” and select a streaming service.
• To select the “Color on graph,” click on the color box, and a color selection window will appear. In it, select the color you want to use to represent this particular statistic on your relays graph.
• We recommend leaving “Private statistic relay” unchecked, since “Public” relays get listed on AudioRealm.com.
• Click “OK.”

SpacialNet allows you to stream your audio in popular formats like MP3, Windows Media (WMA) and aacPlus. MP3 is one of the oldest streaming formats, WMA works well with Windows Media Player and Microsoft Silverlight, while aacPlus provides the best sound quality at lower bitrates.

Once you’ve chosen the format you’d like to stream in, you can set up your SpacialNet encoder. To do this, open SAM Broadcaster and follow these steps:

• Click on “Desktop B” in the toolbar.
• In the “Encoders” window, click the plus sign (“+”) to add a new encoder.
• Select the SpacialNet encoder.
• Click “OK.”

The SpacialNet encoder window will then appear.

• In the “Service” tab, enter your SpacialNet username and password.
• Click “Login.”
• A list of active services will appear. Click the “Select” button next to the service you wish to use.
• Click “Next” to proceed to the “Encoder” tab and make sure to verify your settings.
• Click “Next” to proceed to “Station Details.”

In “Station Details”:

• Enter your radio station’s name.
• Select your station’s genre from the drop-down menu.
• Provide your website’s URL.
• The “AIM,” “ICQ,” and “IRC, channel” fields are optional. If you have already provided your station details under “Config” in “Station Details,” the information will be filled in. So you may proceed to the next step.
• Click “Next” to proceed to the “Archive” tab.

In the “Archive” tab:

• Check “Save stream to file” if you want to save a copy of your stream to your local hard drive.

Once you’ve configured all your settings, click “OK” to close the SpacialNet Encoder window.    

Spacial Gives New Website a Human Touch

The new website features users’ stories, insightful interviews with radio industry professionals, a help center, video tutorials, and of course, a sleek new look.

Dallas, TX, June 22, 2011 – Spacial Audio, the software company behind SAM Broadcaster, has just launched its new brand and website, Spacial.com. The revamped website sports a bold new look, a Community Blog with informative articles and users’ stories, a Help Center with video tutorials, tips and tricks, help documents, and much more. “Spacial’s technology has forged a solid reputation over the last decade, and we felt it was time to raise our brand to the level of our products’ quality,” says Spacial Marketing Director, Jean-Philippe Desormiers. “We’re very mindful of our users’ experience, so we’ve enhanced the software interface, we’re producing web content that’s both entertaining and useful, and our social media channels help our community connect to us and to each other.”

The new website is the result of a collaborative effort between Spacial and the web consultants at w.illi.am. After much reflection and analysis, both Spacial and w.illi.am felt it fitting to show the human side of SAM technology. “Radio broadcasting and DJing are about reaching out to people,” says w.illi.am Creative Director, Mike De Luca. “Even though we’re talking about software, a human connection is what you’re after.”

The website launch has also sparked a few more innovations at Spacial. A new skin is now available for all SAM software, reflecting the company’s fresh style. Existing clients can download the updated version of their software for free from the Products page of the new website. As well, certain product names have changed. SAM Party DJ is now known as “SAM DJ” and SimpleCast is now called “SAM Cast.” Explains Desormiers, “We just wanted to simplify the product line. Most people refer to our products as ‘SAM’ anyhow, so we decided to give them a reason.”

Spacial’s transformation signals a new era for the company, especially with SAM Broadcaster celebrating its ten-year anniversary in 2012. “If anything,” says Spacial Communications Manager, Olivia Collette, “I hope it shows that we’ve been listening to our community and that we’re very interested in what it has to say.”

About w.illi.am

w.illi.am’s mission is to define, develop and optimize digital solutions that respect your business goals, maximize return on investment and enhance the user experience, no matter what the medium: Web,mobile, IVR, ITV and more. Your knowledge of your industry, combined with w.illi.am’s multidisciplinary team, the experience of its decision-makers and its rigorous methodology allow w.illi.am to guarantee intelligent, adapted and profitable solutions.

w.illi.am

About Spacial

Since 1999, Spacial has been developing quality audio software. In 2002, it launched SAM Broadcaster, its renowned radio automation software that allows broadcasters to stream their radio stations online. The company has also created DJ software called SAM Party DJ (now SAM DJ) and the SimpleCast live audio event streaming encoder (now SAM Cast). Spacial is utterly focused on the technology of its products, making for sophisticated software that lets you broadcast at an advanced level.

For more information, contact us at info@spacial.com

To fix this, click on “Config” in the toolbar and select “Audio Mixer Pipeline.” Then follow these steps:

• Click the “Air Out” button, and an “Audio Settings” window will pop up.
• Under “Air output settings,” select the proper “Output driver” from the drop-down menu.
  • This is usually “DirectSound output.”
  • Even if this option is already selected as a default setting, select it manually from the drop-down menu.
• Also under “Air output settings,” select the proper “Output device” from the drop-down menu.
  • Even if this option is already selected as a default setting, select it manually from the drop-down menu.
• Click the “Apply now” button followed by “OK.”

Tip: When using a USB device, always plug it into the same USB port before booting up your system. This will allow your device driver details to remain consistent.

First, we recommend reading the following Help Documents:

• How to Add Music
• How to Use Smart Categories
• Introduction to Clockwheel Rotation

Before You Start

You need to already have an idea in your head of the kind of music you want to play and how well the tracks you want to play will mix with each other. For a little inspiration, visit Spacial’s Forum and ask other DJs how they made those kinds of decisions when they got started.

Organize Your Music

Start by creating categories in SAM DJ that make sense to you. We recommend category names that point to a common attribute, like “Hits,” “Electronica,” or “Reggae.”

Once you’ve created the categories you want, drag and drop media files into these categories. It doesn’t matter if the same file gets dropped into multiple categories.

Format Your Playlist

Now you have to decide how you’re going to arrange your music.

For the sake of example, let’s pretend you’re DJing an event where your audience expects to hear hits from then and now:

80s Hits

Top 40

90s Hits

00s Hits

Oldies

To do this, set up your schedule’s logic as follows (read the “clockwheel rotation” Help Document for more information):

80s Hits [Least Recently Played Artist]

Top 40 [Weighted]

90s Hits [Least Recently Played Artist]

Station ID [Random, NoRules]

Top 40 [Weighted]

00s Hits [Least Recently Played Artist]

Top40 [Random]

Oldies [Least Recently Played Artist]

Station ID [Random, NoRules]

In this example, Top 40 songs are “Weighted,” which means they’re prioritized over other tracks so they’re played more frequently. This kind of logic will evenly distribute your Top 40 tunes.

You’ll also note that we marked that last Top 40 track as “Random” to avoid having tracks play in the same order each time (this sort of thing comes up with “Weighted” rotations).

We marked songs from the ‘80s, ‘90s, and ‘00s as “Least Recently Played Artists” to ensure a good musical balance.

We used “Random” logic for station identification because we only have a few files in this category. In addition, when there are only a few items in any given category, it’s important to disable separation rules. If you don’t, SAM DJ will not select Station IDs because it won’t be able to find any that don’t break separation rules.

This is part of the “clockwheel rotation” process. You can create many clockwheels and save them to file. Use the Event Scheduler to create a new clockwheel for different parts of the day or week.

To find a track, follow these steps:

• Click on any window that contains tracks (e.g. Playlist, Tracks in selected category, Queue, History, etc.)
• Then either click on the search button (the magnifying glass icon) or simply start typing the artist’s name or track title.
• The search window will pop up right away and display matching results as you type.

You can customize some of the search options to generate more specific results. For example, you can check “Artist” to match your query to the artist field only.

Once you’ve located a given track, you can perform a number of tasks:

• Right-click the track and select “Song info” to edit the metadata.
• Right-click the track and select “Remove” to delete it from your media library.
• Drag and drop the track into a queue or playlist category.
• Drag tracks into player decks.

Alternatively, you can find a track by clicking on the “Groups” category in the “Playlist” window. From here, select the group you want to use to narrow down your search, for example, “By Artist (A to Z).” You can then see all the tracks available in that selection.

Recommended reading:

• How to Configure Your Sound Capture Device
• How to Configure Your General Settings

Under Settings->General options, disable the “Send final audio to sound card” option.

Also check to make sure your sound device is not configured to send all incoming recorded audio to another playback device.

Recommended reading:

• How to Configure Your Sound Capture Device
• How to Prevent Streaming Silence
• How to Capture Audio from Your Speakers

A sound device may have a line-in, microphone and other inputs, but on certain devices, only one can be active at a time. You have to make sure the right ones are activated, not muted, and that the volume level is loud enough.

Disable your “Sound Processing” settings in the Equalizer, AGC, DSP and SoundCard AGC tabs to make sure none of them are causing the silent stream.

You can tell that you’re capturing silence on the input when the VU meter on the main SAM Cast window doesn’t move. However, if it is moving and the VU meters on the encoders aren’t, something on the sound processing panel was probably incorrectly configured.

Recommended reading:

• How to Configure Your Sound Capture Device
• How to Remove an Echo from Your Stream
• How to Capture Audio from Your Speakers