Hello hello! Tutorial time! I'll make this as prompt and quick as possible.
First Loading SAMWhen you first open SAM, you'll find lots and lots of windows. That's perfectly normal. However, you will want to change the layout slightly, so that you don't have to change during a set. In the bottom right hand corner, you should see a clock and a master volume control. Close them by clicking the little circle with a line through it (Where the X normally is on windows applications).
Next, on the top toolbar (File and so on), click Window and find Event Log and Encoders. They will both pop up on your screen and you position them where the old screens used to be. Hey presto! You can, obviously, change this after a few sets, but let me explain why having these two windows on your main deck is a good idea.
The Event Log tells you what's going on with SAM. It will show you if you have any streaming problems (A common one is that you can't upload fast enough, which cuts you off of the stream until the computer has a chance to catch up). It will also show you what your playing, and so on and so forth. Logs are also stored in the SAM Windows Directory, as far as I am aware.
Encoders is what you use to transmit. When you set up new transmission protocol, it will show up here (There will be a section about setting up encoders later on). The reason for having it on the main deck is the following: When you begin transmitting, your first song does not automatically play (Unless you have Auto-DJ mode on, which is a bad idea. Longer explination later.), so you will need to push play on your Encoder window, then push play on the first song you have in your Deck. Not only that, but if another DJ is due to take over, it makes -stopping- your transmission much easier.
Anyway, that's the layout sorted, so lets move on to the next step.
Microphone SettingsThere are not that many settings you need to set up here. In truth, most of it is merely checking that things are working properly. In the Voice FX box (Automatically inserted in Desktop A, which is where I personally work from), click Config.
A box will pop up with various settings. The first thing you want to do is select "Encoders (Record to pipeline, skip output)". Personally, I find the sound of my own voice very distracting. This setting will stop you hearing your own voice, but allow you ease to transmit. Next, make sure that in Record Driver, you have DirectSound Driver selected and that in Record Soundcard Device, you have the microphone/headset selected (For me, it's Microsoft LiveChat LX-3000). Leave the rest of the settings alone and click OK. Then, click the Mic Off button (Which will turn into Mic On when you click it and then click Lock Talk. When you talk, the bars on the left hand side of that window will start bouncing around. You want to aim for -3 DB to -1 DB. Any lower than that and your voice will not be clear, any higher, and expect eardrums to burst.
If you are not getting the expected volume on your microphone, you will need to go back into config (Click the Mic On button again, or the option will not be available to you) and click the large Mixer button. Then, increase the volume of your microphone. Any more troubleshooting, contact me directly and we'll work through it.
That should be your microphone set up properly! Congrats! Now for the next part!
DJ ModeUnderneath the Window and Layout toolbar menu's, you should see a dropdown menu. You want this set up to Queue. Below is an explination to each setting:
Auto-DJ: Auto-DJ is good when your not at your computer and you need stuff put on for you, though if your doing a set, you shouldn't be doing that in the first place. It will take a random song you've put into your library and add it to your queue, then simply play it. This is exactly why you shouldn't use this setting, because it makes announcing the next song particularly difficult.
Queue: The recommended option, it will simply go through the songs you have queued and play them in sync. You know what the next song is going to be, so you can announce it and when you've run out of songs in your queue, it will stop playing. The only downfall is that if you forget to put more songs in your queue, you will get downtime, but that shouldn't happen.
Manual: Seriously not recommended. It will not auto-play anything and expect you to do it yourself by dragging songs into the deck and hitting play. It involves a lot of co-ordination and a hell of a lot of "Not paying attention to IMs and Local SL chat". So don't choose this setting, unless you don't expect to pay attention to SL.
With that set up, we're finally to Encoders...
Setting up your First EncoderSounds easy, but there is something to do BEFORE this. If you are running a multiple core system, which most of us are, then you will need to go to the following website:
http://www.free-codecs.com/LAME_ACM_Codec_download.htmThis link is for LAME MP3. The reason for this is that if you run a multiple core system, SAM will crash out completely when you start to encode unless you use this codec. Yay fun.
In any case, download that codec (3.98.2) and install it. Then completely close out SAM and restart it, then your fixed! All done!
Actual Encoder SettingsWhen SAM opens up, go to your encoder bar and click the little plus box (Second button from the left). This will pop you up with a "Select Plugin" box. You want to select
Legacy MP3 (ACM Codec) and then click okay.
You will go to the next box that has three tabs in it, but we'll start on the Converter tab. The first thing you want to do is click Choose Format, which will pop up with yet another window. In
Format, choose
Lame MP3 and in
Attributes, you want
44100 Hz, 128 kbps CBR, Stereo. This is what I run at on Mirages Servers, but Greg's output may be 96 kbps or even 64, which I truly hope it isn't. In any case, this can be changed later as necessary. Click OK.
Click the tab Server Details and you'll see lots of epic little text boxes.
Server Address= xx.xxx..xx..x.x.x..
Server Port= 38458635
Password= password
(Not real server details to stop others going on)
(If your a DJ - See DJ board for server details)
Add those settings here, but input them MANUALLY, since SAM has this love of wanting to add a space on the end and screwing around with your brain. On the other side, you'll see Station Details. Instead of explaining each part, I'll do a little list and explain what each one should say. If they are not mentioned, leave them alone:
Station Name: The name of your show. For me, it's Spanning The Ages.
Genre: Your shows Genre. It's a dropdown box, so choose from there.
Website URL: Either
www.slmidgar.com or the direct radio website URL.
Leave the rest of the settings alone on that side. Furthermore, in Stream Archive, unless you want to totally log what your doing, leave it alone. Click OK.
And that is SAM totally set up and ready to go! Sorry if this tutorial is a bit long, but let me quickly explain how to play a song or two with the settings I've given you.
Playing your First TracksIn the Queue box (Automatically on Desktop A), click the green plus symbol. This will pop up with an open box. Find the song you want to add then double click, and it will be added.
Alternatively, you can have your music folder open in Windows itself, and drag and drop the songs you want to add directly to the queue. Either works, it just depends on preference. Personally, I use both, dependant on how much time I have to find a few songs to add while streaming.
Then, drag the first song onto one of your Decks (A or B, doesn't matter in the slightest where you start from) and click the play button (A little blue button on the far left, just above the song progress bar). Then you'll be playing a song! Then, quite simply, you leave it alone. The program will automatically put the next song in your queue to your free deck and play it when the currently playing song is finished, or near to finishing, since it has fade options automatically on.
And thus concludes my tutorial.
(Edit: Server detials removed)
