NATURAL MUSIC SUCKS!

[Kestrel]

It's killing me. No matter what I do, it will not turn music over. I have primaries that haven't played in longer than I care to admit. Nothing - NOTHING - I do works. Nothing.
Can anyone offer any insights? Is there ANYone out there who's satisfied with this piece of shit? I haven't found anyone yet.

[insidesource]

Natural Music, is what it is. Keep it simple, don't throw too many rules into the mix. Perhaps use only artist separation and previous day rule sets.

In music codes, set search depth and shuffle rate and by all means, keep your song count in active categories to a decent number. The larger the song count, the slower your rotation will be given only so many songs can be scheduled in any given hour.

Also, if your format is heavy on certain artists they may be preventing some songs from being scheduled as they should. Try creating "packets" to put all songs of an artist/group from a particular category so when for example, a Beatles song comes up to be scheduled, it pulls the one in front of the packet and rotates it back. That might help give you a better rotation and slow down fast turnover artists.

If all else fails, you can rotate active songs out into a hold category and vice versa to keep your categories fresh.

Hope this gives you some food for thought.

[Kestrel]

Thanks. I tried packeting the Beatles and I was getting entire days where they didn't play at all. I'm 100% sure my categories have a too-high song count. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot I can do about it. Which has to do with he who signs my check.
I do have very few rules. Maybe I could eliminate some of what few I have (couple of style codes) and try that. I opened up the dig depth some, but it didn't seem to make much difference.

[insidesource]

Yes, if the song count in your categories are way too high, that could definitely be an issue with rotation. I don't know if eliminating those rules would be of benefit to you. I would try rotating songs in and out of a hold category to keep it fresh and perhaps create several packets for artists/groups that have an endless number of songs. Perhaps have a Beartles1, Beatles2, and so on and stagger the different packets throughout your categories. 

Just remember, the bigger the category, the slower the rotation and the less focused your station will sound, depending on of course, how the music is set up.

[jfrancispastirchak]

I'd love to engage in this thread, but I can't.  I have no idea what "natural" music is.  Your dialogue seems to imply it's role in automation, which I instinctively oppose on it's merits, though I acknowledge it's necessity in today's market.   

You've contexted only one act, The Beatles, which I guess you offered only for sake of argument.  Please define natural music.  But please, be gentle.  I am old. 

[firepoint525]

I'd love to engage in this thread, but I can't.  I have no idea what "natural" music is.  Your dialogue seems to imply it's role in automation, which I instinctively oppose on it's merits, though I acknowledge it's necessity in today's market.   
You've contexted only one act, The Beatles, which I guess you offered only for sake of argument.  Please define natural music.  But please, be gentle.  I am old. 

I'm with you there, and I'm (probably!) younger than you!  But I can't help but think that music in its "natural" state is still better than the autotuned crap that we hear today.

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

When this thread first appeared,  I was also puzzled but after the first couple of replies I looked up Natural Music software and found that it indeed is software to program your music rotation when using automation.

I get the idea it is not well loved by some people who have to use it. 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Yes to both Firepoint & Goat Rodeo Cowboy!

[DoubleC]

I have had the pleasure of using it for 7 years  as the new Pd that was frustrated using it said well you get what you don't pay for....as they say it is what it is if you just want to get by than this is for you