General

The General page contains the settings that most directly affect how Power Studio starts and how operators interact with the live playout screens.

Use this page to make a workstation behave like its role. The on-air playout computer, a production workstation, a home voice-tracking laptop and a training instance usually should not open the same windows or use the same live controls.

On Startup

Use On startup to choose which windows open when Power Studio starts:

• Open playout playlist opens the current on-air playlist.
• Open playout players opens the Playout Players window.
• Open cart players opens the cart window.
• Open mix editor opens the Mix Editor.
• Open database browser opens the browser for library maintenance.
• Open recorder opens the Recorder.
• Start automation starts Automation Mode immediately after startup.

For an unattended playout computer, open the Playout Playlist and Playout Players automatically. Enable Start automation only when the station has tested startup recovery and knows that the correct playlist and audio routes are ready after Windows and Power Studio start.

For production workstations, open only the windows that are normally used in that room. This keeps startup predictable and avoids confusing operators with on-air windows that they do not need.

Start automation on log off is useful when user logout should return the station to automation. Use it only when the station has a clear login and logout workflow. In multi-user studios, confirm that logging off a presenter does not unexpectedly interrupt a Live Assist workflow.

Suggested Startup Profiles

Use these examples as a starting point:

When a room has a fixed purpose, make startup boring and repeatable. A presenter should not have to rebuild the same screen layout every morning.

Station Title

Use Station title for the station name used by Power Studio where a station-level title is needed.

Keep it short and recognizable. Do not use this field for temporary show names. Use playlist metadata, program information or dynamic title workflows for program-specific text.

Cleanup

Cleanup log files removes older log files. Max age log files controls how many days are kept.

Keep enough logs to investigate recent issues after a weekend, holiday period or maintenance window. A year is a practical default for many stations, but stations with limited disk space may choose a shorter retention period. Do not reduce log retention while diagnosing an intermittent on-air issue.

If a computer is used only for short-term production work, a shorter log retention may be acceptable. For the on-air playout machine, keep more history so support can investigate rare audio, database or plugin problems after they happen.

Local Asset Cache

The Local asset cache settings improve reliability when audio is stored on a network share or when Power Studio is used from a remote location:

• Local asset cache enables the cache workflow.
• Download full playout playlist deliberately pre-caches audio for the loaded Playout Playlist.
• Play only cached files makes playout use cached files only.

These are Local Asset Cache settings. They do not configure or trigger Power Sync synchronization.

Use the cache when the network is useful but not perfectly reliable, or when the station chooses a remote VPN workflow where Power Studio still uses the studio audio storage. If the station uses Power Sync for remote work, the required audio is duplicated locally by Power Sync instead, so synchronization should be started early enough. The first synchronization can take much longer than later updates because it may need to copy many audio files.

Use Play only cached files only for a deliberate cache-only workflow where the relevant audio has been tested from the cache. For home voice tracking or database maintenance over VPN, do not automatically cache the full playlist unless there is a clear reason. The cache decides which files are needed just in time; operators should not try to manage individual cache files manually.

See Local Asset Cache for the full workflow.

Remote And Cache Recommendations

Use different behavior for different situations:

• Normal studio with reliable storage: enable the cache only when it improves startup, network load or resilience.
• Studio with a slow or unreliable network share: enable the cache and consider downloading the full Playout Playlist before live use.
• Remote voice tracking with synced audio: use Power Sync, start synchronization in time and confirm that the required audio has been synchronized locally; the Local Asset Cache is not the primary remote-audio mechanism in this workflow.
• Remote voice tracking with VPN/cache: enable the cache and let Power Studio cache needed audio just in time. Avoid caching the full playlist unless the presenter really needs all audio locally.
• Temporary location using Power Sync or copied audio: start the first synchronization or copy process early and make sure the required audio is present before the location broadcast.
• Temporary location using VPN/cache: test the VPN, database connection and shared audio path. Use full-playlist download or Play only cached files only for a deliberately tested cache-only workflow.

Do not treat cache-only operation as a magic offline mode. It is reliable only for audio that Power Studio has already cached.

Playout Players

The Playout players section controls how Player A-D behave and display time:

• Players time mode controls whether the displays show elapsed time, remaining time, remaining time with intro, or timing for linked items.
• High contrast makes the player displays easier to read in bright studios or from a distance.
• Start players using keyboard (F1 - F4 keys) lets operators start Player A-D from the keyboard.
• Smart Cue controls whether Power Studio re-cues a track that was likely only pre-listened, instead of immediately discarding it after its first playback.
• Auto player select on manual start assigns an item to a player only when the operator starts it manually.
• Enable manual seeking allows manual seeking in loaded audio.
• Auto preview on PFL starts a loaded, stopped playout player automatically when the operator switches PFL on.

For live studios, choose display modes that match presenter habits. Time remaining with intro is useful when presenters need to talk up to vocals or other marked intro points. High contrast is usually helpful in on-air rooms.

Use keyboard starts only where keyboard focus is controlled and presenters are trained. In production rooms, accidental keyboard starts can be more confusing than helpful.

When Auto player select on manual start is off, playable playlist items can be assigned to players before they are started. When it is on, a track is assigned to a player when the operator starts that item. This affects how much the operator can rearrange already loaded items between players before starting them.

See Playout Players for the operational workflow.

Player Behavior Tips

For experienced live presenters, four visible players and Time remaining with intro can provide the most information. For less experienced users, a simpler layout and fewer manual options may reduce mistakes.

Use Enable manual seeking only where it is operationally useful. It is helpful in production and training, but during live operation it also makes it possible to seek to the wrong point in a loaded item.

Smart Cue controls a smart algorithm in Power Studio that determines whether a track has really been played out or whether the DJ or operator was only pre-listening to the track and the track should be re-cued for playout. This is different from the behavior of legacy systems where a track is discarded as soon as it has been played for the first time.

Keep Smart Cue enabled unless the station has a specific reason to turn it off. It helps live operation stay forgiving when presenters cue or preview a track before actually playing it out.

Enable Auto preview on PFL when presenters expect the PFL button on Player A-D to start the loaded item for checking. Power Studio routes the player to its configured PFL output and starts playback as a preview. When PFL is switched off again, Power Studio stops and re-cues only if that PFL action started the player. A player that was already playing is not stopped by switching PFL off.

Test Auto preview on PFL together with the studio mixer or monitor workflow before using it on air. The setting is local to the workstation, so enable it only on computers where that PFL behavior is wanted.

Cart Players

The Cart players section controls cart behavior:

• Play mode can be set to Instant fire or Pre-select.
• Carts time mode controls elapsed or remaining time display for cart playback.

Use Instant fire for jingles, effects and quick-hit cart workflows where pressing the cart should play immediately.

Use Pre-select when the operator should first select the cart and then deliberately start it. This can be safer in rooms where cart buttons are used for material that must not start by accident.

If carts are triggered from hardware buttons, Stream Deck pages or GPIO, test the cart play mode together with that controller. A mode that feels safe with a mouse may feel slow or surprising from a hardware panel.

Playout

The Playout section contains behavior that changes the live playlist workflow:

• Show clock start header in playout playlist shows hour or clock-start context in the Playout Playlist.
• Force playlist breaks in live mode makes playlist breaks more strictly respected during live operation.
• Enable training mode makes Training Mode available.

Training Mode is useful for practice, demonstrations and configuration checks because it lets staff operate Power Studio without taking part in normal on-air coordination. Enable it where the station needs that workflow, and make sure operators know when they are in Training Mode.

Use Force playlist breaks in live mode carefully. It is useful when breaks must stay attached to fixed moments, such as news, traffic or commercial blocks, but it can change how freely a presenter can continue through a playlist in Live Assist Mode.

Make a station policy for Training Mode. It should be obvious to users when they are practicing and when they are controlling the real on-air workflow.

Dropped Files

Default content type controls the content type assigned when supported files are dragged into a playlist or player from Windows Explorer.

Choose a safe default for the station's workflow. Miscellaneous is usually safer than Track when dropped files are often temporary production audio, interviews or one-off items.

After dropping files, set the correct content type as soon as possible because content type affects Now Playing, reporting and playlist generation rules.

Dropped files are immediately available to other Power Studio instances through the shared database and storage workflow. That is powerful in a live station, but it also means a file dropped quickly during a show should be named, typed and checked properly afterward.

Application Settings

The Application settings button opens advanced process settings such as process priority and low-latency garbage collection.

Leave these settings at their normal values unless Power Studio support or an experienced engineer asks you to change them. Higher process priority can help a busy on-air computer, but it can also make other essential software less responsive. Low-latency garbage collection should be tested before being used on an on-air machine.

See Advanced Application Settings for application-level settings that normally require extra care.

After Changing General Settings

After changing General settings:

1. Restart Power Studio if the changed option affects startup or process behavior.
2. Open the expected windows and confirm the correct playlist, players, carts and recorder appear.
3. Check Automation Mode, Live Assist Mode and Training Mode if those workflows are enabled.
4. If Local Asset Cache settings changed, load a known playlist and confirm the cache status before relying on cache-only operation.
5. If dropped-file behavior changed, drag in a harmless test file and confirm the content type and availability on another workstation.

Common Pitfalls

• Enabling Start automation before the workstation has reliable audio routing.
• Enabling cache-only operation before the relevant playlist audio has been tested from the cache.
• Changing dropped-file defaults and then forgetting that new temporary files now receive a different content type.
• Enabling keyboard starts in a room where presenters frequently type into other windows.
• Leaving Training Mode enabled without making the operator workflow clear.