OtsAV is a breakthrough application that allows DJs, TV & Radio Stations, Background Music Providers and AV Enthusiasts to manage, play, mix, and manipulate pre-recorded music and video media in a manner never before possible with a standard Windows PC.
OtsAV heralds an exciting new age, delivering the power of automation intelligence and allowing professionals to focus on the more important areas of creativity which distinguish them from the rest. Complementing the automation is the ability to override and take control hands-on, when desired, in many facets right down to scratching, time-scaling, and beat mixing audio and video media with instant-response audibly and visually.
OtsAV features a host of integrated technologies making it unlike any other software on the market, while providing rock-solid stability, instant-response latency for both audio and video, and an easy to use interface. Technologies include automated fade-mixing (Ots Labs IntelliFade TechnologyTM), automated beat mixing (Ots Labs BeatMorph TechnologyTM), smooth video mixing and presentation (Ots Labs TrueSmooth TechnologyTM), karaoke CD+G presentation, high quality time-scaling down to stationary and up to double-speed (Ots Labs ClearScale TechnologyTM), scheduling & logging, AGC/Compressor/Limiter dynamics processing (volume management), EQ, pitch and direction control, scratching, powerful search and querying, and much more.
For more information on OtsAV, please visit our about OtsAV area of this web site.
System requirements will depend upon whether you wish to use OtsAV for audio only or for audio and video.
You can see all system requirements here.
1. Download the full installation file that corresponds to your Product License from here . You will be prompted to log into your OtsZone profile before the download will commence.
2. Run the installation file on the computer you want to have OtsAV installed on.
3. Run the OtsAV application. You can double-click the OtsAV icon on your Desktop, or select Start -> All Programs -> OtsLabs -> OtsAV
4. To license an internet-connected-machine, follow these instructions. If your OtsAV machine is not connected to the internet, follow these instructions.
5. Once the licensing process is complete, click the Run Application button.
You can retrieve your Product License from your OtsZone profile here at any time. For further help see here.
To license an internet-connected-machine, follow these instructions. If your OtsAV machine is not connected to the internet, follow these instructions.
Run the OtsAV setup installation file on your rebuilt computer and follow the licensing steps in the normal manner. Refer to our pictorial Licensing Guide for assistance.
Detailed instructions on how to transfer your Product License to another computer, or after changing hardware, or after reinstalling your operating system, can be found here.
Ots Studio does not include an MP3 encoder. The Lame encoder is free, and is one of the highest quality encoders available. When ripping your Audio CDs, or transcoding from other file formats, the Lame encoder converts your songs to the MP3 format. Ots Studio then encapsulates the MP3 data in the Ots format.
To setup the Lame encoder, follow the steps below.
1. Download the Lame zip file from here.
2. Unzip the downloaded file to your desktop.
3. Open Ots Studio, and go to Options -> Encoder Settings.
4. Click on the Set button.
5. Find your Desktop from within the box that appears.
6. Double-click on the lame_enc.dll file. (If you can't see it, you need to set Windows to "Show Hidden Files". First, close Ots Studio Set Encoder window. Then double-click "My Computer" on your desktop, then go to menu TOOLS -> FOLDER OPTIONS.., select VIEW tab, and select "Show Hidden Files and Folders", OK changes. Then repeat from Step 3.)
7. Click OK.
Freedb is a free online database of published Audio CDs. When ripping your CDs in Ots Studio, the Freedb service will attempt to identify the CD you are ripping, and complete the Title, Artist, and Album Title information for you. If you are ripping a lot CDs, this will save you lots of time. To activate the Freedb service, within Ots Studio, click on Options -> CD Database Settings and enter your email address where prompted.
Your OtsAV Product License has a quantity that stipulates how many machines the license can be used on. The default Product License quantity is 1. You can increase your Product License quantity from within your OtsZone profile.
1. Login to your OtsZone profile
2. Click on the Increase Qty link next to your Product License.
3. Proceed as instructed to complete your order.
All Product License increases attract a 10% discount off the current price of the OtsAV Product License. (Product Licenses that are no longer for sale on our web site cannot have their license quantity increased)
Soundcard calibration usually fixes this problem. Calibration instructions can be found here. If calibration does not solve the problem, you should check for soundcard driver updates from your soundcard manufacturer's web site.
Ots products are compatible with industry standard MP3 files. An industry standard MP3 file has the following properties;
44,100hz Sample Rate
16 bit
Stereo, Joint-Stereo or Mono recording
Mpeg 1 Layer 3 compression
If any of your MP3 files have different attributes, they will need to be converted to the industry standard before they can be used with Ots products.
You will need to copy your music from your original machine to your other machines. Try and keep the same folder structure if possible. You will need an OtsAV Product License for each additional system. Details on how to increase your Product License quantity can be found here.
Once you have installed and licensed OtsAV on your other systems, copy the Media Library file (C:\OtsLabs\Data\OtsAVDJ.oml) to the same location on your other systems. Now when you run OtsAV on your other systems, you will have the same Media Library information as your first system.
Disclaimer: It is illegal to copy your music to multiple systems without an appropriate license. Contact the authorities in your country to obtain the appropriate license(s).
There are a number of ways to categorize your music. You can click on each song and add the song to a category, but if you have thousands of songs, it would take a long time. Instead, you can categorize your music based on the genre fields in your Ots files or ID3 V1 tags (MP3 files).
A Template is used to generate playlists based on certain criteria. More information can be found here.
Templates can be used in conjunction with Scheduling & Logging to fully automate your OtsAV system, capable of unattended broadcasting 24/7.
Scheduling & Logging is a powerful sub-system that allows complete automation of OtsAV. Using OtsAV and S&L, you can leave a system running 24/7 indefinitely. This is ideal for broadcasters and background music solution providers. More information can be found here.
Yes you can. If your OtsAV system has access to the drive from Windows Explorer, you can play your files from that location. It is important to store your files on a drive that has a fixed drive letter. For example, if using an external hard drive, assign a drive letter to it (using Windows), so that OtsAV knows where your files are stored.
To assign a fixed drive letter to your external drive, follow these steps.
1. Go to your Desktop, and right-click on My Computer.
2. Click on Manage.
3. Click on Disk Management (left column).
4. Locate your external drive in the section on the right hand side.
5. Right-click on the external drive, and select Change Drive Letter and Paths...
6. Click on the Change button.
7. Select the drive letter to assign to your external drive (M: for example).
8. Close out of the Computer Management window.
The Media Library in OtsAV holds a listing of the songs you have imported. It does not contain the actual song files, but a reference to your song files. If the location of your song files has changed, the Media Library doesn't know where your song files are located. This often happens after you have moved your song files to a new hard drive or folder. To correct the Media Library references, use the Re-Link feature.
If you have a single soundcard, refer to these instructions.
If you have a 4 channel soundcard, refer to these instructions.
If you have 2 soundcards, refer to these instructions.
You can use an external mixer with OtsAV. It is possible to route deck A through one soundcard, and deck B through another. By doing this, you will lose some of the automated features in OtsAV.
OtsAV, by default, routes the audio through a single stereo output. The reason for this is the Dynamics Processor cannot work effectively across two different outputs. If you wish to bypass the Dynamics Processor and automated mixing, you can set up the system to use one soundcard per deck.
The steps to do this are below.
2. Disable the Dynamics Processor (open the DP and click on the Automatic Gain Control and Compressor buttons - but keep the limiter portion on).
3. Within the Output Configuration Window, set your On Air device to your first soundcard, and the Cue channel to your second soundcard. Also, under the same dialog, make sure the cue channel "Mix" slider is down the bottom (this slider mixes the "On-Air" channel into cue if not set to the bottom), and the "Out" slider is at the very top for full volume.
4. On the Ots Mixer, set Deck A to Air only, and Deck B to Cue only.
You would then plug the output from the first soundcard in channel 1 on your external mixer, and the output from the second soundcard to channel 2.
For detailed information on how to setup Cue channels in OtsAV, please refer to these instructions.
Developing software has many hurdles, and as we are creating new technologies on a regular basis, it is not possible to see into the future and provide specific release date estimates.
Features will be added and made available in version upgrade releases as each is incorporated. Once all features have been released we will be calling the product version 2.0.
All testing is currently done by an established team of professional DJs and Broadcasters.
You certainly can! We are always open to suggestions to improve our products. Send your suggestions to us via email, and we will add them to our list for consideration.
We have detailed documentation online.
You can email us.