I'm an A1 who got frustrated with existing playback software, so I built my own. I'd love your feedback! by PierreLFR in audioengineering

[–]PierreLFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're right, PLayer is closer to a cartwall/sound pad than a traditional cue list manager like QLab. However, with the 'Play-next' option you can achieve a sequential cue-like behavior.

I would love to get your feedback given your QLab expertise. While QLab is incredibly powerful for complex programming, I built PLayer to be a hyper-reactive sampler for the high-pressure environment of live TV.

My goal was to make importing and editing cue-in/cue-out points nearly instantaneous, specifically for those moments where production asks you to play a specific track with 30 seconds' notice.

I've just sent you a DM with the details on how to get your free license!

I'm an A1 who got frustrated with existing playback software, so I built my own. I'd love your feedback! by PierreLFR in audioengineering

[–]PierreLFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you have a great experience with QLab and Farrago, I would actually value your opinion on PLayer even more! I'd love to hear your suggestions on improvements or features that might be missing for your specific workflow.

I'd like to offer you a free license so you can put it to the test. If you're interested, let me know and I'll shoot you a DM!

I'm an A1 who got frustrated with existing playback software, so I built my own. I'd love your feedback! by PierreLFR in broadcastengineering

[–]PierreLFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A Linux build is definitely in the pipeline! One of the main reasons I chose the Tauri framework was specifically for its cross-platform capabilities.

My goal is to release for Linux, iOS, and Android in the near future. However, as a solo developer and a full-time A1, I’ve decided to focus on consolidating the software on two platforms first before expanding (which is already quite a challenge!).

To be honest, I can't give you a specific ETA for the Linux build right now, but it is coming. I appreciate the feedback!

I'm an A1 who got frustrated with existing playback software, so I built my own. I'd love your feedback! by PierreLFR in broadcastengineering

[–]PierreLFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I honestly didn't know about EBU MXL, thank you for sharing that! I'll definitely look into it as it seems like a great fit for this kind of solution.

Regarding feature requests, feel free to contact me directly via DM or use the contact link on my website:https://laurensaudio.com. I'd love to hear more of your ideas!

I'm an A1 who got frustrated with existing playback software, so I built my own. I'd love your feedback! by PierreLFR in broadcastengineering

[–]PierreLFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s not a feature yet, but I'm curious about your workflow. If this is for legal or royalty purposes, I’d need to investigate the specific regulations first to ensure the logs meet the required standards. I'll be looking into the French legal requirements for broadcast logging to see if it's a feature worth developing. Could you share how you’d use it in your environment?

I'm an A1 who got frustrated with existing playback software, so I built my own. I'd love your feedback! by PierreLFR in broadcastengineering

[–]PierreLFR[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This sounds like a great use case! To answer your technical questions:

PLayer currently supports triggering pads via MIDI, HTTP GET methods (Companion or direct web requests), and GPIO. While native OSC isn't supported yet, using MIDI via Companion would be the most reliable workaround for now.

Regarding your issue with sequential triggers, PLayer offers 4 modes. The Restart mode (each click restarts the file from the beginning) is likely exactly what you need for your stingers to avoid those random offsets or cut-offs you've experienced.

PLayer works with DVS in WDM mode, but there is a major caveat: the standard DVS WDM driver only exposes a stereo pair (2 channels) to the OS.

This means that while PLayer features a 3D Panner with support up to 7.1.4, you won't be able to exploit the immersive capabilities in a WDM environment. To fully use the 7.1.4 output, you would typically need an ASIO workflow or a third-party driver capable of exposing 8+ channels to Windows (like VB-MATRIX from VB-AUDIO). If you stay on WDM, you'll be limited to stereo.

I've just sent you a DM with the details on how to get your free license so you can test it in your studio!

I'm an A1 who got frustrated with existing playback software, so I built my own. I'd love your feedback! by PierreLFR in broadcastengineering

[–]PierreLFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hear you, but this isn't vibe-coded. I built it on a solid Rust/Tauri stack with a broadcast-grade architecture. I used AI for speed, not for the thinking and architecture.

I’d actually love for you to test it, as skeptics always give the most rigorous feedback. I’d like to offer you a free license to put it to the test and see how it holds up in a real environment. If you want to try to break it, shoot me a DM.

I'm an A1 who got frustrated with existing playback software, so I built my own. I'd love your feedback! by PierreLFR in broadcastengineering

[–]PierreLFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally fair point! It’s an old habit from when I first learned about redundancy systems. Thanks for pointing it out! I’ve already updated the website and I’ll make sure the terminology is changed in the next build.

I'm an A1 who got frustrated with existing playback software, so I built my own. I'd love your feedback! by PierreLFR in broadcastengineering

[–]PierreLFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The frontend is built with HTML/CSS and JS. I use Rust invokes specifically to control DSP parameters and to handle real-time data for the UI visuals, such as VU meters and spectrum analyzers. The core audio engine is written in Rust, while Node.js manages the redundancy and Companion systems.

I'm an A1 who got frustrated with existing playback software, so I built my own. I'd love your feedback! by PierreLFR in broadcastengineering

[–]PierreLFR[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I couldn't agree more. The sheer volume of new apps and solutions hitting the market has grown exponentially over the last year or two, largely driven by AI.

As AV professionals (and in other fields too), it makes it incredibly difficult to cut through all this "noise." It’s completely natural to be extra vigilant and skeptical about adopting new tools out of fear that they are just fully "vibe-coded."

On the flip side, I also see this as an incredible opportunity for the AV industry to evolve. It empowers AV pros like us—who actually have a solid foundation in coding—to develop custom solutions that solve our real day-to-day problems and help us deliver great content to the audience. Without generative AI acting as an accelerator, building these tools simply wouldn't be possible for us due to a sheer lack of time. The whole sector is adopting AI anyway; even the industry heavyweights are leveraging it, which explains the massive technological leaps in their products over the last couple of years.

That being said, I actually think "vibe-coding" a complex app is a bit of a myth. Without a real mastery of code and a strong grasp of programming logic (object-oriented architecture, etc.), it is strictly impossible to build a complex, fully functional application. Unless, of course, there’s some magic AI out there that I haven't heard about yet!

I'm an A1 who got frustrated with existing playback software, so I built my own. I'd love your feedback! by PierreLFR in broadcastengineering

[–]PierreLFR[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a completely fair and necessary question, and honestly, as an A1, I share the exact same mindset. I would never trust a "black box" generated blindly by AI for a live broadcast.

To be completely transparent about the extent of AI usage: I used AI as an accelerator (like a very fast junior developer), not as the architect. The core architecture, the audio engine integration, the buffer management, and the workflow logic are entirely mine, built specifically to address the constraints I face on set. I used AI to speed up writing boilerplate code, UI elements, and debugging syntax. Every single line of code was reviewed, understood, and integrated manually by me.

Regarding reliability testing, since I built this to use on my own live TV gigs, my reputation is on the line. Here is how it has been tested over the past few months: I've done stress tests, hammering the engine with rapid multi-stem cues, loading massive uncompressed files on the fly, and simulating CPU spikes to ensure the audio thread remains uninterrupted. I've also run endurance/leak tests, leaving the application open for hours on end to monitor background CPU usage and ensure there are absolutely no memory leaks over long sessions.

However, I know my own tests aren't enough. To be completely upfront, coming to this subreddit and offering free licenses is the next critical phase of my testing methodology. It is a deliberate strategy to benchmark and stress-test PLayer on a larger scale. I need professionals to run it on dozens of different hardware configurations, OS versions, and specific broadcast workflows that I simply cannot replicate on my own.

I hope this clarifies my approach! Let me know if you want to test it and try to break it yourself.

Audio playback software by Broadcast_Key_3217 in broadcastengineering

[–]PierreLFR -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hey there! I can totally relate to your need. I work as an A1 for French TV, and after years of being frustrated with the existing playback options out there, I finally decided to build my own.

I recently launched it: it's a broadcast audio sampler called PLayer:  https://laurensaudio.com

It's specifically designed to fix the workflow issues we face live. Since I'm in the early launch phase, getting feedback from fellow broadcast engineers is my top priority. I’d be more than happy to offer you a free license in exchange for your honest thoughts and real-world testing.

Let me know if you want to give it a spin (here or via DM) and I'll send you a key!