On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 2:59 AM, Dr. Hawkins <doch...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Anyway, I agree: we want something to do once and be done. > > Once we record the bells, would an iOS device (ipod touch, iphone, ipad) be > able to do the same thing? Leave it permanently plugged to power and the > adaptors?
iOS devices all come with the Clock app. When you select Alarm, and create an Alarm you get to choose the sound, above the top of the list of inbuilt sounds is 'Choose a Song' which will let you pick something from your iTunes library. Again you can set up multiple repeating alarms (or one off) alarms and have each of them play a different song. WHAT I DO NOT KNOW in this case is when left unattended, will it play the song all the way to the end, will it enter snooze mode, if no one does anything will it start again 5 min later? With iCal on a Mac it can be set to play the music file and that was it, no snooze, nothing. But the thing is, it's so easy to test. Go to Radio Shack, grab a 3.5mm to RCA adapter cable ( a couple of bucks) and plug your iPhone into your home stereo (if you don't want to test it on the church system) and give it a test run. The youth in our church plug their iPod/iPhones into our PA system all the time for dances, so really the only thing you'll be testing is can you get it to play a song at a specific time, the whole song, and not have some snooze feature that keeps bugging you that you haven't responded to the original alarm. As for theft, in our church audio visual cabinet are 3 Satellite receivers, a mixer, an equalizer, several power amplifiers, an input selector, a dvd recorder/player, a media player (SD card, HD, Internet) and probably some other bits and pieces I can't think of right now as I'm not standing in front of it. The cabinet, and room that it sits in is normally locked and is only opened when someone signs out the keys so they can plug their iPod into the Aux cable (I bought the adapter cable and plugged it in years ago, so the 3.5mm end is just sitting there, they plug their iPod in and change the input selector to Aux, fiddle with the volume on their iPod and the Master Volume of the PA system until they get it just right). If there happened to be another iDevice already in there, then it would be mounted on one of those security cables they use at the Apple Store making it just as easy to take as any other device in the cabinet. Given the price differential, I'd certainly give it a test drive. Also, the beauty of such a system would be when ever you decided you wanted to change the songs, add some different ones, create some special alarms, etc etc, you can guarantee that some teenager in the congregation could do it all blind folded. With the system that is proposed, I guarantee that once set up (probably all by the company themselves) that should there be any changes required someone is going to have to find the manual, read the manual, spend hours trying to get the system to do what the manual says should happen, and then in frustration call the manufacturer and pay for someone to come out and make the changes. And as for longevity and cost to maintain, I reckon I could ask our congregation on a yearly basis if anyone had an old iDevice they could donate to replace the broken 'bell ringer' and I'd get a positive response; but of course it wont need replacing every year. Actually my biggest concern would be fire. Lithium batteries in modern devices are all ticking time bombs, and the older they get the faster they tick. If it were me I'd crack the case open, remove the battery and just have it plugged in permanently. The other fire problem you have is that you'd still not want to have the entire system powered up 24/7, you still need some way of turning all the amps On 5--10 min before you need them and turned Off 5-10min after you've finished. If you used an old Mac, a product like this would be useful: http://www.pwrusb.com/powerUSB-digitaI0.html Many modern audio components have a 12V trigger input that allows you to control if remotely; typically change between Standby and On modes. Those devices that don't have such a feature can be turned Off and On using the regular power sockets on PowerUSB. So with an old MacMini permanently plugged in with a USB connection to a PowerUSB power strip you could schedule it to turn On 10 min before your alarm was needed, doing so could turn On 2 devices via the 12V trigger outlet of the PowerUSB and 4 devices plugged into the normal A/C outlets of the PowerUSB. iCal could play the bells at the appropriate time, 10 min after it's all over, the MacMini could be scheduled to turn Off at which point the PowerUSB would also turn Off the 4 A/C outlets and turn the two 12 V trigger devices to Standby Mode. If you just went with an iDevice, the other product: http://www.pwrusb.com/powerUSB-smart.html would be helpful but it doesn't have the additional 12 V trigger outlets so you could only control 4 devices - although that's not quite true depending on the equipment. My own pre-amp has on the back a switched A/C outlet and a 12V trigger Out, so when I turn it On it automatically turns On an Equalizer plugged into the Switched A/C outlet, and the Power Amp which has it's 12V trigger In connected to the Pre Amps 12V trigger Out. _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
