Tapewise

WA3 - Winamp 3 plugin for LCDC

The Winamp plugin for LCDC is an interface to the excellent Winamp mp3 and more player.THIS PLUGIN REQUIRES THAT A WAC IS INSTALLED INTO WINAMP 3, SEE NOTE 1. The following has been implemented for integration into LCDC:

  • Variables
    • Track
      • Artist
      • Album
      • Title
      • Genre
      • Year
      • Comment
      • Status (Can tell you if playing/paused or stopped, this is configurable in the configuration screen)
      • Duration
      • Position
      • Remaining
      • Bit rate
      • Channels
      • Bar timer (Shows a bargraph dictating how much of the track is left to play)
      • Percent played
    • Play list
      • Current track number
      • Total track count
    • Spectrum analyser (*See Note 1,2*)
      • L11 - Left - Single line
      • R11 - Right - Single line
      • L21 - Left - Double line - First line
      • L22 - Left - Double line - Second line
      • R21 - Right - Double line - First line
      • R22 - Right - Double line - Second line
      • L31 - Left - Triple line - First line
      • L32 - Left - Triple line - Second line
      • L33 - Left - Triple line - Third line
      • R31 - Right - Triple line - First line
      • R32 - Right - Triple line - Second line
      • R33 - Right - Triple line - Third line
      • L41 - Left - Quad line - First line
      • L42 - Left - Quad line - Second line
      • L43 - Left - Quad line - Third line
      • L44 - Left - Quad line - Fourth line
      • R41 - Right - Quad line - First line
      • R42 - Right - Quad line - Second line
      • R43 - Right - Quad line - Third line
      • R44 - Right - Quad line - Fourth line
    • VUM - VU meter (*See Note 1,3*)
      • LN1 - Left frequency 1
      • RN1 - Right frequency 1
      • LI1 - Left inverted frequency 1
      • RI1 - Right inverted frequency 1
      • LN2 - Left frequency 2
      • RN2 - Right frequency 2
      • LI2 - Left inverted frequency 2
      • RI2 - Right inverted frequency 2
      • LN3 - Left frequency 3
      • RN3 - Right frequency 3
      • LI3 - Left inverted frequency 3
      • RI3 - Right inverted frequency 3
      • LN4 - Left frequency 4
      • RN4 - Right frequency 4
      • LI4 - Left inverted frequency 4
      • RI4 - Right inverted frequency 4
      • LN5 - Left frequency 5
      • RN5 - Right frequency 5
      • LI5 - Left inverted frequency 5
      • RI5 - Right inverted frequency 5
      • LN6 - Left frequency 6
      • RN6 - Right frequency 6
      • LI6 - Left inverted frequency 6
      • RI6 - Right inverted frequency 6
      • LN7 - Left frequency 7
      • RN7 - Right frequency 7
      • LI7 - Left inverted frequency 7
      • RI7 - Right inverted frequency 7
      • LN8 - Left frequency 8
      • RN8 - Right frequency 8
      • LI8 - Left inverted frequency 8
      • RI8 - Right inverted frequency 8
      • LNA - Left frequency average
      • RNA - Right frequency average
      • LIA - Left inverted frequency average
      • RIA - Right inverted frequency average
    • SVU - Solid VU meter (*see Note 1,4*)
      • LN1 - Left frequency 1
      • RN1 - Right frequency 1
      • LN2 - Left frequency 2
      • RN2 - Right frequency 2
      • LN3 - Left frequency 3
      • RN3 - Right frequency 3
      • LN4 - Left frequency 4
      • RN4 - Right frequency 4
      • LN5 - Left frequency 5
      • RN5 - Right frequency 5
      • LN6 - Left frequency 6
      • RN6 - Right frequency 6
      • LN7 - Left frequency 7
      • RN7 - Right frequency 7
      • LN8 - Left frequency 8
      • RN8 - Right frequency 8
      • LNA - Left frequency average
      • RNA - Right frequency average
  • Events
    • "On Winamp play" Triggers an action once you hit play on Winamp
    • "On Winamp stop" Triggers an action once you hit stop or close Winamp
    • "On Winamp pause" Triggers an action once you hit pause
    • "On Track Change" Triggers an action once the track name changes
  • Actions
    • "Next track"
    • "Pause/Resume"
    • "Play/Stop"
    • "Play/Pause"
    • "Previous track"
    • "Fast forward"
    • "Fast rewind"
    • "Toggle repeat"
    • "Toggle shuffle"
    • "Restart Winamp"
    • "Close Winamp"
  • Configuration (entered via the LCDC configuration screen)
    • "Winamp status" Change what LCDC reports in the "Status" variable fo on screen display
    • "Winamp active" Controls when to show LCDC is active
    • "Bar size" Sets the default width sent back for VU/equaliser bars etc.

Note 1
In order to get any data from winamp 3 must install the WINAMP 3 plugin (not just the LCDC WA3 plugin) :-
1) The "LCDC_WA3.WAC" must be copied into the Winamp3\Wacs folder (Currently not automated), you should find the winamp plugin in the LCDC install folder under "Additional\Winamp Visualisation"


Make sure the "LCDC_WA3.WAC" is copied into the Winamp\Wacs folder

2) Unlike Winamp2 the Winamp3 plugin (WAC) does not require "Starting"


Note 2
Due to the huge number of displays and setups LCDC is capable of supporting, there are a lot of different options for showing a graphic equalizer of the song being played, In fact there are 20basic options! Example if you want to to a 2 line display you would select the L21 and L22 (or R21,R22 for the right channel) variables from the "Text definition screen" and the L21 would go onto the first line and L22 on the second line. As you can probably tell the first character tells LCDC which channel to select L or R for left or right, then the next character is the total number of lines you want to display for the equaliser, in this case 2. Then the last character is which line to show 1 or 2! From within the configuration for "WA3" you can also change the default width (20) for the bars returned.


Example 2 line display, using a differnt custom character set to the standard verticale bars

To create the above 2 line screen:-

1) Add a blank screen
2) Set the "FPS rate" to 25 (maxium update speed for nicest display)
3) Set the "Custom chrs" to bars_vertical (or just vertical bars for older installations)
4) On "Line 1" in the "Text" enter the variable "[#$WA3SpeL21]", best option is to use the text defintion to select "WA3- Winamp 2 / Spectrum analyser / L21 - left - Double line - First line"
5) On "Line 2" in the "Text" enter the variable "[#$WA3SpeL22]", best option is to use the text defintion to select "WA3- Winamp 2 / Spectrum analyser / L22 - left - Double line - Second line" (From version 1.04.25 you can actually right click the "Text" area and select "Duplicate", this will work out what the next logical line should be and enter it for you)
6) Your done, if you have Winamp2 playing already and preview on then you should see dancing bars.
7) Advanced... If you want to manually set the width of the returned data, rather than the default sent by the WA3 plugin, simply enter in at the end of the variable how wide to return. E.G "[#$WA3SpeL21]" would return the plugins configured "Bar size" however "[#$WA3SpeL2110]" would only return a bar 10 characters wide. This is useful as for example you might want L and R shown on one screen like so "L[#$WA3SpeL119]R[#$WA3SpeR119]" (single line graphics equaliser showing left and right channels)

Note 3
As per note 2 there are many options for VU bars there are many different setups you can have on this, and also the bars can be based at different frequency levels (or an overall average). The setup again is similar to the equaliser, however it is not multiline. There are two versions of the VU bars though, normal (bars move left to right based on volume) and Inverted (bars move right to left). It is important to use the Cusom chars " Plugin_wax_vubars" (may be Vubars in older version of LCDC) as these are needed to display correctly.


VU bars example

To create the above 2 line screen axample :-

1) Add a blank screen
2) Set the "FPS rate" to 2 (for maximum update speed)
3) Set the "Custom chrs" to Plugin_wax_vubars (may be vubars in older version of lcdc)

4) For "Line 1" in the text select/enter the variable "[#$WA3VUMLN1]" (text definition screen selection "WA3 - Winamp 2 / VUM - VU meter / LN1 - Left frequency 1"), and edit it by adding 18 onto the end as we want it 18characters wide, also add "L" in front and after as so "L[#$WA3VUMLN118]L"
5) For "Line 2" in the text select/enter the variable "[#$WA3VUMRN1]" (text definition screen selection "WA3 - Winamp 2 / VUM - VU meter / RN1 - Right frequency 1") and edit it by adding 18 onto the end as we want it 18characters wide, also add "R" in front and after as so "R[#$WA3VUMRN118]R"
6) Your done, if you have Winamp2 playing already and preview on then you should see dancing bars.
7) Fun stuff... if you want to see VU bars on one line in opposite directions, you can use something like "L[#$WA3VUMLI18]LR[#$WA3VUMRN18]R" or inverted as "L[#$WA3VUMLN18]LR[#$WA3VUMRI18]R"

Note 4
As per note 2 there are many options for Solid VU bars there are many different setups you can have on this, and also the bars can be based at different frequency levels (or an overall average). The setup again is similar to the equaliser, however it is not multiline. The bars however can not go in both directions like the solid VU bars due to the limited number of custom characters we have available. These screens can use the default character set or a custom bar set.


Solid VU bars example

To create the above 2 line screen axample :-

1) Add a blank screen
2) Set the "FPS rate" to 2 (for maximum update speed)
3) Set the "Custom chrs" to Default (or your own custom character selection for normal bars)
4) For "Line 1" select/enter the variable "[#$WA3SVULN1]" (from the text defintion screen "WA3 - Winamp 2 / SVU - Solid VU meter / LN1 - Left frequency 1". Once selected you need to edit the selection to add another "[" in front and after and also add "Left after as well" e.g. "[[#$WA3SVULN1]] Left "
5) For "Line 2" select/enter the variable "[#$WA3SVURN1]" (from the text defintion screen "WA3 - Winamp 2 / SVU - Solid VU meter / RN1 - Right frequency 1". Once selected you need to edit the selection to add another "[" in front and after and also add "Left after as well" e.g. "[[#$WA3SVURN1]] Right"
6) Your done, if you have Winamp2 playing already and preview on then you should see dancing bars.

FAQ
How do I get LCDC to only show the winamp screens while I'm playing music?
Simple, put all your Winamp screens into the same group (e.g. Winamp) then create two events. Set the first one to "WA3->On winamp play" and set the action to "DSP->Lock to groups" (selecting the winamp group!), and use the second event as "WA3->On winamp stop" setting the action to "DSP->Unlock from groups"