Rainwave
Encyclopedia
Rainwave is an interactive radio website that allows users to request, rate, and vote for songs in real time. The site hosts three separate radio streams and focuses completely on video game music.
In the summer of 2008, with the addition of a second stream for OCR Radio, Rainwave became the official online radio station for OverClocked ReMix
. At the same time, the Rainwave interface was upgraded to version 2, or "R2".
In March 2009, a third stream, V-wave, was added to the site. V-wave specializes in video game music covers and chiptunes. For a brief period, V-wave featured live radio shows as well.
In February 2011, V-wave was renamed to Mixwave.
The election panel displays the nominated songs' title, album, artist, play time, and user ratings. If one of the songs in the election was requested by a user, the song is indicated by an 'r' in the election panel. Each of the 3 streams has different simultaneous music broadcasts, and each hosts its own elections.
Users can queue up to three requests and donors can queue up to twelve requests, in a personal request queue (PRQ). Rainwave takes the first request of each user with active requests and places it in the station request queue (SRQ), along with a place in line. Once a user's request reaches the front of the line, their request is taken from the SRQ and put in an election. The users is then granted a new place at the back of the SRQ line.
During elections and while a song is being played, the song's site-wide and user rating are displayed. Ratings can also be seen in the station content playlist. Ratings can be made for content while it is playing, or in the history window for the previous 3 songs played.
Screenshot of Rainwave with some common windows open.
It is divided into various layers with different functionality:
Audio streams are in the Vorbis format at approximately 80 kbps.
Donations are used to subsidize monthly server costs and occasional hardware upgrades. Recently, a donation drive was successfully hosted to raise money for a new server. Donors received a custom Rainwave shot-glass as a thank-you gift.
Donations can be made anonymously, or can be linked to a user account. All registered users who donate any amount receive 'donor' status (currently indefinitely). Donor status activates a larger request queue and grants 'beta tester' status for upcoming new features.
History
The Rainwave web interface and back-end was written by Robert McAuley. The initial version was called "Raincast" and was written as a stream helper for IceS. It was announced to the Icecast mailing list in November 2004.In the summer of 2008, with the addition of a second stream for OCR Radio, Rainwave became the official online radio station for OverClocked ReMix
OverClocked ReMix
OverClocked ReMix, also known as OC ReMix and OCR, is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and paying tribute to video game music through arranging and re-interpreting the songs with new technology and software, as well as by various traditional means...
. At the same time, the Rainwave interface was upgraded to version 2, or "R2".
In March 2009, a third stream, V-wave, was added to the site. V-wave specializes in video game music covers and chiptunes. For a brief period, V-wave featured live radio shows as well.
In February 2011, V-wave was renamed to Mixwave.
Now Playing
The radio stream is a continuous feed of music. The "Now Playing" panel shows the currently streaming song, along with the songs album, artist, length, and user ratings.Music Choices
Rainwave had three stations, each with a different core focus. The original "Rainwave" channel features official video game soundtracks. "OCR Radio" features any and all music created by or for OverClocked Remix. "V-wave" (soon to be re-branded "Mixwave") features independent music and chiptunes. Any music produced with a public license (or with express permission of an artist) is within Mixwave's scope.Elections
While any given song is playing, the next song is being selected by election. The election is between three songs selected, usually at random, by the site (and periodically songs requested by users). Any time before the last 10 seconds of the current song, any users actively tuned-in to a stream have the ability to vote for the next song to play.The election panel displays the nominated songs' title, album, artist, play time, and user ratings. If one of the songs in the election was requested by a user, the song is indicated by an 'r' in the election panel. Each of the 3 streams has different simultaneous music broadcasts, and each hosts its own elections.
Requests
All registered users are able to request songs from the playlist of the station they are tuned-in to. If there are active requests queued, every second election in Rainwave includes a user request. User requests must be successfully win an election to be played.Users can queue up to three requests and donors can queue up to twelve requests, in a personal request queue (PRQ). Rainwave takes the first request of each user with active requests and places it in the station request queue (SRQ), along with a place in line. Once a user's request reaches the front of the line, their request is taken from the SRQ and put in an election. The users is then granted a new place at the back of the SRQ line.
Ratings
Registered users are able to apply personal ratings, from 1.0 to 5.0, to Rainwave content (songs and albums). Personal ratings are saved indefinitely to each users' account. The average of individual user ratings is calculated and stored as the site-wide rating for each piece of content.During elections and while a song is being played, the song's site-wide and user rating are displayed. Ratings can also be seen in the station content playlist. Ratings can be made for content while it is playing, or in the history window for the previous 3 songs played.
Dynamic Interface
Rainwave features a dynamic interface with windows that can be opened within the main interface to display features such as playlist, song history, song info, listener statistics, requests, help, and chat.Screenshot of Rainwave with some common windows open.
User Community
Rainwave.cc includes both forums and chat room for interacting with site staff and other users. There is a stable community surrounding the site, including 5 - 10 admin (can fluctuate), a larger group of regular users, and an even larger group of periodic users. New users are always welcome, and encouraged to join the fray in the forums and/or chat room anytime.Forums
The forums include site announcements, help/FAQs, new music requests, and an area for more general (not Rainwave-specific) topics. The forums are passively moderated. There is a set of guidelines, but individual posts are not approved prior to posting. This means you can say what you want, but if the admin don't like it, they'll delete it.Chat
Rainwave hosts its own IRC channel (#rainwave on the synIRC network), which can be accessed through an embedded chat window in the main rainwave interface, or through any standard IRC client. As with the forums, you can say what you want, but if the admins find it inappropriate, you'll get the boot, and (eventually) get banned.Technical Functionality
Rainwave interface and server-side software has been designed and implemented by Robert "LiquidRain" McAuley.It is divided into various layers with different functionality:
- Lyre: JSON API written in PythonPython (programming language)Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
using Tornado. - Orpheus: custom-made software C++C++C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
app made to control Rainwave (incl. elections, song selections, request processing, etc.) - Eurydice: custom-made web app paneling system used for the site.
- LiquidSoap: third-party software for audio streaming. LiquidSoap official website.
Audio streams are in the Vorbis format at approximately 80 kbps.
Donations
Rainwave is a free service, funded primarily by Robert McAuley, and supplemented by user donations. There are no fees for usage and no plans to implement a mandatory fee structure in the future.Donations are used to subsidize monthly server costs and occasional hardware upgrades. Recently, a donation drive was successfully hosted to raise money for a new server. Donors received a custom Rainwave shot-glass as a thank-you gift.
Donations can be made anonymously, or can be linked to a user account. All registered users who donate any amount receive 'donor' status (currently indefinitely). Donor status activates a larger request queue and grants 'beta tester' status for upcoming new features.
See also
- List of online music databases
- Streaming mediaStreaming mediaStreaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
External links
- http://www.crispygamer.com/blogs/post/2010/04/30/rainwave-streaming-video-game-music.aspx
- http://nerdflood.com/2008/07/16/rainwave-streaming-video-game-music-has-just-gotten-better/
- http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=2277
- http://www.2d-x.com/rainwave-democratic-video-game-radio/