live feed takeover for humans

[ssj4evostevo]

So I did see in the code that this was a planned thing and it said that they knew someone was gonna want to do that someday. So where are we on that? I would love to take over for my radio host and then cast sound form my PC to the server and then have that be apart of the stream. my stream lives over at giantpirateradio.com, and my DJ host is a punk rock pirate. its pretty funny, but its based on me, and I would like to cut over and stream audio from my pc to the server (running on my local unraid server) and then my stream goes to a vps server I have and then that streams to my site. im thinking about starting a whole social channel for this now, youtube videos, streams, instagram and tiktok. So I want to be able to take over for my AI host when ever I feel like it.

[robert-dean]

Thanks for writing this up. Taking over the air whenever you like is a very reasonable thing to want.

Where it stands: the comments you found are left over from my original proof of concept. That version streamed its audio into the station through a live input. When I rebuilt it and took that input out, I left those notes in, because a real microphone is the obvious reason someone would want one back. So it's a door I left open rather than a plan. I haven't designed or built it yet, and this is the first proper request for it.

Before I design it, it would help to know which of these you mean:

1. You replace the host, and the station keeps running the show. Deadair still picks the records and keeps the running order, news, weather and the rest. You speak where the AI host would: over intros and outros, between records, back-announcing what just played. Your mic sits in the presenter's slot, with the music ducked under you the way it is for the AI voice. The station's writing and speaking pause while you're on, and they pick up again when you leave.
2. You take over the whole station. You bring your own music and talk, and deadair steps aside completely: no records, no breaks, no news or weather, until you hand it back.

These are quite different builds. The first keeps deadair in charge and swaps out its voice. The second is a clean hand-off of the air. Knowing which one you want (or whether it's both, at different times) tells me what to build.

Meanwhile, you can do option 2 today on your VPS, with no deadair changes. Icecast has fallback mounts. Make your public mount the one you broadcast to, and have it fall back to the deadair relay whenever you aren't connected:

<!-- the deadair stream, however it reaches the VPS today (relay or source push) -->
<mount type="normal">
    <mount-name>/deadair.mp3</mount-name>
</mount>

<!-- the mount your site and listeners use -->
<mount type="normal">
    <mount-name>/pirate.mp3</mount-name>
    <password>your-live-source-password</password>
    <fallback-mount>/deadair.mp3</fallback-mount>
    <fallback-override>1</fallback-override>
</mount>

Point your site at /pirate.mp3, and point BUTT, Mixxx or OBS on your PC at the same mount with that password. With nobody connected, listeners hear the AI host. When you connect, fallback-override moves them over to you, and when you disconnect they drop back to deadair.

A few things to know:

• Match the format. Broadcast in the same codec and sample rate as your deadair mount (and ideally the same bitrate). Some players drop the connection when the stream format changes underneath them.
• It's a hard cut. You get no crossfade on the way in or out, so a short intro and outro bed on your side helps.
• The station keeps running behind you. While you're live, deadair will still play records and write breaks into a mount nobody is hearing, and its history and scrobbles will include those plays.

Let me know which of the two you're after, and how the hand-offs sound if you try the workaround.

[ssj4evostevo]

Yeah, option 2, the clean hand-off. No records, no breaks, no news until I give it back.
Here's how I'm picturing it working, start to finish:
Trigger 1, the interrupt
A button on the Desk tab, something like “ENABLE LIVE TAKEOVER” (working name, open to
whatever you'd actually call it). Hitting it just arms the thing, it doesn't go live by itself. It sits there
quietly listening for a real audio signal coming in from another machine, could be my main PC on the
same LAN, could be a VM on the same Unraid box, could be over Tailscale from somewhere else
entirely. The second it actually detects real audio (not just a connection, actual signal), that's when it
cuts over. This one's for spur of the moment stuff, not planned.
Trigger 2, scheduled
A new item type on the Programme tab's rundown, same idea but time based instead of signal based.
Pick an exact date and time, and at that moment it arms and cuts over, same as the button would.
The countdown
Both of them show the same visual: some kind of “3... 2... 1... YOU'RE LIVE” countdown, so whoever's
about to go live gets a clean, predictable cue instead of just getting cut to cold with no warning.
Not locked to one encoder
It shouldn't be locked to OBS specifically. OBS is what I'd use, but the actual requirement is just
“something that can push an audio/video stream,” so BUTT, Mixxx, whatever else someone's using
should work too. OBS is just the obvious first one to test against.
What happens to the automation while I'm live
I think that should be a real toggle, not a fixed behavior:
● Keep it running quietly in the background the whole time, so handing back is instant, it's already
mid-flow.
● Or stop it completely while I'm live and force a fresh restart (not resume mid-track) the second I
hand back.
Both have tradeoffs. Keeping it running means the history/scrobbles log plays nobody actually heard,
which you already flagged with the fallback-mount workaround. Stopping it is cleaner for history but
needs the app to actually be able to pause/resume its own playout state, not just reroute Icecast.

How I'd picture building it
Since it sounds like liquidsoap's already driving things upstream of Icecast, input.harbor() seems
like the right tool for the live-input listener itself, it already does exactly this kind of “wait for a source to
connect” job, and then fallback() or switch() to handle the actual cutover logic. That keeps
everything, the listener, the arming, the schedule, the countdown, all living in one place inside the app
instead of split between DeadAir and hand-edited Icecast XML like the workaround needs today.
Obviously you know your own codebase way better than I do, so if there's a reason that's not the right
call, I'm all ears.
Diagram 1 — how the fallback-mount workaround works today

The current manual path: entirely outside DeadAir, no scheduling, no UI awareness.

Diagram 2 — what I'm picturing built in natively

Arming, countdown, scheduling, and the background-automation toggle, all inside the same board.
Happy to test against this on my own setup if it'd help, I've got the Unraid box, a VPS relay, and
Tailscale already wired up the way the workaround assumes.

[robert-dean]

This has shipped. Thanks for the detailed write-up: it shaped most of what got built.

What you get, matching your outline:

• Trigger 1, the interrupt. There's a Live card on the Desk under On air now. Type a show name if you want one (listeners see it as the title while you're on), and press Go live. That only arms it, as you described. Nothing happens until your encoder is sending real sound. A connection on its own, or one sending silence, never cuts the station.
• The countdown. Once it hears you, the card counts you in with big 3, 2, 1 digits and you're on the air. Anything you send during the countdown isn't aired, so wait for it and start talking on the cut. While you're on, the card shows You're live and how long you've been on.
• Not locked to one encoder. Anything that speaks the Icecast source protocol works: BUTT and Mixxx directly, and OBS through a custom output (FFmpeg) pointed at icecast://source:PASSWORD@ADDRESS:8006/live. Encoder settings on the card shows the server, port, mount, user and password, each with a copy button.
• What happens to the automation. It's the toggle you asked for: Settings → Playout → While somebody is live, the station's own programme. The default stops it: no records, no breaks, no news under you, and nothing logged as played that nobody heard. When you hand back, it carries on from the next record, a fresh start rather than mid-track. The other option carries on underneath, unheard.
• Handing back. Press Hand back (it asks twice, like Stop), or just go quiet or disconnect for eight seconds.
• How it's built. As you suggested: input.harbor on its own port (8006), with the live audio mixed in above everything else, so the station's own programme sits underneath it, and your cut and hand-back are short crossfades.

On your setup:

• Unraid: the template now has a Live input port (8006). An existing container won't pick that up on its own, so add a port mapping for 8006 to it by hand.
• Tailscale: point the encoder at the Unraid box's Tailscale address, port 8006.
• Your VPS relay keeps working as it is. Live audio goes out on the station's own mount, so you can drop the Icecast fallback-mount workaround if you set it up.

The full guide is at https://deadair.radio/docs/features/live.

Not built yet: the scheduled trigger, going live at a set date and time. I'm tracking it as a follow-up.

You offered to test it on your setup, and I'd love that, especially through the VPS relay and over Tailscale. If anything about the countdown or the hand-back feels off in practice, tell me here.

[robert-dean]

The last piece has shipped: you can now book a live show, so the station arms the live input at a set date and time. That's your trigger 2.

Booking a show

On Programme → Specials, press New special, name the show, pick its date (or a range of dates, with the days it runs on), set a start and end time, and switch on A live show. The programme fields go away, since the station plays nothing of its own for it. It shows up on the timetable marked (live) and on the Specials list with a Live badge, and the Live card on the Desk tells you when the next one is booked.

What happens on the night

• At the start time, the station does exactly what Go live does, with the show's name as the title. Your AI host carries on until your encoder is heard, then you get the same 3, 2, 1 countdown and you're on. You can start sending a little early: the countdown begins as soon as the input is armed and hears you.
• If you run long, the end time never cuts you off. Hand back when you're done, the same as always.
• If you don't make it, the input is disarmed at the end time, so the station isn't left waiting for an encoder all night.
• If you go live early with the button, the booking leaves you alone.
• Cancel on the Live card only skips that night. The next date in the range arms as usual.

Whatever you've chosen under Settings → Playout for what the station's own programme does while you're live applies to booked shows too.

The guide has a new section on this: https://deadair.radio/docs/features/live#booking-a-show

That covers everything in your write-up. Your offer to test still stands, and I'd love to hear how a booked show behaves on your setup, especially the hand-off at the start time through the VPS relay.