We all know the power music can have over us. So, it only makes sense to have complete control over the scheduling of it, no matter the needs of your business.

Our team have been working hard to make improvements to the schedule within our user platform, Studio. These changes were designed to improve functionality, tackle existing customer challenges and make the Startle experience better for everyone involved - we think they’re pretty nifty.

User experience updates

The driving force behind the new scheduler was improving usability for our customers, making it as simple as possible to schedule their playlists throughout the week. 

The previous schedule would run from midnight to midnight, meaning that if you open later during the day (like many hospitality businesses), you’d have to scroll halfway down the page to get to your open times. But now the timetable will sync with the open and close hours for your business, meaning you only see the relevant times, giving you a cleaner, more organised view. Opening times can be configured on a day-by-day basis and playlists can even run past midnight if you’re open All Night Long (All Night).

Got a playlist that plays at the same time each day? Rather than setting it up manually for each day, you can drag the playlist horizontally to add it to the other days. And if there’s already a playlist scheduled at the time you have the option to either override it, or just fill in any empty times. 

From a design point of view, we’ve tidied things up to give a much cleaner interface. You can now choose what information is displayed, including the running times of each playlist, the volume and EQ (read on for more information), the current time and more.

And for a bit of added visual flair, we even have these rather lovely looking backgrounds that appear at sunrise and sunset, making it easier for you to align your playlists to when the sun comes up or goes down. Gorgeous.

Volume scheduling

Another swanky new feature is volume scheduling. This means you have the ability to set a different volume for each of your playlists throughout your week. This means that your staff can focus on serving customers, making subtle changes to the volume in advance.

Pain in the bass?

And along with volume, you’re now also able to adjust the EQ of playlists. For example, you may want to reduce the bass in the morning, giving a softer ambience in the morning whilst people are enjoying their breakfast, making it heavier in the evenings to build more of a nighttime atmosphere (research has shown that playing songs with a heavy bass makes us feel dominant, powerful and in control).

Our design lead, Shaun, had the following to say about the changes:

“The updated playlist schedule has been designed to give you a lot more control, whilst also being much easier to use. From an overhauled drag and drop interface, to being able to configure your view options, to automatic syncing with sunrise and sunset, I think our team has come up with something truly amazing that’ll change the way you manage your music, whilst improving the atmosphere of your sites.”

To find out more, our Relentless Support team are here to help. Check out their article, or get in touch and we’ll walk you through it.