Rocket Streaming Blog

Since our launch two years ago, Rocket Broadcaster has seen enthusiastic adoption. Our software is now used by over 1,000 radio stations in more than 100 countries across the globe, many of which are streaming 24/7. Our customers have collectively broadcast more than 150,000 hours of radio using Rocket Broadcaster.

Through our collaborations with broadcasters and radio networks across the world, we've seen broadcast engineers grapple with all sorts of new problems that streaming on the internet brings to traditional terrestrial radio stations. We've also seen that while the demands of keeping your radio station on the air 24/7 are similar for large and small radio stations, broadcasters don't always have access to the same tools and technologies to help them stay on the air. This led us to think about how we could help support radio broadcasters by increasing access to software tools.

As of today, we're officially unveiling a new platform to simplify internet radio infrastructure for broadcast engineers:

Radio Mast (radiomast.io).

We're excited to share some of the new tools we've developed for you on Radio Mast:

Stream Uptime Monitoring with Real-Time Alerts

Staying on the air is critical for any internet radio station, so we're pleased to announce that broadcasters can now monitor their internet radio stream, through Radio Mast. When you sign up, Radio Mast will test your radio stream every minute and immediately email you if a problem is detected. Radio Mast will also keep a history of uptime events and try to troubleshoot outages for you, to help get you back on-air sooner.

Silence detection and monitoring for multiple stations or streams are available on our Pro plans.

For more information, visit Stream Monitoring on Radio Mast for an overview, or read our new platform documentation for the full details.

Remote Configuration for Rocket Broadcaster

Everybody has to leave the studio sometime, so we've come up with a way to let you remotely access and configure Rocket Broadcaster. If you administer multiple encoders across a radio network, you'll have experienced the challenges of getting all your stream settings correct and in sync, especially if your radio stations are geographically separated. By centrally managing your Rocket installations on Radio Mast, you can save yourself setup time and make future maintenance easier.

Starting with our recent Rocket Broadcaster 1.1.14 release, you can now remotely edit your stream settings, view the status of your streams, and toggle your broadcast via Radio Mast.

Learn more about Remote Encoder Management on Radio Mast.

We'd love to expand Rocket Broadcaster's remote control capabilities in the future, so if there's other functionality you'd like to see, please send us your ideas!

Streaming CDN ^BETA

Lastly, we've also created an Icecast-compatible streaming network that provides geographically redundant servers for excellent reliability and compatibility. Our CDN lets you instantly create new internet radio streams that you can broadcast to with Rocket Broadcaster or any other Icecast-compatible software.

We're launching our Streaming CDN as a public beta to get early feedback about what features you'd like to see. Our free plan lets anyone stream to up to 5 listeners, so sign up and try it out today.

Visit Radiomast.io and sign up for free.

What's Next?

We're continuing to work on the next Rocket Broadcaster release, as part of our mission to make it the best internet radio broadcast encoder for any streaming service. We're also continuing to build out more features for Radio Mast, so stay tuned!

We're pleased to announce the release of Rocket Broadcaster 1.1.14! This update includes another round of improvements and bugfixes, that were again made in close collaboration with many of our terrestrial broadcast customers. Your continued feedback keeps us going, so thank you!

PRO Capture Metadata from RCS Nexgen Digital and Scott Studios SS32

Rocket Broadcaster Pro can now receive XML metadata from the RCS Nexgen Digital radio automation software. We've also added support for receiving metadata from SS32, via our new Metadata TCP Client. We've found SS32 works best in "Host Mode", and we've added a TCP client in Rocket Broadcaster to support it.

Other Automation Software

Need to ingest metadata from other automation software? Let us know and we'll do our best to support it.

PRO Multiple Instances on one PC

You can now officially run multiple instances of Rocket Broadcaster Pro on one PC. Multiple instances of Rocket can be used to stream separate audio for different stations, if you've purchased multiple licenses.

To set up extra instances, click Help->License->Add Additional Installation... in the menu in Rocket.

PRO Remote Control and Monitoring through Radio Mast

Do you ever need to change your stream settings or check on Rocket Broadcaster while you're away from the studio?
With our new Radio Mast platform, you now can. If you run a radio network, Radio Mast lets you centrally manage and monitor your Rocket Broadcaster installations to save you time, from anywhere in the world.

To get started, sign up with Radio Mast today.

Compact View

A new compact user interface mode has been added. This is especially useful if you're running multiple instances of Rocket on one PC and you want to fit all the windows on one monitor.

Other Recent Improvements and Bugfixes

• Revamped AAC encoder, now with support for the HE-AAC v1 codec.
• Added ability to restart individual streams (right-click on a stream and select "Restart")
• Added a hint when you have changes to your streams that are unapplied.
• Revamped stream panel - The mount and hostname are now visible for each stream.
• Simplified the set up of multiple installations on one PC - (Help->License->Add Additional Installation...)
• Improved soundcard compatibility
• During a Windows reboot, Rocket will no longer show any prompts.
• If your PC reboots after a Windows Update, Rocket will now automatically start back up.
• If no username is specified for Icecast streams, it now defaults to "source" (by convention of the protocol).
• iMediaTouch track durations are also available as a nice human-readable string via the %DurationHuman% template variable.
• Bugfix: Recording devices now refresh immediately when changing the Audio API setting in the preferences.
• Bugfix: Reconnection logic improved.
• Bugfix: Ignore GENERICMSG tags in TRE XML metadata.

Download the Update

• Free Edition - Download the latest update here!
• Pro Edition - If you're a Pro Edition user, click the download link in your purchase confirmation email again to get the latest update.

What's next?

Here's what's on our roadmap:

• Shoutcast 2 support
• Expanded support options for terrestrial broadcasters
• More thorough documentation

Lastly, your feedback is what helps drive Rocket Broadcaster development. If you're looking for a missing feature, or have ideas for how we can make Rocket Broadcaster even better, please let us know!

We're pleased to announce the release of Rocket Broadcaster 1.1.12! This is another cumulative update, including performance improvements, bugfixes, and a couple new features. These new changes were designed in close collaboration with a number of FM and digital broadcast stations, and we'd like to thank our amazing broadcaster community for their feedback and direction.

Lower Latency, Improved Performance

This new update significantly lowers the audio latency throughout the application, improving performance and synchronization between your audio stream and metadata. Broadcasters who have in-stream advertisements triggered by metadata will see a marked improvement in timing synchronization and precision.

PRO Capture Metadata from iMediaTouch, WideOrbit Automation for Radio, and The Radio Experience

Rocket Broadcaster Pro can now receive XML metadata from the radio automation software used by many FM broadcasters, keeping your stream metadata in sync with your broadcast. Metadata updates sent by UDP are now supported too.
Need to ingest metadata from other automation software? Let us know and we'll do our best to support it.

Other Recent Improvements and Bugfixes

• Metadata read from a text file can now be in any of the supported formats.
• Metadata sent to Icecast can now be customized to use any extra metadata parsed from XML via TCP/UDP. (Added the "Output Format" tab in the Metadata Capture window.)
• Added option to remove your Pro license from a computer (Help->License->Remove License...)
• Reduced soundcard latency, and latency between stream audio and metadata.
• Added ability to receive metadata via UDP, for compatibility with more automation systems.
• Added support for receiving XML metadata from iMediaTouch, WideOrbit Automation for Radio, and The Radio Experience.
• Bugfix: Fixed automatic reconnection to Shoutcast servers failing during adverse network conditions.
• Bugfix: Improved compatibility with certain VST plugins.
• Bugfix: Improved compatibility with certain soundcards.

Download the Update

• Free Edition - Download the latest update here!
• Pro Edition - If you're a Pro Edition user, click the download link in your purchase confirmation email again to get the latest update.

Lastly, your feedback is what helps drive Rocket Broadcaster development. If you're looking for a missing feature, or have ideas for how we can make Rocket Broadcaster even better, please let us know!

We're pleased to announce the release of Rocket Broadcaster 1.1.8! This is a cumulative update adding new ways to ingest metadata and offers some compatibility improvements as well.

PRO Capture Metadata over TCP

Other software applications can now directly update your stream's metadata automatically and remotely using the new TCP metadata server.

PRO Capture Metadata from a Text File

Stream metadata can now also be read from a text file, which can be updated by scripts or other radio automation software.

PRO AAC and AAC+ Encoder

To support you in operating your radio station legally, we're pleased to announce this release includes licensed AAC and AAC+ encoders.

Other Recent Improvements and Bugfixes

• 1.1.8 - Improved error messages when loading invalid VST plugins.
• 1.1.8 - Icecast metadata improvement: Stream genre and description are now configurable on a stream-by-stream basis.
• 1.1.8 - Added 56 kbps as a supported bitrate.
• 1.1.7 - Windows XP compatibility (unsupported, but it works).
• 1.1.7 - Added command-line options. Run rocketbroadcaster.exe --help for usage.
• 1.1.5 (April 2017) - Fixed compatibility with 32-bit Windows. Previously, 32-bit users would be unable to connect to Icecast or SHOUTcast.
• 1.1.5 - Fixed an issue causing instability with long window titles.
• 1.1.4 - Fixed "Other Applications" audio slider not syncing with system volume level at startup.
• 1.1.4 - Removed support for ASIO due to buggy drivers and the ASIO SDK causing instability. Microsoft's WASAPI audio API provides a low-latency, stable experience for every broadcaster, and we stand by it.
• 1.1.3 - Improved compatibility with PCs where "Other Applications" audio is unavailable.
• 1.1.2 - Improved compatibility with certain VST plugins.
• 1.1.2 - Fixed a bug connecting to Icecast servers using passwords that include punctuation.

Download the Update

• Free Edition - Download the latest update here!
• Pro Edition - If you're a Pro Edition user, click the download link in your registration email again to get the latest update.

Once again, we owe a great deal of thanks to all the users who've sent in feedback and error reports. Your feedback helps us improve each version of Rocket Broadcaster and drives development of new features, and I look forward to hearing more!

We're pleased to announce the release of Rocket Broadcaster 1.1! This update brings a number of new features, including support for VST plugins, support for High DPI / Retina displays, a master VU meter, auto-start on launch, and more!

PRO VST Plugin Support

Process your radio's sound with your favorite effects and DSP plugins. Rocket Broadcaster now supports 32-bit VST 2.x plugins, the leading standard for audio effects plugins, and has been tested extensively with Stereo Tool, a broadcast mastering processor used by over 1,000 FM radio stations. VST plugin support is available today for all Pro Edition users, and if you're a Free Edition user, you can still try out VST plugins for 10 minutes at a time to hear how good your broadcast could sound.

Looking for some good VST plugins to try out on your station? Check out our list of top VST plugins for radio broadcasters.

PRO Auto-Start Broadcast on Launch

Professional broadcasters running Rocket 24/7 or in Windows server environments can now automatically start broadcasting each time the program is launched. An option is available in the preferences to toggle this behaviour.

High DPI / Retina Display Support

For Windows users with high resolution displays and display scaling, Rocket Broadcaster now looks better than ever with improved visuals and High DPI support.

Master VU Meter

To help you visualize the effects of a VST plugin, Rocket Broadcaster now includes a master VU meter. For example, if you're using a compressor/limiter VST plugin with sufficient makeup gain, you should be able to see your master sound levels peaking near the top more often. You might also notice there's a small (~100ms) delay between the input and master stages in Rocket, and this is due to the input and output processing being fully decoupled and protected with extra buffering, to enhance streaming stability.

Other Tweaks

• Increased the default buffer size to 2048 samples, which improves performance on older PCs.
• Added extra buffering to "Other Application" audio capture, to improve stability when your system is under load.
• Fixed a rare condition that impacted stability at launch for a small number of users.

Download the Update

• Free Edition - Download the latest update here!
• Pro Edition - If you're a Pro Edition user, click the download link in your registration email again to get the latest update.

Lastly, I'd like to thank everyone who has submitted ideas or comments about their experience through our feedback form, or sent in an error report. I read every single one of these carefully, and features like VST plugin support were a direct result of your feedback, so please keep it coming! (And the error reports help me track down hard-to-find bugs too.)

Can't connect to a stream? Yeah, we've been there. And there's so many potential causes that it's not usually clear what's wrong. We've got good news though - This release adds a couple new features to help broadcasters out when troubleshooting streaming issues. The new Stream Diagnostic Test aims to give you a better clue about what's wrong and some suggestions on how to fix the problem. You can run the diagnostic by clicking "Test Stream" in the "Streams" screen.

Here's a breakdown of what's new:

1. Stream Diagnostic Test - In the Streams dialog, you can now test each stream, and Rocket Broadcaster will run a suite a tests to ensure your stream will work correctly. If there are any problems found, Rocket Broadcaster will tell you what they are and some hints on how to fix them, which should hopefully make stream troubleshooting easier.



2. PRO Logging - For Pro Edition users, Rocket Broadcaster now logs information about each stream to a log file located in your My Documents/Rocket Broadcaster folder. This is particularly useful for seeing a history of how long each stream stayed connected for, and seeing if there were any disconnections. The logs are rotated every couple of megabytes to ensure they won't consume too much disk space.
3. Some minor tweaks to the Radionomy broadcast wizard were made to further improve compatibility with some stations.

To download this new version, visit our downloads page. Pro Edition users should click the link in their registration email again.

Today's update for Rocket Broadcaster introduces the new Broadcast Wizard, which simplifies stream setup for new users, and includes 60 minutes of free streaming in case you don't have a streaming provider yet.

Here's a breakdown of what's new:

• New Features:
• Added the Broadcast Wizard, which is shown on first run and is accessible at any time from the File menu.
• Rocket Broadcaster now comes with 60 minutes of free streaming, so you can still broadcast right away even if you don't have stream hosting or are new to internet radio broadcasting.
• Usability:
• You can now right-click on streams in the main window to edit them or copy their streaming link.
• The "Broadcast Now" button has been split into separate "Start Broadcast" and "Stop Broadcast" buttons.
• Creating a new broadcast project automatically opens the Streams window.
• The Streams window now remembers which stream you were viewing last.
• Better feedback is provided if you try to start a broadcast with invalid stream settings.
• Other:
• The mount and username fields are disabled for SHOUTcast, since they aren't used for that protocol.
• Improved artwork

To download this new version, visit our downloads page. Pro Edition users should click the link in their registration email again.

Thanks to everyone who's tried out Rocket Broadcaster and sent in their feedback. A number of issues were identified and a couple of small updates were released in the past few days to fix them. This new 1.0.5 releases includes all those bugfixes, plus a few more.

Here's what's new:

• Improved Shoutcast compatibility (especially with Radionomy).
• Improved UTF-8 handling for Icecast metadata.
• Added more bitrates to the Pro Edition, going down to 32 kbps now.
• By popular demand, the Free Edition is now fixed to 128 kbps instead of 192 kbps, for better compatibility with certain stream hosting providers.
• Fixed a crash due to an incompatibility with the system audio capture format, and improved that format's compatibility to work on more PCs.
• Fixed a confusing bug where audio would be choppy with the "Windows Default" playback device. Ditched support for the very old WMME API in favour of only WASAPI and WDMKS, which are better in every way anyways.

To download this new version, visit our downloads page or for Pro Edition users, hit the link in your email again.

Houston, we have liftoff!

We're please to announce the availability of our new streaming audio encoder, Rocket Broadcaster. It features support for modern codecs like MP3 and Ogg Vorbis, provides rock solid streaming, and is designed for 24/7 use. For more features, check out Rocket Broadcaster Pro.

Version 1.0.0 is available for Windows 7 and greater. Download it today!