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[steveklein]

I did a search for alarm clock and noticed there was a thread over a year ago created about wanting to add an alarm clock feature into MC. Was just curious if this has made it into MC13, or if there are plans to add it? Seems like it would be pretty simple code to add, and it would be up to the user to assign IR commands if desired for things like snooze, etc.

Just thought it'd be a nice feature...

[JimH]

The scheduler in MC can be used for that.  It's under Advanced Tools.

[glynor]

I don't have a scheduler option under Advanced Tools anymore.  Wasn't that taken out eons ago?

Either way, if can even do it with the scheduler, it isn't very "alarm clock-y".  Meaning, it doesn't have an easy to understand UI that gives you simple options like Every Day, Once, M-F, Sa-Su, etc.  It also doesn't really have any option for an easy-to-use (eg. Hit Any Key) snooze feature.

I think this'd be fairly cool, and simple to do.  Even if the built-in scheduler was nixed, it shouldn't be difficult to pull off via the regular Windows Task Scheduler and MC's automation commands.  You'd just need some special "alarm mode" which would put up the Snooze and Turn Off UI, which could be called from the command line.  Then, let us set any Playlist/Smartlist to be the default Alarm List.

[p7389]

This would really be interesting if it'd be possible for MC to wake the computer from a S3 sleep state to start the alarm. It this at all feasible?

[mojave]

Since my alarm clock died about 6 months ago, I have just used the scheduler to play music to wake up to each morning. However, I haven't tried it from an S3 state yet.

[Puffkin123]

i've been searching for a great mp3 alarm clock for my computer but i think that one built into MC13 would be amazing.. to play a playlist or random song from your library then shuffle them.

[steveklein]

^^^^

MC can actually do this. Go to the scheduler. I never knew about the feature either till it was pointed out to me... but it does everything I need it to do. Alarm commands like snooze where you can edit how long it takes before it goes off again would be nice, but MC can definitely be used as an alarm clock. Would love to see a few extra "alarm" features added.

[p7389]

Since my alarm clock died about 6 months ago, I have just used the scheduler to play music to wake up to each morning. However, I haven't tried it from an S3 state yet.

Well, if you have your computer on anyway, sure, you can use MC as an alarm clock. I've done it a couple of times. But I generally don't leave my computer on, and especially not just for it to act as an alarm... So lest we get S3 wakeup (I never shut down the computer beyond S3 sleep), it really wouldn't be practical. But I know of no software that can do this... I guess it would have to tie into the BIOS in some way.

[Puffkin123]

how do I get to scheduler? in options??  ?

[marko]

how do I get to scheduler? in options??  ?

It's under "services and plugins" in the tree.

[krosenqu]

Didn't there exist an alarm feature a couple of versions ago?  I used it a couple of times but deemed it non-feasable because I like to turn my compy off at night (or at least put it to sleep).

[zxsix]

If your computer must be in sleep mode, find out if the windows scheduler (AT command) will wake it up or not.
If so...  you can do a command like this:
AT 05:00 /every:M,T,W,Th,F "MC13.exe /PLAY"
make sure some lively tunes are queued in playing now list.

If you have a certain playlist in mind, it could be loaded using this command:
MC13.exe /MCC 30007, <playlist id>

[benn600]

No Joke.

I made my own alarm clock.  I recorded over 200 of my voice sound effects.  I have a numeric keypad.  Pushing * brings up the audio main menu.  1) says current date and time 2) enable/disable day alarm (mon, tue) 3) set wakeup time 4) number game -- guess a number between 1 & 60 (easy)...it's pretty neat.  Everyone I show it to freaks out.  It's great and stupid at the same time.  Running on my Asus EEE that I don't really need.

[krosenqu]

No Joke.

I made my own alarm clock.  I recorded over 200 of my voice sound effects.  I have a numeric keypad.  Pushing * brings up the audio main menu.  1) says current date and time 2) enable/disable day alarm (mon, tue) 3) set wakeup time 4) number game -- guess a number between 1 & 60 (easy)...it's pretty neat.  Everyone I show it to freaks out.  It's great and stupid at the same time.  Running on my Asus EEE that I don't really need.

instructable.com or die!

Sounds like a fun project.  Got an .exe?

[benn600]

Unfortunately I used a powerful macro program instead of programming it myself.  Basically, key presses activate macros which can popup dialog boxes asking for input. Followed by enter to finalize a selection.  The program is Macro Express and if anyone else owns the program, then I could provide the macro file (100KB or so) and my recordings are quite elaborate.  When concatenating my sound effects together, the system can say numbers from 1 to 1,000 and any date Today's Date is Thursday, October X, 2008 (up to 2015 I think).  I even recorded 3rd, 4th, 5th, and oh eight (for seven oh eight PM).

It's quite impressive and the ** best alarm clock that exists.  I also added a few options I'm still working on to, with one button, start listening to a short news podcast I like.

Did I mention it plays my Monday, Tuesday, ... playlist in Media Center?  So that's the integration part.  Oh, and it fades the music in and out for wakeup & snooze (1- 10 minute snooze).  After ending alarm (period, .) it fades the music out, says good morning to me, and tells me the date and time.

This is version two.  I did this years ago (old post on this forum from way back right as I discovered MC.  My first version used iTunes playlists.  This version is much better)...

[krosenqu]

I looked over that program and it seems like pretty solid software.  I dont know if its worth the $40 though.  My G15 has macro capability built into it that seems pretty similar (I suppose this software can do a LOT more complicated macros though).  I'd like an alarm clock feature though, and I'd put something like this next to my bed to control it.
TOSHIBA Slim USB Numeric Keypad

[benn600]

EXACTLY what I use.  Except mine is Targus and grey.  I saw a wireless one.  This project has been so dear to my heart for so many years because I've put so much time into it.  I really am tempted to make a little video showing the alarm.  If only the to do list I made a few days ago wasn't a full page 12pt font!  I'll keep it in mind and I'd like making one just for my own preservation of the system.

[benn600]

Yea mine has exactly the same buttons.  I bought the program many years ago (years before I found MC) and it was at a point in my life where I was starting to actually buy & pay for commercial software.  It was probably among the first programs I ever purchased (I'm not too old).  I can't remember if the alarm clock was the reason for purchase but I know I've used the program before on different projects where I just had a huge list of macro type stuff and it does save time.  At a minimum, it might not save a ton of time (time to build macro) but it makes the time put in less tedious (making a complicated macro...programming).

Yea, my Number Game macro is very complex.  The key is to make a macro that will read a number (1 to 1000) and then you just call it from any other macro and pass the number through a variable, which Macro Express does.  I do find it lacking in some ways in that I feel like there should be more options but it's still pretty good.