Installation

Windows builds ship as a signed NSIS .exe that registers the mc1amp:// protocol and runs portably. macOS ships as a notarized .pkg (or drag-to-install .dmg) with all Qt frameworks, codecs, ffmpeg, and yt-dlp bundled. See the Get Started guide for a walkthrough and the download page for system requirements.

The mc1amp:// protocol

When installed, Mcaster1AMP registers the mc1amp:// URL scheme. Clicking such a link on any web page launches the player and passes the stream URL — no browser audio, no mixed-content warnings, no codec limits.

mc1amp://play?url=https://stream.example.com:8000/live
mc1amp://play?url=http://radio.example.org/stream.mp3&name=My+Station
mc1amp://play?proxy_id=1294   # via Mcaster1StreamProxy (HTTPS relay)

Directory links also support a buffer tier: buf=small (16 KB, instant) through buf=high (64 KB, rock-solid).

Streaming & codecs

Full ICY 2.2 over TLS, with automatic resolution of m3u, pls, xspf, and m3u8 playlists. Decoders: MP3, AAC/AAC+/HE-AAC v1 & v2, OGG Vorbis & Opus, FLAC (lossless), and WAV/PCM. HTTP-only streams can be routed through Mcaster1StreamProxy for a secure TLS relay.

AI setup (Ollama)

The AI Song Ticker, Track Intel, and Artist Intel reports run locally through Ollama. Pull a model and select it in Preferences → AI:

ollama pull llama3 # or mistral, gemma, phi

Choose a persona (21 presets) to shape how the AI narrates tracks. Prefer the cloud? Add an Anthropic API key to use Claude. Reports persist to a local SQLite database.

DSP chain

The signal chain — 10-band parametric EQ, 31-band graphic EQ, AGC with look-ahead, and a 3-band Sonic Enhancer — executes inline in the audio callback with no heap allocations for glitch-free processing. A dedicated worker thread drives the FFT spectrum analyzer at 60 fps.

Library & AutoDJ

Point the library at your folders; TagLib extracts metadata and album art into a SQLite FTS5 index. Color-code tracks (Music, Stingers, Station IDs, Sweepers, Jingles, Ads, Spoken Word) and enable AutoDJ for weighted rotation, artist separation, BPM flow, and listener vote up/down.

Plugins & SDK

Plugin SDK v2 exposes a stable C ABI with a type-safe parameter API, custom Qt UI integration, and hot-reload during playback. Build DSP effect, input, and output plugins. Read the SDK guide and API reference, browse the gallery, or submit your plugin.

Support

Stuck? Search and ask in the community forums, check the changelog, or visit Support.

Documentation