Omnia Volt (and Omnia One) Input Failover Information

Updated by Mark Manolio

Scope

This document explains how to use the Input Failover feature of the Omnia Volt (and the older Omnia One).

Question

Can you provide some tips on how to set the controls for the input failover feature?

Answer

Absolutely! Please continue reading...

The main (primary) input control can be found in the Input / Config menu (Volt) or the Input menu (One):

Input Source: Selects the primary input source to be used. You can select Analog, AES/EBU or LiveWire.

The Input Failover controls can be found in the Input / Failover menu on both processors:

Secondary Source: Selects which audio input: Analog, AES/EBU (digital) or Livewire will serve as the secondary (failover) audio input. Note that the audio input that is selected under Input Source (above) will always be the Primary audio input. A source selected under Failover Source will always be the secondary source.

Failover Time:

When Failover Time is set to 0.00 seconds, the input failover feature is disabled.

When set to a value other than zero, this allows the Omnia to automatically select another input source if the currently selected one fails. Failover Time is the amount of time that will elapse after the failure of audio on the primary input source before the unit makes the decision to switch to the secondary (failover) input source. For instance, if Failover Time is set for 5 seconds and the primary audio source fails, 5 seconds later the unit will switch to the secondary audio input if that input is active. If at any time, audio is restored on the primary input (for 1 second, continuously for a Failback Time setting of 1.00 sec), the unit will switch back to the primary audio input. It will remain with the primary input unless another failure is detected.

When AES/EBU is selected as the primary input and the failover time is set to anything other than 0, loss of AES digital sync will cause immediate failover to the secondary input. 
If you want to defeat the time feature of the failover and use the AES sync loss only, we would suggest setting "Failover Time" to a very large value.  For example, the maximum 20 seconds. This is probably enough to make sure it never triggers accidentally.  The failover will still occur immediately on loss of AES sync; the time value does not apply to this.

Failback Time: Sets the failback time to return to the primary input after the audio is restored.

Absolute Threshold: (-24 to -60 dB, Default: -50 dB) Sets the failover threshold based on the absolute level of the primary input. So a setting of -50 would mean that the level of the primary input would have to drop below -50dB for the duration of the failover time in order for it to switch to the secondary source.

Relative Threshold: (-3.0 to -36 dB, Default: -20 dB) Sets a failover threshold relative to the secondary input level.

The failover "circuit" looks at the audio on both the primary input and the secondary input. If the measured level of the primary input falls below the measured level of the secondary input by more than this threshold for the duration of the failover time, it assumes there is something wrong with the primary and fails over. This mechanism applies to each channel individually, so if you lose one channel on the primary (and not on the secondary), it will fail over. This is intended for the common use case where the same program is present on both the primary and secondary inputs. Set this to -36dB if different program material is present on the secondary input.

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