Using Indicators in AudioVAULT to make routes

Updated by Bryan Jones

Scope

This document covers the configuration of Indicators in AvAir from Broadcast Electronics to control routes in your Axia system.

Description

Axia uses two standard protocols to control nearly everything in Axia. These protocols use plain text TCP commands. The INI file in AudioVAULT can be programmed with these TCP commands to control most everything. Some examples of this are;

  • Turn Fader channels on or off
  • Load Show Profiles on a console
  • Change audio routes for anything
    • Routes to transmitter
    • Audio for monitoring
    • Audio for recording
    • Audio for satellite automation
  • Programming user buttons (some examples of this can be found on YouTube by searching AudioVAULT and Axia)

Once you understand the fundamentals, the possibilities are endless.

Please note that we are providing this information to you in the hopes that it will be helpful to you in integrating your AudioVAULT with your Axia system. While we will do what we can to help, no warranty is implied as to the suitability of this to your application. In other words, make backups before you start. If you break some configuration in this process, that will fall outside of normal "technical support," and you could be charged a fee to "reconfigure" your system.

Configuration

Defining a remote control device

You must first create a definition for the device you wish to control. You will make these definitions in the audiovau.ini file. The location of this file will differ depending on your configuration.

[RemoteControl.NODE1]
DeviceType=SOCKET
Protocol=TCP
SocketType=Caller
HostName=192.168.2.114
ServiceName=93
OnConnected=LOGIN\r\n
  • DeviceType - will always be SOCKET when controlling Axia
  • Protocol - will always be TCP when controlling Axia
  • SocketType - Controls whether AudioVAULT is the one making an outbound "call" to the device, or listening for an inbound call from the device. Choices are Caller or Called. Will typically be Caller for Axia remote control.
  • HostName - The IP Address of the device we are calling. In our example, this is an Axia node. (this setting can be omitted if the SocketType is "Called."
  • ServiceName - This is the TCP port to connect to on the device we are controlling. For Axia, it will almost always be 93 when controlling routes or GPIO on a node, or 4010 if we are controlling a console.
  • OnConnected - A string of commands that gets sent each time AudioVAULT connects. In this example, the Livewire Routing Protocol (LWRP) requires a LOGIN command to make changes. The syntax is LOGIN <password>. If there is no password, the LOGIN command is sent alone.

One variant to the use of OnConnected is to specify a path to a configuration file like this;

OnConnected=file:C:\audiovau\Config\AXIAInit.ini

In this case, AXIAInit.ini is a simple text file with multiple lines. This file is useful, for example, if you want to define static information like button colors or button texts and you have many commands.

Defining remote control commands

Now that we have our DEVICE section defined let's use that device in some commands. For this example, we are going to use two Indicators (buttons) in AudioVAULT to change a DESTINATION (output) on our Node. Specifically, we'll be changing DST 4.

Remote controls must be in the correct "section" of the INI file. Sections are defined by square brackets like this; [AVAir]. These commands must be in the section directly: or otherwise "included" as part of that section.

Lines in INI files that start with ; (semi-colon) indicate comments. We have omitted other lines from this INI file sample for clarity. Your INI file will have many more lines that shown here.
[AVAir]
;--- Send AV mix to Output 4
IDD_Indicator1=NODE1:+DST 4 ADDR:"239.192.44.137"\r\n;
;--- Send PGM from Console to Output
IDD_Indicator2=NODE1:+DST 4 ADDR:"239.192.23.113\r\n;

You can see here we have TWO Indicators defined. Let's breakdown the command

IDD_Indicator1= - IDD loosely mean Device Dictionary. So we'll be using Indicator1 as defined by AudioVAULT

NODE1: - this is the device we defined in the previous step

The PLUS (+) sign - Indicates that we want to send our command on the leading edge of whatever device we're defining. In this case, it's when the Indicator turns ON. A MINUS (-) would indicate we want to send the command on the trailing edge, or when the Indicator turns OFF.

A different example of this might be that you want to send a command when AudioVAULT is playing and different command when it stops. In that example we would use the + and - sign like this;
IDD_Start=AXIA4010:+SET FaCH#7 ON_State=ON\r\n;AXIA4010:-SET FaCH#7 ON_State=OFF\r\n;
This turns the fader ON when Start is true (AudioVAULT is playing) and fader OFF when start is NOT true (AudioVAULT is stopped)

DST 4 ADDR:"239.192.44.137" - This is the actual Livewire command that gets sent.

  • DST tells it we're controlling a destination (output)
  • 4 - tells it we're controlling DST 4
  • ADDR:"239.192.44.137" - this is the multicast address of the Livewire channel to assign to this DST. In this case, 11401.
  • \r\n; - terminates this line in the INI file. It's the equivalent of the INI file pressing the Enter key.

You can see that Indicator2 is configured similarly but uses a different multicast address. For information on calculating multicast addresses, please see our TelosHelp document.

Save and restart

Some changes require a restart of the software to pick up these changes. In this example, I have restarted my AvAir Engine.

If you have done everything correctly, pressing the Indicators on AvAir should change these routes.

Let us know how we can help

If you have further questions on this topic or have ideas about how we can improve this document, please contact us.

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