AutoPatch_Matrix_Switcher_v1_0_0_dr1_0_0.zip

vining

Is there a reason that this module uses 7 touch panel ports?

By using simple mathematics (addition and subtraction) it is possible to make button channels other than 1-10 on the same port to do things with a value of 1-10. To add a TP port everytime you want to re-use the channel numbers 1-10 for the same device is odd to say the least.

It shouldn't need a re-write out of the box just to make sense of it!

DSP support w/ full EQ sliders would be nice for an advance set up page. Of course we could just use an IP/RS232 adapter to allow us to run the AutoPatch DSP software app while actually in the room running and audio analyzer app. Otherwise proper set up will require 2 laptops and Walkie Talkies, one connected serially to the switcher running the DSP app and the other laptop in an actual room requiring calibration running an analyzer app.

The GUI does look nice though!

Any body out there have any comments on the module. Pro/Con. Any problems? Is it worth using or should I just start from scratch?

REBUILD_EVENT

we used autopatch a few weeks ago. i don't remember why we were unhappy with the duet module, but there was another module available with a tp3-design and a ui-file as well as a comm. but we have our own GUI anyway, so this was no point to stick with the duet module. in the axs file only 8 in- and outputs were supported, and the constant nNUMBER_OF_PORT (or similar) was set to 8. even though i changed it to 18, nothing changed, as the constant was not used in the program. even setting any number 8 in the program to 18 did not have the effect we wished for.


i started from scratch and after hacking an afternoon, i had a module that does switching, volumes and input gain as well as all the feedback. i use SEND_COMMANDS to the comm, which can be used by the person calibrating all the input gains and stuff. so you wont need more than one person with a WLAN laptop

values of the volumes go from -70.0 to 10.0 (write -700 / 100) in the serial command.
input gains from -10.0 to 10.0
it may be obvious, but i had to figure these out

NMarkRoberts

A matrix switcher module doesn't need a UI other than for testing and debug.

The Autopatch is very easy to drive unless you get into this mess:

http://amxforums.com/showthread.php?t=2023

However I also recall some grief with one model which wouldn't ACK messages.

You are welcome to my module which has driven heaps of them.

vining

REBUILD_EVENT wrote:

i started from scratch and after hacking an afternoon,

I'm trying to avoid that hacking an afternoon part if at the end of the day I'll be starting from scratch as well. Se La Vi.

REBUILD_EVENT wrote:

i had a module that does switching, volumes and input gain as well as all the feedback. i use SEND_COMMANDS to the comm, which can be used by the person calibrating all the input gains and stuff. so you wont need more than one person with a WLAN laptop

Did you do anything for initial EQ settings as well? Although from an installers point of view having the gain settings and EQ settings on the TP we be nice they really need to be kept out of the owners hands of cousre inaccessable set up pages would suffice to keep them screwing things up.

NMarkRoberts wrote:

A matrix switcher module doesn't need a UI other than for testing and debug.

How do users go about changing inputs and volume? This wouldn't be an AutoPatch switcher GUI per se but and Audio Control GUI which at it's core is a switcher GUI.

RicardoSiqueira

I don't know if this apply to this section, but I am also looking for a decent Autopatch module for the Autopatch PrecisLT w/DSP 18x18. The current AMX module is very buggy and doesn't support the DSP features. also the module is designed to handle one zone at a time. In a multiple TP residential project we need multiple panels accessing the switcher simultaneouly and the ability to ramp volumes on multiple zones simultaneously. Usually, I design a user interface that has a map and when you pick a room to control the room variable changes to that zone. I also provide an all zones overview page, where you see all zones bargraphs and from there, you can adjust all zones volume and switch all zones to the same source. This is ideal for parties.

I am trying to get AMX to create a dedicated module for the Autopatch PrecisLT w/DSP. Since the discontinuance of the AS16, we have been looking for a replacement. I heard that there was a problem with the autopatch on volume ramping of multiple zones, in which a zone volume adjusting will stop when you start another. Anyways, I will be very thankfull if anybody is willing to share their module on this Forum. I have created a one way module that handles the switching/volume controls for multiple panels, but the feedback is where I get stucked. Any help?

Thanks,

Ricardo

vining

RicardoSiqueira wrote:

In a multiple TP residential project we need multiple panels accessing the switcher simultaneouly and the ability to ramp volumes on multiple zones simultaneously.

As long as the module is placing commands in a FIFO Queue (buffer) before sending commands to the switcher all tps should have no problem running through one button_event handler or data_event handler. Even in the rare chance that someone pushes a button on one TP at the exact same time that another TP button is pushed one event will always be paced ahead of the other. All commands would be executed properly one at a time as if button pushes were minutes apart. The fact that commands are stacked in the queue will still execute w/o us knowing any difference it a matter of milliseconds depending on how the Queue is purged.

I have the 18 x 18 w/ DSP on my desk and I was going to fire it up last night but then I saw it was set up to work off 7 TP ports and I got discouraged. Looks like I'll be starting from scratch on this one but I won't expect to be done for a few weeks, working on it when I can. We'll see how it comes out and maybe I'll post it if it's worth a damn.

NMarkRoberts

vining wrote:

NMarkRoberts wrote:

NMarkRoberts wrote:

A matrix switcher module doesn't need a UI other than for testing and debug.

How do users go about changing inputs and volume? This wouldn't be an AutoPatch switcher GUI per se but and Audio Control GUI which at it's core is a switcher GUI.

The header of this thread says "matrix switcher". I've driven heaps of them and their switching is always transparent to the user. It's not at all difficult to code, just difficult to follow in your head.

It can get extreme: I did one project (see http://www.markroberts.id.au/nmr_project_7.php) which had an audio signal path which went through the same switcher twice - once for AV source selection into a mic mixer, and a second time for destination selection after the mixer.

(It also goes through the same VOL3 twice - once for source volume control and once for mixed mic/source master control.)

TrikinCurt

I have a project using two 18x18 w/ dsp (so it becomes 18x36). It is funny how often autopatch comes up in these forums, and always to the same result, writing our own! I keep stalling on this one, I know after I write it they will come out with a working won...

Obviously the basic switching is very easy, but doing everything you want to do in a distributed audio system (party mode, zone groups, volume ramps, etc) becomes a bit more time consuming...

REBUILD_EVENT

vining wrote:

Did you do anything for initial EQ settings as well? Although from an installers point of view having the gain settings and EQ settings on the TP we be nice they really need to be kept out of the owners hands of cousre inaccessable set up pages would suffice to keep them screwing things up.

That's why i prepared my comm to a command like INPUT_GAIN=2:1:50. For me or the guy that sets the gain, its quite easy to do, once you have figured out that in "control a device" you have to select "command" [as i programmed it in DATA_EVENT => COMMAND] and send it with double quotes (") AND single quotes ( ' ).
And when programming it's done quite fast, as no tp is concerned.

REBUILD_EVENT

RicardoSiqueira wrote:

I don't know if this apply to this section, but I am also looking for a decent Autopatch module for the Autopatch PrecisLT w/DSP 18x18. The current AMX module is very buggy and doesn't support the DSP features. also the module is designed to handle one zone at a time. In a multiple TP residential project we need multiple panels accessing the switcher simultaneouly and the ability to ramp volumes on multiple zones simultaneously. Usually, I design a user interface that has a map and when you pick a room to control the room variable changes to that zone. I also provide an all zones overview page, where you see all zones bargraphs and from there, you can adjust all zones volume and switch all zones to the same source. This is ideal for parties.

I am trying to get AMX to create a dedicated module for the Autopatch PrecisLT w/DSP. Since the discontinuance of the AS16, we have been looking for a replacement. I heard that there was a problem with the autopatch on volume ramping of multiple zones, in which a zone volume adjusting will stop when you start another. Anyways, I will be very thankfull if anybody is willing to share their module on this Forum. I have created a one way module that handles the switching/volume controls for multiple panels, but the feedback is where I get stucked. Any help?

Thanks,

Ricardo

- I have an array of all TPs [10001, 10002 ...]
- I use an array called nWhichTpControllingWhichRoom[NUMBER_OF_TOUCHPANELS].
in this array i save the room that is selected on each touchpanel, so when I get a command from a tp i always know to what room to assign it.
- For the feedback, I have a function that is given the room number and returns the tp controlling this room. right this moment I awake to the fact, that there may be several tps controlling one room and I should set the source and vol bargraph on all tps

the8thst

TrikinCurt wrote:

I have a project using two 18x18 w/ dsp (so it becomes 18x36). It is funny how often autopatch comes up in these forums, and always to the same result, writing our own! I keep stalling on this one, I know after I write it they will come out with a working won...

Obviously the basic switching is very easy, but doing everything you want to do in a distributed audio system (party mode, zone groups, volume ramps, etc) becomes a bit more time consuming...

What did you use to split all of the audio sources so you could feed both matrix'?

I a job that I need to bid out in the next couple weeks that will have about 28 zones for audio and I don't like using "Y" cables, but I also don't want to use a whole pile of little RDL active splitters either.

TrikinCurt

Good 'ol liberty Y cables. It isn't like it is video or in the theater...

Curt

Darkside

TrikinCurt wrote:

Good 'ol liberty Y cables. It isn't like it is video or in the theater...

Curt

As long as one of the devices isn't removed from the 'Y' cord sending your levels (and maybe cones) through the roof!

:-)