Level control by third party devices

bartliew

Hi all,

I wish to in-cooperate third party devices such as symnet (audio) into the UI comprising (volume control bargraphs. Previously, I used constant to adjust the volume step by step per button clicking. (e.g. +200 by each click to get the latest volume) Now, I want to make the volume adjustment on the symnet by calculation via math formula available when adjusting the level on the UI. (e.g. raise 5.6% from 45.6% on the bargraph to increase the volume) The adjustment should be aligned with every MOTION executed by the bargraph level on the described UI instead of only changing the volume after the end of the motion. Is this method possible on Netlinx programming? If possible, could anybody suggest me some sample/example if available regarding this?

Thanks!

Regards,
Liew

ericmedley

Not seeing any code and therefor, not knowing exactly how you're going about it, here's some suggestions...

Change the CONSTANT you're using to a VARIABLE and then make adjustments to the step as you see fit.

A lot of audio gear that is controllable has its own ability to ramp levels up and down. I tend to use these built-in methods myself in that they tend to act more naturally than trying to do it discretely in code. rs232 communications can be slow enough that the unit doesn't respond well to quick discrete level changes. You might look into whether or not this is the case.

Some other suggestions I can make about using a bar graph is the 'input' device for level events is that it's a good idea to build in some logic to handle when the level is being pressed and not. If you simply do code that says, "Take the level from the TP fader and convert it to a volume command to the audio processor" and then "Take any level information coming from the audio processor and send it to the TP fader for feedback" you'll find that the system will kind of struggle against itself as feedback from the audio unit tries to send a level back to the unit.

A good way to avoid this is to make the fader also a button and only send audio level commands from the fader when the button is released. In other words, the user touches the fader, moves it around, thus creating a multitude of level events. These level values get stored in a variable. Then on the button release (letting go of the fader) you send the last fader value coming in.

This will avoid the system feeding back on itself and causing hang ups.

There are many ways to make a volume control and many concepts about how to engineer it. This is merely one of them.