SoundMan-Server

A quick overview

SoundMan-Server

• SoundMan-Server (or “SM-S”) is a high performance sound playback and routing audio engine application – Primarily intended for theatrical and themed entertainment

– Up to 512 individual live input channels

– Up to 999 individual playback channels

– Up to 512 output channels

– A typical application might have 192 playback channels, 96 inputs, and 96 outputs.

Architecture

• SM-S is essentially two crosspoint matrixes– One matrix between live inputs and outputs

– One matrix between playback and outputs

• Every input, crosspoint, and output is an identical control node:– Gain, Mute, Solo, Inversion, Delay, Delay Enable

– 7 Band parametric EQ

– 31 Band Graphic EQ

– Two octave pitch shifter

Audio Interfaces

• SM-S uses any sound card with an ASIO driver– Most professional cards have ASIO drivers

• Typical recommended interfaces:– MOTU 424 or 424e card and interface units:

• HD192, 2408 MK III, 24I/0

– AudioScience ASI6416 Cobranet cards

– RME MADI cards

– AudioScience or RME AES cards

– Digigram Ethersound cards (currently in qualification)

Non-Recommended Audio Interfaces

• Anything from SoundBlaster• Crystal 6-channel cards with minijacks

– They work, but can be noisy and the jacks are unreliable; some drivers are 16-bit only

• “Plug-n-Play” including Firewire/USB– The Windows OS can “forget” units

– Connectors are not available in a locking style

– Can be OK for special events or temporary shows

– Work with the manufacturer for maximum reliability

Playback File Formats

• File Formats: WAVE, AIFF, Raw PCM• Sample Formats: PCM: 16, 20, 24, 24/32, 32 bit,

FLOAT: 32 bit Floating Point

• Sample Rates: Any (different files can have different rates)

• Automatic sample rate conversion to the interface sample rate

Playback Features

• Start/Stop/Pause/Resume • Free running or locked to Timecode• Adjustable Start and Stop positions• Loop from any point to any point

– (Or skip if loop-to is after loop-from)

• Adjustable playback rate (speed/pitch)• Sample accurate playback on many channels if

started together

Playback

• Each playback channel plays one track of one file– Use multiple playback channels to play multi-channel

files

– Play only the tracks you want

– Play same track on multiple channels with different routing/gain/EQ

– Play tracks with different offsets in the file at the same time

Timecode

• 24 / 25 / 29.97 / 30 FPS capability• Two timecode readers

– Readers are output channels, can route any source to them

• Can follow a live input or a recorded TC track

• Two timecode generators– Generators are input channels, can route to any

destination

– Generators can be slaved to TC readers• Useful to generate 30FPS from 24FPS input

Signal Generator

• A low-distortion signal generator is available on input channel 1000

• Can generate Sine, Square, Triangle, White Noise, or Pink Noise

• Pink noise slope ripple < 0.1 dB

• Sine, Square and Triangle frequencies can be set from 1 Hz to Sample Rate / 2

• Sine/Square/Triangle frequency can be swept over arbitrary frequency range with linear or log sweep

• Sweep can be paused and resumed

Control Methods

• SM-S is controlled by simple human-readable text commands– Current command set is always available at:

www.RichmondSoundDesign.com• Commands are given on Telnet port 20000• Up to 20 telnet ports may be open at once for

control and monitoring• A typical command sequence:

– SET CHANNEL P12-P14 GAINDB 0 FADETIME 4.2;– PLAY P12-P14;

Control Abilities

• Every parameter of every control node is individually controllable– Every Input, Crosspoint, or Output is a control node

• Groups of control nodes may be adjusted simultaneously– SET CHAN P0-15 GAINDB -12;

• Every “analog” parameter (eg: gain, delay, EQ frequency) can be faded over time

Monitoring

• Every parameter of every control node can be interrogated

• Channels can be interrogated in groups– GET CHAN P0-3 TRACK POSITION;

• Every response begins with a unique identifier and is in a simple text format on a single line:

Position P0=213022 P1=165902 P2=433662 P3=1024;

Control Ranges

• Gain: +20 to -144 dB– gain can be given in dB or absolute 0 to 10 range,

where 1.0 is 0 dB• SET CHANNEL I0 GAIN 0; mute first input

• Delay: 0 to 5 seconds – in microseconds or samples

• EQ Gain: +12 to -144 dB

• EQ Frequency: 1 Hz to Sample Rate/2

Command Syntax Overview

• Most commands start with SET or GET– Followed by the item to act on

– Usually CHAN or CHANNEL followed by a list of channel types and numbers (channel identifiers) or channel names

• Followed by one or more parameter keywords and (for SET) the values for the items, for example:

– GAIN 0.3

– DELAY 1.2

– TRACK FILE“C:\Audio Tracks\File1.wav”

Commands are shown in uppercase, but except for strings in quotes, are case insensitive

Channel Types

• Channel types are:

INPUT IN I

OUTPUT OUT O

PLAYBACK PB P

CROSSPOINT XPOINT X

PLAYBACKCROSSPOINT PBXPOINT PX

GROUP G

Channel Identifiers and Names

• A channel identifier is a channel type followed by a channel number (or number.number for crosspoints)

PLAYBACK 1 IN4 PX4.4

• Channels may be named and the names used:

SET CHAN I0 NAME MC_MIC

SET CHAN MC_MIC GAINDB -4.3 FADETIME 2;

Channel Identifier Groupings

• Channel identifiers may be individual, in ranges, or lists:

PLAYBACK 1 PLAYBACK 0 TO 4

OUT 1-3 IN 0 1 2 3 5 PB 6 OUT7-12 I16

X0.0 1.1 2.2 X0-3.0-3

• Channel ranges are two channel numbers that are in equal or ascending order separated by “TO” or a dash

Channel Parameters

• All channels have the standard settings:– GAIN or GAINDB

– MUTE, SOLO, PHASEREVERSE

– DELAY TIME, DELAY ENABLE

– Graphic EQ ENABLE, BAND GAINS

– Parametric EQ BANDS, EQ ENABLE, BAND ENABLE

– Each Parametric EQ Band has:• SHAPE, FREQUENCY, GAIN or GAINDB, BANDWIDTH

Additional Playback Channel Parameters

• TRACK parameters:– PATH “path to files”– FILE “name” TRACK number– START, STOP, REPEAT and LOOP points– PITCH or SPEED

• Example:SET CHAN P0 TRACK FILE “C:\INTRO.WAV” START 20.1

STOP 40 PITCH .5 FADETIME 30;

“Fadable” Channel Parameters

• All “analog” channel parameters can fade over time:– GAIN, GAINDB, DELAY TIME, EQ FREQUENCY, EQ GAIN,

EQ BANDWIDTH, PLAYBACK SPEED/PITCH

• Fade can be specified in seconds or as a timecode– FADETIME <seconds and fractions>

– FADETC <timecode value>

• Examples– SET CHAN OUT1 GAINDB -144 FADETIME 5.2;– SET CHAN I1 DELAY .025 FADETIME 1.22;

Example

1 CONFIG SET INTERFACE "MOTU FireWire Audio" MODE NORMAL INPUTS 0 OUTPUTS 18 PLAYBACKS 50;

2 SET MATRIX OFF;

3 SET CHAN P0 TRACK FILE "T:\AudioBox011.WAV" START TIME 13 STOP TC 0:30:27:0 REPEAT TIME 13;

4 SET CHAN P1 TRACK FILE "T:\AudioBox012.WAV" START TIME 13 STOP TC 0:30:27:0 REPEAT TIME 13;

5 SET CHAN P0-1 gaindb -3 chan O0-1 GAIN 1;

6 SET CHAN PX 0.0 1.1 GAIN 1;

7 PLAY P 0-1;

Example Notes

1 Initialize SM-S to use the ASIO device "MOTU FireWire Audio”. Disable the inputs and set 50 playback channels.

2 Set all input, playback, crosspoint, and output channels to 0 gain.

3 Set playback channel 0 to play the file “T:\AudioBox011.WAV” starting 13 seconds in and looping from 30 minutes 27 seconds back to 13 seconds. The full path to the file, including the filename suffix, must be specified.

4 Set playback channel 1 to play the file “T:\AudioBox012.WAV” using the same start/stop/repeat parameters as above. P0 and P1 are a stereo pair from two mono files.

5 Set both playback channel gains to -3dB and set output channels 0 and 1 to a gain of 1, which is 0dB.

6 Set playback crosspoints 0.0 and 1.1 to have gains of 0dB. This routes P0 to O0 and P1 to O1, giving stereo output.

7 Make playback channels P0 and P1 play. Since we played both channels in one channel list, they will be sample locked.