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Topic: Real time audio monitoring

Does anybody know how to monitor audio signals in real time mode with Nions?

As we have a client needing to monitor 24 paging zones, we want to provide a GUI to him so that he can select any icons on GUI to listen what messages are broadcast in specified paging zones.  The caputred audio is played on his local workstation.

Peavey seminar has briefly introduced such kind of function, but I have idea how to do it.

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Re: Real time audio monitoring

Hi Pat-

The tool you are looking for and can not find is the Wave Recorder with the advanced option "ChIMP" enabled.

So the easy way to implement this would be to use a 24x1 router to the Wave Recorder.

The user would use the router to choose which input they want to listen to and ChIMP will stream that audio across the network to their PC.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions about this.

Thanks!

-Josh

Josh Millward
Burnt Orange Studios

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Re: Real time audio monitoring

Another way is to wire a Signal Probe to the inout of the ChIMP set-up WAV recorder.  Now you can use the Probe to check thru the wiring of your Project, and listen remotely to the audio.

The files that you received at the Singapore training included a user device of this already done, including the GUI.  If you need it again, email me, and I will send it off.

Scott

Make it intuitive, never leave them guessing.

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Re: Real time audio monitoring

John & Scott,

Thanks at all.
Now I know how to implement.

Pat

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Re: Real time audio monitoring

Josh, can you please expand a little more on the "ChIMP" idea?  Exactly how would an external host go about accessing the stream coming out of the wave file player via ChIMP?  Does it play into common, everyday wave file players (WMP, et al), or is some other Peavey device needed?

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Re: Real time audio monitoring

Hi Phil-

"ChIMP" actually stands for "Cheezy Internet Media Player"

The stream from the NION travels back to the computer requesting it via NWare. Then it is played on that computer's default audio output device.

There isn't much more to it than that. It is not intended to be real time, as there is significant latency. It is only as high quality as your computer's output device. In the case of a laptop with speakers, this is pretty low-fi. However, it is a very handy way to verify that a signal is present and roughly what that signal is by listening to it.

It does not use another playback device like Winamp or Windows Media Player.

I've never tried to give it an IP address of something other than the computer I am using... in other words, I just let the ChIMP fill in the IP address and port number that it is going to use. I would expect that it would not work to try to send the audio to a different device for playback, but I don't know the underpinning details so there could be a way to get it to happen.

However, if this is something that you really want to do... (sending audio across the network to another device for playback) a more conventionally supported method would be to either use a CobraNet device (computer with a CobraNet card, an output CAB, CobraNet enabled amplifier, etc...) and just ship your audio out on the CobraNet. This would give you very high quality audio with no issues. Likewise, you could do the same thing with Dante if you didn't want to use CobraNet. You can get the Dante Virtual Soundcard software for your PC, or any number of other Dante devices (like our CAB 4n Dante)... just like with CobraNet, you would have no issues and things would sound great.

ChIMP is NOT INTENDED to be a way to ship audio around the network... it is a troubleshooting tool. The Network Audio Port on the NION is intended for that, and it supports either CobraNet or Dante, your choice.

Josh Millward
Burnt Orange Studios

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Re: Real time audio monitoring

LOL,

Thanks Josh.  I tried it, but just before I read your explanation I sort of figured it out.  Unfortunately, I was doing it over a VPN to a system I maintain in NC.  The IP address in the WFR window was in fact my computer's IP on my local domain, followed by some port number (I think).  I am using a program called Dameware Mini-Remote Control to access the remote domain controller, and thence the Nions there.  The minute I pushed the "record" button, the VPN went to its knees.  Oops!  Can you spell "BANDWIDTH"?

I shoulda known! [grin]  Some things just weren't meant to be.  I've been laughing about it for 10 minutes.

Someday I'll try it on a system a little closer.

Thanks again for your clear explanation.

Phil

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Re: Real time audio monitoring

Yeeeeaaaaaahhhhh.....

It's not going to work well across a VPN at all... Bandwidth would, indeed, be the issue.

Otherwise, on a local network, it works surprisingly well!

Josh Millward
Burnt Orange Studios

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Re: Real time audio monitoring

One last bit to add to Josh's comment, NWare IS the media player.  If you start ChIMP streaming audio to your computer from a NioNode and take a look in your computer's "Mixer", you will see NWare is one of the inputs.

Now that's cool.

Fergy

Make it intuitive, never leave them guessing.

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Re: Real time audio monitoring

oh... that is nifty!!! I have never looked at that before.

Josh Millward
Burnt Orange Studios