Installation guide

NOTE: If a preset, regardless of its control type, appears anywhere in the Active Presets list, that
preset is active. The working values of the parameters for a specific block reflect the values in the
highest priority preset that contains that block.
To thoroughly understand what happens when you activate and deactivate presets, you need to under-
stand what the Baseline preset is and how it works. You can find details about the Baseline in the next
section, but for now you can think of the Baseline as your default system settings. The Baseline is a
Command preset, is customizable, and is always present and active. Therefore, if no other presets are
active when you deactivate a preset, the system falls back to its default settings (the Baseline), because
the Baseline is always active and cannot be deleted.
Although there may be times when a Command preset best fits your needs, there are distinct advantages
to using presets that you can activate and deactivate. To illustrate these advantages, let's take a look at
a simple example.
Example Illustrating Activate/Deactivate Behavior Versus Assert Behavior
Suppose you need a preset that mutes and un-mutes a specific output.
NOTE: In reality, you could use a simple control link for this scenario, but we'll use pre-
sets for now to help illustrate activate/deactivate versus assert.
Activate/Deactivate Approach: You could create a Toggle preset that contains the appro-
priate Level or Output block with its Mute parameter selected. When you activate the preset,
the audio affected by that block is muted. When you deactivate the preset, the block param-
eter values fall back to the next preset in the priority list that contains this block. If no other
preset is active that contains this block, it falls back to your system default settings (the Base-
line). Assuming the default Baseline value for this Mute parameter is deselected (un-muted),
deactivating the Toggle preset un-mutes the audio. In essence, you activate the preset to mute
the audio and then deactivate the preset to un-mute the audio.
Assert Approach: If you were to use a Command preset in this scenario, you would assert
the preset to mute the audio. But remember that you cannot un-assert a Command preset. So
how would you un-mute the audio? You would need to create a second Command preset
with the Mute parameter deselected. To un-mute the audio, you would assert this second pre-
set. So, as you can see, when you use Command presets, you generally need to create them in
pairs—one preset that contains the desired parameter values and another that returns you to
the previous state. You can also assert the Baseline preset (the system default settings) over
the currently active Command preset, but remember that the Baseline includes all blocks and
would override ALL active presets no matter their control type. Further, since both Command
presets become active, there is no way for an end user to know which preset is in effect with-
out hearing the result. A Toggle or Select control displays the state of preset activation (on a
checkbox or radio button), which shows the restaurant manager or bar owner the state of the
audio system without forcing them to leave their office to wander around deducing the state
of their audio system.
The Preset Types
CHAPTER 3: Key Audio Design Features
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