Owner`s manual

An Application Overview
The VauxProtocol commands and messages are detailed in following sections, but a quick application overview will give you an idea
of the various ways that Lattis switchers may be controlled.
Routing (switching source inputs to zone outputs)
There are a variety of Route commands, for various applications. The basic Route command (*CW,13) simply switches the same
audio and video source to a zone. The Route-AV cmd (*CW,10) allows different audio and video sources to be switched to the zone
(or, as a more general cmd, it can be used for selecting only audio or video). There are also discrete commands for Route-Audio only
(*CW,11), or Route-Video only (*CW,12). The Fast-Route-AV cmd (*CW,9) bypasses the normal volume-tapering applied during
switching, for quickly changing sources.
There are also Group commands for routing to a group of up to eight zones – the included zones are defined by cmd parameters, and
do not need to be programmed ahead of time.
The Route-Muted cmds (*CW,14/16) will route the source but leave the zone in a muted state. A typical application is a master suite
with two or more zones, where you may not wish to turn all the zones on at once, but always wish to have the same source routed to all
of the zones in the suite – if someone turns on a source in the master bath zone, you can also route the source to the master bedroom
zone, but leave it muted (to not disturb someone still sleeping) – the bedroom zone can then be unmuted as desired.
Normally, when you set up a zone (after setting the maximum zone volume using the power-amp's gain), you will adjust the volume to
a pleasant level, and program the zone's Initial-Volume-Level to this currently-audible level (*PW,40). You may also set it to an
absolute level (*PW,12), if you know the proper level to use. This Initial-Volume-Level is the volume at which the zone turns on
(from an off state). You may also program a zone to bypass this feature, and always turn on to the prior level at which it was playing
when last turned off (*PW,14), but this is generally discouraged, since most applications benefit from a pre-defined turn-on volume for
each zone. This initial turn-on level feature is also the reason you should explicitly turn the zone off (by routing source 0) when it is no
longer used, as opposed to just muting the zone (if it is muted, it unmutes to whatever volume it was at previously). Note also that if
you are using the SYS_ACTIVE_OUT signal to enable a multi-channel amplifier, you need to turn the zones off (and not just mute)
for this signal to work properly.
The Route-at-Volume cmds (*CW,15/16) will temporarily overide the initial turn-on level feature. This is useful in certain situations,
such as when you wish to simply route at a 0-dB passthrough volume. You could program the zone's Initial-Volume-Level to 0-dB,
but the Route-at-Volume cmds make this easier.
Volume Adjustment
Volume may be adjusted several ways. Absolute-Volume commands (*CW,20/23) allow you to set the left and right volumes to a
specific dB level. Percent-Volume commands (*CW,21/22) let you to use percent (0 to 100) instead of absolute levels (0 to 35), and
also let you define the level range over which the percent command operates. These commands allow you to enable volume tapering
(smooth transition, at programmable rates), or not (immediate change).
To use the Percent (or Absolute) volume commands in your program, you will save left and right zone percentages (or levels),
increment or decrement these values as needed (limiting the upper and lower boundaries), and issue the volume command. If you are
using a loop or oscillator (eg: for volume up/down buttons), you need a minimum 180ms delay between steps.
eg: button-pressed > adjust values and send command > delay 180 ms > repeat if button still pressed...
If your control system program is parsing the volume status messages (!S,20/21), you can update bargraphs and volume displays by
parsing the messages to retreive the left and right levels/percentages. When routing a source to a zone, the resulting route status
messages (!S,1/3) include parameters for absolute volume levels, which can be used to initialize a bargraph or volume display to the
initial levels (or you can calculate percentage). If you wish to use Percent-Volume commands, you can automatically initialize
displays using percentage, by optionally configuring the system (*PW,230) to provide a percentage volume status message upon
routing (!S,21), in addition to the normal route message.
Relative-Volume may also be adjusted in 2-dB up/down increments (*CW,24-29). These commands return a status message at every
volume step. If you are using a loop or oscillator (eg: for volume up/down buttons), you need a minimum 180ms delay between steps.
eg: button-pressed > send up/down command > delay 180 ms > repeat if button still pressed...
Ramping-Volume allows you start/stop ramping in either direction (*CW,35-37). These commands ramp the volume at a fixed 2-
Lattis Matrix Switcher 19 Software Version 7.3.0.0