Alcorn Mcbride 8 TraXX/E, User Manual

Page 1: ...8 TraXX E Eight Independent Stereo MP3 Players User s Guide ...

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Page 3: ...er use or sale Some or all of the following open source software were used in the development of this product u boot uClinux ALSA Busybox drivers by Analog Devices Inc drivers by PLX Technology Inc drivers by Alcorn McBride Inc and the traxxPlay Mp3 player Please contact us at swlicense alcorn com to request a copy of any license or source code for the previously mentioned open source projects Pro...

Page 4: ...Page 2 March 23 2012 Alcorn McBride 8TraXX E User s Manual Rev 2 6 ...

Page 5: ...____________ 12 Discrete Control Inputs _________________________________________________________ 12 RS 232C Serial Connector _______________________________________________________ 12 MIDI In______________________________________________________________________ 13 Ethernet RJ 45 ________________________________________________________________ 13 Configuration DIP Switches_________________________...

Page 6: ..._________________________________________ 44 Stop Channel Playlist ___________________________________________________________ 44 Control Commands _____________________________________________________________ 45 Keylock Enable _______________________________________________________________ 45 LCD PIN Enable ______________________________________________________________ 45 LCD PIN Set _____________...

Page 7: ... play on a scheduled basis using its built in Real Time Clock or execute a pre programmed sequence of playback operations using a playlist 8TraXX E offers the latest in Digital Audio Repeater technology combining MP3 audio with Compact Flash for a rugged reliable maintenance free solution to your playback needs Access time is nearly instantaneous All eight tracks are completely independent and off...

Page 8: ...ormation about specifying installing configuring updating and programming your Alcorn McBride 8TraXX E from several sources For Contact When Firmware Updates http www alcorn com support Any Time Knowledge Base http www alcorn com kb Any Time E mail Support support alcorn com Any Time Telephone Support 407 296 5800 M F 9am 5pm EST ...

Page 9: ...bably anxious to see your 8TraXX E play some audio right away We ll start with a few easy steps to show you how to play audio from the 8TraXX E straight out of the box In the Box 8TraXX E Multichannel Audio Player with CF card installed 8TraXX E Manual Straight through DB 9 Female to DB 9 Female serial cable Crossover Ethernet Cable Power Supply 2 Phoenix type connectors for rear control inputs ...

Page 10: ... channel of the 8TraXX E to a set of powered speakers or to the input to an amplifier Power the 8TraXX E using the included power supply The LCD display will indicate that the 8TraXX E is initializing and then display its current status when it s finished When the 8TraXX E has finished initializing press the front panel channel pushbutton corresponding to the channel you connected the amplifier to...

Page 11: ...ntrols and Indicators The 8TraXX E includes controls to accommodate a wide variety of installations The front panel incorporates a 2x16 LCD display and Menu Knob a blue power indicator eight channel control pushbuttons a Mute pushbutton media status error indicator an Ethernet activity indicator channel status and rear input indicators and a Compact Flash slot All front panel controls can be locke...

Page 12: ...cess LED This LED is primarily used to indicate Compact Flash media activity It illuminates green whenever the Compact Flash media is being accessed The LED will turn Red if an error condition exists File Access LED Behavior File Access LED Color LED Meaning Off Off Idle On Green Media activity Playing file transfer etc On Red Media Error On Orange Firmware Update erasing Flash Flashing Green Firm...

Page 13: ...f these parameters are explained in the sections that follow Main Menu Audio Clock Network System Master Volume 0 100 Sample Rate Auto First Det 44 1 48KHz Time Date Time Zone offset DST Mode None USA UTC Aus Europe NTP Yes No IP Address Subnet Mask Gateway Cable Status Front Panel LCD PIN Edit 4 digit PIN LCD Locked Yes No Buttons Locked Yes No Legacy Mode Yes No Version Update Cancel Use CF Card...

Page 14: ...section for programming details These inputs can be set up to accept contact closures or voltage inputs using the configuration DIP switches By default the rear control inputs are configured to play files 1 8 to channel pairs 1 8 For instance input 3 will play file 3 to channel pair 3 when triggered With the default input configuration files will play and loop for as long as the input is maintaine...

Page 15: ...mware Recovery Mode N A 4 Reset to Factory Defaults N A Ground Lift DIP 1 The Ground Lift feature can sometimes help in situations where audio hum or other noise is being caused by potential ground loops A Ground Lift disconnects the internal ground from the 8TraXX E s metal chassis reducing the chance of ground noise affecting the 8TraXX E s electrical systems i e audio outputs inputs etc This fe...

Page 16: ...e These defaults are listed below Factory Defaults Parameter Default Value IP Address 192 168 0 254 Subnet Mask 255 255 255 0 Gateway 192 168 0 1 Nameserver DNS 127 0 0 1 NTP Server pool ntp org FTP User admin FTP Password password UDP Port 2638 RS232 Serial 9600 Baud 8 Data Bits No Parity 1 Stop Bit Buttons Enabled Yes LCD PIN 1111 LCD Locked No Master Volume 100 Legacy Mode No NTP Enabled No Tim...

Page 17: ...ported MP3 Formats Standard MPEG 1 Part 3 or simply MP3 defined in ISO IEC 11172 3 Channel Encoding Mono Joint Stereo Stereo Dual Sample Rates 44 1KHz 48KHz Bitrates 32 48 56 64 80 96 112 128 160 192Kbps File Naming It is sometimes easiest to use the numbered style of file naming for MP3 files if you want to use the discrete inputs A specific file naming convention is used so that the 8TraXX E can...

Page 18: ...st have a unique number in the file name no duplications are allowed If you have duplicate file numbers i e two files associated as file 1 the 8TraXX E would consistently choose only one of those files when told to play the associated number Playback Interruptible versus Uninterruptible Operation In a play command you can specify uninterruptible playback meaning that repeated play requests will no...

Page 19: ...sed to resolve hostnames into IP addresses If you will not be using domain names for NTP server addresses etc you need not change this value from the default Before using FTP be sure that the network settings on your 8TraXX E are configured correctly Network settings can be configured using the front panel menu of your 8TraXX E The default network settings are listed below IP Address 192 168 0 254...

Page 20: ...s 8TraXX E defaults to the Ch Status home screen Clock Displays the current system time Ch Status Cycles through the channel pairs showing the current status as one of the following Playing Stopped Paused The currently displayed channel pair changes every 3 seconds turning the menu knob will scroll through the channels All Ch Status Displays the status of every channel on the screen at once as one...

Page 21: ...P is a very simple Ethernet protocol that allows an Ethernet device to transmit a generic string of data to another Ethernet device Since UDP is such a common standard UDP packets can be generated easily by a large variety of controllers and PC applications The UDP packet handles all of the complexities of getting the message where it needs to go in one piece The good news is that you do not have ...

Page 22: ... power supply of the 8TraXX E as with contact closure the wiring can be further isolated When triggered inputs execute whatever standard control command has been assigned to them TraXX Config the configuration software for your 8TraXX E can be used to assign commands such as play stop etc to your 8TraXX E s discrete inputs See the Command Protocol section of this manual for a list of supported com...

Page 23: ...r active off operation Groups are arranged into two different types Input Groups and Channel Groups Manage Input Groups By default the 8 discrete inputs on the 8TraXX E act individually and are constrained to a total of 8 separate operations one for each input However if you need to perform more than 8 operations using the parallel inputs you can combine the 8 inputs into Input Groups so that they...

Page 24: ... Rev 2 6 In the TraXX Config program select Manage Input Groups to open this window Select one of the Groups and click Edit Selected Group to assign inputs to that group For this example we have assigned Inputs 1 4 to Group 1 Click Save to save the assignments ...

Page 25: ...l Groups allow you to control multiple audio channels using a single input or Serial Ethernet command In the TraXX Config program select Manage Channel Groups to open this window Select a Group and click Edit Selected Group to assign channels to that group For this example we have assigned channel pairs 6 8 to Group 1 Click Save to save the assignments ...

Page 26: ... You can have it play a file or you can specify a Custom Command where you can use any command out of the Command Reference in this manual The Configuration File is named CONFIG LST which the 8TraXX E always loads on startup Click Add once you ve finished making your choices and the trigger will be added to the 8TraXX E configuration file Now you need to save your file To do this select File Expor...

Page 27: ...erfaces Although any of the supported commands can be used playlists usually contain Play commands which cause the 8TraXX E to play audio clips from the Compact Flash card When a playlist is being used the commands are processed in the order in which they appear in the list The playlist is an ASCII text file and can be made using any ASCII text editor like notepad or using the Playlist Builder pro...

Page 28: ...laylist pauses in the current position until another Play command occurs at which time it resumes processing of the playlist This is useful for applications where a user interactively controls the progression of play Loop Tells the playlist to loop upon completion This looping will continue indefinitely until a Stop condition occurs or another audio or playlist file is played on that channel Comme...

Page 29: ...ring the playback of file 1 it will be interrupted and the playlist will move on to the next command If a Play command is not received the 8TraXX E will not advance to the next playlist command until file 1 has played to completion When file 1 has finished playing the 6P2LP command is executed This command causes the 8TraXX E to loop file 6 continuously to channel pair 2 This file will continue lo...

Page 30: ...lect the event you wish to insert into the playlist For this example we ll choose Play and Loop Clip 4 Using the arrows in the parameters box you can select which type of Play command you wish to use For example By Number would allow you to enter a clip number By File would allow you to enter the actual file name If you are using the compact flash card that shipped inside your 8TraXX E select By N...

Page 31: ...itor i e Notepad or a free Alcorn McBride application called Schedule Builder The remainder of this section contains information on how to make this schedule file using either method Schedule File Format The schedule scl file itself is nothing more than a formatted ASCII text file In this file each line contains an 8TraXX E command as well as data fields that specify when that command should be ex...

Page 32: ... will cause the 8TraXX E to play file 1 to channel pair 2 Example 2 T 14 46 D 01 1 2015 E COMMAND 1 P2RJ Stop CH Pair2 Playback Two things have changed in this example Start Time T 2 46pm in the afternoon 14 46 military Start Date D January 1st 2015 same as Example 1 Event E COMMAND same as Example 1 Parameter 1 1 The command string P2RJ will cause the 8TraXX E to stop playback on channel pair 2 U...

Page 33: ...efines a certain range of valid repeat periods For this example only the Thursdays in November are eligible for this event When a Set is used in an event the Repeat Number takes on a different meaning Instead of being a multiplier of the Repeat Period it and the Repeat Period become an index of the set These three fields should be read in conjunction like this Repeat this event every 4th Thursday ...

Page 34: ...your event stops being active See the T Start Time section for syntax Examples I 1 30 I Sunset I Sunrise A End Date The End Date is the month day and year your event stops being active See the D Start Date section for syntax Examples D 01 01 2001 D 01 01 2001 D 01 1 2001 R Repeat Number The Repeat Number acts differently depending on what other fields it is used with With no Repeat set field prese...

Page 35: ... specific or general Example R 2 P Sunday S May E Command 1 1P1PL Every 2nd Sunday in May Play file 1 to channel pair 1 R 1 P Day S Month E Command 1 2P2PL Every 1st day of every month play file 2 to channel pair 2 R 2 P Day S Month E Command 1 4P4PL Every 2nd day of every month play file 4 to channel pair 4 R 3 P Day S Month E Command 1 5P5PL Every 3rd day of every month play file 5 to channel pa...

Page 36: ... May June July August September October November and December Examples R 5 P day S month repeat 5th day of every month R 2 P monday S month repeat 2nd Monday of every month R 4 P Thursday S November repeat 4th Thursday in November Restrictions Since the Scheduler is very flexible it is easier to explain what it cannot do than to explain what it can 1 Whatever combination you choose between Repeat ...

Page 37: ...er 1 Open the Schedule Builder application 2 Select the 8TraXX E in the list of supported devices and click OK 3 The Add Edit Event window will appear automatically This is where you select the event you wish to insert into the schedule Since Play and Loop Clip is an event used to play an audio file we will use it for this example 4 Using the arrows in the parameters box you can select which type ...

Page 38: ...t Date Time section on the right side of this screen 6 If you only want the command to be executed once just click OK However if you want the command to be repeated say every hour or every day you can specify that in the repeat box on the right side of the screen For the sake of this example we are going to repeat this command every hour ...

Page 39: ...OK and the event will be added to the schedule 8 In this screen you are free to Add Edit Delete Scheduled events as needed 9 Once you are finished creating the schedule all you need to do is save the schedule file as schedule scl and copy it to the 8TraXX E s Compact Flash card ...

Page 40: ...e of 0x0D Certain commands were added in later firmware releases In this case the minimum OS version is indicated If no minimum version is indicated the command has always been available You can obtain the latest firmware version from our website at http www alcorn com Playback Commands These commands control the playback operation of the 8TraXX E These commands can be directed at either an indivi...

Page 41: ... the character in place of a file number Examples Play file 21 to Channel Pair 4 21P4PL Play file music mp3 to all channels music mp3 PL Move the playlist on Channel Pair 1 to the next entry P1PL Loop Play LP Description This command causes the 8TraXX E to play a sound file automatically looping it back to the start when the sound finishes Command Bytes n d i LP or filename d i LP Parameters n is ...

Page 42: ...Play toggle file music mp3 to all channels music mp3 PT Search SE Description This command causes the 8TraXX E to preload a file to a specific Channel Pair or Channel Group If the next Play or Loop command is sent without a sound number or file specified the preloaded sound number specified by this command is used This is especially useful for All Channel play commands where you can leave the soun...

Page 43: ... into subdirectories L loop the directory by refreshing playlist at end Message Response R Minimum OS Version TraXXOS 1 3 0 Comments Channel Pairs from 1 through 8 and Channel Groups from 1 through 13 Use for All Channels Examples Play all the files in the sounds directory sorted by number on ch pair 5 sounds P5 PD Play all the files in the music directory sorted ascending on ch group 2 music G2AP...

Page 44: ... 13 or use for All Channels Message Response R Examples Stop Channel Pair 2 P2RJ Stop Channel Group 1 G1RJ Add Channel Pairs to Channel Group GR Description This command will create a group from the specified channel pairs This allows you to control the grouped channel pairs as one Command Bytes A n P GR Parameters n is the channel group number 1 13 are the channels pairs to be added to the group ...

Page 45: ...mds lst as the system playlist cmds lst PL Play Channel Playlist Description This command causes the 8TraXX E to start a playlist on a specified channel pair Command Bytes n d PO or filename d PO Parameters n is the ASCII playlist number between 0 99999 filename is the ASCII playlist file name d is P followed by a channel pair number in ASCII Message Response R Minimum OS Version TraXXOS 1 2 3 Exa...

Page 46: ...uttons 1 to enable buttons Message Response R Examples Lock front panel buttons B1KL LCD PIN Enable Description This command is used to enable or disable the LCD PIN number lock When enabled a 4 Digit PIN number is required to access the front panel menu Command Bytes L n KL Parameters n is 0 to disable PIN 1 to enable PIN Message Response R Examples Enable LCD PIN lock L1KL LCD PIN Set Descriptio...

Page 47: ...n can also be obtained from the LCD menu Soft Reset Description This command issues a software reset to the unit Command Bytes XX Message Response R Example Reset Unit XX Set Name Description This command gets sets the user readable name of the unit Command Bytes n NM Parameters n is the desired ASCII name of the unit Message Response R Minimum OS Version TraXXOS 1 2 5 Comments To get the current ...

Page 48: ... 10 7P3AD Send String Description This command sends an ASCII string from 8TraXX E to the specified destination Command Bytes s d o SS Parameters s is the string to be sent d is the destination one of S Serial U UDP over Ethernet o is only required for UDP and is the destination info in the form of XXX XXX XXX XXX PPPPP SSSSS where XXX XXX XXX XXX is destination IP PPPPP is destination port SSSSS ...

Page 49: ...annel Group 2 Status G2 P Example Response 2 P h0d 3 P h0d 4 P h0d Filename Status Request Description This command requests the filenames that are currently playing on the specified channel channel pair or channel group Command Bytes d C Parameters d is either C followed by a channel number in ASCII P followed by a channel pair number in ASCII or G followed by a channel group number in ASCII Comm...

Page 50: ...cuted when the status of a channel pair or group changes s is the channel status to trigger on P for play started S for stopped L for looped A for paused c is the command to perform when this status occurs such as CH1 Stopped SS d is either P followed by a channel pair number in ASCII or G followed by a channel group number in ASCII RAK Selects simple channel response mode CH is sent out the seria...

Page 51: ...ed i e Play Stop Mute etc All number in the table are decimal Message Format Status Byte Control Number Control Value Function Status Byte control change Control Number Range Control Value Range Play Channel 176 64 71 select channels 1 8 0 121 selects sound number 1 122 Play Loop Channel 176 72 79 select channels 1 8 0 121 selects sound number 1 122 Stop Channel 176 80 87 select channels 1 8 0 Mut...

Page 52: ...valid Command or Command Format Verify your command with the Command Protocol section E06 Invalid Command Argument Verify your command with the Command Protocol section E11 Media Not Present Compact Flash installed Formatted Compatible brand E12 Search Error Selecting the correct file Is the file on the card Is it named correctly E22 System Busy Wait for system to be ready for command E99 Unspecif...

Page 53: ...ing the update 5 When the LCD display reads Update Complete and the file access LED is off the firmware update is complete If your firmware file was named OS NEW it will be renamed to OS SAV and the unit will automatically restart 6 If the firmware update fails i e power was interrupted during update please follow the directions under Firmware Recovery Firmware Recovery 1 Remove power from the uni...

Page 54: ...th the 8TraXX E operating system Be sure you have saved your files then format the card as Microsoft FAT32 Q Audio playback is too fast or too slow A All files played on the 8TraXX E must be encoded to use the same sample rate i e all 44 1KHz or all 48KHz etc You cannot mix and match sample rates Q I hear snaps and pops in the playback audio especially when playing all of the channels A Make sure ...

Page 55: ...uts Serial DB9M RS 232 9600 N 8 1 MIDI 5 Pin DIN Ethernet 10 100Base T UDP control FTP file transfer NTP time protocol Connectors DB 9M serial RS 232 connector RJ45 jack for Ethernet connection RCA type connectors for unbalanced audio output Phoenix Type screw terminals for discrete controls Threaded barrel connector for power DIN 5 180 connector for MIDI Front Panel 8 Direct play pushbuttons Rota...

Page 56: ...15 Keylock Enable 44 LCD display 9 LCD PIN 14 44 Loop Play 39 Manage Channel Groups 23 Manage Input Groups 21 Menu 11 Menu Knob 9 MIDI 13 MIDI Control Protocol 49 MPEG 1 Part 3 15 Mute 46 Mute All Button 10 Noise 13 On Startup Trigger Type 24 Password 14 17 Pause 41 PIN number 9 Play 39 40 41 43 Play Toggle 40 Playback Commands 38 Playlist Builder 28 Playlists 25 power input 14 rear panel 12 RJ45 ...