Creating a Distributed Program Bus

The Distributed Program Bus provides a central block for configuring and connecting inputs that need to be available to all zones (defined by a Zone Processor and/or Room Processor block) in your system. It provides, in essence, a shortcut for wiring the same input to all of these output zones. Once the Distributed Program Bus is configured, its inputs are automatically included in all Zone Processor and Room Processor blocks added to the system. A system can contain only one Distributed Program Bus. For more details, see About the Distributed Program Bus.

note: Include in the Distributed Program Bus only those inputs that you want available in all zones defined by a Zone Processor and/or Room Processor.

To create and configure a Distributed Program Bus:

1. Configure all of the input sources that need to be available for all zones in your system. In other words, configure the inputs that you plan to include in the Distributed Program Bus. This process may involve adding the appropriate hardware in the Hardware Workspace and will definitely involve dragging the appropriate inputs into your Processing Map in the Processing Workspace. To save space and better organize your Processing Map, we recommend that you group these input sources close together.
2. Add the Distributed Program Bus to your Processing Map. To do so, click the DSP tab in the Processing Workspace palette. Click the Distributed Program Bus block, which is located in the Paging/Room Combine category, and drag it into your Processing Map. Again, for clarity and organization, we recommend placing the Distributed Program Bus to the right of your input sources.
3. One at a time, connect each input source to the Distributed Program Bus. Additional nodes are added automatically as you connect additional input sources to the Distributed Program Bus.

note: If you are connecting left and right stereo inputs to the Distributed Program Bus, you need to mono these inputs and then connect the single input to the Distributed Program Bus.

4. Customize the names of your Distributed Program Bus channels. To do so, click the input name (in the Distributed Program Bus) to open an edit box. Type the name you want, and then press Enter.

That's all there is to it! Once you have created your Distributed Program Bus, it is then included automatically in every Zone Processor and Room Combine Processor you add to your system. For more details on creating and working with the Zone Processors, see About Zone Processors. For more details on creating and working with the Room Combine Processor block, see About Room Combine. At some point in your process, you should, of course, test the Distributed Program Bus. Depending on your situation, you'll likely need to wait until your hardware is installed before you can perform this testing.