Using a Distributed Program Bus in Combination with Local Audio Sources

This scenario builds on the conference center example used in another Distributed Program Bus scenario. The conference center is using the Distributed Program Bus to route five different background music channels to all of its zones, which include ten conference room zones, a lobby zone, and an offices zone. A DR3 is located in each zone, with each one linked to the selection list of channels, thus giving end users control over channel selection.

In addition to needing background music in each conference room, they also need local audio inputs for one or more microphones and for a CD or DVD player.

This procedure begins after the configuration of the Distributed Program Bus, which you can read about in the scenario titled Providing a Variety of Audio Options in all Zones. In this scenario, we'll focus on the addition of local input sources alongside the Distributed Program Bus (for a single zone). You configure local input sources from within each Zone Processor block. Using RADs, we'll configure both a microphone input and an input for a CD/DVD player for one of the conference rooms (ConfRoom 1).

1. In the Hardware Workspace, add a RAD2 (which contains both a Mic Input and a Line Input) to the Hardware Map.
2. From the I/O palette in the Processing Workspace, locate the RAD2 and drag both its Mic Input block and its Line Input block into the Processing Map (preferably placing it close to and to the left of the ConfRoom 1 Zone Processor block).
3. Wire the RAD2 Mic Input to the Zone by clicking its Output node and then clicking the Input 1 node on the Zone Processor.
4. Wire the RAD2 Line Input to the Zone by clicking its Output node and then clicking the <Add> node on the Zone Processor (which becomes Input 2 and causes a new <Add> node to appear).

That's all there is to it. In the example referenced above (which we hope you have reviewed by now), a DR3 is linked to the Zone Processor's input selection list, giving end users control over the various channels available. These two local input sources will appear on the DR display along with the Distributed Program Bus channels. You can, of course, and probably should, update the input selection display labels that appear on the DR3.

note: If you want the presence of local audio to automatically override background music (or other audio) coming from the Distributed Program Bus, you can use the Zone Processor's Priority Inputs parameter to configure this behavior.