Video Transcript
Integrating Axon C1: Part A
7m 26s
00:08
There are a lot of Q-SYS installations where a simple wall panel with a couple of buttons
00:13
may be more desirable than the full depth of control you can get with a UCI on a native Q-SYS touch screen.
00:19
If all you need is some source selection, volume control, or preset recalls, you might want to consider the Axon C1 controller,
00:27
which is one of the Attero Tech by QSC peripherals.
00:31
This customizable, cost-effective device is easy to integrate into the Q-SYS Ecosystem—but if it’s your first time using one, then this is the tutorial for you.
00:40
While most of this configuration will take place within Q-SYS Designer Software,
00:43
the actual menu structure of the Axon C1 needs to be configured in the uniFY Control Panel,
00:51
which is a free software from QSC designed specifically to monitor and configure AtteroTech Series devices.
00:58
If you don’t already have the uniFY software installed, follow the link below and start downloading it while I explain a little about the needs of our hypothetical situation.
01:08
Here’s a design for a simple hospitality venue with four different zones.
01:13
Our two audio sources are a stereo channel from a Software-based Dante receiver, and a stereo Audio Player for background music playing from the Core itself.
01:23
These are just examples, of course; you might also use any input channels from the Core or from an I/O peripheral,
01:30
another networked stream, or you could bring in a local audio input via a wall plate by using another Attero Tech Series device, like the unD6IO, for instance.
01:39
But we’ll keep things simple with just two sources in this installation.
01:44
Each of our four zones would require an Axon C1 controller that can control source selection, zone volume, and muting.
01:52
For this tutorial, we’ll only show how to configure one C1 in the first zone, but the process is the same with all four.
02:00
Once you’ve installed the uniFY Control Panel software, open the application and you’ll see this screen.
02:07
You have some basic navigation buttons at the top, and a list of discovered devices on the left.
02:12
Other AtteroTech Seriesproducts may be used to control Dante or AES67-enabled devices,
02:19
but in our case we’re going to select the “Control” tab to search for control peripherals like the Axon-C1.
02:25
Provided that your device is properly connected to a PoE-enabled port on your network, you should see it populate here.
02:33
If you don’t see it, well, you can browse the “Compromised Device List”, as your device might have an IP address outside of your PC’s subnet range.
02:43
But if your PC and the C1 are configured in the same IP range, you’ll be able to select the device and either double-click it here, or right-click and select “Configure device.”
02:55
If this device has never been configured before, you’ll receive a notification about that, so proceed by selecting OK.
03:02
Here on the “C1 Control Tab” you have some configuration options for the device itself.
03:09
For instance, you could rotate its orientation for horizontal installations, you can change its brightness, add a PIN,
03:16
apply a custom name, or configure a static IP address.
03:21
In addition to the C1 Control tab, certain models might have the C3PO control tab,
03:27
which lets you enable the binary language of moisture vaporators into your protocol droid, or the C4 control tab, which will make your panel explode.
03:36
But the most important thing is to make sure that the “C1 Menu Mode” is set to “Q-SYS.”
03:42
Once you’ve done this, navigate to the “Menu Builder” tab so we can start creating its menu structure.
03:50
At the highest level, you have options to include the Volume/Mute Screen, which is a basic zone volume fader controlled by the encoder knob,
03:58
which will mute if you depress the knob in.
04:02
You can also include access to the customizable Menu Screens via the menu button on the device.
04:08
Unless you’re only controlling a single fader, it’s a good idea to keep both of these enabled.
04:13
You’ll notice that you can rename your Volume/Mute screen, and any time you make changes to this structure
04:19
you’ll notice an orange notification bar at the bottom of the screen alerting you that the Menu has changed, but has not been deployed yet.
04:27
You can send your changes to the device by selecting “Apply,” and your device will update.
04:33
So, let’s build out our menu screen.
04:36
Each menu page can contain up to eight items, and each item could either be an action, which will perform some sort of task,
04:44
or a submenu that will open another screen … where you can then add up to eight more items.
04:50
To add either one, simply click the Plus button and then define whether this is a Menu or a Trigger, and give it an appropriate name.
05:00
As you start building multiple submenus into your menu tree, you can see how deep you are with these icons at the top,
05:07
and you can return up one level by using the Back button.
05:11
When you’re adding a Trigger action, you’ll also need to define whether it is an Event, a Source Select, or a Snapshot.
05:21
I’m going to create two of each and segregate them by submenus just for clarity’s sake in this tutorial,
05:28
but realistically you’d probably want to give your submenus more intuitive names than these.
05:34
An Event can be used to change the state of a control pin in Q-SYS, and you can have up to 16 of these total.
05:41
These are particularly useful for targeting toggle buttons in Q-SYS—I’ll label mine for a System-wide mute, and an EQ-bypass button.
05:51
Next, we’ll add two Source Select buttons, which will activate a particular input on a specific router in your Q-SYS design that we will define later.
06:01
You may recall we have a Dante stream and an Audio Player, so I’ve named mine accordingly. You can have up to 8 of these in your menus.
06:10
Finally, let’s add two Snapshot triggers, which will activate a snapshot of your choice from a specific Snapshot Bank.
06:18
Once again, you can have up to eight of these.
06:21
I’ll call mine “System Reset” and “Party Mode”, because every building in the world should have a secret Party Mode option. Once again you can have up to 8 of these.
06:30
Note that as you build these, it indicates how many of each item have already been created,
06:36
but this is not an indication of which event, source, or snapshot will be triggered by the action.
06:43
That linking process will take place in Q-SYS Designer software next . . .
06:47
so for now, just be sure to name your actions appropriately as this is the unique identifier we will inside the Q-SYS configuration component later.
06:57
Once you’ve completed building your menu structure and actions, don’t forget to select Apply again, and wait for your device to update.
07:05
You’ll know it’s complete when your C1’s screen is active again, and your status bar here states “Connected.”
07:12
We’re now finished with the uniFY Control Panel, and can do the rest of the work in Q-SYS Designer software.
07:18
So, let's take a quick break right there and come back whenever you're ready.
Lesson Description
Integrating Axon C1: Part A
7m 26s
Start integrating an Axon C1 peripheral in your design by using the Unify software to configure your device.
Downloads and Links
Integrating Axon C1: Part A
7m 26s