Omnia Audio A-XE User Manual
Omnia A/XE
Processed Audio Encoding For Windows
USER’S MANUAL
Manual Version 1.3 for software version 1.12 and later
January 27, 2010
Omnia A/XE Manual
© 2009 TLS Corporation. Published by Omnia/TLS Corporation. All rights reserved.
Trademarks
Omnia, the Omnia logo, and Omnia A/XE are trademarks of TLS Corporation. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
Notice
All versions, claims of compatibility, trademarks, etc. of hardware and software products
not made by Omnia mentioned in this manual or accompanying material are informational
only. Omnia makes no endorsement of any particular product for any purpose, nor claims
any responsibility for operation or accuracy.
We reserve the right to make improvements or changes in the products described in this
manual, which may affect the product specifications, or to revise the manual without notice.
Updates
We routinely release new software versions to add features and fix bugs. Check the Omnia
web site for the latest. We encourage you to sign-up for the email notification service
offered on the site.
Feedback
We welcome feedback on any aspect of the Omnia A/XE software or this manual. In
the past, many good ideas from users have made their way into software revisions or new
products. Please contact us with your comments.
We support you...
By email workdwide: support@omniaaudio.com
e Omnia Web site is at http://www.omniaaudio.com
By phone/Fax in the USA: Customer service is available from 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM USA
Eastern Time, Monday through Friday at +1 216.241.7225. Fax: +1 216.241.4103.
By phone/Fax in Europe. Service is available from Omnia Europe in Germany at +49 81 61
42 467.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Software Installation 3
Getting Started 9
We support you... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .i
Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Starting the Installer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
If you received Omnia A/XE on CD-ROM... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
If you downloaded the Omnia A/XE installer... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Installation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Application Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Program Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Congure Omnia A/XE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Locate Options.xml File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Locate Logs Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Locate Presets Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Virtual Audio Cable Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
IP Audio Driver Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Connecting to Omnia A/XE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Change the Default Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Enter the License Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Create Audio Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Create an Audio Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Create an AAC or MP3 Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Troubleshooting Omnia A/XE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Verify the Omnia A/XE Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
iii |
Check the Firewall Exception List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Check the Port Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Can’t remember the password? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
MPEG License & Music Copyright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Omnia A/XE Control Panel 21
Audio Processor Instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
AAC Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
MP3 Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Instance Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
License Manager 25
Adding a License Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Manual License Activation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Audio Source Manager 29
Create Audio Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Delete Audio Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Audio Processor Instance 31
AAC Encoder 33
Create the Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Deliver the Encoded Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
HTTP Stream Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Send to SHOUTcast server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Send to Wowza Media server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
MP3 Encoder 37
Create the Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Deliver the Encoded Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
HTTP Stream Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Send to SHOUTcast server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Send to Windows Media server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
OMNIA A/XE MANUAL | IV
Preset Manager 41
Managing Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Add Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Copy Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Edit Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Rename Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Delete Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Backup Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Processing Audio 43
The Preset Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Understanding The Bar graphs and Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Interpreting the Gain Reduction Meter Displays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Processing Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
WB-AGC (WideBand AGC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Bass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
X-Over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Multiband AGC Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
MIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Final Limiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Bypass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Fine Tuning Omnia A/XE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
About Loudness and Fatigue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Clarify Your Processing Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
The Adjustment Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Getting the Sound You Want . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
A Word about Loudness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Quality versus Loudness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Increasing Loudness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Adding More Detail—When Loudness Isn’t the Last Word . . . . . . . . . . 55
Equalization Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
v |
Thunder Bass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Reducing Codec Artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Metadata 59
Metadata Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Scheduler 61
System Options 63
System Logs 65
SHOUTcast Streaming 67
Sending A/XE Streams to SHOUTcast Compatible Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
SHOUTcast Compatible Streaming Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Steamcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
SHOUTcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
ICEcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Using a PC Player to Listen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Hardware Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Wowza Media Server 81
Congure Omnia A/XE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Congure Wowza Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Test the Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Managing the Omnia A/XE Service 85
Firewall Setup 87
1 Introduction
e audio industry employs dynamics signal processing for many aspects within a broadcast
station, recording studio, mastering facility, and numerous other requirements. From simple
compression of a microphone channel, to special desired effects in the production studio,
and on through the creation of dial-dominance in the transmission path, processing has always been hardware-based. Even with the evolution of digital signal processing (DSP), most
processors are still physical boxes that engineers, producers, and program directors tweak as
they desire to achieve that signature sound. But where is it all headed as technology moves
into more of a software-based world? e personal computer has revolutionized our culture,
and it now can provide us with the required machine cycles of power to accomplish many of
the tasks we ask DSP chips to perform.
We introduce to you to Omnia A/XE a versatile audio processing and encoding platform
that is available as a pure software utility! Our Omnia processors dominate the airwaves the
world over. e products that have helped us achieve this success are based upon innovative
ideas in the area of dynamics audio processing and Omnia A/XE brings these ideas to your
PC.
Omnia A/XE offers what other rack mountable, or PC based hard-card products do, but it
doesn’t require the overhead of these other products. It makes use of the increased processing power available inside today’s faster PC’s. Off the shelf PC’s now contain more than
enough power to perform audio dynamics processing and encoding, serving up multiple
processed and encoded streams from within a single computer or web-server.
Motivation
ere are thousands of Internet radio-station-like audio webcasters. Like their over-the-air
counterparts, these can all benefit from dynamics processing. Every radio station uses audio
processing and there is no reason to believe that webcasters wouldn’t want it, too. Television
stations also employ processing, just as Internet video services will, as they grow in sophistication.
e growing power of PCs makes it possible to have multiple audio processors and encoders
on one PC. As network bandwidth increases, there will likely be more webcasters entering
the fray – and more concern about audio quality as these services become more mainstream.
Effective processing divides audio into multiple frequency bands and dynamically adjusts
levels to be optimum for the following transmission medium. On the surface, this is a
simple function. But to get the sound appropriately optimized without adding or aggravating undesirable codec “artifacts” is a tricky blend of art and science involving many
trade-offs. Expert ears coupled with audio design expertise are required to get this work
accomplished – and these are rare combined skills.
Transmitting audio on the Internet requires bitrate compression (data reduction). Uncompressed stereo audio would require 25x more capacity than possible over a 56kbps modem
connection. Even broadband connections require compression so that the audio doesn’t take
2 | Introduction
up all of the available capacity, leaving nothing for web surfing or companion video content.
e perceived quality of audio that undergoes this compression is very much improved
with the addition of dynamics processing. e benefit is unambiguously dramatic. Every
potential customer who has had a demonstration prefers the sound of processed audio.
Omnia A/XE is a stand-alone software signal processor and MPEG encoder (MP3 and
AAC). It does not require a dedicated PC hardware card to operate as it utilizes the host
processor inside the computer. Omnia A/XE was designed as a Windows service for 24/7
Internet streaming. e dynamics processing algorithms are based upon the highly successful Omnia.3net, which is a hardware-based DSP audio processor.
Omnia A/XE performs internal calculations with precision sufficient to guarantee 24-bit
dynamic range. Omnia A/XE employs the following processing architecture:
♦ Wideband AGC
♦ 3 Band Combined Compressor/Limiter
♦ HF EQ
♦ Adjustable Bandwidth Lowpass Filter
♦ Final Look-Ahead Limiter
♦ A web browser based graphical user interface provides access to all user settings and
presents all feedback information.
2 Software Installation
is chapter describes the steps involved in installing Omnia A/XE on your PC. e
Omnia A/XE installer includes a Virtual Audio Cable driver and a copy of the Axia
IP-Audio driver. e sections below describe when to install the included drivers.
System Requirements
♦ Windows XP or later.
♦ Minimum 512MB RAM.
♦ 20MB free hard-drive space
♦ Network Interface Card
e Omnia A/XE application runs on 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows XP or later.
e Virtual Audio Cable driver and the IP-Audio driver will only work on 32-bit versions
of Windows. If you need to use one or both drivers then you will need to install Omnia
A/XE on a 32-bit version of Windows.
Starting the Installer
If you received Omnia A/XE on CD-ROM...
If you received the software on CD-ROM, please insert the disk in one of the PC’s
CD-ROM drives. If autorun is enabled for the drive then the following window will be
displayed:
4 | Software Installation
If autorun is not enabled, then use Windows Explorer to view the contents of the Omnia
A/XE CD-ROM and double-click the Setup.exe application found on the disk.
When the above Omnia A/XE Setup window appears, click the Install Omnia A/XE
button.
If you downloaded the Omnia A/XE installer...
If you downloaded the Omnia A/XE installer then you should have a single file named
omniaaxe.msi. Double-click this file to start the installer.
The Installation Process
When you install Omnia A/XE for the first time you will be prompted by the following
window:
Click the Next button. e License Agreement dialog will be displayed.
THE INSTALLATION PROCESS | 5
Use the scroll bar to review the full text of the license agreement displayed. If you accept
the agreement click the “I accept...” radio button then click Next to continue. If you do not
accept the license agreement, click Cancel to exit the installer.
Once you click the Next button the driver installation dialog will be displayed:
On this dialog you are given the choice to install the Virtual Audio Cable driver and the
Axia IP-Audio driver. Read on to find out if you should install these drivers.
Virtual Audio Cable driver: As the name suggests, the Virtual Audio Cable driver forms
“patch” cables that allows Omnia A/XE to exchange audio with other applications on the
same PC without the need for a physical sound card. If you plan to send audio to Omnia
A/XE from another application or from Omnia A/XE to another application (e.g. a
third-party encoder) on the same PC then you should choose to install the Virtual Audio
Cable driver.
IP-Audio driver: e Axia IP-Audio driver allows a PC to exchange audio with Livewireenabled devices directly over the network, without the need for physical sound cards. If you
6 | Software Installation
wish to send audio from a Livewire-enabled audio device to Omnia A/XE or from A/XE
to the device then you should install the IP-Audio driver.
Once you have made your driver installation choices, click the Next button to continue
with the installation. You will be prompted for the location where the software should be
installed.
e default installation location offered in the dialog is appropriate in most cases. If you
need to change it, click the Browse button and select a different location. When done, click
Next to continue. e final confirmation dialog will be presented:
If you need to make any changes to the choices you have made on the previous dialogs, click
the Back button and make the desired changes. Click Next to begin the installation.
A progress dialog will be displayed as the application files are copied to your PC. If you
chose to install the drivers, Windows may display a warning dialog similar to the one below:
THE INSTALLATION PROCESS | 7
is warning is from Windows 7. Other versions of Windows may display different looking
warning messages. Please select “Install this driver software anyway” to make sure that the
drivers are properly installed. Once the installer finishes, your Omnia A/XE software is
ready for use.
NOTE: If you need to install a new version of Omnia A/XE, always uninstall the previous version first.
Your application settings will be preserved. If you previously had the drivers installed, it is important to
reboot the PC after uninstalling A/XE and before you install a new version. This will ensure that the old
driver versions are properly removed.
3 Getting Started
is chapter will guide you through the steps required to configure your PC and Omnia
A/XE. e information presented illustrates the Windows Vista® operating system but the
process should very similar on other versions of Windows.
Application Overview
Omnia A/XE is designed to run as a Windows service. A service is an application that runs
in the background without direct user interaction. e benefit of running in the background
is improved security and reliability; a user does not need to be logged on the PC for the
application to run and as long as the PC is on and Windows is initialized, Omnia A/XE is
running in the background.
e application configuration and management is done via an Internet browser (i.e. Internet
Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.) either from the same computer or from any other
computer that can reach the Omnia A/XE PC over the network. If the Omnia A/XE PC
has an active firewall you must configure the firewall to allow A/XE to talk to the network.
Please take a look at the Firewall Setup chapter for details on how to add Omnia A/XE
to the firewall’s exception list. During the initial application setup, it may be helpful to
temporarily disable the firewall until you are able to connect to Omnia A/XE.
Since Omnia A/XE is always running in the background, there may be times that you need
to shut it down or restart it. is is accomplished through the Service manager control panel
applet. e Managing Omnia A/XE Service chapter describes how to accomplish this task.
Program Shortcuts
During installation, Omnia A/XE installs the following shortcuts under Programs:
Configure Omnia AXE, Locate Options.xml file, Locate Logs directory, Locate Presets
directory and Documentation. If you installed the Virtual Audio Cable driver then you
will also find a shortcut to Virtual Audio Cable Control Panel and if you installed the Axia
IP-Audio driver then you will find a shortcut to IP Audio Driver Control Panel. Each
shortcut (except for Documentation) is described below.
Congure Omnia A/XE
is shortcut opens a browser window pointing to the Omnia A/XE administrative web
interface. e shortcut reads the Omnia A/XE configuration information from Options.xml
(where all application settings are stored) and passes the port used by A/XE to the browser.
Selecting this shortcut should open the browser to the login page of Omnia A/XE. e
Connecting to Omnia A/XE section later in this chapter describes the login process in
more detail.
10 | Getting Started
Locate Options.xml File
Omnia A/XE stores all settings to a single file named Options.xml. is option opens a
Windows Explorer window in the directory where the Options.xml file is located. As you
may have guessed from the file extension, the file uses the Extensible Markup Language
(XML) format for its contents. While you may use a text editor (e.g. Notepad.exe) to view
the file contents we recommend that you do not make direct edits to the file unless it is for a
special reason.
Once you have setup all your audio sources, encoders and streams, you may want to make a
backup copy of the Options.xml file. Also, if you decide to move Omnia A/XE to a different PC moving the Options.xml file will save you some time configuring the application on
the new PC.
Locate Logs Directory
is option opens a Windows Explorer window in the directory where Omnia A/XE writes
the system log files. A new file is created for each 24 hour period and logs are kept for 30
days. After 30 days the oldest file is deleted to make room for new log files. While you may
retrieve the logs through the web interface if you have direct access to the Omnia A/XE
it may be more convenient to access the files in the directory where they are stored. When
something is not working right, the log files may show you the reason why. If you encounter
a problem and need to contact support, sending the log file for the day when the problem
occurred will speed up the resolution process.
Locate Presets Directory
is options opens a Windows Explorer window in the directory where Omnia A/XE
stores the processing presets. All processing presets are stored in individual presets files.
Copies of the default presets that ship with the application and any presets that you may
have created will be found in the presets directory. While we do not recommend that you
edit the files manually, you may want to access the presets directory for backup or to copy
presets from one PC to another.
NOTE: If you need to restore a preset to the default parameters you can find backups of the original
presets shipped with the application in the Program Files\OmniaAXE\Presets directory. Please
not modify the presets in this directory. Instead, copy them to the ProgramData directory.
Virtual Audio Cable Control Panel
e Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) control panel configures parameters for the VAC driver. By
default, eight virtual audio device instances (“cables”) are installed. If you need to adjust this
number to more or less devices you can use the VAC control panel to adjust this number.
IP Audio Driver Control Panel
e IP-Audio driver control panel configures the Livewire audio channels to send or
receive from network. Please see the IP-Audio driver’s user guide under the Documentation
shortcut for additional information.
CONNECTING TO OMNIA A/XE | 11
Connecting to Omnia A/XE
By default, Omnia A/XE will use HTTP port 80 for administration. If this port is in use by
another application, A/XE will select another available port. For this reason we recommend
that for the first time you connect to Omnia A/XE from the same PC where A/XE is
installed.
1. Select the Configure Omnia AXE shortcut from the Omnia A/XE program shortcuts.
is will open your default browser application to connect to A/XE. is shortcut is
aware of the port used by the A/XE and will pass this information to the browser.
Troubleshooting Tip: If the browser displays a “Page not found” error, please refer to the Troubleshooting Omnia A/XE Startup section further in this chapter.
2. You should see the following login page in appear in your browser:
3. Enter “admin” for the user name and “Telos” (not case sensitive) as the default password
then click the Submit button.
4. If the user name and password were entered correctly then you should see the main
application control panel:
12 | Getting Started
You are now logged in to Omnia A/XE.
Change the Default Password
One of the first things you should do is change the default password. Skipping this step
could give other access to your Omnia A/XE application.
1. Click the Options link in the top part of the Control Panel window:
2. e System Options windows will be displayed:
ENTER THE LICENSE INFORMATION | 13
3. Change the Administrative password field to a password of your choice then enter it
again in the Retype password field.
4. While you are on this page you have the choice of changing the administrative HTTP
and HTTPS (secure HTTP) ports as well as the Stream server port
should work fine; you should change them only if you need to address a particular
problem.
NOTE: The port changes only take effect when the Omnia A/XE service is restarted!
5. e last two fields under System Options allow you to enter a notification email address
and an SMTP server address. e application uses this information to notify you by
email in case of application errors. Fill in these fields if you wish to use the notification
feature.
6. Click the Save button to make the changes permanent. is will return you to the
Control Panel page.
Enter the License Information
Before creating audio sources or encoders you will need to enter the license code(s) you
received with Omnia A/XE on the Licenses page. e licenses entered limit the number of
1 e Stream server uses the HTTP protocol to make streams available for playback using most common
media players. is lightweight server is intended for monitoring the encoded stream by only a few listeners. It is not intended to serve a large number of streams. Please see the help link on the MP3 or AAC
encoder pages for more details.
1
. e default values
14 | Getting Started
audio sources you can use in the application.
NOTE: When you enter a license code, A/XE will contact a secure Telos server to activate the code on your
PC. If the PC is not usually connected to the Internet, you may want to connect it temporarily while you
are entering the license code(s). This will allow the activation process to take place automatically. If
this is not possible, then you have the option to activate the license from another PC. Please read the
Manual Activation section in the License Manager chapter for the full details.
1. Click the Licenses link at the top of the Control Panel page. e License Manager
page will be displayed:
2. Click the Add… button. Enter your license code in the License field then click the Save
button.
3. e code you entered will show up in the Licenses list on the left. Next to the license
code you will see additional text describing the state of the license. e text will initially
say “Pending activation” then after 10-15 seconds it should change to “OK”. Repeat step
2 for each license code you have received. If all license codes have an “OK” status then
skip step 4 below and jump to the Create Audio Sources section.
4. If you see an error message next to the license code, please check the license string to
make sure it matches the one you received. If the error is “Activation failed” or similar
CREATE AUDIO SOURCES | 15
then refer to the License Manager chapter to learn how to activate your license manually.
Create Audio Sources
e Audio Sources Manager allows you to select the input audio device(s) you wish to use
with Omnia A/XE. Since the Windows audio device names are often not very descriptive,
you have the opportunity to assign each audio device a friendly name. is name is then
used throughout the rest of the application to refer to the audio source.
NOTE: You will only be able to create audio sources once you have successfully activated your license
code on the Omnia A/XE PC.
1. On the Control Panel page, click the Audio Sources link at the top of the window. e
Audio Sources Manager page will be displayed:
2. Click the Add… button. Select the audio device you wish to use from the Source device
drop down list. Enter a name for it in the Friendly name field then click Save.
3. Repeat step 2 for each audio source you wish to use. You may see a message indicating
that the audio device limit has been reached for the license codes entered in the applica-
16 | Getting Started
tion. If you see this message and still need additional audio sources, please purchase an
additional license.
4. When done, click the Main link or use the Back button to return to the Control Panel
page.
Create an Audio Processor
e three buttons on the Control Panel page allow you to create audio processor instances
and AAC or MP3 encoder instances. You may create multiple instances of each to suit your
needs.
An audio processor instance accepts audio from an audio source, applies Omnia processing
to it then sends it out to an audio device on the PC. If you need to create an audio processor
then follow the steps below.
1. Click this button to create an audio processor instance. e following page will be
displayed:
2. Enter a name for the audio processor. You may use letters and digits along with underscore characters if needed. Please do not use other special characters in the name.
3. In the Audio source drop down select the audio source you wish to use. Select the
processing preset from the Processing preset drop down then the output audio device
from the Output audio device drop down list.
4. Click the Save button. You have just created an audio processor instance. When the
Control Panel page is displayed you will see the audio processor instance you have just
created:
CREATE AN AAC OR MP3 ENCODER | 17
5. Click the start/stop button to start this audio processor instance. e power LED
will light up and the meters should show some activity. You should also hear audio being
played through the output audio device.
6. Click the edit button to modify the instance’s properties. Note that if an instance is
active any changes will only take effect when the instance is restarted.
7. Click the icon found next to the preset name if you wish to edit the audio processing
parameters (see the Processing Audio chapter for more information).
8. Click the delete button if you wish to delete this instance.
Create an AAC or MP3 Encoder
Clicking the Create AAC instance button or the Create MP3 instance
button on the Control Panel takes you to the AAC or MP3 encoder configuration page.
On this page you create an AAC or MP3 encoder instance for a selected audio source.
NOTE: You may create multiple encoder instances even for the same audio source, perhaps using
different encoding parameters or different processing presets.
For each encoder instance you may deliver the encoded stream through the local stream
server, to a SHOUTcast-compatible server, a Wowza® media server or Windows Media®
server.
NOTE: The AAC and MP3 encoders are described in detail in the AAC Encoder and MP3 Encoder chapters
found later in this manual.
Once created, each instance will show up on the Control Panel page very similar to the
audio processor instance shown above.
Troubleshooting Omnia A/XE
While attempting to connect to Omnia A/XE you may get a “Page not found” error in your
web browser. is section describes the steps involved in determining where the problem
lies. e main tasks are:
18 | Getting Started
1. Make sure that the Omnia A/XE service is running.
2. Verify that Omnia A/XE is added to your firewall’s exception list.
3. Double-check the port number used by Omnia A/XE’s web administration.
Each task is described in more detail below. e examples illustrate the steps on the
Windows Vista® operating system. If you use another Windows version the steps should be
similar.
Verify the Omnia A/XE Service
Omnia A/XE application runs as a Windows service. Services run in the background and
present no user interface. You may start and stop Windows services by using the Service
Manager control panel applet.
1. Open the Control Panel from the Start menu on the task bar. Open the Administra-
tive Tools applet from the panel:
2. In the Administrative Tools window that just opened up, open the Services applet:
3. A list of services installed on your PC will show up. Scroll down in the list until you find
the Omnia A/XE entry:
4. Check the status for the entry. If it is “Started” then skip the next step and jump ahead
to the next section.
5. If the status is not “Started” then we’re going to start the service. Right-click the Omnia
A/XE entry and select Start from the popup menu. Once you see “Started” in the status
column we can close the Services window and go on to the next task.
MPEG LICENSE & MUSIC COPYRIGHT | 19
Check the Firewall Exception List
If you have a firewall installed on your PC it may block Omnia A/XE from reaching the
network. Omnia A/XE will only be able to function properly once it has been added to
the firewall’s exception list. If you are using the Windows firewall please see the Firewall
Configuration chapter for details. If you are using another firewall you will need to consult
your firewall’s documentation.
Once Omnia A/XE has been added to the firewall’s exception list try to connect to the
application again (using the Configure Omnia AXE shortcut). If the problem still persists
read the next section.
Check the Port Number
By default Omnia A/XE uses port 80 for configuration. If port 80 was already in use by
another application or Omnia A/XE was previously configured to use another port you may
have trouble connecting to the application.
1. Use the Configure Omnia AXE shortcut to launch your browser. When the browser
comes up you will see either the Omnia A/XE login page or a “Page not found” error.
2. If you see the login page when you use the Configure Omnia AXE shortcut but are not able to see it when you connect from another PC then
look at the address bar of the browser. You will see the address listed as
http://localhost or as http://localhost:port_number. When you connect from
another PC you will need to enter the address as http://ip_address_of_axe_pc (or
http://ip_address_of_axe_pc:port_number if a port number was displayed).
3. If you see a “Page not found” error even when you use the Configure Omnia AXE
shortcut then you should restart the Omnia A/XE service. It may be possible that the
configuration port number has been changed but service has not yet been restarted. Port
number changes only take effect when the application is restarted.
e port number, along with all configuration information, is stored in the Options.xml file.
It the steps above did not solve the problem, you may want to open the Options.xml file
with a text editor. Look for an entry named httpport and check the value parameter, this
will be the administrative port number.
If none of the above steps resolve the problem, please call the 24/7 support line at +1-216622-0247 or send an email to support@omniaaudio.com.
Can’t remember the password?
If the password was changed and now you can’t remember it you can find it in the
Options.xml file. Open the file with a text editor and look for an entry named adminpass.
e value parameter indicates the password currently set.
MPEG License & Music Copyright
Musical compositions and sound recordings are creative works that are protected by the
copyright laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) and other countries. Under
U.S. law, the owner of a copyright has the exclusive right to (and to authorize others to)
reproduce the work, use parts of the work in a new creation, distribute the work in whole or
in part, and to publicly display or perform the work (including on web pages and through
webcasting). With few exceptions, it is illegal to reproduce, distribute or broadcast a sound
20 | Getting Started
recording without the permission of the copyright owner. It is your responsibility to comply with
the copyright laws of the United States and other countries in which you broadcast and to pay all
applicable royalties to the copyright owners when you become a webcaster.
ere have been recent amendments to the copyright law regarding webcasting of sound recordings.
ese new provisions allow webcasting under the terms of a statutory license, as a way to help
webcasters get permission without having to go to each sound recording’s owner. e statutory
license, however, has strict requirements that you must follow. Some of these requirements include
the payment of license fees, limitations on the number of songs from the same album or artist
that may be played in a three hour period (called the sound recording performance complement);
a prohibition on publishing advance playlists; and a requirement to identify the song, artist and
album on the website. ere are other requirements as well. e Recording Industry Association of
America provides quite a bit of information on copyright law as it applies to webcasting, and both
ASCAP and BMI have created license agreements that they are willing to grant to webcasters that
they believe conform to the provisions of the new copyright rules for webcasting. For additional
information on the statutory license and other aspects of webcasting, please visit the following sites:
e U.S. Copyright Office
http://www.copyright.gov
e Recording Industry Association of America
http://www.riaa.com/issues/music/webcasting
ASCAP
http://www.ascap.com/weblicense/webintro.html
BMI
http://www.bmi.com/iama/webcaster/index.asp
4 Omnia A/XE Control Panel
e Control Panel is the main application page. is page displays all audio processing and
encoding instances, the audio meters and processing presets assigned. On this page you can
create additional audio processing or encoder instances, delete existing ones and start/stop
individual instances. When you first start the application it will look like the image below:
e menu at the top of the page allows you to access other application areas:
e buttons on the gray panel create new audio processor, AAC or MP3 encoder instances:
Audio
Source
Audio
Processor
Output Audio
Device
Source
audio data
Processed
audio data
Audio
Source
Audio
Processor
AAC
Encoder
Source
audio data
Processed
audio data
SHOUTcast /
Icecast Servers
Internal
Stream Server
Wowza Server
AAC encoded
streams
Media player
Media player
Flash player
22 | Omnia A/XE Control Panel
e sections below briefly describe the Audio Processor, AAC and MP3 encoder instances.
Audio Processor Instance
e Audio Processor instance accepts audio from an audio source, processes it then sends
the processed audio to an output device:
e output audio device can be either a sound card installed in the PC, a Virtual Audio
Cable device or an Axia IP-Audio device. Please see the Audio Processor Instance chapter
for more details.
AAC Encoder
e AAC Encoder instance accepts audio from a source, processes it, encodes it to AAC,
then sends the encoded stream to one or more servers you specify:
It is important to note that the encoded stream can be sent simultaneously to multiple servers. e servers then replicate the stream to the clients. e AAC Encoder chapter describes
in more detail how to create and configure an AAC Encoder instance.
Audio
Source
Audio
Processor
MP3
Encoder
Source
audio data
Processed
audio data
SHOUTcast /
Icecast Servers
Internal
Stream Server
Windows Media
Server
MP3 encoded
streams
Media player
Media player
Windows
Media player
| 23
MP3 Encoder
e MP3 Encoder instance is very similar to the AAC Encoder instance. It accepts audio
from an audio source, processes it, then encodes it to MP3 and feeds the encoded audio to
one or more media servers:
Just as with the AAC encoder, you may send the encoded stream to multiple server
simultaneously. e servers then replicate the stream to the end clients. Please see the MP3
Encoder chapter for more details on creating and configuring MP3 encoder instances.
Instance Functions
Once an instance has been created, it will appear stacked under the buttons as shown in the
image below:
is image shows an Audio Processor instance. e AAC and MP3 encoder instances look
very similar except for the identifying logo in the box on the left side.
Click the Start / Stop
will light up and the meters will indicate the audio activity if the audio source is receiving
audio.
If you need to make changes to an instance then click the Edit
instance by clicking the Delete icon.
When an instance is active, you may click the Processing preset icon to edit the audio
processing parameters.
button to start or stop an instance. When on, the power LED
icon. You may delete an
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