Zektor ProAudio 16 User Manual

Clarity Audio 16x16

User Guide

and

Serial & TCP/IP Protocols

Advanced Audio 16x16 Matrix Switch

(For ClarityAudio firmware Versions 1.00 and above.)

History

2012-11-08 Version 1.01

• Fixed typos.

• Document the ‘DZ’ command.

• Document the TCP/IP related commands.
2012-09-26 Version 1.00

• Initial Release.

2

ClarityAudio User Guide, Version 1.01, 11/8/12

RS-232 / TCP/IP Port Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

TCP/IP Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Setting a static IP address vs DHCP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Default TCP/IP settings used by the ClarityAudio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

RS-232 Pinout and Baudrate Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Pin definitions: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Port settings used by the ClarityAudio: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Timing information: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Command Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Command Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Command Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Type of Responses and Timing Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Acknowledgement Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Error Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The Query Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Using Bitmapped Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Reading / Writing Bitmapped Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Basic Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Reference for Basic Control Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Channel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Basic Control Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Basic Command Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

‘P’ Power Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

‘SZ’ Set Zone(s) (input / output mappings) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

‘MZ’ Mute Zone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

‘DZ’ Set Zone Switching Delays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Audio Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Reference for Audio Control Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Audio Control Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Audio Command Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

‘MV’ Set Master Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

‘VZ’ Set Zone’s Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

‘VMIZ’ Set Zone’s Minimum Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

‘VMAZ’ Set Zone’s Maximum Volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

‘VPZ’ Set Zone’s Volume as a Percentage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

‘VRT’ Set Volume Ramp (Fade) Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

‘VMZ’ Mute a Zone using Volume Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

‘VMLZ’ Set a Zone’s Mute Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

‘VMT’ Set Muting (Fade) Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

‘BLZ’ Set Zone’s Balance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

‘GAZ’ Set Zone’s Gain (Output Levels). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

‘GAI’ Set Input’s Gain (Input Trimming) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

‘BAZ’, ‘TRZ’ Set Zone’s Bass and Treble Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

‘EQ1Z’, ‘EQ2Z’, ‘EQ3Z’, ‘EQ4Z’, ‘EQ5Z’ Set the 5 Band Equalizers’ levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

‘MXZ’ Stereo to Mono Down Mix for a Zone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

‘DRZ’ Non-PCM Digital audio Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

‘LSZ’ Set Lip Sync delay for a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

‘LSI’ Set Lip Sync delay for an Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Advanced Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Reference for Advance Control Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Advanced Control Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Advanced Command Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

‘V’ Version. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

‘QI’ Query for Zone, Input and Channel Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

‘XS’ Control Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

‘ACK’ Enable / Disable Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

‘ECO’ Enable / Disable the ‘Parameter Changed’ Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

‘CHM’ Enable / Disable always sending“.ch” masks on zone commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

‘CRE’ Enable / Disable trailing Carriage Returns Line Feeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

‘AUT’ Enable / Disable Auto Conversion of Analog / Digital Paths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

‘SS’ Save Default Power On Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

‘FS’ Reset to Factory Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

TCP/IP Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

ClarityAudio Serial Protocol, Version 1.01, 11/8/12

1

‘IPSET’ Set the IP operation mode, DHCP or STATIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

‘IPA’ Set / View the static IP Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

‘IPM’ Set / View the static IP Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

‘IPG’ Set / View the static IP gateway address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

‘IPAX’ Retrieve the current IP address in use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

‘IPMX’ Retrieve the current IP mask in use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

‘IPGX’ Retrieve the current IP gateway address in use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

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ClarityAudio Serial Protocol, Version 1.01, 11/8/12

RS-232 / TCP/IP Port Hardware

TCP/IP Overview

The Serial and TCP/IP port share the same protocol.
The TCP/IP connection is a very simple socket, sometimes referred to as Raw TCP/IP socket, similar

to T elnet, but without the Telnet protocol overhead. Most telnet clients will allow you to telnet into the
ClarityAudio without error.

We use the open source package PuTTY to do our testing. It has a convenient “Raw” mode that works
great with the ClarityAudio, and is available in Windows and Linux (with a Mac O/S version in the
works). (We are not associated with PuTTY in anyway, but do find it a useful tool when communicat

ing over TCP/IP and Serial port connections)

Website: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty
The default IP address mode is DHCP and the port address is 50005. The serial commands ‘IPA’,

‘IPM’, ‘IPG’, and ‘IPSET 0’ can be used to change the IP address, the port number is fixed at 50005.

“‘IPSET’ Set the IP operation mode, DHCP or STATIC” on page 34)

(See:

Once a connection is made it will remain open until closed by the client, or after 10 minutes of retries
at attempting to talk to the client.

RS-232 / TCP/IP Port Hardware

-

After connecting to the TCP/IP port, all commands are identical to those of the Serial port. All strings
coming from the ClarityAudio will be sent to both the TCP/IP and Serial port.

The ClarityAudio will accept commands from both the Serial and TCP/IP simultaneously, each com­mand will be buffered until the ending ‘$’ is read, at which time the commands will be executed in the
order received. Any responses will be sent to both the Serial port and TCP/IP connections.

Setting a static IP address vs DHCP

By default, the ClarityAudio will use DHCP to retrieve a IP address, an IP mask, and the address of the
router.

Setting an IP address is a two step process. You must first set the static values to be used for the IP
address, the IP mask, and the router address, then place the ClarityAudio into the Static IP address
mode.

The commands to set the static IP address, mask and router are: IPA, IPM and IPG respectively. (See:

“‘IPA’ Set / View the static IP Address” on page 35.)

The command to change the IP address mode is: IPSET. (See: “‘IPSET’ Set the IP operation mode,
DHCP or STATIC” on page 34.)

The command to save these changes in EEPROM so that they are used after a power failure is: ‘^SS
32$’. (See:

As an example, to set a static address of 192.168.1.200, a mask of 255.255.255.0 and a router address
of 192.168.1.1, and save this in EEPROM, the following commands would be executed:

^IPA 192,168,1,200$ - Set the static IP address
^IPM 255,255,255,0$ - Set the static IP mask
^IPG 192,168,1,1$ - Set the router address
^IPSET 0$ - Set the TCP/IP mode to “Static”
^SS 32$ - Save the new settings in EEPROM in case of power failure

“‘SS’ Save Default Power On Settings” on page 32.)

Default TCP/IP settings used by the ClarityAudio

Default IP Setting: DHCP

ClarityAudio Serial Protocol, Version 1.01, 11/8/12

3

RS-232 / TCP/IP Port Hardware





Port Number: 50005
Duplex: Half/Full (auto detect)
Speed: 10/100 Mbps (auto detect)

RS-232 Pinout and Baudrate Settings

The RS-232 port on the ClarityAudio is the same format, and pinout, as a PC modem, and uses the
same type of cable as a standard serial modem would, which is a standard straight through cable. Do
not use a cable that is marked as a “Null Modem” cable.

The ClarityAudio can also be used with any USB to RS-232 conversion cable, these are all typically
straight through cables. (Be sure to install any drivers that come with the USB to RS-232 cable you are

using.)

The RS-232 port is a female type DE-9 connector (sometimes mistakenly referred to as a DB-9 con­nector) with the following pinout:

Pin definitions:

1 - No Connect 6 - No Connect
2 - TX 7 - No Connect

3 - RX 8 - No Connect
4 - No Connect 9 - No Connect
5 - GND

Port settings used by the ClarityAudio:

Baudrate: 19200
Data Bits: 8

Stop Bits: 1
Parity: NONE

Timing information:

Min character to character time: 0ms
Min line to line time: 0ms
Min time between commands: 0ms

Max time to respond to a request: 100ms (unless otherwise specified)

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ClarityAudio Serial Protocol, Version 1.01, 11/8/12

Command Syntax

Command Syntax

The ClarityAudio serial command set uses an ASCII based protocol and a terminal emulator can be
used to test the serial port of the ClarityAudio.

Each serial command is formatted as:

^CMD param1,param2,...$

Where:

^ = All commands and responses start with the ‘^’ character.
CMD = The name of the command.

param = Any number of parameters can follow a command.
$ = All commands and responses end with the ‘$’ character.

For instance the name of the command to turn power on / off is ‘P’ (must be capitalized) therefore, to
turn on the ClarityAudio send:

^P 1$ -> Command sent to the A/V switch
^+$ <- Acknowledgment indicating valid command

^=P 1$ <- Response from the A/Vswitch for new setting

Command Syntax

to turn off the ClarityAudio send:

^P 0$ -> Command sent to the A/V switch
^+$ <- Acknowledgment indicating valid command

^=P 0$ <- Response from the A/V switch for new setting

NOTE: Only the characters between ‘^’ and ‘$’ are valid, any characters sent before the ‘^’ or after the ‘$’

will be ignored.

NOTE: By default, the ClarityAudio adds a carriage return and a line feed to the end of its responses, after

the ‘$’. This makes testing with terminal software easier. Since they are outside the ‘^’ and ‘$’ char
acters, they should be ignored by software drivers. If desired, this behavior can be disabled. (See:
“‘XS’ Control Settings” on page 30)

Command Responses

Type of Responses and Timing Information

There are three different types of responses: Acknowledgements, Errors and Query Strings.
By default, the ClarityAudio will always respond to a command, there are no “time-out” modes, if you

send a command and don’t get a response within 100ms, something’s wrong with the connection.

The Acknowledgement Response

Every command will be followed by an acknowledgement or error response.

-

Anytime you issue a command and there are no errors, you will receive the acknowledgement
response. Which is:

^+$

ClarityAudio Serial Protocol, Version 1.01, 11/8/12

5

Command Syntax

The Error Response

Every command will be followed by an acknowledgement or error response.
If something is wrong with the command, you will get an error response. Which is

^!<error_number>$

which is the ‘!’ followed by an error number (in ASCII), followed the ‘$’ character.
For instance ‘2’ is not allowed as a parameter in the ‘P’ (power) command, so:

^P 2$ -> Command sent to A/V switch
^!2$ <- Error response to an out of range parameter

which indicates there was an out of range parameter.
The following are the Error Response codes that can be returned by the ClarityAudio:

1 - Unrecognized command.
2 - A parameter was out of range.

3 - Syntax error, or a badly formed command.
5 - Too many or too few parameters.
6 - Device busy, cannot process command.
7 - Buffer overflow.
8 - Command not valid if device is not powered on.
100 - DSP Programmed successfully (not really an error).
101 - 108 Error intiatializing the audio subsystem.

And some more detailed descriptions of their meanings:
Error 1 - The command given was not recognized as a ClarityAudio command. Commands are case

sensitive and in the ClarityAudio, all commands are upper case.

Error 2 - One of the parameters given was too large, or too small, the command will be ignored.
Error 3 - Something was wrong with the command's syntax. There was possibly extra data at the end

of the line, or non-decimal data as part of a parameter.

Error 5 - The number of parameters given does not match the number allowed by this command.
Error 6 - To prevent conflicts between the front panel Setup Mode and the serial port settings, when

the ClarityAudio is in the Setup Mode, many parameters become read only and any attempt at
writing them will return Error 6. Issuing the “Key Emulation” command with key code ‘0’ can
be used to exit the Setup Mode, at which point the command can be re-issued without an Error
6 response.

Error 7 - An internal buffer has overflowed.
Error 8 - Power to the device must be ‘ON’ before this command is allowed.
Error 100 - Indicates that the DSP has programmed properly. This is not really an error, but an infor-

mative message indicating the power on sequence is proceeding properly.

Error 101 - 108 - Could not communicate with the DSP subsystems.

The Query Response

The query response is sent by the ClarityAudio to indicate a setting has changed, or as a response to a
query command. The query response string consists of the ‘=’ character followed by the command
string of the command being queried.

6

For instance, in the case of the power command:

ClarityAudio Serial Protocol, Version 1.01, 11/8/12

^P ?$ -> Send a power request command to the A/V switch
^+$ <- Acknowledgement (the command has no errors)

^=P 1$ <- Query response indicating the power is on.

Using Bitmapped Parameters

Reading / Writing Bitmapped Parameters

Some commands accept “Bitmapped” parameters. These are decimal values that represent a series of
flags, or bits, that control, enable and/or disable different device operations.

Binary arithmetic is used to represent bitmapped parameters, it is assumed the reader has some famil­iarity with binary arithmetic.

An example of a command that uses a bitmapped parameter is the “XS settings” command, which is
defined as:

^XS settings$

Where ‘settings’ is a bitmapped parameter defined as:

Command Syntax

Valu e
Bit Position
Name
Default:

32768 16384 8192 4069 2048 1024 512 256 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

0 0 AUT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 CRE CHM ECO ACK ASY
0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1

For information on what each bit of the XS command does, see: “‘XS’ Control Settings” on page 30.
The “Value” row, in the table’s header, refers to the values, that when added together, create the deci-

mal parameter used by the command. For instances if you want the bits ‘ASY’ and ‘AUT’ to be set to
1, and the rest of the bits set to zero, the parameter’s value would be calculated as: 1+8192, making the
parameter value: 8193.

The command to set those two bits to ones, and reset all the others would be:

^XS 8193$

Individual bits of a bitmapped parameter can be set or reset without affecting the other bits, by prefix­ing the bitmapped parameter with a ‘+’ to set individual bits, or a ‘-’ to reset individual bits.

For instance in the above example the bitmapped value has been set to 8193. If we would now like to
enable the command echoing, by setting the ‘ECO’ bit, the following command can be issued:

^XS +2$

The will set the ‘IRJ’ bit, and have no affect on the others, and the new “XS” value would b e: 8195
If we’d like to now use classic mode by reseting the ‘AUT’ flag we could send:

^XS -8192$

leaving the new “XS” value to be: 3.
This command only sets and resets bits, for instance if you issue another:

^XS -8192$

the resulting “XS” value will still be ‘3’, since this bit was not set to begin with, nothing has changed.

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7

Basic Control

Basic Control

Reference for Basic Control Commands

These commands are all that are needed for basic control of the ClarityAudio and includes power on/
off, remapping sources to zones. This section also includes some helpful control options for changing
the way serial commands behave.

Definitions

The following terms are used through out this manual.

Zone

An output. There are 16 zones on the ClarityAudio. A single zone consists of the combination of an
analog (L/R stereo) channel and a digital (SPDIF) channel. For most commands, zones are indicated
by using a ‘

Input

An input, or source. There are 16 inputs on the ClarityAudio. Each input consists of a combination of
an analog (L/R stereo) channel and a digital (SPDIF) channel. For command lines that mix inputs with
zones, ‘inputs’ are indicated by numbers without a ‘

@’ prefix character.

@’ prefix.

Channel

A channel is an analog (L/R stereo) path, or a digital (SPDIF) path. Channels are used to control break­away features. In the “classic” mode both channels can be switched independently of each other. (See:

“‘AUT’ Enable / Disable Auto Conversion of Analog / Digital Paths” on page 31 for more informa­tion on the “classic” mode.)

The following channels are supported by the ClarityAudio:

2 - Analog Audio Channel.
4 - Digital Audio Channel.

On a command line, a channel is indicated by a period ‘.’ followed by the channel(s) number. Channel
numbers can be combined by adding them together, for instance channel number 6 would refer to both
the Digital and Analog audio chan nels. (See:

for more information on using channels to control breakaway options.)

“‘SZ’ Set Zone(s) (input / output mappings)” on page 9

8

ClarityAudio Serial Protocol, Version 1.01, 11/8/12

Basic Control Commands

Command Description Comments

P p Power control p=power state (0=off, 1=on, +=toggle).

SZ @z,i Set zones to inputs @z=Zone, i=Input(s) (in,+,-).

SZ.ch @z,i Set zones to inputs w/break-

aways

MZ @z,m Mute zone @z=Zone, m=Mute (0=Disabled (muted), 1=Enabled, +=Toggle).

MZ.ch @z,m Mute zones w/breakaway ch=Channel(s) (1-7), @z=Zone (1-16), m=Mute (0,1,+).

DZ @z,d Set switch delay times per

zone

DZ.ch @z,m Set switch delay times per

zone w/breakaway

Table 1: Basic Control Commands

ch=Channel(s) (1-7), @z=Zone (1-16), i=Input(s) (in,+,-)

@z=Zone, d=Delay time in milliseconds

ch=Channel(s) (2,4,6), @z=Zone (1-16), d=Delay time in milliseconds

Basic Command Definitions

‘P’ Power Control

Basic Control

Turn on / off, or toggle the power state of the ClarityAudio:

^P 0$ Turn off power
^P 1$ Turn on power
^P +$ Toggle power

^P ?$ Query for current setting

Response String:

^=P n$

Where:

n = Current power status, 0=Off, 1=On.

The ‘P’ command is an exception to the 100ms rule for response time. When the power to the Clarity­Audio is applied, there is a delay while the digital audio processors are initialized. The power on
response string of ‘

^P 1$’ will not be returned until the ClarityAudio is fully powered on and ready to

accept commands. This can take a few seconds.

‘SZ’ Set Zone(s) (input / output mappings)

This is the command used to map inputs to any number of zones.
Its different forms are:

^SZ @zone,@zone,in$ Map all channels of an input, to a zone or zones.
^SZ.ch @zone,in$ Map only the selected channels of inputs to zones.
^SZ.ch @zone,+$ Sequence zones forward through inputs.
^SZ.ch @zone,-$ Sequence zones in reverse through inputs.

^SZ ?$ In polled mode, reads current settings of all logged changes.
^SZ @zone,?$ Read current settings of given zones.
^SZ.ch @zone,?$ Read current settings of the selected channels of zones.

Response Strings:

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9

Basic Control

^=SZ @zone,in$ or,
^=SZ.ch @zone,in$

Where:

@zone = One (or more) zones to be mapped.
in = Input to map to given zone(s).

ch = Channel bitmap (Range 1-7).

‘SZ’ Examples

The ‘SZ’ command in its simplest form:

^SZ @1,@3,2$

maps the input ‘2’ to the zones ‘1’ and ‘3’. You can also map multiple zones and inputs using a single
command. For instance:

^SZ @1,2,@3,@5,7$

maps the input ‘2’ to zone ‘1’, and also maps the input ‘7’ to zones ‘3’ and ‘5’.
By appending a ‘.’ and a channel bitmap to the ‘SZ’ command, the command can also be used to

breakaway the different channels:

^SZ.2 @1,3

maps only the analog audio from input ‘3’ to zone ‘1’. The digital audio channels, on zone 1, remain
unchanged. (This assumes “classic” mode. See:

“‘AUT’ Enable / Disable Auto Conversion of Ana-

log / Digital Paths” on page 31.)

The channel (the ‘.2’ in the above example) is a bitmapped number that indicates which channel or
channels are to be affected by the command.

The ClarityAudio can operate in two dif ferent modes, the classic mode, and the auto-conversion mode.

(For more information see:

“‘AUT’ Enable / Disable Auto Conversion of Analog / Digital Paths” on

page 31.)

For the classic mode, the channels are mapped as:

2 = Analog Audio
4 = Digital Audio

For the auto-conversion mode, the channels are mapped as:

2 = Audio (both digital and analog)

By adding together the above numbers, you can switch any combination of channels without affecting
the unselected channels. (These examples are only valid in the “Classic” mode.)

For instance:

^SZ.2 @3,4$

would map only the analog from input ‘4’ to zone ‘3’.
To map both the component and digital audio channels, add the component and digital audio channel

numbers together: 5 = 4 + 1, and use that as the channel number:

10

^SZ.4 @2,@3,4$

This would map the digital audio channels from input ‘4’ to zones ‘2’ and ‘3’, leaving the analo g audio
mappings unchanged.

There are two forms of the query response string, depending upon whether any channel breakaway
options are in affect.

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