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AES3 In / Out

The AES3 Input / Output in Q-SYS Designer has two associated components that you can add to your design; an Input Component, and an Output Component. The AES3 Card gives you a total of four inputs and four outputs (two input ports and two output ports) of AES3 digital audio.

You can also use the AES3 inputs to sync Q-SYS to an external clock source. Refer to the Core Status topic for details. The AES3-1 and AES3-2 options display in the Core's Properties when you have an AES3 In / Out card selected for the Core I/O slot. Use these options to sync to an external AES3 signal. The AES3 selections require either regular AES3 or AES3 black. The clock should be connected to the AES3 card either connector Channel 1/2 In, or Channel 3/4 In.

Note: Typically, Internal is used as the clock source. Only if there is a need to synchronize the Q-SYS system to an external clock would you use GPIO or AES3. You would use GPIO if the external clock signal is a word clock. You would use AES3 if the external clock signal is an AES3 signal. Often an AES3 signal without audio is used to reduce the clock jitter. This signal is called AES3 black.

Type 2 Hardware

Type 2 hardware provides new cables and connectors between the I/O cards and main boards in Cores and I/O Frames. Due to this change, the Type 2 hardware is not physically compatible with the older hardware. You can still integrate the new I/O Frames and Cores in the same system with older hardware, but the I/O cards are not interchangeable. Type 2 hardware can be identified by a yellow label on the back of the Core and I/O Frame, and the bottom of the I/O cards.

Controls

AES3 In

AES3

Control	Function	Default / Range
Lock	LED indicating that the card is receiving a valid AES input signal.	N / A
Peak Input Level (dBFS)	Graphic display of the peak input level to the AES3 Input, measured in dBFS.	N / A

Digital

Control	Function	Default / Range
Invert	Inverts the input signal.	Off / On
Mute	Mutes the input signal.	Off / On
Gain (dB)	Sets the gain of the input signal.	Default = 0 Range = -100 to 20

Control

Function

Default / Range

Invert

Inverts the input signal.

Off / On

Mute

Mutes the input signal.

Off / On

Gain
(dB)

Sets the gain of the input signal.

Default = 0

Range = -100 to 20

Status

Control	Function	Default / Range
Status	Displays the current status of the amplifier both in text and color. The following is a list of possible status colors, and some example conditions. Note: These conditions are examples, and may not be applicable to all components with a Status field. OK – Green – (0) – Audio is good, hardware is good. Compromised – Orange – (1) – Audio is good but a redundancy mechanism is active (one LAN down but the other is still up) or a non-fatal hardware problem exists (fans too slow, temperature higher than expected, etc.) Fault – Red – (2) – Audio is not passing, or hardware is malfunctioning or mis-configured (amplifier power off, audio streams broken, wrong type of I/O Card installed, loudspeaker short circuit, etc.) Missing – Red – (3) – A piece of hardware, defined in the design, has not been discovered. Audio is not passing through that piece of hardware. Initializing – Blue – (5) – In the process of firmware, configuration update, and design start. Audio is obviously bad. Not Present – Gray – A virtual component in the design, that is designated as Dynamically Paired, and Not Required ,has no hardware assigned to it.	N / A

Control

Function

Default / Range

Status

Displays the current status of the amplifier both in text and color. The following is a list of possible status colors, and some example conditions.

Note: These conditions are examples, and may not be applicable to all components with a Status field.

OK – Green – (0) – Audio is good, hardware is good.

Compromised – Orange – (1) – Audio is good but a redundancy mechanism is active (one LAN down but the other is still up) or a non-fatal hardware problem exists (fans too slow, temperature higher than expected, etc.)

Fault – Red – (2) – Audio is not passing, or hardware is malfunctioning or mis-configured (amplifier power off, audio streams broken, wrong type of I/O Card installed, loudspeaker short circuit, etc.)

Missing – Red – (3) – A piece of hardware, defined in the design, has not been discovered. Audio is not passing through that piece of hardware.

Initializing – Blue – (5) – In the process of firmware, configuration update, and design start. Audio is obviously bad.

Not Present – Gray – A virtual component in the design, that is designated as Dynamically Paired, and Not Required ,has no hardware assigned to it.

N / A

AES3 Out

AES3

Control	Function	Default / Range
Peak Output Level (dBFS)	Graphic display of the peak output level, measured in dBFS.	N / A

Digital

Control	Function	Default / Range
Clip	Indicates if the signal is in clipping or not.	Off / On
Clip Hold	Holds the clip indication until manually cleared.	Off / On
Invert	Inverts the output signal.	Off / On
Mute	Mutes the output signal.	Off / On
Gain (dB)	Sets the gain of the output signal.	Default = 0 Range = -100 to 20

Status

Control	Function	Default / Range
Status	Displays the current status of the amplifier both in text and color. The following is a list of possible status colors, and some example conditions. Note: These conditions are examples, and may not be applicable to all components with a Status field. OK – Green – (0) – Audio is good, hardware is good. Compromised – Orange – (1) – Audio is good but a redundancy mechanism is active (one LAN down but the other is still up) or a non-fatal hardware problem exists (fans too slow, temperature higher than expected, etc.) Fault – Red – (2) – Audio is not passing, or hardware is malfunctioning or mis-configured (amplifier power off, audio streams broken, wrong type of I/O Card installed, loudspeaker short circuit, etc.) Missing – Red – (3) – A piece of hardware, defined in the design, has not been discovered. Audio is not passing through that piece of hardware. Initializing – Blue – (5) – In the process of firmware, configuration update, and design start. Audio is obviously bad. Not Present – Gray – A virtual component in the design, that is designated as Dynamically Paired, and Not Required ,has no hardware assigned to it.	N / A

Control

Function

Default / Range

Status

Displays the current status of the amplifier both in text and color. The following is a list of possible status colors, and some example conditions.

Note: These conditions are examples, and may not be applicable to all components with a Status field.

OK – Green – (0) – Audio is good, hardware is good.

Missing – Red – (3) – A piece of hardware, defined in the design, has not been discovered. Audio is not passing through that piece of hardware.

Initializing – Blue – (5) – In the process of firmware, configuration update, and design start. Audio is obviously bad.

Not Present – Gray – A virtual component in the design, that is designated as Dynamically Paired, and Not Required ,has no hardware assigned to it.

N / A

Properties

When the AES In component is selected in the Schematic, you will see all of the Properties of the Core or I/O Frame in which it is installed. The only Property for the AES3 In component is Sample Rate Conversion. The AES3 Out component does not have any Properties.

Property	Function	Choices
Sample Rate Conversion	Determines if the Sample Rate Conversion is done by the AES3 In card or not.	Yes / No

Control Pins

AES3 Input Control Pin breakout

Pin Name	Value	String	Position	Pins Available
Gain	-100 to 20	-100 dB to 20 dB	0.000 to 1.00	Input / Output
Invert	0 1	normal invert	0 1	Input / Output
Level (Peak Input Level (dBFS))	-100 to 20	-100 dB to 20 dB	0.000 to 1.00	Output
Lock	0 1	false true	0 1	Output
Mute	0 1	unmute mute	0 1	Input / Output
Status	N / A	Text	N / A	Output

AES3 Output Control Pin breakout

Pin Name	Value	String	Position	Pins Available
Clip	0 1	false true	0 1	Output
Clip Hold	0 1	false true	0 1	Input / Output
Gain	-100 to 20	-100 dB to 20 dB	0.000 to 1.00	Input / Output
Invert	0 1	normal invert	0 1	Input / Output
Level (Peak Output Level (dBFS))	-100 to 20	-100 dB to 20 dB	0.000 to 1.00	Output
Mute	0 1	unmute mute	0 1	Input / Output
Status	0 1 2 3 4	OK (green) Compromised (orange) Fault (red) Unknown (red) Updating (blue)	0 0.250 0.500 0.750 1.00	Output

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