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Dspecialists ISOSTEM Expert, User Manual

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ISOSTEM Expert

ISOSTEM Live

User Manual

Content

ISOSTEM

High end multichannel from stereo

DSPECIALISTS

Digitale Audio- und Messsysteme GmbH

Helmholtzstr. 2-9 L

D-10587 Berlin

www.isostem.de

www.dspecialists.de

Manual version: v1.2

Firmware version: Min. v3.0

GUI software version: Min. v3.0

Summary of Contents for ISOSTEM Expert

Page 1: ...ontent ISOSTEM High end multichannel from stereo DSPECIALISTS Digitale Audio und Messsysteme GmbH Helmholtzstr 2 9 L D 10587 Berlin www isostem de www dspecialists de Manual version v1 2 Firmware version Min v3 0 GUI software version Min v3 0 ...

Page 2: ...ISOSTEM USER MANUAL 2 Content ...

Page 3: ...bling Power On 9 4 Software Launch Connection 9 5 Hardware Init Preset Selection 10 6 Listening 11 System Overview 12 DSP Technology 12 Audio Processing 12 Hardware 14 Front Panel 14 Rear Panel Connectors 15 Synchronization 16 GUI Software Reference 17 Hardware Tab 17 Com 17 Sync 18 Firmware 19 Automation 21 Admin Tab 24 Read Write 24 File Backup 26 ...

Page 4: ...ration 42 Scope 42 Single Device Audio Routing and Alarm Function 42 Daisy Chained Audio Routing and System States 43 Parallel Setup for 24 7 Operation 45 Preset Recall Synchronization 46 Preset Management Synchronization 46 Appendix 47 Appendix A Interface Specification 47 GPI Port 47 Link Port 48 RS232 48 Alarm Port 49 Word Clock Input 49 AES EBU Interface 49 Appendix B Schematic Block Diagram 5...

Page 5: ...the power cord in good condition If the power cord becomes damaged discard and replace it Never isolate the ground of the AC power cord 4 The power fuses are located on the rear panel of the appliance and may be accessed from the outside In case the fuses have to be ex changed only use fuses of the same type as labeled 5 The power switch of the device is located on the front panel of the appliance...

Page 6: ...tering Eu ropean patent office reference FR 2908586 These parts are distributed to the 5 channels and create a convincing surround signal With ISOSTEM broadcasters can produce a continuous surround program independent of the source material format In addition ISOSTEM exclusively offers management of the intermix the difference between the downmix of the multichannel signal and the refer ence stere...

Page 7: ...ISOSTEM USER MANUAL Introduction 7 This page is intentionally left blank ...

Page 8: ...reakout cable Tascam Pinout to connect the source and the playback system to the ISOSTEM hardware 2 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION USB to RS232 adapter Install the appropriate driver of the USB to Serial converter which has been delivered with the unit You find the drivers in the USB to Serial Converter subfolder of the ISOSTEM CD ROM provided with the hardware unit ISOSTEM software The ISOSTEM software is...

Page 9: ...ower cable to connect the ISOSTEM hardware to a mains outlet Power on the ISOSTEM hardware using the mains switch on the rear side of the unit 4 SOFTWARE LAUNCH CONNECTION From the Windows start menu execute the GUI program Isostem Expert or Isostem Live whichever suits your device variant In the GUI window the Hardware tab should be selected In the Com section top left use the Port Name option to...

Page 10: ...press the Init button below Fac tory Reset If sure confirm both confirmation request windows Now your hardware will use the factory default configuration Next load a preset This is a 2 step process First load a preset to the GUI interface Then transmit this preset to the hardware Here s how If not yet selected press the Admin tab in the top left hand section of the GUI The Read Write area used for...

Page 11: ...nput ISOSTEM uses sampling rate converters SRC in all inputs if necessary to obtain proper sync However your playback system must be synced to one of the ISOSTEM s AES out puts if it does not use SRCs on its own Switch the GUI to the Expert tab Expert model only In the low er middle section of the window there are Mute and Solo switches for each loudspeaker channel available Among others they can ...

Page 12: ... 8 channels All AES inputs are fitted with sample rate converters SRC that can simplify system inte gration considerably Flexible input and output matrices enable flexible I O routing to and from the internal audio processing modules This allows for compatibility with the various surround channel schemes used in environ ments such as TV ITU or cinema SMPTE The two main audio processing modules Pan...

Page 13: ...nals and an external stereo refer ence signal Controlling the signal in the frequency domain ISO takes care of the following additional tasks Assures compatibility by injecting the intermix signal L R C LS RS Phase correction of the L R front and rear channels L R LS RS High frequency attenuation for the rear channels LS RS LFE channel management ...

Page 14: ...does not allow for editing presets at parameter level ISOSTEM Live also features a redundant backup func tion If one of two connected devices fails the system will switch to the oth er device automatically FRONT PANEL The front panels of both ISOSTEM variants feature the same set of status LEDs AES This green LED shows the status of the incoming AES signal as well as the unit s sync state Please r...

Page 15: ...4x AES3 digital audio outputs 8 channels Tascam Pinout ALARM Phoenix Relay output contacts reflecting the unit s alarm state Contacts closed No alarm device fully functional Alarm LED off Contacts open Device failure Alarm LED on or no power supplied LINK RJ45 Proprietary port for cross connecting two ISOSTEM LIVE units backup operation For a technical description of the above hardware interfaces ...

Page 16: ...are available AES input recovered clock External Word Clock Internal 48 kHz clock Please note If the AES 1 Input option was selected as the primary clock source see Sync in Hardware tab chapter ISOSTEM will only look for sync on its AES 1 input In order to sync to an external AES signal always make sure you use the AES 1 input for this purpose The AES LED on the front panel will reflect the curren...

Page 17: ...ter its driver software has to be installed first see Software installation in the Quick Start chapter and you will have to select the COM port that your adapter emu lates CONNECT CONNECTED After having selected the COM port press this button to establish commu nication If the button changes to CONNECTED the communication be tween the GUI software and the ISOSTEM hardware has been established succ...

Page 18: ...rimary and secondary sync sources to be used for system synchronization For details please also refer to Synchronization in the Hardware chapter Current Master Clock This display shows the clock reference currently used by the hard ware and its sample rate Master Clock Priority This parameter selects a priority chain of clock sources i e a primary secondary and fallback clock source If the attempt...

Page 19: ...ll lead you through the update process consisting of steps 1 3 Step 1 Open a Software File Click the OPEN FILE button to select the iup 1 update file stored on your computer The file path name and size will be displayed Step 3 Load File to Device Click the LOAD button to start transferring the file from the GUI software to the hardware Before transfer a dialog box shows some information about the ...

Page 20: ... dialog box tells you that if you should need to return to the previous version of the inter nal software the corresponding iup file will be necessary After finished a dialog box signals the successful update and informs that the new firmware will be active after the next unit s power cycle Before the GUI automatically disconnects from the device you have the possibility to store the current setti...

Page 21: ...nal memory Please refer to Appendix A for the GPI connector s pin out scheme Please note In GPI mode the Admin and Expert tabs are locked Additionally the GPI Manual mode changes the behavior of the startup configuration see below Admin Tab Current Values This is a status display showing in real time during a connection to a device the number of the current Preset Source and the source of activati...

Page 22: ...gurations 5 1 or stereo by select ing the appropriate presets In this way 5 1 signals may be processed to 5 1 LtRt while stereo signals are transferred to 5 1 LoRo stems The two available modes address two types of play lists that are presented to the ISOSTEM inputs The Serial mode is used for a playlist containing stereo and 5 1 tracks on the same channels In contrast to this the Parallel mode is...

Page 23: ...rwise it be comes false You configure the Parallel and Serial mode of channel automation by activating the corresponding checkbox in the GUI Checking Off disables channel automation The machine then monitors the corresponding chan nels as defined in the text below Condition in the GUI and calls the cor responding preset defined in the true and false column fall back defines that the device should ...

Page 24: ...set into the GUI software Select a source in the field behind from in the first line The follow ing options are available Single Preset File loads single preset from a file stored on your computer All Presets File loads a preset file storing all six presets from a file stored on your computer for a write action to All Presets Startup loads the preset configured for system startup Current loads the...

Page 25: ...a volatile setting not stored in the preset memory Preset 1 6 save the currently displayed configuration to one of the hardware presets slots All Presets save all presets currently saved in the file buffer after having read a All Presets File to all hardware presets slots Press the WRITE button The current GUI configuration is trans ferred to the selected target The transfer is confirmed by a pop ...

Page 26: ...puter s operation system lets you select an ips file to be loaded into the GUI Please refer to Appendix C Factory Presets for a brief overview of all facto ry presets integrated in the device On the supplied ISOSTEM installation disc these presets are also available as a backup WRITE PROTECTION This section is used to protect the six presets stored in the hardware as well as the startup preset fro...

Page 27: ...s audio processing parameters in real time All parameter settings on this page are directly reflected by the audio processing The Expert tab is divided into five sections 1 Panoramic Analyzer PA 2 Virtual Microphone VM 3 Multifunctional area with 9 sub windows 4 Monitoring and Bypass functions 5 Phase ISO and Master functions ...

Page 28: ...PA tab see Multifunc tional Area PA Level This fader adjusts the direct output levels for all six discrete output signals of the Panoramic Analyzer PA However it does not affect the signals that the Side level and Rear Level faders contribute to the output bus ses Unit dB Range 0 dB inf Please note On the Bus tab of the multifunctional area the individual levels of the L R C Sub and sL sR channels...

Page 29: ... complements of the dry sources can be added to the L and R front chan nels Unit dB Range 0 dB inf Sides Mute Solo These buttons are used to mute or solo the Sides fader signal Sides C out This fader controls the level used to inject the phase reverted discrete Cen ter signal output of the Panoramic Analyzer into the output busses L and R This parameter is used to fine tune the presence of the pha...

Page 30: ...of Center signal components from the LS and RS rear channels Please note This function depends on the position of the Rear fader see above It is also controlled by the Rear Mute and Solo buttons Unit dB Range 0 dB inf Rear S out This fader controls the level used to inject the phase reverted discrete L and R front signal outputs of the Panoramic Analyzer into the output busses LS and RS This param...

Page 31: ...iting the Virtual Microphone s pa rameters it is a good idea to watch its graphic representa tion in the VM tab of the multifunctional area VM Level This fader adjusts the direct output levels for all five discrete output signals of the Virtual Microphone VM Unit dB Range 0 dB inf Please note On the Bus tab of the multifunctional area the individual levels of the L R C and sL sR channels can be ad...

Page 32: ...ISOSTEM USER MANUAL 32 GUI Software Reference Gap This parameter defines the center distance of all five virtual microphones Unit cm Range 72 cm 0 cm ...

Page 33: ... module is particularly important for processing native multichannel programs L R This fader adjusts the direct level of the L and R front chan nels Unit dB Range 0 dB inf L R Mute Solo These buttons are used to mute or solo the L R fader signal C This fader adjusts the direct level of the Center channel Unit dB Range 0 dB inf LFE This fader adjusts the direct level of the LFE channel Unit dB Rang...

Page 34: ...ny risk of C channel saturation during an up conversion If a stereo signal is made from an identical right left signal with its peak level normalized 0 dBFS the total quantity of energy cannot be held in only one C channel without overloading The PA input attenuator prevents this risk Options 0 dB 3 dB 6 dB PA Step Gains Rear Gain The gain on the rear PA channels applies to the Rear complement cha...

Page 35: ... inputs can be assigned to each of the modules Also horizontal bar graph level meters are available for all module input channels Please note L and R channels of each AES3 input are always switched in common Outputs Window The Outputs window features a matrix covering all eight outputs of the in ternal bus system and all AES3 outputs Each physical output can be assigned to any one of the bus outpu...

Page 36: ...ay occur on the center channel in extreme situations by the upmix Internally the TruePeak Limiter works with a 4 times oversampling to capture the true signal amplitudes Options off 0dB 1dB 2dB 3dB Bus Window The Bus window features discrete channel faders for the outputs of the PA and VM modules used for upmixing These level adjustments can be useful to model the shape of a conversion less diverg...

Page 37: ...the loudness alignment carries out a level cor rection at the end of the signal chain Options for Loudness Alignment Off Align Upmix to StRef Align Downmix to 5 1 Disable ISO if Module Muted The Disable ISO function deactivates the ISO function when Mute or Solo has been selected in one of the modules Mute and Solo do not work efficiently as long as the intermix signal is reinjected into the multi...

Page 38: ...B Schematic Block Diagram Extra Sub to LFE Mute Fade Mute deactivates the extra bass Solo mutes all other mute solo controls This is useful to monitor the complete signal without the extra bass HCF Window The HCF window features a high frequency attenuator on the rear channels that allows the user to polarize the image and reinforce the attraction of the front channels Just like SUB this filter ac...

Page 39: ...etween the downmixed surround outputs and the original stereo input signal is monitored through the multichannel outputs L R Functions ISO The ISO button is used to toggle the ISO processing module between ac tive and bypass mode The ISO function can be activated to ensure that a stereo downmix of the ISOSTEM s surround output signals is perfectly compatible with the original stereo source This is...

Page 40: ... be found in the HCF tab of the multifunctional area Functions SUB The SUB button is used to toggle the SUB processing module between active and bypass mode The SUB function treats the Sub LFE channel of the internal bus at the output of the PA and VM modules It determines the multichannel signal format issued 5 0 or 5 1 When the SUB function is activated the Sub output channel is active Otherwise...

Page 41: ...ances of the loudspeakers Unit Percent Range 100 0 Iso Bal The ISO balance function assures compatibility between the stereo and multichannel formats The difference between downmix and original stereo signal is called intermix This intermix is inserted in the multichannel sig nal so that the downmix is mathematically identical to the stereo signal In order to be able to better integrate the interm...

Page 42: ...rvice procedure For 24 7 operation a parallel ISOSTEM Live integration is recommended Failed devices may be exchanged non disruptively This setup requires an external AES3 audio routing device This section enables users to integrate ISOSTEM Live into studio and broadcast systems in each way mentioned above In addition information for preset and parameter synchronization in a redundant setup is giv...

Page 43: ... This is due to the fact that in cases of failure the audio chain is disconnected while exchanging the failed device 24 7 systems are handled by a parallel ISOSTEM Live audio setup see next chapter The four AES In signals from the audio uplink are wired to ISOSTEM 1 its four AES Out signals are wired to the next ISOSTEM 2 and its four AES Out signals are wired to the system s downlink device A CAT...

Page 44: ...larm state ISOSTEM 1 bypasses ISOSTEM 2 processes All possible situations in linked mode are No alarm One device processes in our example ISOSTEM 1 the other is the backup it bypasses audio ISOSTEM 1 with alarm ISOSTEM 2 no alarm The backup ISO STEM 2 takes over and processes whereas ISOSTEM 1 bypasses and signals its failure state by LED and alarm relay ISOSTEM 2 with alarm the backup device ISOS...

Page 45: ...ontrol the AES crosspoints CPI 1 2 and CPO 1 2 ISOSTEM 1 DSP Super visor 4 x AES IN 4 x AES OUT 6 x GPI PRESET ALARM 1 ISOSTEM 2 DSP Super visor 4 x AES IN 4 x AES OUT 6 x GPI PRESET ALARM 2 Input Matrix CPI 1 CPI 2 Output Matrix CPO 1 CPO 2 4 x AES OUT 4 x AES IN Parallel audio and alarm setup of an ISOSTEM Live pair for 24 7 operation For proper parallel operation the link interconnection is not...

Page 46: ...ARM 1 OK THEN Switch on In Out Crosspoint to ISOSTEM 1 Switch off In Out Crosspoint for ISOSTEM 2 Input Matrix CPI 1 Output Matrix CPO 1 ALARM 2 ISOSTEM 2 ALARM 1 ISOSTEM 1 CPI 2 CPO 2 4 x AES IN 4 x AES OUT IF ALARM 1 ERROR THEN Switch off In Out Crosspoint to ISOSTEM 1 Switch on In Out Crosspoint for ISOSTEM 2 Example of conditional processing for proper audio routing PRESET RECALL SYNCHRONIZATI...

Page 47: ...n has to be pressed to close its contacts for a very brief period of time 1sec The preset is called during state transition from open to closed i e GND Thus a momentary push button switch is capable of calling a preset Function Pin Call Preset 1 7 Call Preset 2 6 Call Preset 3 5 Call Preset 4 4 Call Preset 5 3 Call Preset 6 2 GND 1 8 9 reserved 10 15 Pin and function assignment of GPI port View of...

Page 48: ...tion is not mandatory Future software extensions will enable the link port s integrated data inter face for automatic parameter preset synchronization View of RJ45 link port from rear side of device Required CAT5 cross link pin assignment Pin assignment of Link Port and specification of cross link cable RS232 The RS232 interface enables a PC connection for running the GUI soft ware View of female ...

Page 49: ...the two pins are connected to relay contacts thus it is a fully passive interface with two states Contacts closed No alarm device fully functional Contacts open Device failure or no power supplied Max load to relay contacts 2 mA 250 VAC WORD CLOCK INPUT 1 x BNC max 2 5Vp p AES EBU INTERFACE The AES EBU connector wiring is compatible to the Tascam pinout ...

Page 50: ...ISOSTEM USER MANUAL 50 Appendix APPENDIX B SCHEMATIC BLOCK DIAGRAM ...

Page 51: ...ISOSTEM USER MANUAL Appendix 51 ...

Page 52: ...x sL sR AES 3 Out Stereo out AES 4 Out 3 Upmix narrow strong Stereo In AES 4 In Upmix L R AES 1 Out Upmix C LFE AES 2 Out Upmix sL sR AES 3 Out Stereo out AES 4 Out 4 Upmix middle strong Stereo In AES 4 In Upmix L R AES 1 Out Upmix C LFE AES 2 Out Upmix sL sR AES 3 Out Stereo out AES 4 Out 5 Upmix wide strong Stereo In AES 4 In Upmix L R AES 1 Out Upmix C LFE AES 2 Out Upmix sL sR AES 3 Out Stereo...

Page 53: ... in the frequency domain at the listening point This distribution is modeled then projected on the panoramic law of the reproduction system here five channels in the ITU R BS 1770 standard resulting in a matrix of coefficients normalized for each channel and every frequency Matrix of coefficients Frequency Envelopes A document itemizing the entire calculation is available in the AES Audio Engineer...

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