3.4. Macros and Presets
Although macros and presets are similar, there are times when using one is better than the other.
Presets store the absolute values of all of the non-global settings of the device. This includes, but is not
limited to, input and output gain settings, matrix settings, algorithm settings, parametric EQ settings,
and automixer settings. See
Section 7
for a list showing all the commands and which are saved to
presets.
Presets should be used when you really want to change all the settings in a device. One example would
be when you want to have one unit be able to control different rooms. In this case, having a preset for
each different room is the easiest solution.
Macros are like mini-presets. You can define them to change only the settings you are interested in.
One advantage of macros over presets is that macros can make relative changes in addition to absolute
changes. An absolute change is something like "set the input gain to -3 dB". A relative change is
something like "raise the input gain by 3 dB". One example of using macros for a relative change is
stereo volume ramping. If you have two outputs setup to have left and right program audio, then you
could build a macro that contains two commands: one to increment the left channel by 1 dB and the
other to increment the right channel by 1 dB. Then, by calling that macro, you can ramp the stereo
outputs. A similar thing can be done with decreasing the volume.
Another thing to consider when using macros and presets is to use the
MACROQ
and
PRESETQ
commands instead of the
MACROX
and
PRESETX
commands. Both the
Q
and
X
versions execute the
macro or preset, but the
X
versions produce acknowledgements for the settings that change, while the
Q
versions don't. If your control system updates its status by looking at the acknowledgements that
come back, then you'll probably want to use the
X
versions. Another option would be to use the
Q
versions and then manually query the values you're interested in. If your control system does not need
use acknowledgements, or if you are manually querying the values you're interested in, using the
Q
versions is better since it doesn't generate acknowledgements and thus reduces RS-232 traffic.
4. Command Structure
A Vortex command consists of a series of ASCII characters with the following structure.
Description
Number of Characters
Range of Values
Device Type
1
0-9, A-Z, *
Device ID
2
0-9, *
Command Name
1-7
0-9, A-Z
Command Data
0-64
ASCII characters
Command Terminator
1
^M
(ASCII 13)
4.1. Device Type
A single alphanumeric character is used to indicate the device type. The devices in Polycom's EchoFree
family have the following device types.
