Digital Remote Devices
The Halogen software gives you microscopic control over almost every aspect of your audio system.
This detailed control is great for the system designer, but not so great for end users who simply want to
turn up the volume. The last thing they want to do is open a software program! Digital Remote (DR)
hardware devices, a variety of which are available for your HAL System, provide system users with
easy control of volume, audio selection, preset activation, and more—out in the locations where the con-
trol is needed.
A huge advantage of these DR devices is their plug-and-play nature. When you connect a DR to the
system, HAL automatically discovers and addresses it. In addition, just as with RADs, DRs use point-
to-point wiring which eliminates problems of cable length, termination, and addressing. Trou-
bleshooting time is also reduced because of DR status indicators on the HAL that immediately report
the DR wiring status. And, finally, designers can test remote operation with or without the actual hard-
ware. This offline testing is possible because of the Halogen software representation of each remote in
the system.
DRs connect to the HAL via DR ports, which are basically the same as RAD ports but with no audio.
In other words, the DR ports provide a communications link and power, but no
AES3
1
digital audio.
Because RAD ports contain all the functionality needed by a DR, you can also connect DRs to RAD
ports (if, for example, all your DR ports are full and you have a RAD port available). The opposite is
not true, however. You cannot connect a RAD to a DR port.
Some DR models (DR2 and DR3) can behave in a variety of ways. You use the Halogen software to
configure their behavior. You can also enable and disable the individual controls on a DR (both man-
ually, via control links to other remotes, and through the use of presets). For details, see the Halogen
Help System.
NOTE FOR DRAG NET USERS
:
Digital Remotes serve a similar function as the Smart Remotes
used with Dragnet products. There is a key difference, however. Smart Remotes are multi-drop
devices that must be daisy-chained together. Because they share bandwidth and power, the more
Smart Remotes you connect, the slower the communications and the more sag in power delivery.
DRs, on the other hand, are each connected directly to the HAL System and are, therefore, able
to provide consistent, high performance. In addition, unlike Smart Remotes, you no longer have
to worry about device addresses, cable length, cable termination, troubleshooting of the wiring,
or complex processes for linking controls to audio processing.
1
A standard from the Audio Engineering Society used for the transport of digital audio signals between
professional audio devices.
HAL SYSTEM INSTALLATION GUIDE
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