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CHAPTER 2: Introduction to the HAL System
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 control 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. Troubleshooting 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 hardware. 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 AES31 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, DR3, DR4 and DR5) 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 manually, via control links to other remotes, and through the use of presets). For details, see the Halogen Help System.
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 daisychained 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.
NOTE FOR DRAG NET USERS:
1A standard from the Audio Engineering Society used for the transport of digital audio signals between pro-
fessional audio devices.
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