For those of you who are using or thinking of using vGuest to connect your automation system to Supervisor using either serial or IP, here's how the vGuest profile page works. Refer to the screen capture that appears below:
On the left, you enter the engine number and device number for Allowed Source Devices, and Supervisor will fill in the device name and alias. On the right, you enter the engine number for Allowed Destination Devices, and Supervisor will fill in the device name and alias.
There's a common misconception that all sources to be used by vGuest must be entered into the source side and all destinations used by vGuest must be entered into the destination side. That's not necessarily the case. Rather, these lists represent two different modes of operation. You can use both modes of operation at the same time, but only with great care.
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Mode 1: Allowed Source Devices
When a source is listed in this section, the engine will report to the vGuest client any time an engine command involving that source occurs. For example, if your automation computer were device 0100, anytime you turned on a fader with device 0100 routed to it, we would report an on command back to vGuest in order to trigger a play command on the computer.
Thus, you could have the following three sources in the grid on the left:
device 0100 - Automation 1
device 0101 - Automation 2
device 0102 - Automation 3
If you routed device 0100 to fader 1 on surface 1, Supervisor would pass a 54 (route) command out the vGuest port to automation showing that device 0100 was routed to device 000b on surface 1. Most automation systems wouldn't care and would ignore this. But when you turn that fader on, Supervisor would pass a 52 (bus on) command stating that device 0100 bus 0 was on. Automation systems with a Logitek interface would then take that command and use it to start playing the cut. Likewise, when you turned the fader off, Supervisor would pass a 53 (bus off) command stating that device 0100 bus 0n was off, and if you chose to set up your automation system to act on this, it could stop playing the cut.
No matter what fader device 0100 is routed to, a bus on command will send the 52 command for device 0100 and a bus off command will send a 53 command for 0100, enabling the operator to route the automation computer to any fader on the console and still have the remote starts follow. The other two playout cards would follow for device 0101 and device 0102.
Mode 2: Allowed Destination Devices
When a destination is listed in this section, the vGuest client can route any source to that destination. Destinations can be faders (device 000b to 0022), router 1/2/3 in (device 0030 - 0032), Mixer A 1/2/3 in (device 002d - 002f), or any output card (device 006e and higher).
The automation system can then, through sending a command via vGuest, send a route command to send any source to the destinations listed in the Allowed Destination Device list. In addition to this, the automation system can send bus on/bus off commands to those destinations via vGuest, and Supervisor will send any bus on/off commands performed by the surface or triggers that involve those destinations back to the automation system via vGuest. Any destination not listed in the list is filtered out.
For example, if you entered the following devices:
device 000b - Fader 1
device 000c - Fader 2
device 000d - Fader 3
device 006e - output to transmitter
device 006f - output to recorder
Automation could then send a command to route any source to faders 1, 2, or 3, as well as any source to the transmitter and a recorder. Also, any time faders 1, 2, or 3 were turned on or off , that information would be returned back to automation. (Bus on/off commands will also be turned on and off on the outputs (6e/6f) when 52/53 commands are issued. Because those outputs do not have any assigned bus commands in the engine, some savvy users will use those busses as virtual GPIs to keep track of tallies within their automation system.) Automation can also send text commands to the faders to print text on the consoles when the faders are included in this list.
Using Both Modes
Here's where it gets tricky: In our example, what would happen if you routed device 0100 to device 000b? Supervisor would dutifully report that device 0100 was routed to device 000b. When you turned the fader on, Supervisor would then report a 52 command for both device 0100 AND device 000b. It's easy to get tripped up in circular logic when the double commands start to fly.
For best stability, do not route items in the source list to the destination list to avoid getting duplicate commands sent back to your automation system. First think about what you're trying to accomplish. If you just want to have remote starts for your automation when you're live, then all you really need are the items in Allowed Source Devices.
If you want remote starts for your automation and the ability to route automation directly to transmission, then consider this setup:
Allowed Source Devices
device 0100 - Automation 1
device 0101 - Automation 2
device 0102 - Automation 3
Allowed Destination Devices
device 006e - output to transmission
(devices in input settings but NOT in the vGuest profile)
device 0103 - duplicate of Automation 1 (same input pins) - not assigned to surface
device 0104 - duplicate of Automation 2 (same input pins) - not assigned to surface
device 0105 - duplicate of Automation 3 (same input pins) - not assigned to surface
In your routing macros, have your automation system route the duplicate inputs to transmission. That will give you remote starts while live, routing when automated, and no duplicate messages.
If you're trying to do the whole kitchen sink of console text messages, plus remote starts, plus routes to outputs via the same vGuest connection, then talk to us in support first so we can help you avoid any unintended consequences.
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John Davis, CBNT
Logitek Electronic Systems, Inc.
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