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ActiveKnobs can be used as rotary volume controls for both local and remote control as described elsewhere on this site for lighting control.
Inputs from microphones, telephone, music, computer, alarms and their distribution to amplifiers, AV equipment, recorders and speakers are readily integrated with home automation systems through the use of commercial or home-brew audio gear that uses 0-10vdc as a control signal.
Use of programmable audio matrix mixers adds additional control and flexibility.
The components above are example devices manufactured by Ivie that I use. The photograph (click to enlarge) shows (from bottom to top) old-style 808 automatic mixer with front-panel knobs , PW530 1/3-octave equalizer, front view of Ivie PW884 (manual ) 8-in/4-out programmable automatic mixer, and rear of a second Ivie PW884. The PW530 and PW884's can be controlled with simple ASCII instruction over an RS-485 bus. (There is a newer series of models with a "+" suffix that differ in also having RS-232.) The 784PW is equivalent to a 884PW without the automatic mixing. The input and output volumes of both style mixers can also be controlled by 0-10vdc analog signal. This older model is shown for comparison and is not included in the current configuration. (Next stop is eBay out basket ;-)
A look at the feature list and block diagram is particularly useful.
Here is the manual for the 784/884 family:
http://www.ivie.com/pdf/884man.pdf
The 884PW differs from the current 884+ models in three minor ways:
 | The RS-232-->RS-485 converter is built-in to the 884+ but is external to the 884PW. You only need one per system |
| The selectable attenuator pad on the PW is -50db; on the 884+ it is -35db |
| The block diagram for the 884PW shows detectors at the outputs not indicated on the 884+ |
The two Ivie PW884's can be ganged together with the DIN-style connectors shown on top of the cases above the sockets that they plug into to provide 16-in/8-out control. Other inputs and outputs are by Phoenix screw-type terminals that can be unplugged as a block.
Typical uses of audio in "home automation" include:
| Voice control of home automation system |
| Intercom |
| Background music |
| Paging |
| Intruder alerts |
| Door answering real time actual, and recorded including by fido ("Rex") |
| Telephone |
| Occupancy and device monitoring (washing machine, external sounds etc). |
| Home Theatre |
These needs have differing requirements with respect to audio fidelity. The circuitry including the Voltage Controlled Amplifiers (VCA's) in the Ivie units are entirely adequate for all but "golden ear" audio purposes. The Ivie equalizer can be installed in the signal path and controlled over the RS-485 network to make the bandwidth and tone of the audio signal meet intended uses without using computer resources.
The Ivie PW884 is an 8x4 Matrix mixer with switchable microphone or line-level inputs that can be set for auto-mixing, manual mix, or Ivie's "Vox mixing" (gated) mode. Each PW884 can be configured with up to four independent auto-mixers in one box, with automatic level control on each input. This is specially valuable for voice control but has use in other level-matching requirements. Once programmed via RS-485 (AudioNet) , no host computer is required for operation.
For example:
With two mixers ganged together, any of these inputs could be mixed at any level
|
Input Channel |
Input Source |
| 1 | Microphone 1 Front Door |
| 2 | Microphone 2 Kitchen |
| 3 | Microphone 3 Wireless |
| 4 | Microphone 4 Shop |
| 5 | Microphone 5 Living room |
| 6 | Microphone 6 At Uncle Dan's Statue |
| 7 | Computer 1 Audio Out Left |
| 8 | Computer 1 Audio Out Right |
| 9 | Security System Sound 1 |
| 10 | Security System Sound 2 |
| 11 | Stereo System out Left |
| 12 | Stereo System out Right |
| 13 | From 2nd floor mixer |
| 14 | From 2nd floor mixer |
| 15 | Computer 2 Audio Out Left |
| 16 | Computer 2 Audio Out Right |
with any of these these outputs with volumes controlled by either/both computer, or simple, intuitive local rotary volume controls (ActiveKnobs):
|
Output Channel |
Output destination | |
| 1 | Front Door Speaker | |
| 2 | Uncle Dan's Speaker | |
| 3 | Computer Input Left | |
| 4 | Computer Input Right | |
| 5 | First Floor AV AUX Input Left | |
| 6 | First Floor AV AUX Input Right | |
| 7 | Second Floor Mixer Input Left | |
| 8 | Second Floor Mixer Input Right | |
I've indicated outputs and inputs from a second pair of mixers that are slated to go in the second/third floors. These will effectively expand the total number of input channels to 30 (2 x16 -2) and outputs to 14 (2x8-2).
|
Output Channel |
Output destination |
| 9 | Whole House Sound Left |
| 10 | Whole House Sound Right |
| 11 | Subwoofer output |
| 12 | Alarm/Siren |
| 13 | Upstairs AV AUX Input Left |
| 14 | Upstairs AV AUX Input Right |
| 15 | First Floor Mixer Left |
| 16 | First Floor Mixer Right |
Folks who have tried to integrate audio into home automation will appreciate how difficult this can be to do in a universal way. With programmable matrix mixers for input and output, the tasks are much easier. One can, for instance speak into a home automation 'voice control' microphone with the words
| "Speak front door" to have the subsequent words routed to a speaker at the door, |
| "Take dictation" to have a recording made. |
| "Speak everywhere softly" to have you voice blended with existing background music that may be different different rooms. |
| "Kay Es Jay En" to change stations of the background music |
| You get the idea. |
The auto-mixer ability of mixers becomes critically important when there are multiple microphones used for voice control The Shure SCM410 Automatic Gated Mixer is often recommended for this function but only has 4 inputs and one output. New retail for the SCM410 is about $750 at (eg) iAutomate.com . New retail for 884+PW is $1927 at (eg) AVsuperstore. In contrast, the Ivie 784PW's and 884PW's sometimes go (used in excellent condition ) for about $200 on eBay. That's a dime on the dollar.
