Introduction

This chapter explains the setup of the Remote Protocol Mapping Plugin within vsmGadgetServer and the configuration within vsmStudio. The Plugin allows for connecting Ember+ Provider and Consumer via a northbound Ember+ matrix representation. It is currently intended and therefore exclusively released to connect A__ devices with Lawo Audio Consoles. Other applications are not approved nor quality tested and might have operational shortfalls.

The vsmGadgetServer Plugin can be used with any northbound controller that supports Ember+ matrices. This description is based on the interface with the Broadcast Controller vsmStudio.

Setup of vsmGadgetServer

Starting the Plugin

Open the vsmGadgetServer GUI from a webbrowser (GS IP address:50080)
Go to Tab “Plugins” and
... select “Remote Protocol Mapping”
Make sure the Plugin is started (=Stop is displayed)
Port information for Plugin UI
... and Ember+ Port for external control via Ember+

Creating a Provider

Open the Protocol tab
Create Provider Connection Ports (GS acts as provider towards connected devices), in this case for Lawo mc² Audio Consoles
Remember to “Apply” any changes

Repeat the steps above for all Ember+ devices you want to connect to.

Creating a Consumer

Open the Protocol tab
Create Consumer Connection Ports (GS acts as consumer for connected devices), in this case A__Stage hardware.
Remember to “Apply” any changes

Repeat the steps above for all Ember+ devices you want to connect to.

Setup of Remote Protocol Mapping Plugin

Once all Consumer and Provider ports are prepared in vsmGadgetServer, direct your browser to GS ip address:50081
Here you build up the content of the exposed Ember+ matrix (Sources and Targets) by assigning the respecting GS ports from the top down boxes
Create more entry fields by pressing “insert”
Optionally change the label per entry. Not mandatorily used by external controller, like vsmStudio.
Remember to “Apply” any changes.

Setup of vsmStudio

Creating a communication port

in vsmStudio, create an Ember+ port from an external Controller instance, e.g. in the Control ports section of vsmStudio, as shown as example on following slides, and use the IP address of your vsmGadgetServer installation with port 50200

Subscribe to the IO matrix of the Ember+ port

Open the Ember+ tree of the respecting connection port in vsmStudio (Gadgets) down to the Matrix ...
... and select the Matrix symbol once. This is required to subscribe to the Ember+ matrix and make further use of it. In case of vsmStudio no other parameters are used at this stage.

Check Matrix Initialization

In vsmStudio double click on the respective control port of the GS Plugin and go to the Layer assignment tab.
If the matrix was not initialized, as explained on previous slide, the field to the right is empty.
Once the matrix is initialized, you see an entry in the field to the right

Assigning Layers

Double click on this entry ...
... and select in the pop up window ...
... an existing layer within vsmStudio (3) that should represent the Remote Protocol Mapping matrix.

In vsmStudio, all necessary matrix layers as well as source and target signal paths need to be created as usual. You may refer to the manual for details.

Final Check

Once a connection between a Provider and Consumer is established you also can read out the current connection status for each provider.

Using the "Remote Protocol Mapping" plugin

The functionality described above can be used in applications for the purpose of dynamically assigning an amount audio (type A__) interfaces to various audio production consoles (type mc²) on demand and across an entire facility. This functionality is widely known as "Ember+ Proxy". It requires a specific setup in the mc² consoles, too, which is layed out in detail here.