Omnia-audio Omnia A/XE User Manual

Omnia A/XEProcessed Audio Encoding For WindowsUSER’S MANUALManual Version 1.3 for software version 1.12 and later January 27, 2010

4 | Software InstallationIf autorun is not enabled, then use Windows Explorer to view the contents of the Omnia A/XE CD-ROM and double-click the Set

THE INSTALLATION PROCESS | 5Use the scroll bar to review the full text of the license agreement displayed. If you accept the agreement click the “

6 | Software Installationwish to send audio from a Livewire-enabled audio device to Omnia A/XE or from A/XE to the device then you should install th

THE INSTALLATION PROCESS | 7is warning is from Windows 7. Other versions of Windows may display different looking warning messages. Please select

3 Getting Startedis chapter will guide you through the steps required to configure your PC and Omnia A/XE. e information presented illustrates the Wi

10 | Getting StartedLocate Options.xml FileOmnia A/XE stores all settings to a single file named Options.xml. is option opens a Windows Explorer win

CONNECTING TO OMNIA A/XE | 11Connecting to Omnia A/XEBy default, Omnia A/XE will use HTTP port 80 for administration. If this port is in use by an

12 | Getting StartedYou are now logged in to Omnia A/XE.Change the Default PasswordOne of the first things you should do is change the default passwo

ENTER THE LICENSE INFORMATION | 133. Change the Administrative password field to a password of your choice then enter it again in the Retype passw

Omnia A/XE Manual© 2009 TLS Corporation. Published by Omnia/TLS Corporation. All rights reserved. TrademarksOmnia, the Omnia logo, and Omnia A/XE are

14 | Getting Startedaudio sources you can use in the application.NOTE: When you enter a license code, A/XE will contact a secure Telos server to act

CREATE AUDIO SOURCES | 15then refer to the License Manager chapter to learn how to activate your license manually. Create Audio Sourcese Audio So

16 | Getting Startedtion. If you see this message and still need additional audio sources, please purchase an additional license.4. When done, clic

CREATE AN AAC OR MP3 ENCODER | 175. Click the start/stop button to start this audio processor instance. e power LED will light up and the mete

18 | Getting Started1. Make sure that the Omnia A/XE service is running.2. Verify that Omnia A/XE is added to your firewall’s exception list.3. Do

MPEG LICENSE & MUSIC COPYRIGHT | 19Check the Firewall Exception ListIf you have a firewall installed on your PC it may block Omnia A/XE from re

20 | Getting Startedrecording without the permission of the copyright owner. It is your responsibility to comply with the copyright laws of the Unit

4 Omnia A/XE Control Panele Control Panel is the main application page. is page displays all audio processing and encoding instances, the audio mete

e sections below briefly describe the Audio Processor, AAC and MP3 encoder instances.Audio Processor Instancee Audio Processor instance accepts audio

MP3 Encodere MP3 Encoder instance is very similar to the AAC Encoder instance. It accepts audio from an audio source, processes it, then encodes it t

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5 License Managere License Manager keeps track of the application licenses and allows you to Add, Remove and Activate them. You may enter more than o

3. e code you entered will show up in the Licenses list on the left. Next to the license code you will see additional text describing the state of t

3. Copy the request code displayed in the first text box. You will need to take this code to a PC that has an Internet connection. A simple way to acc

6 Audio Source ManagerOn the Audio Source Manager page, you select the input audio device(s) you wish to use with Omnia A/XE. Since the Windows audio

3. Repeat step 2 for each audio source you wish to use. If you attempt to add more audio sources than your license allows, a message indicating this

7 Audio Processor InstanceAn audio processor instance accepts audio from an audio source, applies Omnia processing to it then sends it out to an audio

instance if you wish to send the stream to another application on the same PC. Config-ure the other application to read the audio from the same Virtual

8 AAC EncoderAn AAC Encoder instance accepts data from an audio source, processes and encodes it, and makes it available to SHOUTcast-compatible or Wo

iii | Check the Firewall Exception List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Check the Port Number

1. Enter a name for this AAC encoder instance. e name may contain letters, digits, spaces and underscore characters but it should not contain other

HTTP Stream Servere HTTP server choice will send the stream to the Omnia A/XE’s built in stream server. is server will allow you to monitor the enco

defined then the list will be empty.3. Enter the address of the SHOUTcast server and a server password if one is used.4. Next, enter a stream name th

9 MP3 EncoderAn MP3 Encoder instance accepts data from an audio source, processes it, encodes it to MPEG Layer-3 and makes it available to SHOUTcast-s

1. Enter a name for this MP3 encoder instance. e name may contain letters, digits, spaces and underscore characters but it should not contain any ot

HTTP Stream Servere HTTP server choice will send the stream to the Omnia A/XE’s built in stream server. Using this server you can monitor the encoded

defined then the list will be empty. e metadata source will insert stream tags received from an automation system or another application.3. Enter the

10 Preset ManagerUsing Preset Manager you may add, copy, edit, rename and delete presets. A “preset” is sim-ply a table of values for the audio parame

Add PresetClick the Add... button to create a new preset with the default parameter values. Enter the name of the preset at the prompt then click the

11 Processing AudioOmnia A/XE’s audio processing is the Omnia3.net processor implemented in software. e algorithms in Omnia A/XE are exactly the same

OMNIA A/XE MANUAL | IVPreset Manager 41Managing Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

are editing a preset file through the Preset Manager.3. Below the block diagram and the meter section you will find the parameter controls and the bypa

over time. During normal operation, the indicators will have a dynamic “bounce” that you will be able to get a feel for. Every now and then, you will

Once adjusted, the Wideband-AGC section will stay deep in gain reduction, although with little movement, and action within the limiters will be minima

level. ere is a 30dB range of adjustment between –20dB and +10dB.Using normal program audio, a correct gain setting results in peak indications (the

Drive: e sets the audio level that enters the WB-AGC. Increasing the Drive will produce more compression. is control is calibrated between –6dB and

Deep Bass EQ: For those who demand thunderous bass, the Omnia A/XE has it! Up to 12 dB of “thunder” can be added to shake your walls! is is not a sim

Drive: e sets the audio level that enters the WB-AGC. Increasing the Drive will produce more compression. is control is calibrated between –6dB and

Final LimiterOmnia A/XE employs a lookahead limiter to provide absolute and precision peak control. is limiter has been designed to minimize processi

Output Filter: For webcasting applications, especially at lower bitrates, it is sometimes desirable to reduce the audio bandwidth. is is particularly

that famous Omnia clarity sought after by top engineers all over the world. We encourage all end-users to utilize the power of the Omnia A/XE to creat

v | Thunder Bass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Reducing Co

We recommend that before starting the process of cranking it up just for the sake of raw loudness, try to decide what sonic characteristics you feel a

Increasing LoudnessTry to resist the temptation to just crank up the aggressive processing sections, like the limiters. ose will add loudness of cour

• Reduce the Release time to operate slower.Backing off the Limiting sections first will allow the processing to retain a level of competi-tive loudne

Reducing Codec ArtifactsDynamics processing is an extremely useful tool that will reduce audible artifacts from lossy-compression codecs. High frequen

12 Metadatae metadata subsystem gives you the option to tag your audio stream with “now playing” information. Metadata tagging currently works only w

1. Click the Add... button to add a metadata receiver. e following dialog will be dis-played:2. Enter a friendly name for this metadata receiver. 

13 Schedulere scheduler is able to start, stop audio processor instances or encoders and change an instance’s processing preset at specified times. i

e scheduler works by executing commands you enter in the Commands text box. As of program version 1.11, Omnia A/XE recognizes the following commands:

14 System OptionsOn the System Options page you can change the administrative password, the ports used by the application and the notification email ad

1 Introductione audio industry employs dynamics signal processing for many aspects within a broadcast station, recording studio, mastering facility,

4. Click the Save button to make the changes permanent. is returns you to the Control Panel page.64 | System Options

15 System LogsOmnia A/XE writes system messages to log files. A new log file is created for each 24 hour period and the files are kept for 30 days. After

e logs are plain text files and can be opened and viewed with any text editor (e.g. Note-pad.exe). 66 | System Logs

16 SHOUTcast StreamingOmnia A/XE performs audio processing and encoding and requires a media server to send the encoded stream to large numbers of lis

68 | SHOUTcast StreamingSending A/XE Streams to SHOUTcast Compatible ServersIt is easy to send an MP3 or AAC encoded stream to a SHOUTcast compatibl

SHOUTCAST COMPATIBLE STREAMING SERVERS | 69e project has been in a beta state ever since, though many users have had success in production situat

70 | SHOUTcast Streamingis listening for, but has not yet found a source connection. It is also listening for player connections, but of course ther

SHOUTCAST COMPATIBLE STREAMING SERVERS | 71; IPs and users designated as having a higher privilege level then average users. A setting of ; None

72 | SHOUTcast Streaming; this mount in shoutcast compatibility mode, this is not required. However; it’s best to set this anyhow as it allows your

SHOUTCAST COMPATIBLE STREAMING SERVERS | 73; to set this setting if you only own one IP. Setting this for any Source will; disable the SourceIsDe

2 | Introductionup all of the available capacity, leaving nothing for web surfing or companion video content. e perceived quality of audio that unde

74 | SHOUTcast Streaming; SrcIP [*Any]: SrcIP is the IP that Steamcast will listen for source connections. For; instance setting this option to 127

SHOUTCAST COMPATIBLE STREAMING SERVERS | 75SourceMount=/stream9.mp3SourceUser=telos9SourcePass=telos9SourceUserMax=5SourceIsDefault=NoSourceMount=

76 | SHOUTcast StreamingFor administration, you will need to enter a user name and password. ese are the ones you entered in the steamcast.conf file

SHOUTCAST COMPATIBLE STREAMING SERVERS | 774. Note that the user you run the server as requires read access to the config file, and write access for

78 | SHOUTcast Streaming <port>8000</port> <shoutcast-mount>/live.mp3</shoutcast-mount></listen-socket>As before, th

USING A PC PLAYER TO LISTEN | 79shoutcast-compatis optional flag will indicate that this port will operate in ’shoutcast-compatibility’ mode. Due

80 | SHOUTcast Streamingdevices. Most hardware players are unable to open URLs directly. ey need an intermediate server that drives the program lis

17 Wowza Media Servere Wowza Media server is a robust and high performance server capable of streaming AAC to Adobe Flash clients. is means that the

Congure Wowza ServerConfiguring the Wowza server involves copying a number of configuration files to specific locations within the application folder. By

2. In the Server field, enter rtmp://wowza_server_ip\omniaaxe. Replace the wowza_serv-er_ip with the address of the Wowza server. Since we are testing

2 Software Installationis chapter describes the steps involved in installing Omnia A/XE on your PC. e Omnia A/XE installer includes a Virtual Audio

18 Managing the Omnia A/XE ServiceOmnia A/XE runs as a Windows service. Services run in the background and present no user interface as regular applic

19 Firewall SetupOmnia A/XE requires access to the network for configuration and to deliver the encoded audio streams. If your PC has an active firewall

4. On the Exceptions tab, click the Add program… button. e a program list will be displayed:5. e first time you open this dialog Omnia A/XE will no

6. Navigate to the folder where Omnia A/XE is installed. e default folder is Pro-gramFiles\OmniaAXE. In this folder select the OmniaAX.exe file and