How To Set Up On-Air Lights and Mic Muting on a GSX
What You Will Need
- The GSX Console Ssetup GUI
- WheatNet Navigator
Step 1 - Define The Mute Group in VDIPs
Open the GSX Surface Setup program.
This program does not automatically update the list of sources and destinations, so before we begin, do a System Scan so the DMX GUI has a current list.
Go to WheatNet-IP System and choose System Scan.
In Host Blade IP Address, enter the IP address of any blade. Click Start Scan.
After the scan completes, the Cancel button will change to Finish. Click Finish. You'll be prompted to save the list of sources. Go ahead and save it so you have it for the next time you open the program.
Now, click on the VDips tab, which is under the User Options tab
If you've never been to this tab before, you will see an entry for Default. That's the default setting for any source in the system that isn't defined on this tab.
Under the signal list is an Add button. Click it.
You'll be greeted with a box to enter the dotted signal ID of a source. Don't worry, you don't need to know that.
Click the button with the three dots and you'll get a pick list of sources.
Find your first microphone and double-click it. It will fill in the dotted source ID.
Click OK. Now you will see your microphone highlighted and can set the Virtual Dip Switches for it. (That's why we call them VDips - these are the things we used to set using dip switches on a console module back in the analog days.)
The first thing you will want to check are the Studio Mutes.
If this microphone is in the control room, you'll want to check the CR box. If it's in a talk studio away from the board operator, you will want to check Studio instead.
The second thing to check are the tallies. Most studios have only one on air light, so we will check the 1. Click Apply.
If you have more than one mute group, you might use two. Here's how to make that decision:
Let's say you have 4 microphones and they are all in the same room. When you turn on any mic in the room, you want the control room to mute (so you check CR) and you want the warning light outside the door to turn on. That's tally 1. You will use these same settings on all of the mics on this console.
Let's say this console is for a studio with a talk booth. There are 8 microphones, 4 are in the control room with the board operator, and 4 are in the talk studio. There's an on air light outside the control room door and an on air light outside the talk studio door. The control room has a pair of speakers fed by the Control Room monitor knob and the talk studio has a pair of speakers fed by the Studio monitor knob.
In this case, the 4 mics in the control room get set to CR mute and tally 1. The 4 mics in the talk studio get set to Studio mute and tally 2.
You will repeat the process of adding a mic, checking the boxes, and clicking Apply until you've set all the mics in the studio. Now we go on to the next step, which is tying the mute group to a logic signal to turn the lights on and off.
Step 2 - Set Up The Relay
Launch Navigator and click on the blade where you want to wire the relay.
You can use any blade in the system, so choose the blade that's closest to where you are going to wire the connections.
Go to the Destinations tab and click Add.
Under Signal Type, click LIO only
Give it a name that will make sense to you. For example, you might name the light for studio 2 "S2 Light".
Now, click the LIO Info tab. Click the Add button off to the right.
Click on the pin you wish to assign the function to. Click Output for Direction and set the Function to Studio 1 In-Use if you are using Tally 1 as described above or Studio 2 In-Use if you are using Tally 2 as described above. Most Wheatstone consoles support up to 4 tallies, although you will see more than that available in the drop-down.
Click Apply, then Close, then Finish.
How to read this screen: Most blades have 2 logic ports, so LIO 1 is logic port 1 and LIO 2 is logic port 2. Pin 1 is always ground, so the first LIO is on pin 2, the second is on pin 3, and so on.
Step 3 - Connect the Relay to the Console Tally
Every Wheatstone console has a source on the console blade named TALLY (or on some boards, TALY).
On the Navigator crosspoint grid, connect the TALLY source to the LIO Only destination you created in the previous step. You will see a square icon in the crosspoint grid indicating that you have connected logic.
Congratulations! You have successfully configured an on air light. Wire the pins on the logic port to your device and you're ready to go.
Logic Port Wiring
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