User16488187911992736470 (Transient Sound) asked a question.
Renderer Physical Audio Output Assignments via MTRX Studio/DigiLink
We have a 7.1.4 speaker setup with the ProTools MTRX Studio and Dolby Atmos Renderer Production Suite and Pro Tools HDX.
Everything is working correctly EXCEPT the Renderer is not communicating correctly with the DADMAN software. They are talking, but I'm not getting any of the height channels out of the Renderer and the other channels behave seemingly randomly i.e. not in accordance with expected panning.
Using the Send/Return plugins, we are able to get all audio routed correctly, but using the Dolby Audio Bridge with the HDX as out put, there are problems: there are only six channels being transmitted via DigiLink from the Renderer output to DADMAN, and their mapping/assignments are wrong/overlapping.
I haven't tried using Dante as outputs from the renderer, but would like to avoid that method as we would lose the use of any DSP processing.
Also, we would like to avoid using the Send/Return plugins as there are latency/delay compensation issues and I understand that method is outdated and rarely used any more.
To summarize, the problem is between the output of the Renderer and the input to our monitor controller (via the DADMAN software). My guess is that it's a Renderer issue since all the paths/outputs to DADMAN work properly in other scenarios.
Everything is working correctly EXCEPT the Renderer is not communicating correctly with the DADMAN software. They are talking, but I'm not getting any of the height channels out of the Renderer and the other channels behave seemingly randomly i.e. not in accordance with expected panning.
Using the Send/Return plugins, we are able to get all audio routed correctly, but using the Dolby Audio Bridge with the HDX as out put, there are problems: there are only six channels being transmitted via DigiLink from the Renderer output to DADMAN, and their mapping/assignments are wrong/overlapping.
I haven't tried using Dante as outputs from the renderer, but would like to avoid that method as we would lose the use of any DSP processing.
Also, we would like to avoid using the Send/Return plugins as there are latency/delay compensation issues and I understand that method is outdated and rarely used any more.
To summarize, the problem is between the output of the Renderer and the input to our monitor controller (via the DADMAN software). My guess is that it's a Renderer issue since all the paths/outputs to DADMAN work properly in other scenarios.
To troubleshoot, can you confirm the following steps:
- In the Renderer Preferences, is the Input Driver = “Dolby Audio Bridge” and Output Driver = “HDX”.
- in the “Room configuration window” of the renderer, on the “Routing” Tab, have you routed your 7.1.4 channels to Output 1-12?
- in the DAD Manager software, have you created a 7.1.4 *source* using the same 12 channels (DigiLink 1-12) as you have defined in the step above?
-also in DAD Manager Software, have you created a 7.1.4 *output*, to define the physical outputs connected to your speakers (for example Analog out 1-12, or AES or similar).
In conclusion, the routing is:
Pro Tools 128 channels Dolby Audio Bridge -> Dolby Renderer -> 12 Channels HDX Digi Link into AVID MTRX (Source) -> 12 Channels AVID MTRX Output -> Speakers.
At what point in this routing chain are you “loosing” the signal?
Greetings, David
We are "losing" the signal between the Dolby Renderer -> DigiLink into MTRX
To clarify, the signal isn't getting completely "lost". L and R front are showing up in the right places, but the other ear level surrounds and LFE are mapped in a strange way and are duplicating in some instances into each other's channels. We are only getting 6 channels of audio on DigiLink channels (determined by seeing signal in the DADMAN interface). None of the four height channels are showing up on DigiLink paths (tested by panning in PT -> Renderer meters show appropriate signal in height channels at the correct locations -> no height channel audio information is seen in DADMAN on any DigiLink channel source inputs.
In the top left corner of the renderer window, where it says „Monitoring“ - is that set to „physical“ / 7.1.4? (Or are you accidentally monitoring the 5.1 Re-Render?)
If it is set to „physical“, can you then go to Window -> Speaker calibration. and in the top right corner Switch on the Pink Noise Generator and see which channels make it into DAD Man, and which ones doesn’t… can you spot any routing issues this way?
Is it really only DigiLink out 1-6 that are working, but not the others?
Then, the last idea I have would be to try and update or re-install the HDX driver, and update the renderer to the latest version (3.7.1 if it isn’t already).
Good luck. Best, David
Because our MTRX Studio is plugged into the 2nd DigiLink port on our HDX card (2xHD I/Os are chained into the first port), the DigiLink Channel labeling in DADMAN was off.
That is, the first 32 channels of the HDX engine default to the first port, and what the MTRX calls DigiLink Ch.1 is actually output 33 in the renderer. So moving the speaker/channel assignments in the Renderer 'down' 32 spaces, put them into the correct channels for DADMAN to accept as a source.
Of course, what's still baffling to me is why when the renderer was outputting only on ch 1-12 it was still showing up in DADMAN/MTRX/DigiLink 1-6 (which I guess now I should think of as 33-38). We probably would have figured it out a lot faster if that wasn't pointing us in the wrong direction.
Thanks for the help.
In the „Room Setup“ Page you can define which outputs are used for the live ReRenders.
(If you don’t need live ReRenders you can deactivate them in the Renderer Preferences to save some CPU)
Anyways - glad it works now. All the best, David