All parameters inside Halogen can be linked to the DR6 Touch Screen and be automatically available as a Web Remote from a Smartphone or Portable Device in the same network as the RANE DSP. As an example, this article will show you how to create a microphone settings page, with 3-band EQ and level control, for access from your DR6.

Note: This guide will assume that you have already built your Halogen system and completed all signal flow. If you haven't already, be sure to visit our Halogen Training pages for in-depth tutorials on using the Halogen software.

 

Contents


Creating and Linking the Control Page

After designing your audio system, placing the PEQ block in between the signal flow, it’s now time to link the parameters to the DR6 and Web Remote.

  1. open the Control Page Designer and create a new page by clicking on User Pages +. Name the page as you wish. The same name will be part of the URL Address to the Web Remote. In this example, the control page will be named MicSettings.
  2. Switch to the Controls tab and click Level + to create Level controls. Create as many as needed according to all parameters and name them accordingly.

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  3. These level controls will work as an indicator of the percentage pre-determined by users inside each variable (Min to Max). Open the processing block and determine the Min and Max of each parameter by double-clicking on the yellow underlined values and typing the desired range. Do this for all parameters you wish to link to the control page. Such control is important to avoid saturation or exaggerated changes on the Input Level and EQ filter’s interference.

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  4. Back in the Control Page Designer, click and drag each level control to the available staging area. Note that the DR6 outline will show you the available area for the DR6 screen, however, the Web Remote can be scrolled down and view controls placed also outside the DR6 outline. This way you can provide certain controls for users at the DR6 panel and more parameters for users/admin on a Web Remote.

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  5. After placing all controls, it’s now time to link them to the specific parameters inside each block. To link parameters inside Halogen, simply click the link icon for the chosen level control and drag and drop to the link icon for the chosen parameter in the Processing Block. In other words, from the Controller to what is being Controlled.

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  6. Create and name the links according to each parameter for a better organization and future maintenance.

Tip: Right-click on a control or the background of the staging area to customize the appearance and behavior of the controls and theme of the background display. 

 

 

Building a Microphone Settings Page

Now that we know how to create and link controls on our Control Page, it's time to customize this with the controls we need. As an example, we'll use some basic microphone level and EQ settings, but these ideas can be applied to virtually any processing block in Halogen.

Simple EQ Control

  1. Open the PEQ block
  2. Set a general center frequency and Q slope for each filter option (i.e. High, Mid, Lo, etc.)
  3. Link only the filter gain parameter to your Control Page. Repeat for additional EQ filters in your PEQ block.

This way, users will only be able to increase or decrease the gain of an EQ filter, leaving the center frequency and Q (slope) static and thus simplifying the control panel. If you wish to create a more complex EQ control by providing all parameters to users, feel free to link all parameters and provide a full control of each filter.

 

Microphone Level Control

For the microphone input level, note that there are 2 level controls inside the Green Input Block. Only the right level control can be linked. The left level control is part of the gain calibration of the input and should be set by an audio engineer before use according to the source’s nominal input.

Just like the EQ links, drag the chain beside the Mic Level control on the Page Designer to the greyed out chain beside the right level control of the Input Block. Determine Min and Max values to set the range for the Mic Level control.

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Preview and Save Changes

After linking, renaming and relabelling all parameters, press Preview Page in the upper menu of the Control Page Designer to open the Web Remote. Adjust the pages on your screen to be able to modify parameters on the Web Remote and check the results inside each processing block.


All working? Well done!


Set the initial positions of each level control and click Save Baseline on the central menu of the Processing Workspace. The Baseline will be the starting point to all parameters and will be recalled in case of power loss and or manual reset.

Save As and rename the file indicating the latest changes. Apply it to the RANE DSP and provide the best DSP experience to customers and professionals!