The KNX driver for CasaTunes allows control and monitoring of a CasaTunes multi room audio system using KNX. The KNX driver for CasaTunes works with all CasaTunes systems (including both software and hardware matrix systems) and 3rd party audio distribution systems compatible with CasaTunes.
The CasaTunes multi room audio system is implemented as a virtual device. The CasaTunes driver sends, listens and responds to Group Address Read/Write requests.
CasaTunes hardware is designed for professional installation only. Follow all NEC (National Electrical Code)/national wiring rules, as well as local codes. The Cat5 cables connecting between the USB6 Keypad Hub and the Keypads should not be routed outside the home (to prevent risk of lightning damage and shock) and are not meant to be connected to any other equipment, such as Ethernet switches.
The Keypads and the USB6 Keypad Hub are low-voltage devices. If you mount them in an electrical box, for safety’s sake do not bring any high voltage wiring into the same box.
Please leave the keypads and the USB6 Keypad Hub in their protective bags until you are ready to install them in the electrical box. When handling these devices, try to keep yourself grounded as much as possible to minimize the possibility of damage due to electrostatic discharge.
Please note there is a power inlet covered by a vinyl sheet, just below the USB connector on the USB6 Keypad Hub. It is not used in our current products. If it is used in the future, we will be supplying a DC power supply. The following safety notices are required by UL regarding this connector and any future CasaTunes supplied power supply.
The DC inlet on the USB6 Keypad Hub (just below the USB connector on the front of the wall plate) must only be used with an optional CasaTunes 5VDC power supply with positive center conductor.
Keypads are not designed for outdoor use.
The KNX driver for CasaTunes uses the Falcon SDK (v5.7.322 for dot net framework 4.62) to interface with your KNX system (and runs as a daemon process on the CasaTunes music server)
To support the large number of rooms that CasaTunes supports, CasaTunes implements a Group Addressing scheme that uses the Main and Middle Groups of a 3-level style Group Addressing scheme, to uniquely identify each room (or zone).
Use the CasaSetup utility to assign a CasaTunes room to a KNX Group Address. CasaTunes supports up to 64 zones or rooms. You can also assign AirPlay rooms and Room Groups.
For more control over the Group Addresses assigned for CasaTunes zones, you can specify a starting offset for the Main Group value. For example, if you configured a starting offset of 5 for the Main Group, then the new Group Address for KNX Zone ID 1 (Office below) would be 5/1/X
Rather than assume you want to control every zone via KNX (which could result in a more complex setup and potentially unnecessary KNX bus activity), you must add each zone you wish to control. If you want to configure all your zones, then CasaSetup make this easy as well. Selecting the Add KNX Zone button in CasaSetup automatically assigns the next CasaTunes zone.
The Subgroup of the 3-level style Group Addressing scheme is used to select a CasaTunes Function.
The following CasaTunes Functions are available:
Select to power a room or room group on/off. Value = 1 to power on, 0 to power off.
Select to toggle power for a room or room group. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Select to set the volume for a room or room group. Value is 0 to 100.
Select to increase or decrease the volume in a room or room group. Set Value to 1 to increase volume, 0 to decrease volume.
Select to mute a room or room group on/off. Value = 1 will mute room, 0 = unmute.
Select to toggle mute for a room or room group. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Select a specific source for a room. Value can be 0 .. Maximum Sources - 1.
Select this option to select the next or previous available source for a room or room group.
Select to set the Balance for a room. Support for Balance may not be available on all matrix systems (and is not available on AirPlay rooms or room groups). The value is usually -X to X, where X is specific to the hardware. You can determine the value of X by viewing the available Balance Settings in the Apps. For example, on a Russound CAV 6.6 matrix, value can be -10 to 10, where -10 is Left Speaker only and 10 is Right Speaker only.
Select to move the sound more to the Right or Left Speaker. Set Value to 1 to move Balance to Right speaker, 0 to move Balance to Left speaker.
Select to set the Bass level for a room. Support for Bass may not be available on all matrix systems (and is not available on AirPlay rooms or room groups). The value is usually -X to X, where X is specific to the hardware. You can determine the value of X by viewing the available Bass Settings in the Apps. For example, on a Russound CAV 6.6 matrix, the value can be set between -10 to 10.
Select to increase or decrease the Bass level for a room. Set Value to 1 to increase, 0 to decrease.
Select to set the Treble level for a room. Support for Bass may not be available on all matrix systems (and is not available on AirPlay rooms or room groups). The value is usually -X to X, where X is specific to the hardware. You can determine the value of X by viewing the available Treble Settings in the Apps. For example, on a Russound CAV 6.6 matrix, the value can be set between -10 to 10.
Select to increase or decrease the Treble level for a room. Set Value to 1 to increase, 0 to decrease.
Select to turn Loudness Compensation on/off for a room. Support for Loudness Compensation may not be available on all matrix systems (and is not available on AirPlay rooms or room groups). Value can be 0 or 1. To enable Loudness Compensation the value = 1, to disable the value = 0.
Select to toggle Loudness Compensation on/off for a room. Loudness Compensation is not supported on all matrices.
Select to power all rooms on or off. Value = 1 to power all rooms on, 0 to power all rooms off.
If one or more rooms are powered on, it will power all rooms off. If all rooms are powered off, then it powers all rooms on. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Power off the selected zone
Gets the power state for a zone. 1 if the zone is powered on, 0 otherwise.
Update the Power Off state for a zone. 1 if the room is off, 0 otherwise.
Get the current volume level for a zone.
Get Current Source for Zone
Select to play or pause music. Set value to 1 to play music. Set value to 0 to pause music.
Toggles between playing and pausing the music in the current room or room group. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Select to Stop music playback. It is recommended to Pause music instead of Stop music. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Select to move to the next or previous song. Setting the Value to 1 moves to the next song. Setting the Value to 0 will move playback to the beginning of the song if you have played more than 10 seconds in the current song. If you are less than 10 seconds into the song, playback moves to the previous song.
Enable or disable repeat. Value = 1 to enable, 0 to disable.
Enable or disable shuffle mode. Value = 1 to enable, 0 to disable.
Select to play a specific playlist in this room or room group. Value can be 0 to maximum number of playlists - 1. You can view the playlists and their index in CasaSetup.
Select this to play the next or previous playlist in the list. Set the value to 1 to play the next playlist, or 0 to play the previous playlist. If you are at the first available playlist, and you set the value to 0, then the last available playlist is played. If you are on the last available playlist, and you set the value to 1, it plays the first available playlist.
Select to play a specific chime from the list of available Chimes in CasaSetup. Use this to play specific sound files. Value can be 0 to maximum number of chimes - 1.
Select this option to read/write Line 1 of CasaTunes metadata. Typically this is the name of the song that is playing.
Select this option to read/write Line 2 of CasaTunes metadata. Typically this is the name of the artist for the song that is playing.
Select this option to read/write Line 3 of CasaTunes metadata. Typically this is the album name of the song that is playing, playlist name, or station name.
Use to get the current playlist name
Get current Repeat Mode state for a zone. 1 repeat mode is on (or once only), 0 repeat mode off.
Get current Shuffle Mode state for a zone. 1 shuffle mode is on, 0 shuffle mode is off.
Executes all the commands configured for Scene 1 in CasaSetup. Can include CasaTunes and other commands. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Executes all the commands configured for Scene 2 in CasaSetup. Can include CasaTunes and other commands. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Executes all the commands configured for Scene 3 in CasaSetup. Can include CasaTunes and other commands. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Executes all the commands configured for Scene 4in CasaSetup. Can include CasaTunes and other commands. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Executes all the commands configured for Scene 5 in CasaSetup. Can include CasaTunes and other commands. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Executes all the commands configured for Scene 6 in CasaSetup. Can include CasaTunes and other commands. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Executes all the commands configured for Scene 7 in CasaSetup. Can include CasaTunes and other commands. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Executes all the commands configured for Scene 8 in CasaSetup. Can include CasaTunes and other commands. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Executes all the commands configured for Scene 9 in CasaSetup. Can include CasaTunes and other commands. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
Executes all the commands configured for Scene 10 in CasaSetup. Can include CasaTunes and other commands. Value is ignored. Can be 0 or 1.
To configure the KNX Driver for CasaTunes you use the CasaSetup administration utility. To start CasaSetup for KNX enter the following in your browser:
You should see a screen similar to:
Step 1: Enable the KNX Driver for CasaTunes. After a few seconds, you will see a screen similar to:
By default, the driver uses the first available KNX IP Interface it discovers. If you have more than one KNX IP Interface, and you want to specify a specific KNX IP Interface to use, then select it from the list in the Preferred KNX IP Interface drop down.
Step 2: Next, add the CasaTunes rooms or room groups you want to control from KNX. Select the Zones option from the list on the left hand side, and select Add KNX Zone for each CasaTunes room you want to add. Click on the X to delete a KNX zone. You can specify an offset to use for the Main Group in the Group Address, for example in the screen shot below, we selected 5/X/X.
For each CasaTunes room or room group, you can specify whether you are using a Generic KNX Panel (default), or you can select a specific KNX panel that CasaTunes supports. For CasaTunes supported panels, the KNX Driver for CasaTunes will automatically configure the KNX Function Datapoint Types to match those of the selected panel, as well as any other idiosyncrasies.
Once you have added all your KNX Zones, and you have configured the KNX Panel type to use in each of those rooms, you should select Export KNX Zone Group Addresses. CasaSetup creates a CSV file that you can import in the Group Addresses panel in ETS 5. This CSV file contains all the Group Addresses for all your KNZ zones that you need to link CasaTunes with your KNX panels.
Step 3: If you want to select playlists from KNX, then configure your playlists. If you are planning to select specific playlists, for example, setting up a button on a KNX panel to select a specific playlist, or adding a command to play a specific playlist as part of a scene, you should select "Select Custom Playlists" from the Select Playlists Type drop down. If you plan to simply have one or two buttons to scroll through your playlists (Select Next or Previous Playlist), you should select "All CasaTunes Playlists" from the Select Playlists Type drop down.
If you select custom playlists, then add all the playlists you want to include in your list, by clicking on the Add KNX Playlist button. To delete a playlist from the list, click on the X button.
The KNX Value specifies the value to use in the Play Playlist Function.
Step 4: If you want to play specific chimes from KNX, then configure your Chimes. Add all the chimes you want to include in your list, by clicking on the Add KNX Chime button. To delete a chime from the list, click on the X button.
The KNX Value specifies the value to use in the Play Chime Function.
Step 5: Select the Feedback menu item to provide fine grain control over enabling or disabling feedback for a CasaTunes function. You can select which functions send out a telegram when the value changes.
For example, if you check Enable Power Feedback, then anytime the power changes for a room, even if the power for the room was changed using an external control system, like the CasaTunes App, the KNX driver will write to the Group Address for the room and power function with the updated state value. This is important if your KNX keypad that displays state information (for example, using LEDs). Enabling feedback ensures the LED is properly updated to reflect the power state of a room. On the other hand if your KNX Keypad or device does not display state information then you can disable feedback, and minimize KNX bus traffic.
Step 6: The KNX Driver for CasaTunes includes support for up to 10 scenes. A scene is simply a sequence of commands (Group Addresses + Values) that are executed in sequence. They can be used to configure multiple rooms or multiple functions and you can assign these to a single button. You can even add functionality for non-CasaTunes devices.
Select the scene you want to create or edit from the Select Scene drop down.
Next, enter the Group Address, select the DPT type from the drop down list, and enter the Value to write to the Group Address. To add the command, click on the + button. Commands are always appended to a scene.
To delete a command from a scene, select the scene, then click on the X to remove the command from the scene.
In the example below, we have configured a scene that powers on a room, sets the volume in the room to 15, changes the source to the first source, and then plays the playlist with a KNX Value of 2.
Now that you have configured the KNX Driver for CasaTunes, the next step is to import the CasaTunes KNX Zone Group Addresses CSV file you generated from the Zones menu in to the Group Addresses panel in the ETS5 tool, and link these Group Addresses to the KNX panels and devices you selected to use.
For more information on how to use ETS5 and configure your KNX network, please refer to the KNX site.
The CasaTunes Driver for KNX simplifies integration with popular KNX panels that include specific Audio or Media functions. Since there are no KNX standards for audio interfaces, selecting a CasaTunes supported KNX panel for a zone, automatically configures the driver to support the DataPoint Types (and other idiosyncrasies) used by the specific KNX panel for the various panel/device group objects.
For more detailed instructions on how to configure each panel type for use with CasaTunes, please select the panel type from the list below:
