8.2. Audio Howtos

8.2.1. How to set up a movie night

8.2.1.1. General setup

Unplug the small screen from aud (the Mini-DisplayPort cable) and plug in the HDMI cable that’s lying around. Switch the input on the 4K TV.

If the picture on the 4K looks unreasonably small, check the display config. If it’s set to the rightmost of the four settings, it’s set to 8K. Choose the one next to that to fix this (TODO: add screenshot and stuff ... but maybe this is soon obsolete anyway, when only 4K screens are connected to the Mac).

Crank up the system volume in the menu bar to 100%.

In the sofa Bodentank you will find a USB thingie that allows you to switch the keyboard between gig and aud. Switch it to aud.

8.2.1.2. Using Kodi

  • In the Routing tab of 8M #1 (http://8m-1.local./#routing when on aud), switch the preset to “5.1 TV”
  • In the Mixing tab of 8M #1 (http://8m-1.local./#mixing when on aud), switch the preset to “5.1 Mix Sofa”. (The “5.1 Mix Center” preset does not compensate for the fact that the sofa is farther from the front speakers than the rear speakers.)
  • The presets can be accessed by clicking the motusafe symbol. To activate a preset, choose a preset from the list or the drop-down menu, click “Apply” and confirm. Do not hit “Save”! NOT EVAR!!!
  • Start Kodi
  • Choose your movie
  • Set audio delay to 200ms

8.2.1.3. Using VLC

  • Find out if your movie is stereo or 5.1
  • If it’s 5.1, choose a 5.1 setup on the Motu as described above. If it’s stereo, choose “Stereo TV” as the Routing preset and “CSRA Standard” as the Mixing preset
  • Open your movie in VLC

Note: You can use the 5.1 setup for stereo movies but only the front speakers will be used in this case. The special stereo setup uses all four speakers in the living room area. Kodi does this upmixing automatically.

8.2.1.4. How to reset to the normal setup after a movie night

  • Unplug the HDMI cable
  • Plug in the Displayport cable into the column that doesn’t already hold the Thunderbolt audio cable
  • Switch USB channel thingie back
  • Select the routing preset “CSRA setup 1 with subwoofer”.
  • Select the mixing preset “CSRA Standard”.
  • Lower the system volume back to 10 to 20%.

8.2.2. How to speak to the apartment

There’s a microphone next to dsc. Pick it up, switch it on and speak into it. If you need to adjust the gain, it’s the rightmost knob on the bottom-most Motu (Motu 4, input channel 8).