Missing The Beginning Of Announcements

[Baubas Cat]

I just changed out a Control4 amp and matrix for a Triad amp and matrix. With the new amp and matrix I am getting the beginning of my announcements cut off. I tried setting a delay in the announcement agent but that just starts the announcement later. How do I hear the full announcement?

[chopedogg88]

Do you have it setup with a 12v trigger or are you using audio sense mode to turn on the amps? 

[Baubas Cat]

The amp mode is set to on.

[Baubas Cat]

I connected an echo dot directly to the amp to see if the matrix was causing a delay and when asking for the weather or time, the beginning of the result is cut off. I thought the on setting meant the amp was always on? Why is there a delay of any audio?

[chopedogg88]

If the amp is always on then there shouldn't be a delay. 

[Baubas Cat]

I have 2 TS-PAMP8-100s, both set to on and both have the same delay. I know the amps aren't bad, their both new. This doesn't make any sense. The amps can't be on because the echo dot that is directly connect wouldn't have any delay. Is there anything I can try?

[SpencerT]

2 hours ago, Baubas Cat said:

I have 2 TS-PAMP8-100s, both set to on and both have the same delay. I know the amps aren't bad, their both new. This doesn't make any sense. The amps can't be on because the echo dot that is directly connect wouldn't have any delay. Is there anything I can try?

Disable audio sensing. 

[mstafford388]

Try plugging your phone into the same input.  When you hit play on music on your phone is there a delay?  At least that will confirm it's the amp not the echo dot.  This is a weird one though if that amp is set to always on. 

[Baubas Cat]

I thought maybe it might be the Dot/Link because if I asked the Dot a question, the beginning of the response would be cut off but any question asked after the first response would be answered in full. After a short time, the next question would have the beginning of the response cut off again so I thought maybe the Echo Link in the rack was going to sleep. I have the same problem with announcements so I tried addressing that. If I execute an announcement over and over, every time it will cut off the beginning of the announcement so to try and fix this I downloaded Audacity and added a two second span of silence at the start of the announcement. I think this showed me that it is not the Dot/Link because now if I execute the announcement with the two second span of silence at the beginning, only the first time it is executed does the beginning get cut off. Every other time I can hear the full announcement. If I wait a while and execute the same announcement the beginning will be cut off again. This makes me think that even though the amp is set to always on it is going to sleep. Is this possible? Is there a setting I missed when I was doing the setup? I must have because if I didn't others would have the same announcement issue that I do and I know I am not the only one using announcements with a TS-PAMP8-100.

[chopedogg88]

If you look at the front of the amp all of the numbers (1-8) should be lit up if its on. 

[Baubas Cat]

They are.

[RyanE]

Although I don't know the way to fix your specific issue, if your announcements are 'canned' announcements (and not Alexa replies, etc.), you can put a second or two of no sound on the front of your announcement wav files.

A workaround, but it could make it a bit smoother.

Have you tried already listening to something in the audio zone where the announcement is being made?  If you do that, does the full announcement get played, because the amp and audio zone are already 'on'?

RyanE

[chopedogg88]

In theory if the amp is always on, the (numbers should always be lit up), there shouldn't be any delays even the first time that something is played.  It *sounds* like he has it set to Audio sense, but he's saying its set to ON...

[Baubas Cat]

1 hour ago, chopedogg88 said:

In theory if the amp is always on, the (numbers should always be lit up), there shouldn't be any delays even the first time that something is played.  It *sounds* like he has it set to Audio sense, but he's saying its set to ON...

The switch in the back of the amp is definitely set to on. All the lights (numbers 1-8 and power) are on. I did try using the 12v trigger but it didn't change my issue but with the switch on the amp set to 12v, the only light on the amp was power. The amp is now set back to always on and all the front lights are on.

1 hour ago, RyanE said:

Although I don't know the way to fix your specific issue, if your announcements are 'canned' announcements (and not Alexa replies, etc.), you can put a second or two of no sound on the front of your announcement wav files.

A workaround, but it could make it a bit smoother.

Have you tried already listening to something in the audio zone where the announcement is being made?  If you do that, does the full announcement get played, because the amp and audio zone are already 'on'?

RyanE

I added a delay to the announcements and with or without the delay the beginning of the audible part of the announcement is cut off, if the room is off! I tried listening to something in the room and with or without the delay in the announcement it plays without issue. Is there some way to always send a signal to the amp so the beginning of my announcements are not cut off?

[Cyknight]

9 hours ago, Baubas Cat said:

I added a delay to the announcements and with or without the delay the beginning of the audible part of the announcement is cut off, if the room is off! I tried listening to something in the room and with or without the delay in the announcement it plays without issue. Is there some way to always send a signal to the amp so the beginning of my announcements are not cut off?

He means add a second of no sound to the actual wav file.

That delay setting is, as you've noted, a pure delay before triggering the whole announcement process. There is no programming to do to fix this if the 'cut-off' is caused by any device in the line not being truly 'on' yet (such as the mentioned triad/c4 or episode 'dumb amps are when set to input  sensing, but also AV receivers that need time to start, or TVs for that matter, could also be a a/v switch in between doing this).

9 hours ago, Baubas Cat said:

I did try using the 12v trigger but it didn't change my issue but with the switch on the amp set to 12v, the only light on the amp was power. The amp is now set back to always on and all the front lights are on.

But was this programmed right?

 

As already mentioned though, it's unclear what is causing the cut-off here, this might need a closer look by a dealer - maybe an online one like chopedogg above can help you look at the path it takes and identify a cause.

[Baubas Cat]

6 hours ago, Cyknight said:

He means add a second of no sound to the actual wav file.

That is what I did. I mentioned it in my 5th post.

 

20 hours ago, Baubas Cat said:

I downloaded Audacity and added a two second span of silence at the start of the announcement.

7 hours ago, Cyknight said:

But was this programmed right?

I know I wasn't clear about using the 12v trigger but the programming was correct. The TS-AMS16 was turning the amp on (numbers 1-8 and power light lit up) and off (power light only) but the issue stayed the same so I figured always on was a better choice.

 

7 hours ago, Cyknight said:

As already mentioned though, it's unclear what is causing the cut-off here, this might need a closer look by a dealer - maybe an online one like chopedogg above can help you look at the path it takes and identify a cause.

I totally agree. After spend more time with it, I am completely confused about the things that are happening.

[South Africa C4 user]

I must say the various delays (before and after announcements) and the need to put blank time at the beginning of announcements has always frustrated / confused me.  Once I got everything working, I simply stopped fiddling!

[WhyPhy]

I have this same problem with completely different amplifiers (3x AudioControl M6800.) I can hear a very slight “click” when the room is turnes on for an announcement and I still have to put 4 seconds of silence at the beginning of the recorded announcement file to not have it cut off. Luckily NoteVibes.com makes this extremely easy to do this when generating the audio file. 

[South Africa C4 user]

My big problem is that most of my announcements are created on the fly using a TTS driver.  The problem being that my preferred TTS driver does not allow for adding a blank space at the beginning of the file… I realise that other TTS drivers allow for this.

[WhyPhy]

I wasn’t aware there was a Text-to-speech driver that had pre-padding of announcements. That’s why I never tried one.

Which one(s) allow pre-padding?

[South Africa C4 user]

12 minutes ago, WhyPhy said:

I wasn’t aware there was a Text-to-speech driver that had pre-padding of announcements. That’s why I never tried one.

Which one(s) allow pre-padding?

The TTS driver by Annex4 allows this.  I think it is called Voice Genie.  I used this for a couple of years before moving on to the one by Shivam Paw (I think it is simply called Text to Speech) which has a nice interface to allow one to type text on a Touchscreen and have that used for the TTS action.  I have considered using a combination of the 2 drivers (which I think one could get to work).  I have also considered using Shivam Paw’s driver and playing a blank announcement immediately before the actual announcement plays so as to get all zones active.  I suspect both options would solve the problem but I have never got around to trying either.  Maybe I will try this next week.

[booch]

What version are you on? How complex, e.g., number of devices/zones, associated programming, are your annoucements?

Mine (and others) have acted up on 3.3.1 (e.g., T3s not playing at all, zone volume not adjusting, etc.)

In my case, I've temporarily moved to zones vs. T3s and reducled complexity, e.g., fewer rooms, to restore.

The other suggestions are good but your issues may be software-side, like mine. (Hopefully gets fixed soon.)

 

[Silvaskin]

I have this exact issue and have tried all the above suggestions with no success.   Recently upgraded to Triad from the old Control4 matrix and amp.  Just living with it for the moment.  OP Any fix you discover would be much appreciated.