Crestron/Linn Crestron 4-Series Driver for SIMPL Windows

Linn Crestron 4-Series Driver for SIMPL Windows

This option, specifically designed for Crestron 4-Series processors, contains all the core functionality of the Linn Lite Driver for SIMPL Windows for integrating Linn DS/DSM devices into a project but with a greatly expanded feature list that includes the browsing and searching of streaming services. The Crestron project designed using SIMPL Windows can have many control points and within each control point a Linn DS/DSM device can be selected as the active room. The Linn Kustom DSM can be included as part of this setup and allows for several rooms to be added to the house with their own separate audio sources. This will work alongside Linn’s own control point application, Linn App, and changes will be communicated to the Crestron system.

The driver is designed in a modular format that allows additional features to be included or omitted as per the customer’s requirements.

Requirements

• A Crestron 4-Series Processor
• Linn DS/DSM devices (up to 20 rooms are possible)
• The Linn CI Gateway running on the local network – see here for information.

Basic Features

• Automatic discovery of a CI Gateway instance on the local network
• Room selection - each Crestron control point has an actively selected room within the house topology that can be changed via the control point itself.
• Grouping - the current grouping of rooms set via the Linn App will be reflected in the room selection menu and automatically update whenever a change in grouping occurs. The standby states and volumes of listening rooms can be set individually.
• For each room in the topology the user has control over the following DS functionalities:

• Standby control - each room can be individually toggle between standby states.
• Volume control - step up/down, set absolute, mute toggle.
• Toggle shuffle and repeat states for appropriate sources.
• Transport control over any active playlist - play, pause, play/pause toggle, skip previous, skip next.
• Seeking – view the progress of the currently playing track on a gauge bar and skip to a new position within it.
• Source selection - capable of selecting any visible external source.
• Metadata - retrieves extensive metadata for currently playing item including artwork and information about format, sample rate and bit depth.
• Pin selection - as on physical Linn DSM devices, 6 customizable buttons can be setup to allow for popular presets to be easily selected. The name and associated artwork for each pin can also be accessed via the module and displayed on a Crestron control point interface. These can be modified through the Crestron system with the inclusion of add-on modules.

• Standby states of all rooms within the house can be changed quickly and directly from a room selection menu without having to select the room as the active room of a CCP first
• Through SIMPL Windows configuration, a Crestron control point can be set to lock onto a certain room if that room is found through the CI Gateway
• For more advanced macro functionality, a command serial input optionally allows programmers to run LPEC commands directly to devices in the house from the Crestron processor.

Add-On Modules

All the basic features are included in a LinnControlPoint module. One of these is added per control point in your Crestron project. :Further features are made possible via “add-on modules”. These are added alongside each control point module and can be added or omitted depending on customer requirements. For example, you might only want streaming service browsing to be included for certain control points. See the image for an example project where a control point named “XPanel1” is utilizing all the add-on modules whilst a second control point “iPad1” only uses a few.

For add-on modules that offer browsing and searching of a service, you can then select media for playback, assign to pin on the active device, or favourite/unfavourite. The following list describes the add-on modules currently available and the functionality they make possible through a Crestron system:

• LinnAirable – browsing and searching of the Airable radio service.
• LinnTidal – Browsing and searching of the TIDAL streaming service.
• LinnQobuz – Browsing and searching of the Qobuz streaming service.
• LinnPlaylist – Allows for modification of the Linn DS/DSM playlists.
• LinnCloudPlaylists – Allows for browsing and creation of Linn account playlists.
• LinnGroups – Adjust the grouping of rooms and easier volume control for large groups.
• LinnLocalServer – Browsing and searching of a local UPnP media server.

Demo

The driver is given alongside a demo that showcases the abilities. A video demonstration of the driver being used is shown in the following video: (Linn Crestron 4-Series Driver video demonstration) If you wish to try it for yourself then this setup guide outlines all the steps required to get a demo running where the functionality of the driver can be trialled. (download link for SIMPL Windows basic setup guide) Installation Guide This guide gives extensive details about the operation of the driver and descriptions of all the signals available. This aims to assist in the integration of the driver into a larger customer project alongside other home automation features. (download link for full installation guide) Download (download link for Linn Crestron 4-Series Driver for SIMPL Windows demo project) CI Gateway requirements: • For CI Gateway running on Linn DSM – Requires firmware Davaar (req) or higher. • For CI Gateway running using Kazoo Server – Requires Kazoo Server (req) or higher.