CasaTunes relies on an external device, often a simple doorbell switch, to initiate muting, paging or playing a custom doorbell chime. To detect when the doorbell is pressed, the doorbell must be connected to a trigger hardware detection device, compatible with CasaTunes.
Over time, CasaTunes has expanded support for various trigger hardware solutions. Two of these are from CasaTunes. The most recent offering, the CasaTunes USB Trigger Adapter, replaces the earlier CasaTunes Trigger Card that was integrated into the music server. Additionally, CasaTunes supports third-party options such as the Global Caché iTach Flex with the Link Relay & Sensor Cable. While support for Global Caché devices remains, we recommend new projects use the CasaTunes USB Trigger Adapter for simplified integration and reliability.
CasaTunes offers various settings for muting, paging or playing a doorbell chime, including; specifying which rooms to include, specifying individual paging volumes for each room, and in the case of playing a doorbell chime, adding your own custom chimes (chime files are simply music files).
The CasaTunes USB Trigger Adapter provides a total of eight configurable input/output triggers. By default, it is set up with two input triggers and six output triggers. The output triggers are not used for doorbell integration but can be utilized to switch amplifiers in and out of standby mode. To integrate a simple doorbell switch, connect one side of the doorbell switch to the IO 0 pin on the adapter and the other side to the GND (ground) pin.
If you are going to use a Global Caché device, then the device must support the Global Caché RESTful HTTP API. We recommend using the Global Caché iTach Flex combined with the Link Relay & Sensor Cable option. Other Global Caché products may be used, please check with CasaTunes support.
The Global Caché Flex device when connected to the Link Relay and Sensor cable provides four sensor inputs (however, only one can be selected for use with CasaTunes) and four relays (which are not used for doorbell integration).
The trigger input can be used to mute, page, or play a custom doorbell chime in all rooms that are configured for paging. Using the CasaTunesX App, you can select the trigger or sensor on the compatible hardware device to use, configure whether the input signal goes from low to high, or high to low, and if you are using the trigger or sensor for paging, specify the input source on the matrix amplifier to use for the paging audio. You must also connect the audio from your paging hardware to this source.
For simple doorbell integration, simply connect the doorbell switch to the device trigger input. Then using the CasaTunesX App, select the trigger input to use and the Doorbell Chime to play.
To enable, follow these steps:
If you selected Mute Rooms, then:
If you selected Page Rooms, then:
If you selected Play Chime, then:
Once you have enabled muting, paging or playing a custom doorbell chime, then the next step is to configure which rooms should be included (by default all rooms are), and configure the paging volume level for each configured room.
You can add your own custom chimes to play in response to a hardware trigger event, like a doorbell, or you can play a custom chime using an HTTP request. You can use this capability to provide customers with their own unique doorbell rings, or to provide audio notifications in response to various events.
You can add your own custom doorbell chimes to play. Simply copy your doorbell audio files into the \\CasaServer\CasaData\Chimes folder on your music server. If prompted for a username and password, enter CasaUser as the username and leave the password blank.
We recommend you name your audio files with user friendly names, as these will be displayed in the CasaTunesX App in the chimes list for you to select from.
The audio file can be any type that is supported by CasaTunes. This includes files that end in: .wav, .aiff, .aif, .mpg, .mpeg, .mp1, .mp2, .mp3, .mp4, .m4a, .m4p, .wma, .ogg, .oga, or .flac
CasaTunes provides a robust set of REST APIs that you can use to control CasaTunes. In fact, these are the same programming interfaces used by our own native Apps. There are several REST APIs that will allow you to play a specific audio track in one or more rooms (using room groups). This capability could be tied in to your home automation system to provide audible feedback in response to specific events.
You can test out these REST APIs using our CasaDev tool. This tool provides all the documentation for the REST APIs, as well as providing a sandbox for quick testing of the REST APIs. To start the CasaDev tool, simply enter the following in your browser of choice:
Click on the /System namespace and you will see 4 different doorbell REST APIs available:
The following examples assume:
To play your custom doorbell chime (MyFunkyDoorBell) in all rooms where paging is enabled, simply enter the following in your browser:
To provide audio feedback that your security system is now armed in the master bedroom only, simply enter the following in your browser:
