If your control system's driver has no built-in support for paging or doorbell chimes on a ProAudio switch, you can configure it directly by sending commands over a serial or TCP/IP connection using PuTTY (or another terminal program) — or as part of an initialisation string, if your controller supports sending raw ASCII strings.
Connecting to the Switch
You can connect either through the switch's serial port or over the network — use whichever is convenient for your setup.
Serial Connection
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Baud rate | 19200 |
| Data bits | 8 |
| Parity | None |
| Stop bits | 1 |
| Handshake | None |
TCP/IP Connection
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| IP Address | Determined by scanning your network, or from your controller's configuration |
| Port | 50005 |
How Paging Works
ProAudio supports two independent paging "presets" (1 and 2), so you could use preset 1 for a front doorbell and preset 2 for a back doorbell, each with its own source and volume. When a page is triggered, every zone switches to its preset source and volume; when the page ends, zones return to their previous state.
0, that zone won't respond to a page — even after you've configured its source, volume, and mute settings. This is covered as its own step below, since it's easy to miss.Step-by-Step Setup
The steps below configure paging preset 1 across zones 1–16. Adjust the zone range and preset number to match your system.
^pASZ 1,@1:16,15$^pVPZ 1,@1:16,40$^pVMZ 1,@1:16,0$^pADNDZ 1,@1:16,0$^pDSW 1,1,1,0$^pDSW switch,action,preset,time$ — four parameters. The trailing ,0 for the unused time value is a placeholder and hasn't been confirmed against real hardware yet. Bench-test this before rolling it out, or check with engineering first.^SS 4096$Do Not Disturb Flag Values
The pADNDZ command used in Step 4 accepts three values, giving more control than a simple on/off:
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0 | Zone responds fully to paging (switches source, volume, and mute as configured) |
| 1 | Zone ignores paging completely (default for every zone) |
| 2 | Zone mutes/lowers volume during a page but does not switch source — useful when you want a zone to go quiet without playing the chime itself |
This is also how you temporarily exclude a zone from paging — for example, muting paging in a child's room while they're asleep, without undoing the rest of your setup:
^pADNDZ 1,@5,1$ — do not disturb zone 5 (change 5 to whichever zone you want)^pADNDZ 1,@5,0$ — re-enable paging for zone 5
Triggering a Page
If your controller can send raw ASCII strings, you can trigger paging directly instead of wiring a physical contact closure to the back panel:
^pSET 1$ — trigger paging preset 1^pSET 0$ — end the page and return to normal
Or trigger a page for a fixed duration:
^pSET 1,4000$ — trigger preset 1 for 4 seconds (4000ms). The switch automatically reverts to normal after the time elapses, so you don't need to send ^pSET 0$.
pSET 0, it will automatically time out and return to normal after two minutes.Quick Command Reference
| Command | Purpose |
|---|---|
^pASZ preset,@zone,source$ | Set the source a zone switches to during a page |
^pVPZ preset,@zone,percent$ | Set paging volume as a percentage |
^pVMZ preset,@zone,flag$ | Mute/un-mute a zone's volume during a page |
^pADNDZ preset,@zone,flag$ | Set Do Not Disturb behaviour for a zone (0/1/2) |
^pDSW switch,action,preset,time$ | Configure a back-panel trigger input |
^pSET preset,time$ | Manually trigger or end a page |
^SS 4096$ | Save all paging settings so they survive a power loss |
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Our support team can help troubleshoot commands or connection issues.
UK: 01202 413 610 | US: (858) 748-8250 | support@pulse-eight.comWas this article helpful?
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