Release Notes: Composer 8.5.1

Updated: Nov 8, 2023

Introduction #

This document is intended for those users upgrading from Composer version 8.4 or 8.5.0. If you are a new user of Composer or are upgrading from an earlier version, you may also want to review the release notes for previous versions. These can be found on the Symetrix web site.

Changes From Previous Versions #

8.5.1 Fixes and Improvements #

The following issues have been resolved or improved in Composer 8.5.1:

8.5 New Features #

Composer 8.5 is a major release and features the following enhancements:

• Support for xIO XLR Series of Dante Endpoints. This includes new Intelligent Modules for control over front panel LED’s and button(s).
  
• Support for T-7 Glass Touchscreen.
• Support for Symetrix AV-Ops Center – Remote Monitoring and Management Service. Look under Tools in Composer for a new configuration option.
  
• New Transparent background options for Faders and Knobs. Use this option when you want to overlay fader handles and knob wipers onto meters.
   
• New Dynamic Menu capabilities for W Series. Use this to show or hide preconfigured menus based on the status of a control number. This is useful for applications such as room combining when the designer wants to show some menus when the rooms are separate and different menus when the rooms are combined.
  
• New Alternative Button LED Modes for W Series. Border and Invert modes are now available in addition to the previous LED and Disabled options.
  
• New Update Preset capability from Preset Manager. Quickly store new values for controls that changed after they were assigned to a preset.
  
• New Manage Control’s Preset dialog allows updating a single control in multiple presets at once. Access from the Right Click menu of any control.
  
• New Display of Last Recalled Preset in unit’s Diagnostics. This feature can be added to SymVue to let users know of previously recalled presets.
  
• New Default Value feature added for all controls. This is customizable for control screens. CTRL+Double Click or CTRL+Return top set a control to the default.
  
• New Hi-Resolution Adjustment mode for Faders, Knobs, Up/Downs and Numeric. ALT+Drag or F+Drag to adjust.
• New Lock/Unlock right click menu items and CTRL+Shift+K hotkey.
• New Align and Space Evenly right-click menu items when multiple control elements are selected.
  
• New Send to Back and Bring Forward right-click menu items when multiple control elements are selected.
• New Ability to change product type for T Series and W Series on Site View.
  
• New AES67 Support for xIO Bluetooth and xIO Bluetooth RCA-3.5
• New xIO Updater/Configurator unit type has been added for updating and configuration of xIO devices without a DSP.
  
  The xIO Updater/Configurator acts like a local control-only DSP in Composer that can locate, update and setup the xIO devices. The Intelligent Module for the xIO Series is run in Composer offline to configure and control the devices as well. A DSP is still required to make operation time changes to the devices, but this feature greatly improves the flexibility of how xIO devices can be initially configured when a DSP is not available.
  This requires a Dante Redistributable package for operation, which has been added to the installer.
• Improved Text Alignment when editing in place values.
• Improvements to wire node selection.
• Improved behavior for wire frame selection over locked items.
• Improved Locate Hardware Dialog layout and contents.
  
• Added setting of Windows Firewall rules for Composer during installation. These rules are removed during the un-installation process. Composer will warn if these rules are not present on launch.
• Added Safeguards to prevent downgrading Radius NX, T-Series and W-Series to older unsupported firmware versions

8.5 Fixes and Improvements #

The following issues have been resolved or improved in Composer 8.5:

• General: Improved Dante device discovery, pushing, and reliability.
• AES-67: Pushing subscriptions from Composer would fail.
• ARC-Web: Some Windows-1252 characters would not display properly (e.g. umlauts, accents, etc.)
• ARC-Web: Wouldn’t launch properly when copied to the iOS Home Screen
• Composer: Added warning when number of remote control numbers exceeds 6000 when pushing on Edge or Prism class devices.
• Composer: “Bring Module Views to Top” and “Module Views Always on Top” did not apply to Control Screens.
• Composer: Composer could crash if W-Series names were too long.
• Composer: Connected LED in the diagnostics module would not sync with assigned control numbers.
• Composer: Control Screens displaying the month as text would not wake after they went to sleep.
• Composer: Control Screens label text would not be positioned correctly when the alignment properties were changed.
• Composer: Ctrl selecting locked components would select different locked components.
• Composer: Dante Virtual Soundcard had separate device names in the Toolkit for Windows and Mac.
• Composer: Duckers with linked Release and Active controls could erroneously trigger the Active button when the Release fader was moved.
• Composer: Event Scheduler in Windows 11 would not display dates correctly.
• Composer: Long event names in the Event Scheduler would prevent the Event Scheduler from launching.
• Composer: Multiple unexpected ways to open dropdown lists.
• Composer: Network String Output modules could cause a DSP to reboot if there was a failed TCP connection.
• Composer: NTP information was not displayed in the Diagnostics module.
• Composer: Numeric controls in Intelligent Modules had no default properties.
• Composer: Pulling sites with Stereo Priority Selectors would case Composer to crash.
• Composer: Radio Buttons “User Adjustable” property set to false would still be adjustable.
• Composer: Setting Frequency or Level in the Tone Generator module to their max would cause the preset buttons to stop working.
• Composer: USB configuration could sync incorrectly.
• Composer: Using more than 24 menus or a menu that required a confirmation in ARC-WEB for Prism could cause the GUI to crash.
• Composer: W remotes could lose their programming if they were rebooted.
• Control Server: Momentary buttons would not always operate properly on iOS when the control screen was saved to the Home Screen.
• Control Server: Possible to reset Admin account directly from Composer without hardware security password.
• Control Server: SymVue screens displayed in iOS Safari would have alignment issues.
• Dante Domain Manager: Using Brooklyn-2 and Brooklyn-3 devices in the same domain could result in multiple clock masters.
• Lua: NamedControl methods would return nil when referencing NamedControl Name property.
• Lua: UDP API would not allow broadcast messaging.
• Lua: While offline the TcpSockets API could fail while connecting and report an error of “Connect error: 1”.
• Prism: Prism 0x0 would always show a fan error even though it has no fan.
• Solus NX: Custom fonts in Intelligent Modules could cause Composer to lose connection to hardware.
• T-Series: Using custom fonts required a power cycle of the device to display correctly.
• W-Series: Assigning controls from the Input Selector or Matrix Selector to the W-Series would have various issues.
• Additions and Improvements to Help File
• Other minor fixes and improvements

Known Issues #

Issues Related to VoIP #

1. If a speed-dial number is selected as the transfer target, the transfer will complete immediately as a blind transfer.
2. Pushing a Composer Site file to the device generates a VoIP card log message saying that the location is USA, even if it is not. This log message is harmless.
3. When a local conference on a line is active and DTMF digits are pressed locally, the DTMF signals are sent only to the call appearance that most recently joined the conference. When establishing a conference using two call appearances, if it is important for one call appearance to receive DTMF digits (for example, a conference bridge) then add that call appearance last.
4. There may be log messages in the VoIP card Telnet session that are categorized as ERR (error) but do not indicate real errors.
5. If a local conference is using the two call appearances on line 2 and the call on the first appearance is ended by pressing that Call/End button, the call on the second appearance is put on hold. Press the appearance 2 Call/End or Hold button to resume this call leg.
6. If the DTMF Relay type is changed to SIP INFO (default value is ‘Out of Band’), the SIP INFO messages are sent using the configured Transport Type for the line instead of the transport type used for a SIP dialog session for a call, if that is different.
7. If the default DTMF Relay type of ‘Out of Band’ is used, and the DTMF On Time setting is increased from the default value of 150 ms, then rapid digit presses can result in dropped digits in the transmitted stream.
8. When the Country parameter is set to Australia, the “ringback” and “busy” call progress tones played in the local room differ from the expected tones for that country. When the Country parameter is set to Germany, the “ringback” and “reorder” call progress tones played in the local room differ from the expected tones. When the Country parameter is set to the UK, the “reorder” call progress tone differs from the expected tone. This does not affect any call signaling, it only affects the locally generated sound effects that are played into the local room.
9. If the Auto-answer feature is enabled via the Web Admin Page and there is an active call on one call
   appearance, this call is not placed on Hold when the second call is received on the other call appearance and automatically answered. The original call remains active with two-way audio and the second call has no audio. For conference room applications Symetrix recommends leaving Auto-answer turned off.
10. If the Auto-answer feature is enabled via the Web Admin Page and a call is manually answered and placed on hold within the Auto-answer time window, for example before the call is auto-answered, then this held call is resumed automatically.
11. If the Reset Web Admin Password button is pressed to set the Web Admin password back to its default value, the setting is not immediately saved. If the system is rebooted it will boot up with the old password. To work around this, modify a setting in the Web Admin to force files to be saved to flash memory after resetting the password.
12. A consultative transfer performed by the remote party who called Line 1 of the VoIP card to Line 2 of the same VoIP card will not transfer the call and the initial call will be dropped.
13. The VoIP card can indicate that it has registered successfully before the Line 1 or Line 2 “Server Address” field is populated. However, this field is required to place and receive calls.
14. The Blind Transfer function where the user completes the transfer without waiting for ringback or an answer from the transfer target is in fact handled similarly to a semi-attended transfer. If the transfer target does not answer the call, the transferee remains on hold.
15. A non-standard port number cannot be specified in a direct URI dial string, for example when dialing
    1001@10.4.0.156:8325 the destination port of 5060 is used instead of 8325.
16. In rare cases, the HTML files used by the Web Admin may not load. Should this happen, refresh the
    browser to view the Web Admin.
17. If the DTMF Relay type is changed to ‘In Band’ (default value is ‘Out of Band’), the duration of transmitted DTMF tones does not match the configured ‘DTMF On Time’ parameter in the Web Admin when the G.722 codec is used for a call. The actual duration is shorter so the configured duration may need to be increased to work with certain far ends.
18. If a firmware upgrade is performed and later a VoIP card is added or swapped, the VoIP card may not
    contain the correct Web Admin files. After adding or swapping the VoIP card, a manual firmware upgrade for that unit should be performed.

Other issues #

19. T-5 and T-5 Glass cannot be downgraded from 8.2 or later to 8.1 or 8.0. Attempting to do so may result in a screen showing only the Symetrix logo on the device. Simply upgrade to 8.2 to restore full operation of the device. If you need to downgrade a T-5 or T-5 Glass from 8.2 or later, contact Tech Support for special instructions.
20. Units may fail to pass Dante audio when switched versus redundancy mode is changed. See instructions on how to change this below.
21. Composer may fail to locate any devices. In some cases, this may require adjustments to the Windows firewall. Open Windows Firewall > Advanced Settings > Inbound Rules > New Rule. Specify path to Composer84.exe and save rule. Repeat for an Outbound rule. Restart PC.
22. Using multiple features that access the external USB drive on Radius NX may compromise performance. Examples include recording, playback, and accessing files via FTP or the Media Manager. Ideally limit the use of these features to one type at a time, or two at most.
23. Radius NX USB recordings are limited to 4 GB per file. Longer continuous recordings will be split up.
24. Using a low-quality external USB drive for Radius NX recording or playback, may result in poor
    performance, dropouts, or even a device reset. Only use high quality drives.
25. Playlists with non-US characters cannot be edited using the Media Manager. A work-around is to edit them manually using FTP. Similarly, audio files with non-US characters cannot be previewed using the Media Manager.
26. When using a preset to mute all devices, Attero Tech and other third party devices may not be muted. Dante transmitters will be muted, so in most cases, they will effectively be muted because they are receiving no audio from Symetrix units.
27. When an xIn, xOut, xIO, or third party Dante unit is first attached to the network, it may take up to
    two minutes to be located by Composer. When it is unplugged, it may still be visible in Composer
    for up to a minute.
28. Some controls in Composer cannot be added to SymVue panels. For a complete list, see the SymVue
    topic in the Help file.
29. Large button matrices in SymVue panels may adversely affect performance.
30. Storing the settings of large matrix modules in more than 100 presets may adversely affect performance.
31. Multiple instances of SymVue panels containing Shure microphone diagnostics may adversely
    affect performance. Minimizing the total number of Shure diagnostic controls opened in SymVue
    is recommended.
32. There may be slight discrepancies in displayed frequencies between SymVue panels and their
    corresponding control screens. For example, in a British EQ frequency display, if the control screen shows 200.000 Hz, the panel shows 200.002 Hz. These rounding discrepancies are visible due to the very high precision shown in EQ frequencies and should be insignificant since they are generally less than 0.002%.
33. For EQ modules that are switchable between Octaves and Q, the SymVue panel will always display the Q value, even though the label may say “Octaves.” The label is created at the time of export and is not updated if the mode is changed. For best results, leave any filters in Q mode if they need to be exported to SymVue.
34. In control screens with background images, it is difficult to wireframe select controls on top of the image since the wireframe dragging may select and move the image. To work around this, first lock the image via the right-click menu. Then hold down the Alt key when wireframe selecting controls.
35. In DTMF Decoder modules, the DTMF Sequences cannot be stored in presets. However, they can be
    stored in settings files, allowing them to be moved from one module to another.
36. If a numeric value box is placed in a control screen without its corresponding fader, it may not update properly. The work-around is to include the fader as well.
37. If Dante routing or settings are changed via Audinate’s Dante Controller software, loss of functionality may result. Changes made from Dante Controller may be in conflict with those made through Composer. For best results, do not reboot the Dante hardware or change settings using Dante Controller. Use it only as a monitoring and troubleshooting tool.
38. A maximum of 80 Dante units are allowed in any system. This includes Symetrix and third-party devices. If more than 80 are present, you may not be able to locate certain units.
39. In the ARC-WEB dialer, if many speed-dials are populated with extremely long strings (thousands of
    characters total), the dialer may not function. This is unlikely to be an issue with “normal” usage.
40. When upgrading the Dante Kernel Firmware for xIO devices, the upgrade may report failure when there are large numbers of units on the Dante network. However, the upgrade will actually succeed as verified by the new version number being displayed. To avoid the erroneous message, upgrade each xIO unit with only it and a single locating DSP unit on the Dante network.
41. Web monitoring may not work properly if certain ad blocker browser extensions are installed.
    If you are having trouble accessing a unit’s web GUI, disable all ad blockers and/or add the unit’s
    IP address to the whitelist.

Installation Notes #

If you are upgrading an existing installation that loads a configuration automatically on start-up, the following procedure is recommended:

1. Make sure you have a copy of the original Site file (.symx file). If it exists on your local drive, skip to
   step 2. Otherwise, use your previously installed version of Composer and choose Hardware > System Manager. Select the hardware that contains an archived Site file and press “Go On-line (Pull from Unit). Follow the prompts to save the archived file to your local drive. Make a note of its location.
2. Turn off the automatic configuration load by going to ‘Upgrade Firmware’, clicking on ‘Erase Memory’, selecting only ‘Stored Site File’ and pressing Erase. Repeat for all connected units.
3. Upgrade the firmware as described below.
4. Re-push your entire Site file to the hardware. Open the Site file in Composer 8.5 and choose
   Hardware > Go On-line (Push Design to Hardware) (or press F4).

Following the re-download procedure listed above guarantees that the DSP code running in your hardware is the correct version to work with the new firmware and Composer application code. Version 8.5 installs to a separate location than from previous versions on your hard drive. Version 8.5 can cohabitate with previous versions of Composer on your PC and will not interfere with their settings. It is important to note, however, that the firmware on the hardware must match the version of Composer that communicates with it. Version 8.5 will only communicate with hardware that is running the firmware released with Version 8.5, etc. If you intend to switch between versions of Composer while using the same hardware, you must remember to change the firmware each time. Composer checks this on download and warns you if a mismatch is detected.

Upgrading Firmware #

IMPORTANT: In order to run Composer version 8.5, the firmware in your hardware devices must be upgraded to the latest version. If you are receiving this software with a new device from the factory, then the firmware versions should already be correct. However, if you are using it with an existing device, then the firmware must be upgraded. Information about the latest release versions is always available on the Symextrix web site. When you try to push a design to hardware, the firmware versions will be automatically checked and you will be told if an upgrade is required. The latest firmware is always provided in the Composer installer.

Upgrading Firmware Using Auto Upgrade #

1. Follow the steps under Installation Notes above.
2. Install Composer 8.5 using the provided Setup utility. This will copy the necessary firmware files to your hard drive.
3. Launch the version of Composer that was just installed.
4. Connect your hardware devices as they would be for normal operation. Disconnect or power down all third-party audio devices, especially power amps and speakers, connected to your device(s) during the upgrade.
5. If you already have a Site file created with all units to be upgraded in it, open that and skip to step 7.
   Otherwise create a new Site file containing all units to be upgraded.
6. For each one, locate them on the network using Hardware > Locate Hardware.
7. Choose Hardware > Upgrade Firmware. Press the Auto Upgrade button. This will upgrade all units
   contained in the site.

If you encounter problems with this procedure or want more control over the upgrade process, try the manual operation procedure below.

Upgrading Firmware—Manual Operation #

1. Install Composer 8.5 using the provided Setup utility. This will copy the necessary firmware files to your hard drive.
2. Launch the version of Composer that was just installed.
3. Connect your hardware devices as they would be for normal operation. Disconnect or power down all third-party audio devices, especially power amps and speakers, connected to your device(s) during the upgrade.
4. Choose Hardware > System Manager. Select the Hardware tab. If necessary, change the Network
   Search Parameters to discover your unit(s).
5. Click the unit to be upgraded and press the Upgrade Firmware button.
6. Click the Upgrade button under Composer Firmware File. An open file dialog will appear allowing you to browse for firmware files. By default it should take you into the C:\Program Files (x86)\Symetrix\Composer8.5\Upgrade folder. Select the appropriate file and click ‘Upgrade’. Close the dialog box.
7. If you have more than one device, repeat steps 5-6.

Upgrading firmware for xIn 12, xOut 12, xIn 4, xOut 4, or xIO 4×4 devices #

When you try to push a design to hardware, the firmware versions will be automatically checked and you will be told if an upgrade is required. To upgrade xIn/xOut/xIO device firmware, follow these steps.

1. Install Composer 8.5 using the provided Setup utility. This will copy the necessary firmware files to your hard drive.
2. Launch the version of Composer that was just installed.
3. Connect your xIn/xOut/xIO devices as they would be for normal operation. Each device must be connected to a Dante network that contains at least one Edge, Radius, or Prism unit. This unit will act as the locating unit for the device to be upgraded.
4. If you have a Site file that contains the locating unit and the xIn/xOut unit(s), open it and skip to 7.
5. Create a new Site file and add a locating DSP unit and all units to be upgraded.
6. For each device to be upgraded, right click on the unit and select Locate Hardware. Find the device in the table, click on it, press Select Hardware Unit then Close.
7. Right click on the xIn/xOut/xIO unit and select Unit Properties.
8. Press the Upgrade Firmware button. Composer will automatically determine if an upgrade is required for the User or Kernel firmware and choose the appropriate version for that version of Composer. To select a custom version, click the Change Version button and select the kernel or user file to be used for the upgrade. This should only be done under supervision by tech support. The filename of the upgrade files will indicate their version. Press the Upgrade Firmware button.
9. Repeat steps 7-8 for each device to be upgraded.

Upgrading RS-485 Device Firmware #

New releases may include new firmware versions for Symetrix RS-485 devices such as the Modular
ARC family and ARC-IIe. To upgrade RS-485 device firmware, follow these steps.

Method 1 – Using a Site File

1. Install Composer 8.5 using the provided Setup utility. This will copy the necessary firmware files to your hard drive.
2. Launch the version of Composer that was just installed.
3. Connect your RS-485 devices as they would be for normal operation. RS-485 devices must have unique addresses (set by rotary or DIP switches on the units—see the appropriate hardware Quick Start Guide for more information).
4. If you already have a Site file created with all units that have RS-485 devices attached, open that and skip to step 6. Otherwise create a new Site file containing all units that have RS-485 devices to be upgraded.
5. Choose Hardware Hardware > Upgrade Firmware.
6. Choose the unit that has the RS-485 devices attached and select Upgrade ARCs.
7. Select the RS-485 device and press the Upgrade Firmware button.
8. Choose the appropriate firmware file and press ‘Open’.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 for each RS-485 device connected to that unit. If there are RS-485 devices
   connected to other units, repeat steps 6-9.

Method 2 – Using the System Manager

1. Install Composer 8.5 using the provided Setup utility. This will copy the necessary firmware files to your hard drive.
2. Launch the version of Composer that was just installed.
3. Connect your RS-485 devices as they would be for normal operation. RS-485 devices must have unique addresses (set by rotary or DIP switches on the units—see the appropriate hardware Quick Start Guide for more information).
4. Choose Hardware Hardware > System Manager. Select the Hardware tab. If necessary, change the
   Network Search Parameters to discover your unit(s).
5. Click the unit that has the RS-485 devices attached and select Properties.
6. Select the RS-485 Remote Control tab. Select the RS-485 device and press the Upgrade Firmware button.
7. Choose the appropriate firmware file and press ‘Open’.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for each RS-485 device connected to that unit. If there are RS-485 devices connected to other units, repeat steps 5-7.

Issues With Site Files From Previous Versions of Composer #

In version 8.5, the Site file (.symx file) format has changed from previous versions. You will be able to open all previous version Site files in version 8.5 or later. However, files saved with version 8.5 may not be readable by previous versions and/or some features may not work properly. If you intend to maintain both 8.5 and previous versions on your computer, we recommend the following guidelines to minimize difficulties with file formats:

A. Backup all previous design files. #

It is recommended that you backup your version 8.4 or earlier design files to a secure location before using or installing Version 8.5. Even if all else goes completely wrong, as long as you have those files, there is a way to recreate your old setup. Note that once you save a file with Composer 8.4 and overwrite a file from a previous version, it may no longer be readable in the previous version of Composer.

B. Don’t use the same file names for Version 8.5 design files. #

If you are going to maintain both versions of the software on your PC, it is highly recommended that you
include something in the file name of all previous version files you save to indicate their version. This way you will be able to tell the files apart if they become co-mingled. Even if you are not going to maintain both versions, it is a good idea to use this practice at least until all your design files have been converted and you have fully embraced Version 8.5.

C. Choose the default locations when installing software. #

When you install any version of Composer software, allow the installation to go to the default folder. This
ensures that multiple versions will not interfere with each other.

D. Do not use version 8.5 software with previous versions of firmware or previous versions of software with version 8.5 firmware. #

The versions of software and firmware must match! The only operation you should do that accesses hardware with mismatched software and firmware is to upgrade to the correct firmware. Upgrading is generally possible regardless of the firmware mismatch. If this is not the case, the release notes will make a point of mentioning this.

Changing Between Dante Switched and Redundant Mode #

If Dante units are cabled for redundant mode while the units are still set to switched mode, problems such as failure to change modes and loss of audio may occur. Use the procedure below any time a device is switched from redundant to switched mode or vice versa. Two different procedures are required depending on if you are using a switched or daisy-chained Dante network.

Procedure 1 – Switched Network or Direct Connection Between Only Two Units #

1. Cable the Dante network as if it were in switched mode, not redundant mode. In other words, make
   connections only to the primary jack. Alternately, if your do not have redundant-capable units that must be located through a DSP, you may simply disconnect the Dante network entirely. If more than two devices are used without an external switch, you will need to use Procedure 2 below.
2. In Composer, go to Tools > Dante Flow Manager > Configure Dante. Select “Redundant Network” or “Switched Port” as appropriate.
3. Push online with the units. This will take slightly longer than usual as the Dante units change their mode.
4. Power down the units.
5. Cable the Dante network as appropriate for the new mode. If switching to redundant mode, you may now connect the primary and secondary between two units or to separate switches.
6. Power on the units.
7. Again push online.

Procedure 2 – Daisy-chained Connections #

1. Connect the first two units’ primary jacks only, primary to primary.
2. In Composer, go to Tools > Dante Flow Manager > Configure Dante. Note that in a daisy-chained
   connection, only switched mode is supported. Select “Switched Port.”
3. In your Site file, disable everything except the first two units.
4. Push on-line with the units. This will take slightly longer than usual as the Dante units change their mode.
5. Disconnect the second unit and connect the third unit’s primary to the first unit’s primary.
6. In your Site file, enable only the two connected unit.
7. Push online. Repeat steps 5-7 for all units.
8. Power down the units.
9. Connect all units.
10. Power on the units.
11. Enable all units in your Site file. Again push online.

All specifications subject to change.