The MS-1e features a built in FTP interface to allow third party control systems to upload audio files for playback. The third party system will be required to upload files to the MS-1e at run time before they can be used for playback in custom sequences. See the Audio File Manager section for supported audio formats.
The loading of audio files to the MS-1e is facilitated by using an FTP client and connecting to the MS-1e's IP Address.
Files will be allowed to be uploaded either as an anonymous user or using the Username and Password “vtp” (this is supported by default and is not configurable). Each .wav file must be formatted according to the supported audio format as expected by the Audio File Manager.
Vocia only supports .wav type RIFF files that contain mono 16-bit PCM data with a sample rate of 48kHz. The first two subchunks in the file must be the format (fmt) chunk and the data chunk. Other chunks in the file will be ignored. The maximum length of a single audio file is 120 seconds. The total FTP space available for custom .wav files provided by a third party is 10GB.
There will be two destinations for .wav files depending on their use;
Long term life time audio files are intended to be used across two or more messages in a short period of time. On this basis the third party is expected to clean up after the files have been used as the firmware cannot be expected to know how long to keep them around. It is not intended that they will be uploaded to the MS-1e and left there indefinitely as VTP Audio Files serve this function already. For files uploaded to the long term folder the third party control system will be responsible for deleting any audio files uploaded via FTP once it has finished with them. Files will be stored in non-volatile memory and will persist if the MS-1e is reconfigured or power cycled however they will be cleared when a Reset/Initialise is performed or if the firmware of an MS-1e is updated. The following FTP operations will be supported for this folder: list contents of the folder, upload a file, download a file and delete a file. The /customwavs/lt folder is where files with a long term lifetime are stored.
Short term life time audio files are intended to be used in a single message only and as such can be automatically cleaned up by the MS-1e firmware once it is done with the audio. The MS-1e will delete the audio files uploaded via FTP when the MS-1e no longer needs them (ie. after the sequence that was triggered to play them back has finished). Files uploaded by FTP will be stored in non-volatile memory, but will be flushed from disk if the MS-1e is reconfigured or power cycled. They will also be cleared when a Reset/Initialise is performed or if the firmware of an MS-1e is updated. The following FTP operations will be supported for this folder: list contents of the folder and upload a file. The /customwavs/st folder is where files with a short term lifetime are stored.
Files uploaded via FTP will be available for playback using either the path /customwavs/lt/<filename> or /customwavs/st/<filename> where <filename> is the name of the file that has been uploaded by the third party system. The Message Player in the MS-1e will make no attempt to wait for the file to finish being uploaded to the MS-1e via FTP, and it is up to the third party sequence to wait for the files to be fully uploaded before using them in an announcement. Similarly the Message Player in the MS-1e will make no attempt to ensure that the files exist before attempting to play them back. In both cases an error during playback will occur which will be reported in the system log and the message playback will fail. Any remaining Elements will not be played back and the Page event will end.
The ‘E’ command is used to specify a file uploaded via FTP as an Element in a sequence. See the set_Elements_for_a_paging_sequence in the MS VTP Commands section for more information on using the 'E' command and required formatting.