RIYA Multibus Basic Lasershow Controller
Intro:
The RIYA lasershow controller line of DACs have been around a while, and a few years ago moved from PCI to USB/Ethernet interface. Because of this, they have recently gotten some attention due partly to their reasonable price and professional build quality and capabilities. This review covers their MultiBus Basic controller, the ‘mid range’ of the MultiBus series that includes the MB Micro, Basic, and Pro which retail at 150/200/250 euros respectively.
Features:
-Real-time streaming control via USB or Ethernet
-SD card stand-alone playback, about 65 minutes per GB at 30kpps, up to 2GB
-34kpps max, 12bit X&Y, 8 bit RGBI
-Powered from USB or external 5V adapter
-Embedded geometric correction, scaling, shift, mirror
-Embedded blanking shift correction
-Embedded color conversion RGB/RGY/Monochrome
-Live Shutter control
-Optional 8-bit TTL control
First look:
http://hacylon.case.edu/laser/riya/RIYA_Front_.jpg
http://hacylon.case.edu/laser/riya/RIYA_Back_.jpg
As you can see, this controller comes in an enclosure, and it feels solidly constructed. The control buttons have a good tactile feedback, and in general this box gives the impression it could take any abuse you could dish out on the road.
On the front there is the SD slot and four unmarked control buttons for stand-alone SD playback which are from left to right: Play/Pause, Show/Bank select, PPS down, PPS up. On the top are four lights: ‘Mode’ (lights during Ethernet communication), SM (lights when Ethernet frame received), Power on, and USB mode.
On the back is the External/USB power switch, External power jack, Ethernet port, USB port, and ILDA connector.
Installation:
The controller utilizes an ATMEL USB interface, and driver installation is straightforward. When installed, “RIYA Multibus Controller” appears under the ports listing in the windows device manager. RIYA has granted 3rd party software that is compatible with the controller such as LDS the ability to include its driver interface DLL, so no further installation is necessary.
Setup:
After installing, you can set up the controller using the included configuration program. With this program, you can set up the device network parameters, scanning parameters, and blanking and color parameters.
http://hacylon.case.edu/laser/riya/control1.jpg
http://hacylon.case.edu/laser/riya/control2.jpg
http://hacylon.case.edu/laser/riya/control3.jpg
http://hacylon.case.edu/laser/riya/control4.jpg
Once these parameters are entered, they are stored in the controller firmware and applied to all following projections, including SD card projections. This feature allows easy setup for different venues and different projector positions. Furthermore, a show series can be loaded onto an SD card or broadcast live over Ethernet to multiple projector controllers at once, and the controller will apply the appropriate scanning corrections/transformations for its projector position in real time.
Usage:
This controller can be used with at least the following free show software:
HE_Laserscan (currently being fixed)
LFI Player
RIYA Laser Player
RIYA LiveRunner
And at least the following commercial software:
Laser Design Studio (LDS)
Spaghetti
Projector connection:
The DB-25 female ILDA connector includes the standard complement of outputs including a real-time controlled shutter signal. X and Y are differential outputs and the color signals in the retail model are differential 0-5V.
For USB control, simply plug the controller in to your usb port and after driver installation it will automatically be recognized. Up to 4 controllers with different output can be used simultaneously, if the control software supports it.
For Ethernet control, configure the controller over USB using the setup program and then disconnec the usb and connect the controller to Ethernet and an external 5V power source. Then enter the controllers IP address in the network.ini file in the program directory of the show software you are using, and the controller will automatically be detected and used over Ethernet. I tested this feature and liked it a lot, as it frees up USB ports on the computer and more importantly allows control over a very long distance without signal degradation, noise or hum issues, or expensive cabling.
According to RIYA, because of the dual USB/Ethernet control, a single Multibus controller can receive signals from two synchronized computers at once, and if one crashes, for example the USB computer, the controller will switch over to Ethernet control and continue playing. This redundancy, of course, would be a big benefit for live performances.
For stand-alone SD card playback, you will need to load the show onto the SD card using the RIYA show to SD utility.
http://hacylon.case.edu/laser/riya/RIYA_SD.jpg
This utility accepts ILDA V0,1 formatted files and allows selection of an external palette. The SD card can be written over Ethernet as well as USB. For organizing the shows there are 64 ‘banks’ and each bank can hold 64 shows. The shows can be played a bank at a time or a show at a time, and will loop per show or per bank. An obvious use for the SD card interface is as a stand-alone controller for advertising display at a point of sale or ‘live art’ entertainment points inside a venue. Additionally, if one were crafty, they could code mono audio into an unused color and have a two-hour audio-synchronized stand-alone laser display. A final possible benefit of the SD card capability is that the card is formatted with a proprietary format, so it cannot be read in a PC or from the SD utility program. Because of this, according to RIYA, the card can be considered a secure show transfer medium for laser media sales. Because of the Ethernet loading capability of the SD card, new material can be loaded to the controller over long distances and during breaks in performances.
RIYA Live Runner:
This software is RIYA’s in-development application for live show control. It can be used with a touchscreen or a mouse, and is intended to allow easy live control by switching between various ilda animations and among graphic and beam effect banks and panels. Currently, morphing, distortion and translation effects must be applied to the ilda file before being loaded into LiveRunner, but once you have a panel full of interesting ilda sequences (generated elsewhere), control is very simple and straightforward. A demo download of LiveRunner is available for controller owners - contact RIYA for more information. While this demo version is somewhat useable, it still has a rather unfinished feel to it, and I couldn’t get the text generation to work correctly.
http://hacylon.case.edu/laser/riya/LiveRunner.jpg
Technical:
In my tests, the RIYA DAC output was noise-free and very clean. Sample and frame timing jitter did not appear to be an issue, although occasionally LDS appeared to skip a frame for no apparent reason. I observed no frame skips when playing shows from Spaghetti or SD card. HE-Laserscan support appears to be temporarily broken, but should be fixed soon. This controller works very well with LFI player for live show production and its very good abstract generator.
http://hacylon.case.edu/laser/riya/Scope_ilda.jpg
As you can see, no high frequency or low frequency noise is visible on the vector display. Note that the dot size is an artifact of the phosphors on the display screen, and X-Y scaling is due to the rectangular tube. While it would be nice to have a point rate over 34kpps, for most show applications this is not necessary.
Conclusion:
As a lasershow controller, I feel the RIYA Multibus Basic represents an exceptional value, given all of its features and capabilities. Alternate controllers with Ethernet capabilities can cost thousands more, and no other controller that I am aware of comes with both SD card and Ethernet functionality. That said, the overall value must be judged also in terms of the software quality available. While RIYA currently does not have much home-grown show software available, there are many commercial and free alternatives, a few of which reach a high professional level at a very reasonable (if any) price. I expect an investment in the RIYA Multibus line of controllers to hold its value for a long time, as long as software support continues to grow.
Rating:
Hardware: A
Included Software: B-
Optional software: A
Value (Performance/Price): A+
Edit:
not FTDI-based USB interface
color signals are differential in retail models according to RIYA
liverunner is free, not commercial
added retail pricing
