Selected/Unselected audio separation

Trivia

SmartPTT Dispatcher supports customizable and very flexible audio output separation between multiple audio devices.

Sometimes there is only one device connected to Dispatcher and it is necessary to separate audio between Left/Right sides, which case requires a little workaround this article will cover.

Intended system design

From considerations of system integrity and limiting the ability to lose transmissions due to misconfigurations, there has to be a device that will play out everything, such device is selected as the Main device.

With no regard to custom Audio Output Devices configurations, Main Device will always play out Selected, Unselected, Alarms, and System sounds of the system.

Any additional devices are treated as virtual sets consisting of the real output devices and can be assigned different audio outputs to different objects, thus separating the incoming sound.
For example, different speakers can be assigned to the first and second radio network channels, and the headphones can be set to selected objects.

Separation with a single audio device

In the event that only a single set of speakers is available and separation between Left/Right is desired, there is a way to override the Main Device limitation:

1. Install a blank audio device driver.
   You can pick any other, as long as the new constantly active device is generated in Windows;
   
2. In SmartPTT Dispatcher select the previously installed blank device as Main Device;
   
   
3. Switch to the Audio Output Devices tab and create 3 new output devices (4 in total with the Main Device).
   Let's call them Both, Left and Right for the sake of this instuction.
   
4. Check L: and  R: channels of the real physical device, not the fake one, for the virtual output device called Both.
   Check L: for the virtual output device called Left.
   Check R: for the virtual output device called Right.
   Keep the Main device as it is, unaltered.
   
   
5. In the Objects side of the same window, assign Right for Selected objects, Left for Unselected objects, Both for System sounds and Alarm.
   
   
6. Hit Finish to save and apply the settings.
   
   

Known issues

IMPORTANT! The method described above is not the intended use of the current audio separation implementation, but rather a workaround over some failsafes in the system. 

Audio disappears completely after physcial device replugging/Windows update/Windows restart.
When a specific channel of a physical device selected, SmartPTT maps audio settings to device's Hardware ID (HID) generated in Windows.
This HID likely to be created anew upon physically disconnecting this USB-device and plugging it back.
In rare cases, same behavior can occur upon Windows update or Windows restart.
To resolve disappeared audio issue, go through steps 2-5 to reassign correct HID of a device in Dispatcher. 

SmartPTT technical support team strongly advises to verify console's audio integrity upon every Windows restart and cable maitenance.