Biamp Tesira Forte User manual

OPERATION MANUAL
January 2018

TesiraFORTÉ FIXED I/O DEVICE PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
The TesiraFORTÉ products are server-class devices that are designed to operate as standalone processing devices, with
Tesira expanders and controllers, or as part of a full set of Tesira devices. TesiraFORTÉ AI, CI and VT products feature
12 analog mic/line level inputs and 8 analog mic/line level outputs in a fixed configuration. TesiraFORTÉ VT4 features 4
analog mic/line level inputs and 4 analog mic/line level outputs in a fixed configuration. All models also include
configurable USB audio, 4 GPIO connections, RS-232 serial port, Ethernet control port and an internal power supply with
a standard IEC three-conductor removable power cord. The front panel of each TesiraFORTÉ server features an OLED
display for system and unit information including the device IP address. The display is navigated with capacitive touch
buttons.
The TesiraFORTÉ products are separated into AVB-equipped, Dante-equipped or standalone TesiraFORTÉ devices with
no digital audio protocol feature. TesiraFORTÉ VT4 is separated into AVB-equipped, Dante-equipped but does not feature
a standalone model (digital audio protocol feature). The models with AVB (Audio Video Bridging) have an additional RJ-45
Ethernet connector for connecting with other Tesira and 3
rd
party AVB devices through the use of an AVB switch. Dante
models feature an RJ-45 Ethernet connector in the place of the AVB RJ-45 connector. This allows other Dante enabled
Tesira or 3
rd
party devices to communicate through the use of switches. The TesiraFORTÉ AVB servers have a capacity
of 128 channels of audio in and 128 channels of audio out. TesiraFORTÉ DAN (Dante) models have a capacity of 32
channels of audio in and 32 channels of audio out. The standalone TesiraFORTÉ products have the same features and
processing functionality as the AVB and the Dante equipped servers, but without the ability to make a digital audio
connection to other Tesira audio devices.

TesiraFORTÉ FIXED I/O SERVER DEVICES FRONT PANEL
TesiraFORTÉ Front Display
1 – Ventilation fan cover
2 – Display navigation buttons
3 – LED status indicators
4 – OLED display
Ventilation fan cover
Each device has a perforated cover to allow cool air into the chassis. A variable speed temperature controlled fan allows
air into the front of the unit and out of the rear left side. Ensure that nothing obstructs the front or side of the unit.
Display Navigation Buttons
Capacitive-touch buttons allow navigation through the OLED display menu to view and configure device and networking
information, as well as see system-wide faults. Navigating the display is accomplished by touch-sensitive UP and DOWN
and SELECT buttons.
LED Status Indicators
Five multi-color LEDs on the front panel of the device provide information about the status of the device and the greater
Tesira system.
•Power – Reports power of the host device and Front Panel Display.
•Alarm – Reports abnormal conditions local to the host device.
•Activity – Reports the activity of host device within the greater system.
•Status – Reports the status of host device.
•AIS (Alarm in System) – Reports abnormal conditions within the greater system.
LED Off Green Yellow Red
Power Unit is not powered Unit is powered Not applicable Not applicable
Alarm
No fault is active in the
device
Not applicable
Minor fault is active in
the device
Major fault is active
in the device
Activity Not applicable
The host device is an
active part of an active
system
Not applicable
The host device is part
of an inactive system
(Audio is stopped) or
host device is not part
of a system
Status Not applicable
Device has received its
configuration and is ready
to participate in the system
Device is ready and
waiting to receive a
configuration
Device is not ready to
receive its configuration
AIS
(Alarm n System)
No fault is active in any
device in the system
Not applicable
Minor fault is active in
a device in the system
Major fault is active in
a device in the system
1
2
3
4

OLED Display
The OLED display provides information about the server device as well as the Tesira system that is connected to the
server. The OLED display is read-only.
Home Screen
The home screen is the default screen that shows the overview of the device. If the text is too long to fit on the entire
display, it will scroll to the left. Menus at the bottom allow other selections. By default the main menu icon will be selected.
Some menu icons double as status indicators. They change depending on the status of the device. The fault status icon
only appears if there is an active fault in the system.
After a period of inactivity, the Front Panel Display will transition back to this home screen.
1. Device description
2. Host Name and IP address
3. Main Menu
4. Network Menu / Status
To open any of the menus, use the UP and DOWN buttons to highlight the menu icon desired, then press the SELECT
button.
Menu Screen
A menu screen containing a list of items that are used to navigate to other menus can be accessed from the home screen.
On the right are icons that provide quick navigation to other screens. Pressing the select button on an item will transition
to the screen that displays that information. A scroll indicator at the left shows if there is more information to show by
scrolling down.
Device Information
The device information screen shows the following information:
•Device description
•Host name
•Serial number
•Firmware revision
System Information
The system information screen shows the following information:
•Device audio state (on/off)
•System description
Network Parameters
The network parameters screen shows the following information
•Host name
•IP address
•Subnet mask
•Gateway
Display Settings
The display settings operations include the following:
•Change brightness and contrast
•Change timeouts

Faults
If a fault is present in the system an exclamation icon is shown on the lower right of the screen. Each unique fault in the
system will be listed.
Edit Timeouts
Dim Mode
The display has a screensaver mode where it will dim the display brightness. Pressing any button will bring the screen
back to the original brightness and respond to the control movement.
Sleep Mode
After the display timeout is reached the display will go blank. The device will still have power in this state even though the
display appears blank.
Localization
All menus and error messages are displayed in English by default. Descriptive icons are used to avoid the need for
messages in specific languages. Text entered (e.g. Device Description) will be displayed in the language as entered in the
software.
The following alphabets are supported:
•Latin-1 (ISO/IEC 8859-1) and Latin-2 (ISO/IEC 8859-2)
•Cyrillic (Russian alphabet only)
•Simplified Chinese
•Japanese – Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji
•Thai

TesiraFORTÉ FIXED I/O SERVER DEVICES REAR PANEL
TesiraFORTÉ VT AVB model (Rear Panel View)
TesiraFORTÉ VT4 AVB model (Rear Panel View)
TesiraFORTÉ CI AVB model (Rear Panel View)
TesiraFORTÉ AI AVB model (Rear Panel View)
1.
AC power inlet
(100
–
240V)
6. RS-232 serial port
2. Gigabit Ethernet control port (RJ-45) 7. USB-B port
3. Voice over IP (VoIP) Telephony port 8. GPIO connections
4. Digital Audio Port
AVB port (RJ-45) – AVB models only
-or-
Dante port (RJ-45) – Dante models only
-or-
Not present – Standalone TesiraFORTÉ
9. Mic/line level balanced output analog connections.
AVB VT, DAN VT and VT – 8x Mic/Line
AVB VT4 and DAN VT4 – 4x Mic/Line
AVB CI, DAN CI and CI – 8x Mic/Line
AVB AI, DAN AI and AI – 8x Mic/Line
5. POTS Analog Telephony port (RJ-11)
10. Mic/line level input balanced analog connections.
AVB VT, DAN VT and VT – 12x Mic/Line with AEC
AVB VT4 and DAN VT4 – 4x Mic/Line with AEC
AVB CI, DAN CI and CI – 12x Mic/Line with AEC
AVB AI, DAN AI and AI – 8x Mic/Line

AC Power Inlet
IEC connector which will accept AC mains voltage of 100-240VAC @50/60Hz.
Control Ethernet Port
Gigabit port used to configure the TesiraFORTÉ unit with Tesira and Biamp Canvas™ software. Can also be used to
attach additional GPIO, receive third-party commands over IP as well as provide physical control interfaces to a system.
AVB Port (AVB models only) -or- Dante Port (Dante models only)
AVB enabled devices can send and receive up to 128x128 audio channels to other AVB Tesira or 3
rd
party AVB audio
devices. Dante devices can send and receive up to 32x32 audio channels to other Dante Tesira or 3
rd
party Dante audio
devices. It is not possible to order a device with both AVB and Dante functionality. If the device does not feature either of
these ports it is a standalone model and does not support the use of a digital audio transport protocol. It is not possible to
add, convert or retrofit hardware to make a TesiraFORTÉ a different model or variant.
Telephony Ports
All variants of TesiraFORTÉ VT and TesiraFORTÉ VT4 feature a Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony port and a POTS analog
telephony port
RS-232 port
Can be used to receive third party controls or output command strings.
USB Type-B port
Can be used to connect to a PC or a computer that is USB Audio Class 1 compliant. Two connection methods are
supported:
1. Connection to a software based codec. It is possible to use either the codec’s AEC, or Tesira’s AEC functions.
2. Line In/Out mode – where the channels of Line In and Line Out are installed in Microsoft Windows® but do not
show up by default.

TesiraFORTÉ FIXED I/O SERVER DEVICES QUICK START
Getting started
1. Install Tesira software on a Windows PC.
•The software must be Tesira version 3.2 or later.
•The most up-to-date version can be downloaded from the Biamp website, https://www.biamp.com
2. Minimum PC requirements:
•Windows
®
7 Professional SP1 32-bit or 64-bit, Windows 10 Professional 32-bit or 64-bit
•1280 x 1024 screen resolution (recommended)
•1 GB RAM
•Intel
®
Pentium 4 Processor 2.4 GHz or faster
3. Cables required:
•Connection to the device should be made using either a direct connection or connection via an Ethernet
switch.
•Direct Connection - 1x Cat5e cable to connect from the PC to the TesiraFORTÉ Control Port
•Via a Switch - 2x Cat5e cables and 1 Ethernet switch
Connecting to the TesiraFORTÉ system
1. Connect the PC and TesiraFORTÉ to the network.
•Connect a Cat5e cable between your PC and the TesiraFORTÉ device.
•Direct connection: Attach an Ethernet cable from the PC’s network card to the TesiraFORTÉ Ethernet port.
The TesiraFORTÉ Ethernet port is autosensing so a straight or crossover cable can be used.
•Connecting via Ethernet switch: Attach an Ethernet cable from the network card to a 100/1000 Base-T
Ethernet switch.
•The TesiraFORTÉ Ethernet port is autosensing so a straight or crossover cable can be used.
2. Power up TesiraFORTÉ devices:
•Connect the supplied power cord to a grounded AC mains voltage of 100-240VAC @50/60Hz. Connect the
other end of the power cord to the power entrance located on the rear of the TesiraFORTÉ unit. Power,
Activity, and Status LEDs on the front panel should illuminate.
3. Assign an IP address to the PC.
•The PC must have a unique IP address in the same subnet as the TesiraFORTÉ device. A TesiraFORTÉ
device is configured from the factory with DHCP or Zero Conf (Link Local) address. If you wish to verify your
PC network interface is set correctly, please review the Setting an IP address section.
4. Configure the software to use the correct Network Interface.
•Tesira software should automatically discover the available network interfaces and enable them. If you wish to
verify the network interfaces you are using, open the Tesira software and select Tools > Options >
Application settings > Network > Device Discovery.
•Selecting Interfaces will list the available connections. These can be enabled or disabled individually. Confirm
the expected Network interface is selected and IP addressing is in the correct range.
5. Connect to the network with Tesira software.
•Open the Tesira software. Connect to the network by going to System > Network > Connect to System.
The System Connect dialog will appear. Select the required device listed in the System List and press
Connect to System (“Connect to System” will not be available for devices that do not have a configuration file
loaded to them). The software will connect and allow real time user control. When the required changes have
been made, disconnect the PC from the Tesira system by going to System > Network > Disconnect from
system.

TesiraFORTÉ FIXED I/O SERVER DEVICES QUICK START
Setting an IP address
It may be a requirement to configure your PC or TesiraFORTÉ IP address. Please review the following section.
Assigning your computer’s IP address
Go to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center. Click on Local Area Connection.
The Local Area Connection Status Dialog will open. Select Properties.
The Local Area Connection Properties Dialog will open. Double-Click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).

TesiraFORTÉ FIXED I/O SERVER DEVICES QUICK START
The Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties will open.
Update the IP address and Subnet mask to ‘Obtain an IP address automatically’
Click OK when complete. Click OK on the Local Area Connection properties dialog to confirm the changes. The PC may
take up to one minute to resolve an IP address. If a DHCP server is available the PC will resolve to an address served to
it. If no DHCP server is available the PC will resolve to a link local address in the 169.254.xxx.xxx range with a subnet
mask of 255.255.0.0.
Auto assignment of IP Address using DHCP
All TesiraFORTÉ units ship from the factory configured for DHCP or Zero Conf (Link Local) address. If a DHCP server is
available, the TesiraFORTÉ will resolve to an address served to it. If no DHCP server is available, the TesiraFORTÉ will
resolve to a link local address in the 169.254.xxx.xxx range with a subnet of 255.255.0.0.
When using more than one device in a system, each device must have a unique IP address. Tesira device IP addresses
must be different from any IP address that will be used on the same network segment. Please note that adjusting a
TesiraFORTÉ IP address will stop the system audio.
Manually assigning an IP address
To make changes to the TesiraFORTÉ IP address you must first be disconnected from the system.
•In the Tesira software, go to System > Network > Perform Device Maintenance.
•Select the device in the Device List. Select Network Settings.
•Update the IP Address, Subnet mask and Gateway values to the new settings.
•Click OK when complete.
•Close Device Maintenance when complete.
•Adjust the PC’s IP address to reside on the same subnet as the Tesira Device.
•Re-start the system audio as needed.