Key Articles
Stardraw.com appoints Architectural Audio China Distributor
 Software
providers Stardraw.com are pleased to announce the appointment of Architectural
Audio China (AAC) for the exclusive distribution of Stardraw Control throughout
China. AAC has its main office in Shanghai with branch offices in Beijing, Guangzhou,
Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shenyang and Nanjing, where each office services 40-50
sales channels (dealers and systems integrators) with a total of 400 channels around
China.
AAC is a well-established distributor that already carries a number of prestigious
pro audio and AV brands, including Peavey's MediaMatrix, Architectural Acoustics,
Crest Audio and Opson International to name but a few. As such, AAC is well placed
to capitalize on all business opportunities for Stardraw Control in China. "AAC
is an excellent fit for us," confirmed Stardraw's marketing director, Rob Robinson.
"They take a system-based approach and deal with some huge projects: Beijing
Airport Olympic terminal; Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport; the Shanghai
Railway Network; Shanghai International Circuit (F1 Formula One Grand Prix), the
Guangzhou International Convention Center - the list goes on. Stardraw Control
will help to add a new dimension to the solutions they can offer and it interfaces
with all of their current lines for an even more holistic and integrated approach."
Architectural Audio China are also excited at the opportunity of introducing
Stardraw Control into the Chinese market. Group managing director, Song WeiMing
commented, "Our customers are looking for more effective ways to integrate AV
systems over a network. Stardraw Control represents a leap forward in terms of
system architecture and ease of configurability, as it is a software rather than
hardware solution. We believe this new partnership will be to the benefit of all
concerned."
Stardraw.com announces support for Autonomic Controls
 Stardraw.com
have announced their support of the Mirage Media Control System 2.0 from Autonomic
Controls. The multi award-winning Stardraw Control software allows creation of customized
graphical user interfaces to control any hardware device over any protocol, while
Mirage MCS software allows two-way control, over a TCP/IP or serial connection, of
music and video content hosted in a Windows environment. Together, the companies'
respective applications deliver comprehensive, integrated control of any system, the
hardware it comprises and its media content. This is all achieved without having to
write a single line of code.
The Mirage MCS service hooks into media content stored on a PC and interfaces with
Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player, iTunes, Pandora Internet Radio and XM Radio.
Its client UI can be accessed from any browser that supports Flash and there is also a
client application, compiled as a program (.exe) file, that can be run on any PC.
Stardraw Control provides the UI for overall system control and Stardraw.com CEO David
Snipp explains how the software works together:
 "The design of Stardraw Control is such that it is easily and infinitely extensible;
this is one important benefit of an open architecture platform. Using our WebBrowser
control we can host any web page or browser interface, and with our ApplicationHost
control we can embed any application inside the Stardraw Control UI. Working with
Mirage MCS couldn't be easier: you just set the WebBrowser address property to that of the Autonomic server,
and there you have it - full control of any media
on any computer, without writing a single line of code. This is just one example of
how we can work with third-party technologies within the Stardraw Control platform:
the only limit to what you can do is set by your own imagination…"
Michael de Nigris, CEO and Co-Founder of Autonomic Controls, sees the integration
as a positive step for all concerned. "There's a clear, complementary relationship
between our products, and we're impressed with how simple it is to run Mirage from
within Stardraw Control. Autonomic provides the media content and control while Stardraw
handles the hardware, no one has to be a computer scientist and everybody benefits."
Beat the Credit Crunch with Stardraw AV
 Economically,
these are truly challenging times. The word we're
getting from the street is that the business is out there,
but it's cash that's in short supply. Even with the TARP and
Stimulus Packages being implemented, the banks have not yet
determined to whom they should be offering credit and under
what circumstances. We at
Stardraw.com think that it's time for some positive action.
So while belts are being tightened even more, we believe that there's
something that we can continue to do to address the cash issue.
Own Stardraw AV for Only $300 a Month.
For 12 monthly payments of $300 you can enjoy all the
benefits of Stardraw AV, normally priced at $3,000, without
the usual upfront investment. In addition, this offer
includes your year 2 Annual Subscription (normally $450)
which delivers data updates, online services and unlimited
free technical support during your second year of use. So in
year 2 there's nothing -
nothing - to pay for maintenance or support, or
anything else, for that matter.
Our program is that simple: 12 monthly payments, nothing to
pay in year 2, and on your final payment you
own Stardraw AV, the world's most
popular professional Audio-Visual system design and
documentation package.
This offer is open to customers in the US and Canada only. For
more information please contact Joel Schwartz on +1-800-982-7709 or email
sales@stardraw.com
New Features in Stardraw Control, Enhanced CobraNet Support
 Since
our last newsletter, a number of additions to the Stardraw Control platform have been published,
including a very significant enhancement to support of CobraNet devices. We continue to invite
comments and suggestions from all users, and thank those who have helped to make Stardraw Control
an even better application.
Enhanced! CobraNet Support - enhancements to support of the SNMP protocol and modifications
to the Cobranet Input port class mean that any CobraNet device can be fully controlled and monitored by
Stardraw Control. Importantly, this includes all DSP functionality. This has been made posssible by
the fact that Stardraw Control's CobraNet Input port class can now load up
the CobraNet DSP Conductor file that describes the DSP elements and interconnections in any DSP-enabled CobraNet
device. Now from within Stardraw Control you can access all DSP element IDs, and set and retrieve any property
from any element, without writing any code. This is expected to be of particular interest to CobraNet licensees
who can use Stardraw Control as a tool to create standard User Interfaces for their DSP modules, and for integrators
who wish to combine CobraNet control with control of other devices in the system, whatever the protocol in use.
New! Embedded Icons - it is now possile to embed any Icon (.ico) file within Standalone and Client
executables to give a fully-customized look and feel to your deployed projects. In Stardraw control's Forms View,
simply select the Form and set its Icon property to the .ico file of your choice.
New! Copy and Paste in Report Dialog - following the great reception to the ability to copy, paste and edit
actions in the Actions dialog, similar functionality has been added to the Report dialog. The Report dialog gives an
overview of all events and actions in your project and the ability to copy, paste and edit events and actions
means that it is now even easier to create and modify similar events and actions in-place. Sequences can also be created
and edited in other text-based applications, e.g. Notepad or Excel, and then pasted directly into the Report dialog.
These new and exciting features will be automatically installed when you choose to accept updates when Stardraw Control starts up.
If you have an idea for a new feature or enhancements to existing functionality, please use the link below
to post them to our Features Request Forum.
Important Notice: Australian Distribution
 Following
the appointment of administrative receivers to manage Coemar de Sisti Pty Ltd., former Stardraw
distributor in Australia, we'd like to advise all customers in Australia that Stardraw.com
will service the region directly until such time as a new distribution partner is established.
Customers in Australia should feel free to contact our London, UK office with any enquiries,
or just email sales@stardraw.com.
Free Custom Device Driver Offer Extended
 Until
September 30th 2009 Stardraw.com is offering to write one custom device driver for anyone buying a new license of Stardraw
Control 2007 or Stardraw Control 2007 Developer Edition.
Commenting on the initiative CEO David Snipp explained, "As an open-architecture,
universal control platform, the great thing about Stardraw Control
is that anyone can create their own drivers. The source for
existing drivers is readily accessible, which means that you can cut
and paste to create new ones with very little effort. However,
we recognize that many users do not have the time or inclination to
'cut code', so we thought it would be a great idea to offer our
services so that users can get the drivers they want on demand."
"This is a win-win," he continued, "because our users get the
specific drivers they need with no outlay in cash or time, and the
Stardraw Control platform itself benefits from a raft of newly
supported devices which represent the products that people need to
control in the real world."
New users purchasing Stardraw Control 2007, full or Developer
Editions, can request the creation of a driver for the product of
their choice. There is no limit on the complexity of the
driver, which can be uni-directional, i.e. issuing commands only, or
bi-directional, i.e. offering command and monitoring functionality,
but there are some logical conditions:
- The device must be remotely-controllable and communicate
over an existing, supported transport protocol (e.g. TCP/IP,
IR, RS232, KNX/EIB, SNMP, Ethersound, Cobranet etc)
- The device command protocol must be open, documented and
supported.
- The driver will contain standard command/monitoring
functions but may not necessarily contain esoteric and/or configuration
functionality since it is intended for control of the use,
not the configuration, of that device.
- The offer is limited to one driver per new license of Stardraw
Control 2007 or Stardraw Control 2007 Developer Edition.
- Full terms and conditions are available on request from
Stardraw.com and authorized Stardraw Control resellers.
New Training Dates
 European
Master Distributor COMM-TEC is offering a program of training courses
to be held at their Uhingen, Germany headquarters. Courses are available both for design/documentation
applications and control applications.
|
Course
|
Language |
Date
|
Cost
|
|
Stardraw AV
|
German
|
September 22nd
|
€300
|
|
Stardraw Control Basics
|
German
|
September 24th
|
€300
|
|
Stardraw Control Advanced
|
German
|
September 25th
|
€300
|
To reserve your seat please
email stardraw@comm-tec.de. For more details click on the link below.
Upcoming Events
 |
Show: |
CEDIA |
Venue: |
Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA, USA |
Dates: |
September 10-13 |
Booth: |
6829 |
Symbols Updates
In June the following libraries were updated
in one or more of Stardraw's design/documentation
applications (Stardraw Audio 2007, Stardraw AV 2007 and Stardraw AV Lite 2007). Click
on a manufacturer name to see full details of that library.
To update your Offline Libraries, select Options | Synchronize Offline Libraries in
your Stardraw application.
|
