A³ Core

Where the sound is: it takes the analog inputs, computes the 3D/ambisonics field and sends it out, with no interface of its own — A³ Mixer, A³ Motion and anything speaking the same OSC control it. It also runs the Beat Analyzer (tempo and meters). Linux, remote desktop over VNC. Source: a3-core.

A³ Core numbered

The front panel

Nothing here controls audio:

№

Element

What it does

1

POWER

switches the device on

2

RESET

reboots the server, just in case

3

POWER LED

says whether it is on

4

Fan and filter

clean it regularly

Audio in and out

All of it: Patchbay.

Clock sources

The tempo comes from A³ Motion (INT), from the music (EXT) or from a Pro DJ Link tempo master (PIO), chosen on A³ Motion’s clock key. What each mode needs: Beat Analyzer › Clock modes.

The screen and its workspaces

The portrait touch screen (768 × 1024) shows one workspace at a time:

Workspace

What is on it

MOTION (1)

A³ Motion’s touch screen

STEMDECK (2)

StemDeck, always running

REAPER (3)

the audio engine

QJACKCTL (4)

the JACK patching

SCARLETT (5)

the Scarlett interface’s mixer, when it is open

  • Between the touch apps: the key at the far right of the top bar (STEMDECK in A³ Motion, MOTION in StemDeck), in the same spot in both. ▾ lists workspaces that have a window.

  • On REAPER, QJACKCTL, SCARLETT: tap MOTION or STEMDECK in the bar at the top (hidden on the touch apps, which fill the screen).

The window

http://<core>:9080 from anywhere on the network shows what the devices actually say to each other — the answer to “cable, setting, or me?”, since over UDP a control nobody hears looks like one that works.

The window, showing the traffic

  • Top: the peers, each with a last-heard dot; per device, a3-osc.json is Core’s or, red, DIFFERS from Core’s (an older truth; what to do — desk, StemDeck and Motion fix themselves within seconds).

  • Rows: one per address — count, rate, last value, device.

  • Verkehr / Register: what went past, or every address that can exist; nur tote Drähte shows those that never arrived.

  • The address list survives a Core restart; values and history don’t. It only looks, it never controls.