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Biamp Cornerstone

Getting Started with Nexia

The goal of this guide is to help you become acquainted with any (or all!) of our Nexia line of DSP products.

This will include connecting to the device, accessing and configuring its default system configuration file, creating your own configuration file from scratch, and understanding some of the methods that help guarantee a smooth installation and high-quality audio experience.

Feel free to jump around in this guide, but we have tried to present the information in the most useful order possible. Remember that you can always use the search option in the upper-right of the Cornerstone site to access our other articles and guides, which include a number of other Nexia-related topics.

Five flavors

The Nexia platform consists of five different products, each one designed around a particular use scenario:

  • Nexia CS - Conferencing scenarios with local audio only

    cs back.png
     
  • Nexia PM - Multi-media presentations requiring both microphone and program audio

    pm back.png
     
  • Nexia SP - Speaker processing for line inputs feeding a large number of discrete outputs

    sp back.png
     
  • Nexia TC - Teleconferencing with both far end and local audio

    tc back.png
     
  • Nexia VC - Videoconferencing with both far end and local audio

    vc back.png


Each of these systems features network-friendly open architecture, allowing you to design the system that suits your particular needs.

Getting started

In order to communicate with your Nexia device, you will first need to download and install the Nexia software. This is freely available on our website and can be found under Discontinued downloads. The current version is Nexia Software V3.3.

(If your device was purchased prior to July, 2013, you will also want to download the most recent version of firmware, available at the same link. You can use the following instructions for Updating Firmware on an Audia/Nexia, but you may want to return to this guide after learning how to connect to your system.)

The Nexia device will need to be powered on and connected to the same subnet as your computer in order for the two to communicate. The factory default IP address for a Nexia device is 192.168.1.101. Therefore, if the Nexia is brand new or has not been modified, you should be able to communicate with it by connecting your computer to the same network and setting the computer's IP address to 192.168.1.x (where x = any number 1-254, except 101).

If you're unsure of your Nexia's IP address, you can use either of these two methods to discover it:
 
Finding and Changing an Audia/Nexia IP Address via RS-232
Finding an Audia/Nexia IP Address via Ethernet

We also have a step by step guide to getting connected: Troubleshooting: Connecting to an Audia or Nexia

Once you are on the same subnet, take a moment to watch the following videos. These will guide you through the process of connecting to your Nexia, retrieving its system configuration file, and updating or sending a new configuration file to the device.

Setting Network Discovery Options


Connecting to a Nexia Device


Sending or Updating a Configuration File to the Nexia

Building a configuration file from scratch

You are not limited to the default configuration file! Nexia software allows for open-architecture system design. The video below will guide you through building a Nexia configuration file from scratch:

Part 1:


Part 2:

 

Further understanding

There are many elements -- physical, acoustical, digital, and otherwise -- that come into play when designing a modern sound system. For our purposes, two of the most critical elements to understand are having good gain structure and, for teleconferencing applications, cancelling acoustic echoes.

To that end, we highly recommend that you spend some time familiarizing yourself with the following two articles. Understanding these concepts can not only save you some frustration when designing a sound system, but also time, effort, and, ultimately, money.

Gain Structure
Acoustic Echo Cancellation​​

Additional resources

Biamp Systems is dedicated to helping you work with and enjoy our product, and we believe education is an important part of that.

We are pleased to offer a number of free webinars every month, with topics intended to help you explore and integrate Biamp's products, as well as develop an understanding of more general audio and audio networking concepts. For detailed listings and to sign up for a class, please see our Live Online Training page.

For quick questions, please see our page containing Nexia Frequently Asked Questions.

We also invite you to explore further on CornerStone, our online information resource. This site contains step-by-step guides, articles, and other useful tools for making the most of your Biamp system. This introduction to Nexia is just one small section of it, and we are always interested to hear suggestions for what you would like to see added to the site!

Finally, please feel free to contact Biamp's Support team for any questions you may have regarding system design or implementation. We have a global team of Applications Engineers ready to help you, and can be reached at support@biamp.com or +1 503.641.7287.