Introduction to Artisto

Artisto, On-Hertz's Audio-first Production Platform is the ultimate solution for any audio production needs.

More than just a mixer, Artisto functions as the ultimate software toolkit. It provides interconnectable nodes for audio routing, shuffling, mixing, processing, and monitoring. Enhancing Artisto's already comprehensive integration with protocols such as SIP, WebRTC, SRT, NDI, HLS or Icecast, the new inclusion of ST 2110 and Multiple Audio Devices provides broadcast engineers an unmatched level of flexibility to reinvent their infrastructure.

The solution allows broadcasters to break free from legacy hardware limitations, turning any browser into a powerful production platform. On top of that, its comprehensive API facilitates Artisto's integration into larger workflows, including with orchestrators and third-party hardware or software.

Scalable and distributed by nature, On-Hertz Artisto's fully software-based approach can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud, on bare-metal or hypervisor, traditionally or containerised.

Artisto enables broadcasters to meet both creative and economic demands, catering to modern and future industry needs.

Artisto is architectured in several layers:

1. the engine itself as a collection of micro-services;
2. an open, modern and well-documented API;
3. user interfaces
   • the Designer allows system engineers and architects to design audio pipelines with an intuitive brick-building web interface (in line with the highly modular engine architecture)
   • turnkey or fully custom operational user interfaces
   • bridges to third-party party protocols (MIDI, MIDI RTP, Ember+, Cerebrum...) for hardware controllers and/or third-party software.

The full product sheet can be found here.

We recommend you to check our YouTube channel to get a better idea of how our customers take advantage of Artisto.

System Requirements

Artisto can run on physical servers or on virtual machines, under Windows or Linux (Docker).

This section focuses on the system requirements for the physical or virtual hosts. For more details on the Windows or Linux (Docker) deployments, see the respective pages.

Warning

For performance and stability reasons, with ST 2110, the use of Linux is strongly recommended.

Physical Servers

System requirements:

• Operating system: Windows 10 Pro or Windows Server 2022 or later; Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS or later (check the Deployment section for details)
• Processor: Intel Core, Xeon or AMD Ryzen with at least 6 performance cores and 3 GHz of base clock or superior
• RAM: at least 16 GB (32 GB recommended)
• Storage: at least 512 MB
• Web browser: Chrome or Firefox version 100 or later

Warnings

1. The microprocessor clock frequencies listed in the table above are base frequencies and not maximum Turbo Boost frequencies. Furthermore, the Turbo Boost feature must be disabled to ensure optimal operations of Artisto.
2. For customers implementing ST 2110 production workflows:
   • a machine with a minimum of 8 physical cores is required,
   • we recommend using Intel’s X710 network adapter

Notes

1. On-Hertz recommends using a processor with a higher clock frequency over a processor with a higher number of physical cores.
2. Audio quality does not only depend on a fast processor. The main challenge is to achieve the lowest possible audio latency, which depends on several factors. In order of importance:
   • The quality of your audio device and its drivers
   • RAM performance, in terms of access time
   • The performance of the motherboard, in terms of bandwidth to the buses and interfaces
3. If you run the user interface (web browser) and the Artisto engine on a single PC, we recommend that you opt for a separated graphics card with dedicated memory.
4. On-Hertz can guide you in selecting equipment.

Virtual machines

For applications that have fewer constraints on audio latency, for example playout or contribution, using Artisto in a virtual machine on an enterprise class type-1 hypervisor such as VMware ESXi or Proxmox is a very practical and effective solution.

System requirements:

• Operating system: Windows 10 Pro or Windows Server 2022 or later; Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS or later (check the Deployment section for details)
• Processor: at least 6 vCPU (8 recommended)
• RAM: at least 16 GB (32 GB recommended)
• Storage: at least 512 MB
• Web browser: Chrome or Firefox version 100 or later

Warnings

1. When deploying Artisto on a virtual machine (VM), it is important to ensure that the number of virtual cores remains unchanged; otherwise, your license will become invalid. For the same reason and to achieve the best performance, you must also pin the threads of the VM (which correspond to the virtual cores) to the physical cores.
2. ST 2110 may require more vCPU.

Audio interfaces

Professional PCIe, USB or "virtual" interfaces are highly recommended. For evaluation purposes, you can of course use your computer's internal audio interface.

Under Windows, Artisto supports WASAPI and ASIO APIs. With the exception of internal interfaces (e.g. Realtek chips) whose ASIO drivers are sometimes unstable, ASIO is recommended in all other cases.

Under Linux, Artisto uses ALSA. Please verify that the driver for the audio interface you plan to use is available for your chosen Linux kernel and distribution.

Examples of physical interfaces:

Brand	Model	Description	Linux driver available	Remark
RME	HDSPe MADI	128 channels PCIe MADI card	Unofficial
	HDSPe MADI FX	390 channels PCIe MADI card	Unofficial
	MADIface USB	128 channels USB2 MADI interface
	Digiface Ravenna	256 channels USB3 Ravenna/AES67 and MADI interface
	Digiface Dante	256 channels USB3 Dante/AES67 and MADI interface
Digigram	LX-MADI	64 channels PCIe MADI card	✓
	VX1222e	12 Channel PCIe AES Digital/Analog		Buffer size must be set in the Digigram control interface
Focusrite	RedNet PCIeNX	128 channels PCIe Dante/AES67 card
Marian	Seraph M2	256 channels PCIe MADI card
	Clara E	512 channels PCIe Dante/AES67 card	✓

Warnings

1. Internal audio cards and low-end audio interfaces can significantly impact the overall performance of Artisto due to the quality of their audio converters and drivers.
2. Artisto is compatible with 32-bit floating point audio interfaces such as the Zoom UAC-232 provided you use their appropriate ASIO driver. The advantage of this type of interface is that there is no need to adjust the gain of the microphone preamps.
3. When selecting a USB device, we recommend FPGA-based ones such as those from RME.
4. Most PCIe audio cards are full height. Some rackmount server models only allow the installation of half-height cards. It is therefore necessary to check this point when selecting the server and its audio interface.
5. RME Digiface models have a USB 3.0 interface. Make sure your server offers such a port.
6. The Marian Clara E requires Artisto Engine to be set in Multi Audio Device (MAD) or ST 2110 mode.

Examples of virtual interfaces:

Brand	Model	Description
Audinate	Dante Virtual Soundcard	64 channels Dante (non AES67 compatible) virtual card
Axia	Livewire+ AES67 IP Audio Driver	24 channels Livewire+/AES67 virtual card
Lawo	RƎLAY VSC Virtual Sound Card	8 channels Ravenna/AES67 virtual card
	RƎLAY VPB	Ravenna/AES67 virtual card and routing matrix

Warnings

1. Artisto works great with an Audinate DVS on a VMware ESXi virtual machine, but you will need to purchase a special license for the DVS. It is not possible to activate a DVS with a code purchased online on a virtual machine. You must go through an Audinate reseller.
2. To date no solution is available under Linux !
3. Keep in mind that ultra-low latency AoIP transport protocols such as AES67 or Dante need an external PTP time source, usually in the form of a hardware device, to work. In the majority of cases virtual sound cards can therefore not be used to exchange streams directly between servers if no time reference is available.

Audio interfaces & VMs

In the case of virtual machines, you have two possibilities:

1. Use one of the virtual cards listed above
2. Not use any audio interface

The second possibility may surprise you, but some applications such as interview recording via SIP or WebRTC for example potentially do not need local audio inputs or outputs. In such cases, Artisto uses an internal software clock that simulates that of the operating system's audio API in the case of physical or virtual audio interfaces.

Please refer to the Registered User guide, under the Configuring microservices section for audio backend type selection.

End-user device

On-Hertz web applications can be operated using a browser from any laptop or desktop computer, or in some cases from a tablet or a mobile phone, connected to the same network or via the internet.

Below you will find the required configurations.

iOS tablet or mobile

• iPhone X or iPad of 9th generation or later
• iOS/iPadOS 15 or later
• Safari 14.5

Android tablet or mobile

• Android 13 or later
• At least 4GB RAM
• A 4-core processor with a minimum clock speed of 2GHz
• For a tablet a 12-inch diagonal screen and for a phone a 6-inch diagonal screen are recommended
• A Chrome or Firefox browser version 100 or newer

Computer or thin client

• Operating system: Windows 10, Windows 11 or macOS 12
• Web browser: Chrome or Firefox version 100, or Safari 14.5, or later
• Display: touchscreen of at least 24 inches with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 or higher

Technical support

Our goal is to maintain and continually improve our user documentation, just like our products.

If you encounter any difficulties, we encourage you to first consult this documentation by searching using the text field in the title bar above. Chances are, the solution is already there.

If you think you've found a bug in one of our software, a fix may already be available. We therefore encourage you to check if a new version addressing this issue is available by consulting the product release notes.

If unfortunately you haven't found a solution, we invite you to email us at support@on-hertz.com. To ensure prompt response, please include the following information in your email:

1. The name and exact version of the product you are using: in the right corner of the title bar of our application's web interface, you will find a question mark icon. Clicking on it will reveal the "About" option, which opens an information dialog box. In the middle of it, you'll find an icon to copy all necessary information to the clipboard.
2. A precise description of the problem, if possible explaining how to reproduce it: to help our engineers to quickly reproduce, understand, and identify the source of the problem, a detailed description is essential.
3. The latest log files: all our microservices write log files; please attach the relevant files.

Continuous improvement

On-Hertz is committed to continuous improvement, to which end the specifications and characteristics of our products are subject to change without notice.

To help us improve our documentation, we invite to report any omission or inaccuracy found in this manual by email to intercom@on-hertz.com.