Voice Assistant Platforms
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Voice Control and More!
Use voice, schedules, and triggered events to control your whole-house audio system (Lync 6, Lync 12, MC-66, MCA-66) using the most popular voice assistant platforms: Alexa, Google Home, and Apple's HomeKit. Read the overview on this page, and then click on your favorite platform below to dive in with all the details.
Requires gateway model WGW-SLX.
Unlike previous gateway models (GW-SL1 and WGW-SL1), only WGW-SLX includes the hardware and software necessary to work with these platforms.
Works hand-in-hand with the HTD Home Audio app and keypads.
Commands issued from your voice assistant platform - whether by voice, a pre-defined schedule, or a triggered event - are instantly reflected on keypads and in the HTD Home Audio App. While control of basic features can be accomplished with the voice assistant, it should be thought of as a companion to the app and not as a replacement. The app is always your best option when making adjustments with button presses. The current status of your zones is also only viewable with the app and keypads.
Get to know your voice platform.
It's a good idea to already be familiar with your voice assistant platform before enabling and linking the HTD Home Audio SKILL with your account at Amazon, Google, or Apple and subsequently syncing your custom zone names, source names, and presets from the HTD Home Audio APP. If you are using voice assistant devices such as an Echo Dot (Alexa), Nest Mini (Google Home), or HomePod (HomeKit), make sure they are properly configured and working with simple commands, such as requesting the weather and time of day, before diving in with commands for whole-house audio.
Review the basic syntax for out-of-the-box control.
Once the HTD Home Audio SKILL is linked in your voice assistant platform and you've synced your custom settings from the HTD Home Audio APP, you can use voice commands for basic zone functions such as turning on and off a zone, selecting a source for the zone, adjusting volume for a zone, and muting and unmuting a zone. You can also issue global commands to turn on or off all zones and mute and unmute all zones. Presets you’ve created in the HTD Home Audio app can also be launched with a voice command.
Examples for Alexa (Google Home and Home Kit will be similar):
"Alexa, . . ask Home Audio to turn on Kitchen."
. . . ask Home Audio to set volume to 32 on Patio."
. . . ask Home Audio to put Master Bedroom to Master TV at volume 20."
. . . ask Home Audio to turn off all zones in my home."
Customize the voice commands.
Note that "ask Home Audio to" is required by default. Without it, your voice assistant will not know if you intend to turn on a kitchen light or turn on the kitchen speakers. That said, you can use Alexa Routines (similar features in Google Home and Home Kit) to create voice commands that sound more natural to you and that can even perform multiple tasks at once.
Example: Instead of “Alexa, ask Home Audio to switch source to Sonos in Kitchen”, you could create a routine that performs this exact same command but with words of your choosing, such as “Alexa, set Kitchen to Sonos”.
Beyond voice control.
While voice control is convenient, an even more powerful use of the command structure is to combine the written syntax with other smart home commands into a routine that can be executed by a voice command, a schedule, or a triggered event.
- Voice Command Example: “Alexa, good morning". This voice command might already include instructions for your thermostat, lighting, and security system; now it can also include commands for your audio zones.
- Scheduled Event Example: Create a schedule that automatically turns off audio zones at a set time of day.
- Triggered Event Examples: Have all zones (or specific zones) mute whenever someone rings a smart doorbell, and unmute after an amount of time you specify. Have all zones turn off when you set your security alarm to away mode.
Launching Presets.
As nice as Presets are within the HTD Home Audio app, they are even better when used with a platform like Alexa, Google Home, or HomeKit. “Ask Home Audio to launch [preset name]” can be spoken out loud or added to a schedule or triggered event.
When you want to issue multiple Home Audio commands at once within your Voice Assistant platform, it’s often easiest to first create a Preset in the Home Audio app and then call to it with a voice command, schedule, or triggered event.