Conductor Commander

conductor commander
Control your home automation system with the sound of your voice!
Conductor Commander is a Windows application that allows you to control your home automation system by issuing voice commands to your ISY-99i from Universal Devices.

Universal Devices' ISY-99i is a powerful home automation tool. The Conductor Commander software allows you to use that powerful tool on any Windows PC in your home.

Learn more about Universal Devices and their ISY-99i

The Conductor Commander software is currently in unlimited beta testing. That means that you are free to use it for as long as you want. All we ask is that you sign up for the beta test. Oh, and we also ask for your patience when working with beta software that hasn't been

Sign up to be a beta tester now!


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How It Works

Using the Conductor Commander software is fairly simple. If you've already set up your ISY with a number of INSTEON devices and organized your devices into folders, your work is nearly done. All you need to do at this point is install Conductor Commander, start it up, and enter the default configuration settings.

It is recommended that you set up your device folders so that they correspond to rooms in your home and that you put each device and scene into a folder. This will help you later when you have to ask Conductor Commander what device or scene is in which room.

Each device (and optionally each scene) supports basic control options that you will use via voice commands.

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Installation & Setup

To install, download and run the setup package. After installation is complete, run Conductor Commander and set your default settings (see figure 1). It can be found in your Start menu, in the Conductor Commander folder. Enter settings as desired:

conductor commander settings screen shot
Figure 1: Conductor Commander options window
  • Connection
    • ISY URL - The URL to be used to contact the ISY device. On a local network, this is usually http://isy. You can also enter the ISY's network IP address. The "http://" prefix is optional. It will be added automatically when Conductor Commander attempts to connect to your ISY. If you are using SSL, you can specify "https://" instead of "http://".

      Note: If you are planning on connecting to your ISY from an external network (like somewhere on the Internet), it is highly recommended that you use SSL. By encrypting your connection, you protect yourself from the risk of a third party obtaining the username and password used to access your ISY. Depending on what you have your ISY doing, that could compromise you and your home's security.

    • ISY User Name - The user name used to authenticate with the ISY device. This is the same user name that you use to log into the ISY's Java Administrative Conole. The default user name is admin.
    • ISY Password - The password used to authenticate with the ISY device.
    • Ignore SSL Errors - Check this box to ignore any SSL errors that may occur. SSL errors can occur for a variety of reasons, the most common of which are:
      • Untrusted root certificate - The certificate is either self-signed or is not from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA).
      • Address mismatch - The certificate is valid, but was issued for a different address than the one you are using to access your ISY. This can happen when you access your ISY via its IP address or if you use a different host name to access your ISY from your internal network as you do when you access it from the Internet.

      Note: While it is certainly convenient to ignore SSL errors, it isn't without risk! SSL certificates are used to verify that you are indeed connecting with the device/address that you intended to connect with. If SSL errors occur, that means that the address cannot be confirmed. In other words, SSL errors are for your safety and peace of mind. By ignoring them, it's possible that you could be connecting to the wrong device, so do so at your own risk.

  • Hardware Sources
    • recording devices control panel
      Figure 2: Recording Devices control panel
      Microphone Input - Choose the device you wish to use as the microphone input. Conductor Command will use this device to listen for your voice commands.

      Note: Currently, only the Primary Sound Capture Driver is supported. That is your default recording device.

      To determine which device is set up as your default recording device, right-click on the speaker icon in your system tray. Then choose "Recording devices." You'll see a list containing all of the microphones and recording devices set up on your system. The default device will have a green check next to it.

      To change the default device, select a device in the list and click the Set Default button. See figure 2.

      Also Note: You may wish to configure the Speech Recognition features on your computer. This will tune the recognition engine to work better with your hardware and the way that you speak. See the following links for more details:

  • Voice Recognition
    • Trigger Word - Choose the trigger word you wish Conductor Command to listen for when receiving commands. The trigger word is the first word you must say to start a command. When Commander hears it, it perks up and listens for the rest of your command. Otherwise, it will ignore what you say.
    • Trigger Word Sensitivity - If you find that Conductor Commander is having trouble understanding you, you can try tweaking the sensitivity of the voice recognition for your trigger word.
    • Trigger Word Sensitivity - If you find that Conductor Commander is having trouble understanding you, you can try tweaking the sensitivity of the voice recognition for your entire command.

      Note: Setting the sensitivity too low may cause Commander to misunderstand what you say. It may also misinterpret other sounds in your environment for commands, which can cause some seemingly bizarre behavior (like lights turning on and off for no reason).

  • Data - After Conductor Commander has successfully loaded devices, scenes, and folders from your ISY, you can return to the settings to modify the data that was retrieved. For example, you can rename a device. You can also elect to have Conductor Commander ask for confirmation when issuing commands to certain devices or scenes. This may be helpful as a safeguard against accidentally activating a device or scene that shouldn't normally be changed (such as opening a garage door, unlocking a door, or turning on your irrigation system).

When you are satisfied with the settings you have entered, click OK or Apply to save your settings.

Note: Conductor Commander stores separate settings for each Windows user account on your computer. When the Conductor Commander is started for the first time, it makes a copy of the default settings. Those settings can be found in the application's install folder (usually C:\Program Files\Conductor Automation\Conductor Commander or C:\Program Files (x86)\Conductor Automation\Conductor Commander). If you update the default settings after running Conductor Commander by a user, please keep in mind that your new settings will only apply to future users.

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Using Conductor Commander

Upon starting up, Conductor Commander will attempt to connect to your ISY-99i using the connection details you provided. If it cannot connect, it will tell you as much and may pop open the Options window so that you can update/correct your connection settings.

If Conductor Commander can connect to your ISY and retrieve your devices, scenes, and folders, it will start listening for commands. You can tell if the application is listening by the red "recording" icon in the bottom left-hand corner of the window (see figure 3 below).

To issue commands simply say the trigger word, followed by the command as follows:

<TRIGGER> <COMMAND> <TARGET> <PARAMETER>

Or:

<TRIGGER> <COMMAND> <PARAMETER> <TARGET>

For example:

  • "Conductor, Turn Kitchen Lights On"
  • "Conductor, Turn Off Patio Lights"
  • "Conductor, Dim Living Room Light 50%"

As you can see, you can mix up your commands a bit and Conductor Command should be able to understand you.

To hear a list of all of the rooms, say "Conductor, List All Rooms."

To hear a list of all devices and scenes in a room, say "Conductor, What's in the <ROOM>," where <ROOM> is the name of a room/folder on your ISY.


conductor commander
Figure 3: Conductor Commander

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Voice Command List

Here's a complete list of commands current available in Conductor Commander:

  • Device/Scene Control Command Options
    • Activate
    • Deactivate
    • Set
    • Turn
    • Dim
    • Brighten
    • Fade
    • Lock
    • Unlock
  • Device/Scene Control Parameter Options
    • On
    • Off
    • Up
    • Down
    • % - In 5% infrements from 0-100%
  • Hear a list of rooms/folders
    • List all folders
    • List all rooms
  • Hear a list of all devices/scenes
    • List all devices
  • Listening State
    • Stop Listening
    • Stop Listening for Now - Stops listening for five minutes.
    • Start Listening
  • Miscellaneous
    • Tell me a joke
    • Give me some advice
    • What's the meaning of life?

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System Requirements

Conductor Commander requires the following hardware and software:

  • Windows 7 (Windows Vista may work, but it has not been tested.
  • Universal Devices ISY-99i - Firmware 2.7.9 or higher (IR or PRO support not required. ISY-26 is not supported)
  • INSTEON serial PLM (required for the ISY to communicate with your INSTEON network)

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Getting Support

If you have trouble with Conductor Commander or have any questions, comments or feedback, there are a number of ways that you can contact us:

  • Post to our UDI Forum - Universal Devices Inc. is generously hosting our discussion forum. You are encouraged to post your questions or feedback here as others may be able to help (and getting your problem solved may help others).
  • Email Support

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