GPIO and Control
MQTT studio integration for visual radio
The systems around your studio often need to know what it is doing: which microphone is open, or what is on program right now. VRA's studio apps share that live state over MQTT, and your own integration can get scoped access to read it and to write signals back.
What VRA does with MQTT.
Read live studio state
Subscribe to one studio's microphone triggers, switcher, now playing or schedule, as the studio apps publish them.
Write signals
Publish to a signal's command topic to set its value. VRA confirms with a retained state snapshot.
Hold the automation switch
Audio Director and Camera Assist are signals in every studio, so an outside system can switch the automatic camera switching off and back on.
Access scoped per studio
Credentials cover one studio and the topic families you asked for, and expire after an hour by default.
How to set it up.
Requirements
- An MQTT client that connects over WebSocket and renews its token.
- A VRA account with access to the studio and the features you read.
- An engineer or integrator to build and test the client.
Tell us which studio state your system needs and whether it writes signals.
Give the integration a VRA account with access to that studio.
Request MQTT credentials from VRA Cloud for the studio and the topic families you need, then connect your client to the broker URL they contain.
Renew the token before it expires, and test every signal write before it reaches an on-air workflow.
MQTT questions
Can I use MQTT as a GPIO input in VRA? +
No. MQTT appears in the GPIO type list but has no driver behind it. Use Ember+ or Livewire for GPIO, or write a signal over the studio bus.
Is VRA's MQTT interface documented? +
Not publicly. Talk to us before you build on it. For simple control, the Core API over HTTP, TCP or OSC is documented.
Does MQTT carry program video or audio? +
No. It carries state and control messages. Your audio and video connections carry the program.
Visual Radio Assist
About MQTT.
MQTT is the message bus VRA's studio apps and the browser use to share live state. An integration connects to the same broker with credentials VRA Cloud issues for one studio and a chosen set of topic families: microphone triggers and metering, the switcher, now playing, the schedule, macros, GPIO, automations, Core state, signals and Render Engine state. A family is only included when the account has access to it, and the token expires, after an hour by default, so the client renews it.
Signals are the way back in. Publishing a value to a signal's command topic writes it, and the retained state snapshot that follows is the confirmation. Every studio has two signals, Audio Director and Camera Assist, which switch the automatic camera switching from Audio Triggers and the Camera Assist automation on and off, so your own system can hold that switch.
The MQTT topics are not publicly documented, so talk to us before you build on them. For buttons and simple commands on the studio network, the Core API over TCP or the Bitfocus Companion module is the documented route.
What you can do with this connection
Automated camera switching for radio
Switch cameras from microphone activity and prepare PTZ shots off air.
More infoThe products behind it.
More integrations.
TCP
Control your visual radio studio over TCP. Send one line of text to VRA Core to put the studio on air, cut a camera or fire a macro, and get a reply.
Bitfocus Companion
Get Stream Deck control of your visual radio studio. The VRA Core module for Companion puts on air, cuts, macros and auto switching on keys with tally.
Ember+
Use Ember+ parameters as GPIO triggers for visual radio. VRA reads the console and router values you map to cut cameras, change graphics or run macros.
Check your studio setup with us.
Tell us your camera models, video switcher and radio automation. We will check the connections and show you the workflow that fits your station.