FAQs

Yes Sound Devices and Joeco have a recorder that take Dante input.

Necessary Features of a switch:

1GB (or more) for every port

Switching capacity to 2 x number of ports (eg, 20Gbps for a 10 port switch) If it has EEE (Energy Efficient Ethernet), then it should be disabled.

Quality of Service (QoS) with 4 queues

Diffserv (DSCP) QoS, with strict priority

A managed switch is also recommended, to provide detailed information about the operation of each network link: port speed, error counters, bandwidth used, etc.

Dante devices can work at 16-bit, 24-bit or 32-bit. These different bit depths can co-exist on the same network. They can even share the same audio. If a 24-bit device transmits to a 32-bit device 8 “zero bits” are added to each word. If a 32-bit device transmits to a 24-bit device, the last 8 bits are simply removed.

Different sample rates can co-exist on the same Dante network. But devices working at different sample rates cannot share audio. Dante controller will not let you make a patch between devices if the sample rates do not match.

Dante controller is necessary in order to route audio to different Dante devices on a Dante Network. Dante Virtual Soundcard makes your computer’s Ethernet port an audio interface.

Audinate recommends:

Gigabit ports for inter-switch connections

Quality of Service (QoS) with 4 queues

Diffserv (DSCP) QoS, with strict priority

A managed switch is also recommended, to provide detailed information about the operation of each network link: port speed, error counters, bandwidth used, etc.

Yes. Official Apple Gigabit network adaptor cables are supported for connection to a Dante network.

No.

Absolutely. With Dante you can transmit up to 4 channels to 32 different devices, 8 channels to 16 dif- ferent devices, 16 channels to 8 different devices, 32 channels to 4 different devices.

The secondary port can be used to connect to additional Dante equipped devices (acting as a network switch). It can also be used to connect to a redundant network.

When Dante devices are connected via an external network switch, all devices are connected to a sin- gle central point which most often means a “star” topology, minimizing the number of “hops” through which data must pass. This also avoids the scenario in which the failure of one device causes the entire “daisy chain” to break.

Dante selects a Master device depending on a set of specific variables. Devices with clock inputs (word clock or AES3) will be preferred in the election process. A gigabit connected device is preferred over a device connected via 100Mbps. A tie-breaker rule of the lowest MAC address is used if several equiva- lent candidate Master clocks are available.

This process may be overridden by manually setting “PTP Preferred” master on a device.

Yes it does.

Dante Control and Dante Virtual Soundcard updates would come as an update to their specific applications.

Updates to the DL32R and optional Dante Card will come as an updated version of the application in the iTunes store.

Dante latency is deterministic; that is, it is not dependent upon circumstances but instead well-known and consistent within the system all of the time. Data takes more time to travel through a switch than through a wire, so more switches in a network means more latency.

1 switch hop (very small network): 0.15ms

3 switch hops (small network): 0.25ms

5 switch hops (medium network): 0.5ms

10 switch hops (large network): 1ms

Multicast transmission will ALWAYS have a latency of 1ms regardless of the setting.

The optional Dante Card on the DL32R supports 32 channels of audio both directions.

The Master Fader 5 app allows wireless control from iPod touch (4th and 5th generation), iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S.

It’s perfect for on-stage performers controlling their own mix or for FOH engineers looking for pocketable wireless control. Note iOS11 is required for Master Fader 5.

Use shielded cable when RF interference is possible. Unshielded will work in most cases.

Don’t use the old standard of CAT5. Use CAT5e or CAT6, solid core shielded.

Cat7 can be used but is less easy to work with: termination takes more time, it is stiffer, and more ex- pensive.

Never use a copper cable longer than 100m.

Use cable with solid copper cores whenever possible.

Stranded copper cores are more flexible but not so good at long distance transmission.

Keep 60m maximum with stranded cable.

Fibre-Optic cable with the correct CAT5e or CAT6 converter is also an option. Fibre-Optic cable comes in Multi-Mode (good up to about 500m) and Single-Mode (Good for several Km). Either can be used with the correct interface.

Yes there are external system processors that have optional Dante Cards.

It’s simple. The mixer itself does all the heavy lifting.

Onyx mic pres amplify the signal. High-end AD converters convert this to digital. The powerful DSP chip processes and mixes this through the low latency mix engine.

What’s missing?  Control. And that’s where the iPad comes in. It is the control surface, controlling the DSP and mixer parameters but no audio processing occurs in the iPad at all.

All the magic happens in the mixer itself which is powerful and able to produce undeniably professional sound quality.

Do not use CAT5 cable. Use CAT5e or CAT6 cable. Never use a copper core cable longer than 100m. Avoid going over 60m with stranded cable.

Dante control and Audio are the only types of data sent over a Dante network.

Dante devices can work at 16-bit, 24-bit or 32-bit. These different bit depths can co-exist on the same network.

Unicast flows preserve network switch bandwidth, unicast only goes to the designated devices. Multicast is more work for the switches. It copies and sends the data to ALL Dante devices on the net- work.

Dante Controller application will give tips for when Multicast could be necessary.

Audinate’s rule of thumb if sending same audio to 3 or more devices switch to multi-cast.

Look in the events page on the Dante Controller app for tips.

You can use a tool on your Windows PC such as Advanced IP Scanner to check your mixer's MAC address. Similar tools are also available for macOS.

To compensate for any switches you might have in your system. General latency rule; 100 microseconds per switch.

Dante can be used over Fibre-optic cable with the correct conversion cables from Cat5e or Cat6 to Fibre Optic.

To prevent a show stopper if one network to fail. Dante redundancy is Glitch-Free, producing no audible effects when invoked.

Yes you will need to use Dante Controller.

In addition to audio routing the Dante Controller allows you to:

Configure device parameters such as device name; receive latency and sample rate and clocking param- eters.

View network and device information such as link speeds, status and utilization; clock status and firm- ware version.

Be notified when significant changes happen on the network such as a change of clock master.

To connect the Optional Dante card to a computer you will need the Dante Virtual Soundcard. To con- nect to other Dante Devices you should not need the Dante Virtual Soundcard.

Dante sends (In order of priority):

Word Clock timing

Audio Data

Dante Data (control and monitoring).

The DL32R with the optional Dante Card can be made a part of any Dante network. Once routes are established with Dante Controller, a simple network of two Dante devices will work in a stand-alone fashion.

No.

Yes. Once routes are established with Dante Controller, a simple network of two Dante devices will work in a stand-alone fashion.