To Kamurah: Thanks for chiming in. I also plan to connect via Ethernet.
I would like to know what’s involved with setting up a Dante system, particularly what hardware (if any) is necessary in addition to a Dante card. Can you or anyone else can point me in the right direction?
Hey…I am happy to give you an idea of how my system is set up…but with Dante there are no limits to the ways your system can be configured…so it will be up to you to decide what your needs are.
I run a Focusrite Rednet PCIe card in my PC…think of this as the traffic cop for all the Dante connections, into and out of your computer and allows for you to freely route 128 channels of audio. While you can forego the PCIe card and run a Dante Virtual Soundcard using your built in Ethernet, the latency will be much higher than with the PCIe card. Obviously you will need the Dante expansion card for the H9000…which will give you 32 channels within the H9000. These can be configured any way you wish…as direct I/O via analog or digital…or as sends…and these configurations can be recalled. The Dante card inside the H9000 adds those channels to the existing I/O…so using 32 channels of Dante does not affect your analog or digital I/O. The H9000 is clocked via Dante.
I use a Focusrite REDNET AM2 for monitoring and headphones….but Audinate has released various 2 channel I/O options so you can use your own DAC, or route audio out of the H9000 via analog or digital. I route additional headphone feeds to AES / EBU Audinate I/O connected to another headphone DAC. I also feed audio into the system via AES / EBU from other digital gear (for me, a Fractal Audio AXE FX3…but you could use other outboard). All clocking is handled by DANTE and is automatic, so once configured there is very little to adjust.
All the physical connections are via a Cisco Ethernet switch, which also provides PoE for the AM2.
The entire setup is configured by the Dante Controller software…which allows any signal to be routed anywhere…and setups can be saved and recalled.
The final piece for me was to purchase the Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS). This software allows WDM / system audio in Windows to be routed within the Dante network. I use this for playback of YouTube or Spotify…and all that is required is for me to add an audio track in Cubase with the DVS channels assigned. Since there are no WDM drivers for the REDNET PCIe card (only ASIO), this allows the system audio to function alongside ASIO audio.
It seems complicated but really is not once you wrap your head around the way Dante handles the routing of audio signals. If you have specific questions please feel free to ask and I will try to answer.
Best of luck.
I understand much of what you wrote, but some of it is in the “it seems complicated” realm.
It also seems like overkill for me, both in terms of cost and functionality for my little one-man studio. Heck, the H9000R itself is overkill in some respects, but I couldn’t resist coming along for the ride.
My unit arrived today, and I have cabling set up so it can send/receive 8 channels of analog audio. This sidesteps any clocking issues, and keeps things relatively simple for now.
However, I can’t yet actually use the unit because I need to update the system, and Emote crashes when I try to do this. I downgraded Emote to 1.2.2, and it does see my H9000R, but so far the hardware update has been unsuccessful. I sent Patrick Flores an email re this problem about an hour ago.
Like you, I have an AXE FX3. I have AXE I/O 3 set up to function as an external effects loop. I have my patchbay set up so I can patch from AXE Output 3 into an external effect (H9000 here we come), then from the H9000 back into AXE Input 3. That should be an awesome setup for a gearhead like me!
I use an RME Fireface UFX (original model, not the more recent one), which has been just rock solid since day one. But I don’t know if a Dante system would be able to interface with the UFX, due to the aforementioned clocking issues. My understanding is that one or the other would have to be the master. And again, if I were to set up my AXE FX3 to use AES/EBU, might those clocking issues once again need to be resolved?
Anyway, thanks for your detailed reply. Much appreciated.
