Extron Electronics Dante Controller User Manual

Dante Controller User
Guide

User Guide

For Dante Controller version 3.4 for Windows and Mac OSX

For Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8, and Mac OS X 10.6.8, 10.7.5 and 10.8.

Document version: 1.0

Document name:AUD-MAN-DanteController-3.4.x-v1.0.pdf

Published: Thursday, 28 March 2013

Dante Controller User Guide

Contents

About Audinate 8

About Dante 8

Introduction 9

About Dante Controller 9

What's New in version 3.4 9

v3.4.0 9

v3.2.9 10

v3.2.8 10

Minimum System Requirements 10

General 10

Windows 10

Mac OSX 11

OperatingSystem Updates 11

Firewall Configuration 11

Monitor Requirements 11

Installing Dante Controller 12

Downloading Dante Controller 12

Installing Dante Controller on Windows 12

Installing Dante Controller on Mac OSX 12

Uninstalling Dante Controller 12

Windows 13

Mac OS X 13

Dante Basics 14

Discovery and auto-configuration 14

Automatic network configuration 14

Automatic discovery 14

Differentiating between input and output channels 14

Device Names and Channel Labels 14

Rules for Names and Labels 15

Routing Audio 15

Routing Terminology 15

Subscription 16

Redundancy 16

Audio Formats 17

Flows 17

Advanced Routing: Using Multicast 18

Clock Synchronization 18

Dante Clock Types 18

Clock Settings 18

Slave to External Word Clock 18

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-2-

Dante Controller User Guide

Preferred Master 18

Clocking and Synchronization in Redundant Networks 19

Clock Health Monitoring 19

Activating Clock Health Monitoring 19

Latency 20

Latency and the Dante Virtual Soundcard 20

Dante Control and Monitoring 20

Starting Dante Controller 21

Where to find the Dante Controller application 21

Windows 21

Mac OSX 21

Configuring Dante Controller 21

Network Interface Selection 21

Using Dante Controller 23

Network View 23

Network View Menu bar 24

File 24

Device 24

Help 24

Network View Toolbar 24

Network View Tabs 24

Sub-views within the Network View 25

Routing View 25

Expanding the Routing View 25

Customizing the Network View 26

Device Channels 26

Subscribing to Audio Channels 26

Subscribing to Multiple Audio Channels at once 26

Unsubscribing Audio Channels 27

Subscription Status 27

Device Status View 27

Clock Status View 28

Clock Domains 30

Master Clocks 31

Events View 31

Automatic Notification of Device Errors 32

Incorrect IP address configuration 32

Failsafe mode 32

Device View 32

Device View Menu bar 34

File 34

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-3-

Dante Controller User Guide

Device 34

Help 34

Device View Toolbar 34

Device View Tabs 34

Receive Tab 35

Available Channels 36

Subscribing to Audio Channels in the Device View 36

Changing Rx channel labels in the Receive Tab 36

Transmit Tab 36

Changing Tx channel labels 38

Status Tab 38

Device Information 38

Dante Information 38

Clock Synchronization 39

Primary Interface 39

Secondary Interface 40

Device Config Tab 40

Configurable Parameters 41

Rename Device 41

Sample Rate 41

Receive Latency 41

Reset Device 41

Network Config Tab 42

Dante Redundancy / Switch Configuration 43

Redundant 43

Switched 43

Switch Configuration 43

Addresses 43

HA Remote 43

Multicast Transmit Flow Configuration 44

Presets 46

Saving Presets 46

Loading Presets 46

Troubleshooting 48

Messages on Startup 48

Computer Configuration Checklist 48

Third-party firewall configuration 48

Troubleshooting Dante IP Address Configuration 49

Correct IP configuration 49

Possible IP network configuration mistakes 49

Incorrect PC/Mac IP configuration 49

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-4-

Dante Controller User Guide

Incorrect general IP configuration 49

Incorrect redundant network configuration 49

What are the symptoms of using the wrong network interface on my computer? 50

How do I check which network interface my Dante Controller/Dante Virtual Soundcard is
using? 50

How do I check IP addresses for all devices on my network? 50

Troubleshooting Switch Configuration and Cabling 51

Symptoms of switch or cabling issues 51

Switch and Cabling Checklist 51

Index 52

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-5-

Dante Controller User Guide

Contacts

Audinate Pty Ltd

Level 1, 458 Wattle Street

Ultimo NSW 2007

AUSTRALIA

Tel. [phone]

Postal address

Audinate Pty Ltd

PO Box 855

Broadway NSW 2007

AUSTRALIA

Audinate Inc

1732 NW Quimby Street

Suite 215

Portland, OR 97209

USA

Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]

www.audinate.com

Copyright

© 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Audinate®, the Audinate logo and Dante are trademarks of Audinate Pty Ltd.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Audinate products are protected by one or more of US Patents 7747725, 8005939, 7978696, 8171152, and
other patents pending or issued. See www.audinate.com/patents.

Legal Notice and Disclaimer

Audinate retains ownership of all intellectual property in this document.

The information and materials presented in this document are provided as an information source only.
While effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information, no guarantee is
given nor responsibility taken by Audinate for errors or omissions in the data.

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-6-

Dante Controller User Guide

Audinate is not liable for any loss or damage that may be suffered or incurred in any way as a result of
acting on information in this document. The information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be
responsible for making their own assessment, and are advised to verify all relevant representation,
statements and information with their own professional advisers.

Software Licensing Notice

Audinate distributes products which are covered by Audinate license agreements and third-party license
agreements.

For further information and to access copies of each of these licenses, please visit our website:

www.audinate.com/software-licensing-notice

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-7-

Dante Controller User Guide

About Audinate

Audinate Pty Ltd is a leading developer of media networking technology whose products and solutions are
transforming the way the world interconnects multimedia systems. Audinate’s rapidly growing customer
base spans the broader international AV industry and includes many key industry brands.

Audinate’s hardware and software products and solutions are founded on patented technologies invented
by its world-class networking experts. They enable manufacturers and AV system solution providers to
produce sophisticated, easy to use, pro-audio quality AV solutions over standard IP networks.

Audinate is based in the United States and in Sydney, Australia.

Digital Media Networking Perfected

About Dante

Audinate’s Dante technology provides high performance digital media networking that meets the quality
and performance requirements of professional live sound, AV installations and broadcast and recording
systems.

Designed to fully exploit the capabilities of today and tomorrow’s networking equipment, Dante provides
media transport mechanisms that eliminate many traditional audio network design restrictions. Dante
makes it easy to set up robust, flexible digital audio networks with virtually unrestricted performance. A
Dante network can be designed with mixed Gigabit and 100Mbps network speeds, simultaneously support
audio with different sample rates and bit depths, and even allow the design of network zones with different
latencies.

Dante is built on Internet Protocols — not just Ethernet. Because it uses standard IP over Ethernet, Dante
is capable of running on inexpensive off-the-shelf computer networking hardware, and with the use of
standard QoS can share installed networks with other data and computing traffic.

Dante provides sample-accurate synchronization and can deliver the very low latency required by
professional audio. Dante’s network-centric, audio-independent approach to synchronization allows
perfectly synchronized playout across different audio channels, devices and networks, even over multiple
switch hops.

Dante makes networking a true plug-and-play process, allowing automatic device discovery and system
configuration. Dante-enabled devices will automatically setup their network configuration and advertise
themselves and their channels on the network, reducing complicated, error-prone set-up procedures.
Instead of “magic numbers”, networked devices and their input and output signals can be named to make
sense to the user.

Dante is not restricted to allowing configuration and transmission of audio channels. Dante also provides
mechanisms to send or receive control and monitoring information across the Dante IP network, including
equipment-specific messages and control specified and developed by a particular manufacturer.

With its strong foundations and links to current and evolving network standards, Dante is able to deliver a
level of future proofing otherwise unavailable in other types of digital audio transportation. Dante was
designed for Gigabit networks from its inception, and Dante as it exists today already incorporates aspects
of the emerging AVB networking standards. Continued evolution of its networking technology is an integral
part of the Dante roadmap.

Dante technology is available in ready-to-implement hardware and software products, reference designs
and development APIs.

For more information, please visit the Audinate website at www.audinate.com.

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-8-

Dante Controller User Guide

Introduction

About Dante Controller

Dante Controller is a software application provided by Audinate which allows
users to configure and route audio around Dante networks. It is available for PCs
running Windows 7 and Windows 8, and Apple Macs running OS X 10.6.8, 10.7.5
and 10.8.

Once you install Dante Controller on your PC or Mac and connect it to a Dante
network, you can use Dante Controller to:

n View all Dante-enabled audio devices and their channels on the network

n View Dante-enabled device clock and network settings

n Route audio on these devices, and view the state of existing audio routes

n Change the labels of audio channels from numbers to names that suit you

n Customize the receive latency (latency before play out)

n Save audio routing presets

n Apply previously saved presets

n View and set per device configuration options including:

o

Changing the device name

o

Changing sample rate and clock settings

o

Viewing detailed network information

o

Access the device web page to upgrade firmware and license information (where supported)

o

Identify a device for example by flashing LEDs (where supported)

What's New in version 3.4

v3.4.0

n Metering icons are displayed for supported devices.

n The Multicast Bandwidth for the network is displayed on the menu bar.

n The event log icons have been updated.

n Subscription in progress icons are now displayed when new subscriptions are made.

n Clock Health Monitoring - displays a notification if a device clock is showing signs of instability.

n Clear Config replaces FactoryReset for supported devices.

n Mute Status has been added to the Device view > Status tab.

n The Apple Bonjour service is no longer used for device discovery by Dante Controller for Windows -

the Audinate 'Dante Discovery' service is now used instead. Dante Discovery is installed
automatically with Dante Controller v3.4.0 for Windows.

Note: If you have Dante Firmware Update Manager or Dante Virtual Soundcard, do not uninstall
Bonjour from your system - it is still required by those applications.

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-9-

Dante Controller User Guide

v3.2.9

n For supported devices (Dante-MY16-AUD cards v3.3.9 and up), the Device View now includes an

HARemote tab.

n Dante Controller for Mac now supports OSX10.8.

v3.2.8

n Switch Configuration - supported devices allow specialist switching configurations

n Device View > Status tab - for supported devices, the 'Device Information' pane in the Device View

> Status tab now displays manufacturer, product type and product version information for the device.
Dante-specific information for the device (Dante model, Dante software and Dante firmware
versions) is now displayed in the 'Dante Information' pane.

n Device Status View - the 'Type' and 'Version' columns have been renamed as 'Product Type' and

'Product Version'

n Various performance and stability enhancements

Minimum System Requirements

The tables below list the minimum system specifications for your computer to be able to use Dante
Controller.

Disclaimer: It is possible that your computer may meet the requirements below, but suffer from some
other individual performance limitation related to its particular hardware. Please seek the advice of your
computer support administrator.

General

Component Recommended Minimum Requirement

Processor 1GHz or better

Memory 512Mbyte of RAM

Network Standard wired Ethernet network interface (100Mbps or Gigabit). Wireless LAN (Wi-

Fi) Ethernet interfaces are not supported

Windows

Component Recommended Minimum Requirement

Operating
System

n

Windows XP SP3 (32-bit only)

n Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

n Windows 8 (32-bit and 64-bit)

NOTE: Both UTF-8 and Unicode are supported EXCEPT for host or device
names; the DNS standard does not support Unicode for these

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-10-

Dante Controller User Guide

Mac OSX

Component Recommended Minimum Requirement

Operating System Mac OS X 10.6.8, 10.7.5 and 10.8.

NOTE: Intel architecture only; PPC architecture is not supported

Note: If you intend to also install Dante Virtual Soundcard on the same machine as Dante Controller,
you will require a machine which meets the minimum system requirements for Dante Virtual
Soundcard.

OperatingSystem Updates

Ensure your PC or Mac has the latest Windows or Apple updates installed.

Firewall Configuration

Firewall configuration for Windows Firewall and Mac OSX built-in firewall is automatically handled during
installation.

Dante Controller communicates over UDP over the following ports:

n Dante Control and Monitoring: 8700-8704, 8800

If you are using a third-party firewall product, use the port information provided above to configure it
accordingly.

Monitor Requirements

n A display resolution of at least 1024 x 768, with a screen size of at least 19” is recommended for

Dante Controller.

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-11-

Dante Controller User Guide

Installing Dante Controller

Downloading Dante Controller

Dante Controller is available for download from Audinate’s website.

To download a copy of Dante Controller:

1. Go to Audinate’s website: www.audinate.com.

2. Navigate to Support > Software Downloads > Dante Controller.

3. If not already logged in, you will be asked to log in or register before continuing.

4. Once registered, download the required version of Dante Controller (Mac OS X or Windows).

This will download a self-installing Dante Controller file.

Installing Dante Controller on Windows

Once you have downloaded the self-installing Dante Controller file, navigate to the directory where you
have downloaded it (e.g. Desktop).

To install:

1. Ensure you are logged on to your PCas an administrator.

2. Navigate to and double-click the Dante Controller installer file.

3. Read the license agreement. If you agree to the terms, select the 'I agree' checkbox and click
Install. If you do not agree to the terms, click Close.

4. Confirm / acknowledge any Windows security prompts that are displayed.

Dante Controller will then be installed. Dante Controller will be added to the start menu, under
'Audinate'.

Installing Dante Controller on Mac OSX

To install Dante Controller on Mac OSX:

1. Double-click the Dante Controller .dmg file. A drive icon will appear on your Desktop Finder window.
Double click on this to open.

2. Double click the Dante Controller .pkg. This will run the installer.

3. Read the license text, and if you accept the terms of the agreement, click Agree.

If you do not accept these terms, click Disagree to terminate the installation.

Uninstalling Dante Controller

You should not need to uninstall Dante Controller before installing a new version.

However, if you do wish to uninstall DanteController:

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-12-

Dante Controller User Guide

Windows

Navigate to Control Panel > Programs and Features, select Dante Controller and click Uninstall.

Note: Two other Dante features, 'Dante Control and Monitoring' and 'Dante Discovery', may still be
present in the programs list after uninstalling Dante Controller. Do not uninstall these features if they
are present - they are required by other Dante software applications (for example, Dante Virtual
Soundcard, Firmware Update Manager, and third-party Dante control applications). They will be
removed automatically if they are no longer required.

Mac OS X

Drag the Dante Controller application into the Trash folder.

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-13-

Dante Controller User Guide

Dante Basics

Discovery and auto-configuration

When a Dante-enabled device is connected to an IP/Ethernet network, it will automatically:

1. Configure its IP address

2. Advertise itself to allow automatic discovery

Within seconds of a Dante-enabled device connecting to a network, Dante Controller will automatically
discover and display the device, allowing you to configure channels and route audio.

Automatic network configuration

A Dante-enabled device connected to a network will automatically setup its own network configuration,
including its IP address.

If the network has a DHCP server, which may be the case for installed networks, it will receive its IP
configuration using the standard DHCP protocol.

On a network without a DHCP server, which may be the case for temporary or smaller networks, the
Dante-enabled device will automatically assign itself an address using link local protocols, in the same
way PCs and printers often do.

Automatic discovery

A Dante-enabled device will advertise information about itself to other Dante devices and Dante Controller,
including:

n Device name

n Audio channel labels

n Number of audio channels

n Sample rates and bit depths

This information can be seen when viewing a device on Dante Controller, and allows Dante devices to
determine compatibility with other devices, such as compatible sample rates to allow audio to be routed.

Differentiating between input and output channels

Channels are classified according to whether they put audio data onto or take audio data off the network:

n A channel that puts audio data onto the network is known as a transmitting, Tx or output channel.

n A channel that takes data off the network is known as a receiving, Rx or input channel.

Device Names and Channel Labels

In Dante, devices and audio channels are identified by names and labels, not “magic numbers”. Device
names and channel labels can be customized.

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-14-

Dante Controller User Guide

n Dante routing is performed using the device names and channel labels. A receive channel can be

subscribed to the name of a transmit channel at a device.

Example: “Analog L@my-transmitter” describes a channel labelled “Analog L” on a device
named “my-transmitter”. Device names must be unique on a Dante network. Channel labels
must be unique on the device.

n If a device or channel is renamed, Dante routing considers it to be a different device or channel. If a

new device or channel is then given the old name, Dante routing will route from the new device in
place of the previous device.

Example: The power supply on “stage-box” fails and “stage-box” needs to be replaced. The
old “stage-box” is removed, and a new box is plugged in and named “stage-box”. Dante
receivers previously subscribed to the old “stage-box” will now automatically restore their
subscriptions to the new “stage-box”.

n Device names must be unique on the network. If you attempt to rename a device using Dante

Controller to a name that is already in use on the network, Dante Controller will notify you and reject
the name change.

Example: There is an existing device on the network called “MY16-slot1”. If user attempts to
rename another device to “MY16-slot1” Dante Controller will notify the user that the name is
already in use. The device will not be renamed.

n If a new device is added to the network with a name that already exists, a name conflict is detected,

and one of the devices will rename itself by appending (2) to its name. This device will not be able to
transmit audio until it is renamed.

Note: A device that has been renamed with (2) appended (e.g. “MY16-slot1(2)”) WILL NOT BE
ABLE TO TRANSMIT AUDIO until it is renamed. The device name must be changed by the user to
be a valid non-conflicting name before the device can become fully functional.

Rules for Names and Labels

n All Dante names and labels are up to 30 characters in length. Name and label comparisons are case-

insensitive; “Guitar” and “guitar” are treated as the same label. Unicode and non-roman
characters are not supported.

n Device names should follow Domain Name System (DNS) hostname rules. Legal characters are A-

Z, a-z, 0-9, and '-' (dash or hyphen). Device names must begin with A-Z (or a-z).

n Tx channel labels may use any character except '=' (equals), '.' (full stop or period), or '@' (at). Tx

channel labels must be unique on a device. Tx channel labels do not need to be unique on the
network as they are always qualified by device (channel@device).

n Rx channel labels follow the same rules as Tx channel labels.

Routing Audio

Routing Terminology

n Device: A device means a Dante-enabled device, and more specifically that component of the audio

equipment that implements the Dante interface. A Dante device typically has Tx and Rx channels
and other routing-related properties.

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-15-

Dante Controller User Guide

n Transmit (Tx) channel: A transmit channel transmits audio from the audio hardware onto the

network.

n Receive (Rx) channel: A receive channel receives audio from the network and sends it to the audio

hardware.

n Flow: Dante audio routing creates flows. Each flow carries several channels of audio from a

transmitter to one or more receivers. Unicast routing creates flows to single receivers. Multicast
routing creates flows that can be received by multiple receivers. Multicast flows are assigned IDs
enabling them to be identified in Dante Controller.

n Unicast routing: Unicast flows are point-to-point from a single transmitter to a single receiver.

Unicast flows typically have room for 4 channels of audio.

n Multicast routing: Multicast flows are one-to-many from a single transmitter to any number of

receivers. Use Dante Controller to choose what channels are to be multicast. Unlike unicast routing,
multicast flows consume network bandwidth even if there are no receivers, but do not require
additional bandwidth to add more receivers.

n Subscription: A subscription configures a receive channel to receive audio from a transmit channel

on another Dante device.

n Subscription status: For a receive channel, subscription status indicates whether it is subscribed,

whether it is receiving unicast or multicast audio, whether the subscription is OK, or whether an error
has occurred.

Subscription

Dante routing is performed by associating a receiving (Rx) channel with a transmitting (Tx) channel. This is
called subscription.

Example: Route Tx channels 1 and 2 (labeled “Audio L” and “Audio R”) on the device labeled
“Source” to Rx channels 3 and 4 on the device labeled “Dest”.

Rx channels 3 and 4 on “Dest” are subscribed as follows:

n 3. Audio L@Source

n 4. Audio R@Source

Dante will perform the necessary audio routing to deliver the audio from the Tx channels to the Rx
channels.

Redundancy

Many Dante devices support redundant audio routing. These devices have two network interfaces, labeled
primary and secondary. Primary interfaces should be connected to one physical network. If redundancy is
being used, secondary interfaces should be connected to a second separate network. Secondary
interfaces cannot communicate with primary interfaces.

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-16-

Dante Controller User Guide

If the secondary network is connected to a device that supports redundancy, it is enabled automatically.
Audio data is transmitted on both the primary and secondary networks simultaneously. In the event of a
failure on one network, audio will still continue to be received via the other network.

Note: Dante redundancy requires that both the primary and secondary interfaces on any redundant
device are connected using the same link speed. For example, if the primary interface is connected to
a 1 Gbps switch port, the secondary interface must also be connected to a 1 Gbps switch port.
Similarly, if the primary interface is connected to a 100 Mbps switch port, the secondary interface
must also be connected to a 100 Mbps switch port.

Note: Dante devices that do not support redundancy must be connected to the primary network only.
Dante Controller must be connected to the primary network.

Audio Formats

Different Dante devices may support different audio formats. Most Dante devices support either 48 kHz
24-bit PCM or 96 kHz 24-bit PCM. Some devices can be switched between 48 kHz and 96 kHz, but will
not support both at once.

It is only possible to set up a route between channels which have a common audio format. Channels
having incompatible formats will be shown in grey and will not be routable.

Flows

Dante audio routing creates 'flows'. Each flow carries one or more channels of audio from a transmitting
device to one or more receiving devices. There are two types of flow, unicast and multicast.

Unicast routing creates flows to a single receiving device; a unicast flow typically assigns space for 4
channels of audio. Unicast flows are setup when a receiver subscribes to an available audio channel, and
are automatically removed when the receiver unsubscribes from all channels in that flow.

Multicast routing creates flows that can be received by multiple receivers. Multicast flows are assigned
IDs enabling them to be identified in Dante Controller and to facilitate their removal. In contrast to unicast

Copyright © 2013 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

-17-