Rane Via 10 User Manual

OPERATORS MANUAL Via 10

ETHERNET BRIDGE

Introduction

Normally, one would find our Quick Start at this
location. But to break with tradition and keep us all on our
toes, we thought we’d be different. After all, the Via 10 is
different in that it has no audio connections. Many Via 10
users employ the Via 10 to run Rane’s RW 232 devices
over a standard Ethernet LAN. Such users need only read
the Configuring the Via 10 & PC (page Manual-4) and the
RW 232 section under Hardware (page Manual-6) to get
rolling. Those who want the Quick Start need only think of
these two sections as the Quick Start. See, it’s not that
different.

This document is organized in four parts. Part one is a
short description of the front and rear panel controls found
on the Via 10 (page Manual-2). Part two is Configuring the

Via 10 & PC (page Manual-4) which explains what the Via

10 Config Utility does. It also reviews the computer setup that

is required so the computer can talk through the Via 10’s IP
(Internet Protocol) “language.” Part three goes over the
Hardware details of the Via 10’s I/O ports (page Manual-6).
Four sections are found: RS-232; RS-485; Versatile Input
Port (VIP); and the Versatile Output Port (VOP). OK, so VIP
and VOP should have been forever retired as cheesy splash
screens from the old Batman TV series. For those who watch
Dilbert, it is true that naming things like this is always the
hardest part of product development. Part four gets into
Microsoft’s ActiveX controls and how to use them to control
RW 232 and other parameters (page Manual-9). Part four also
contains the ActiveX Control details of the Via 10 and other
Rane-specific ActiveX controls for our computer-controllable
products.

WEAR PARTS: This product contains no wear parts.

Manual-1

FRONT PANEL DESCRIPTION

햲 HOST indicator lights only when the Via 10’s internal host microprocessor “talks” (reads or writes) to the VIP or VOP.

햳 RS232 indicator illuminates when there is activity on the Via 10’s RS-232 port.

햴 RS485 indicator flashes when there is activity on the Via 10’s RS-485 port.

햵 CONFIG button is recessed, only used to set the Via 10’s IP address during initial setup. See Configuring the Via 10 & PC

on page Manual-4.

햶 PWR indicator lights when the Via 10 is powered. It flashes when in Via 10 CONFIG mode.

Manual-2

REAR PANEL DESCRIPTION

햲 Chassis ground screw & star washer. Since the Via 10 is powered from a remote AC power supply which does not carry

chassis ground through to the grounding pin of the AC cord, this screw is provided in case your system does not have
another earth grounding means. See the CHASSIS GROUNDING note below.

햳 POWER input connector. Use only a Rane RS 1, or other Remote AC power supply approved by Rane. This unit is

supplied with a remote power supply suitable for connection to this input jack. Consult the factory for a replacement or a
substitute. This unit’s power input is designed for an AC supply, delivering 18 volts, from a center-tapped transformer
capable of supplying at least the 650 mA of current demanded by this product. Using any other type of supply may damage
the unit, void the warranty or catapult the moon out of its orbit. See RaneNote 121 “Remote AC Power—An Idea Long
Overdue.”

햴 RS-232 port provides the communications data path between RS-232-based serial devices such as our RaneWare line of

audio products. Be sure the Via 10 is configured properly for your serial application.

햵 RS-485 port provides the communications data path between RS-485-based serial devices such as Rane’s SR 1L Smart

Remote control which is an accessory for the SRM 66 Splitter Router Mixer. Be sure the Via 10 is configured properly for
your cereal application. (OK, it’s a bad joke.)

햶 Versatile Input Port (VIP) is an exquisitely programmable logic and/or A/D input port for use with external switches,

potentiometers or any zero to five volt instrumentation device. Up to eight input devices in any variety are supported. See
the Hardware VIP section on page Manual-7 for further details.

햷 Versatile Output Port (VOP) is a splendidly programmable open-collector logic output port for use with external indicator

lamps, LEDs, relays or any ground referenced external device. Up to eight output ports support any assortment of output
devices. See the Hardware VOP section on Manual-8 for further details.

햸 LAN indicator flashes when the Via 10 is connected to a 10Base-T network.

햹 LINK indicator quickly glows when any packet is present on the network. Yes, this means any packet, including packets

that are or are not intended for the Via 10.

햺 10Base-T Ethernet jack connects the Via 10 with a standard RJ-45 connector to either a PC’s Ethernet card or a standard

HUB or concentrator in a network.

햻 The Australian C-Tick mark does nothing when pressed, should not be licked and indicates that the Via 10 is safe (in the

UL sense) to use down under.

CHASSIS GROUNDING

Units like the Via 10 with outboard power supplies do not
earth ground the chassis through the line cord. This chassis
connection is critical and in most installations, required by
law. Many ground this point to an amplifier chassis ground,
grounded rack rails or directly to the grounding screw on a

grounded AC outlet cover by means of a wire secured on both
ends with star washers to guarantee proper contact.

Please refer to RaneNote 110, “Sound System Intercon­nection” (available at www.rane.com) for further information
on system grounding.

Manual-3

Configuring the Via 10 & PC

The disks that ship with the Via 10 contain several tools:

1) The VIACONFIG utility for initializing the Via 10.

2) Rane ActiveX controls for the four Via 10 hardware ports
plus controls for Rane’s RW 232, SRM 66 and SR 1L
products. These ActiveX controls are registered (i.e.,
copied to your computer) during the installation process.

3) The VIPVOP utility for testing the VIP and VOP inter­faces.

Example HTML (HyperText Markup Language) files to
assist system programmers are available as links from Rane’s
Via 10 web page at http://www.rane.com/via10.htm.

Three steps are required to configure the computer and
Via 10 for typical applications. Step one is to design the
network and determine its needs; for example, the number of
network devices (also called DTEs [Data Terminal Equip-
ment]). In step two you must determine the IP addresses you
want to use for each computer in the system. You’ll also need
to verify that the computer is configured properly to speak to
the Via 10 and the rest of the network. Step three is running
the Via 10 Configuration Utility (VIACONFIG) to set the IP
address and RS-232 and RS-485 port baud rates and parities,
among other things.

I. Network design. First design your Ethernet network. If
you only have one computer and one Via 10, you’ll need a
CAT 5 (Category 5) crossover cable, not a standard ethernet
cable…and you thought crossovers only split audio signals
into highs and lows. A crossover cable is a CAT 5 cable wired
so the transmit pair at one end is connected to the receive pair
at the other. If you have more than two Ethernet devices –
i.e., more than one computer or more than one Via 10 or other
Ethernet device – you’ll need a hub (also called a concentra-
tor or repeater) to connect them. There are many sources for
help on designing Ethernet-based networks, such as the Rane
Via 10 web page. It includes links to some very helpful web
sites with more information on Ethernet and network design
than you’d ever need to know: www.rane.com/via10.htm.
Also, see RaneNote 144, “Emerging Standards for Network
Audio System Control” for background on how all this
network talk fits into the audio industry in the first place.

II. Computer IP set up. The computer used with the Via
10 must be set for network operation to allow it to speak to
the Via 10 using TCP/IP protocol. (TCP stands for Transmis­sion Control Protocol.) If your computer is already set up for
network operation you can skip to the next section.

Setting up a Windows 95/98 PC for network communi­cations:

Note: As you go through the following procedure your
computer tells you on more than one occasion that it needs to
reboot before changes take effect. Just go along with it when
this happens. Yeah, it’s a big waste of time but this is an
owner’s manual, not an editorial page – so just do it, OK?

1. Insure you have a functional Ethernet adapter (NIC or

Network Interface Card) installed in the PC. If installed, its
operation may be checked by right clicking on ‘My
Computer’ followed by a left-click on the selection

‘Properties’ and again a left-click on the ‘Device Man-
ager’ tab of the ‘System Properties’ dialog box. Click on
the plus (+) sign to the left of ‘Network Adapters’ to view
the configured adapters. A malfunctioning adapter is
indicated by either a yellow question mark or a red ‘X’.
There are several troubleshooting aids available in Win­dows Help to assist you in making the network adapter
functional.

2. Once you have a correctly operating Ethernet adapter,

TCP/IP is easy to configure. To begin, open ‘My Com-

puter’ or ‘Start > Settings,’ then ‘Control Panel >
Network’. The ‘Configuration’ tab shows a list of config-

ured devices, such as your network card and possibly dial­up networking. Below these is a list of network protocols
previously configured for the system. If TCP/IP has been
configured and bound to the Ethernet adapter, you will see
an entry resembling ‘TCP/IP -> NameOfAdapter Pnp
LAN Adapter.’ If this shows on the list, skip to step 4. If
it’s not there, go through step 3 first.

3. To add TCP/IP to the LAN Adapter, click the ‘Add’ button

in the Network dialog. A list of network component types
displays. Choose ‘Protocol,’ then ‘Add’. A list of manu­facturers displays. Click on ‘Microsoft’, then ‘TCP/IP’ in
the right-hand window, then ‘OK’.

4. To be a part of a TCP/IP network, your computer (and each
network device including the Via 10) needs a unique IP
address of its own. If not already open, open ‘Settings >

Control Panels > Network.’ Highlight the ‘TCP/IP ->
NameOfAdapter PnP LAN Adapter’ by clicking on it.

Then choose ‘Properties > IP Address.’ Click on the
‘Specify an IP address’ option. If your computer is part of
an existing network, you must now obtain a valid address
from the network administrator—if you have one. If not,
you may use an address out of the internationally accepted
private network block of addresses, which is

192.168.nnn.nnn where nnn represents any number
between 0 and 255. A good choice might be

192.168.100.100 just because it’s easy to remember if you
ever need to know it again. The ‘Subnet Mask’ should be
set to 255.255.0.0 for most installations. These two
settings allow a network with addresses in the range of

192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255. Click the ‘OK’
buttons as many times as they appear to extinguish all the
network setup dialog boxes.

Note: Once you’ve set networking on a Win95/98 com­puter, you’ll notice it wants a user name and optional pass­word each time it boots. To eliminate this nuisance, go back
in to Control Panel > Network and change the ‘Primary

Network Logon’ selection from ‘Client for Microsoft
Networks’ to ‘Windows Logon’ then click ‘OK’ again. Oh,

and guess what? Your computer will want to be rebooted
again for the change to take effect. Good news, though, it
won’t ask for a user name and password this time.

III. Via 10 Config Utility. The Via 10 Config Utility
(VIACONFIG) ships on floppy disk with each Via 10 and can
also be found at www.rane.com/via10.htm.

Manual-4

VIACONFIG has several purposes:

a) It allows setup of the Via 10’s IP address and serial port

baud rate and parity settings.
b) It verifies Via 10 operation with the computer.
c) It allows Via 10 firmware updates over the LAN.
d) It provides a debug mode to test the Via 10 serial ports

using Windows’ HyperTerminal or a similar terminal

program. (A separate VIPVOP application tests the Via

10’s VIP and VOP interfaces.) VIACONFIG is also the

place to look if you need to find out the MAC (Media

Access Control) address of a Via 10.

By default, VIACONFIG places its files in a folder called
C:\Program Files\Rane Corporation\Via 10 Utilities. Also,
shortcuts to VIACONFIG and VIPVOP are placed in
C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\RaneWare. This
provides access to Via 10 files through Window’s Start
Menu.

Via 10 MAC address. Every Ethernet device in the
world, including each Via 10, contains a unique MAC
address. The IEEE doles out MAC addresses to the universe
and each Via 10 is loaded with a unique MAC address at
Rane’s factory before shipping. (Otherwise, we couldn’t test
them on a LAN before shipping…get it?) When you run
VIACONFIG with a Via 10 (in config mode) connected, the
MAC address for the connected device is displayed at the top.
MAC addresses are in hexadecimal and are 6 bytes long—for
example: 00:60:2B:02:3F:FF. For the curious, this is an
address somewhere around 4.13 X 109. There are many more
addresses available for the future. Rane offers substantial
discounts for the first system ordered where this number of
MAC addresses is insufficient.

Setting the Via 10 IP Address. Each Via 10 requires a
unique IP address so the network knows what “phone
number” to use to talk to each Via 10. See step #4 under
Computer IP Setup (previous page) to determine valid IP
addresses for the Via 10(s). Using the proper IP address is
important because of potential (or future) conflicts with other
network traffic. Also, depending on what IP Address and
Subnet Mask you’ve used on the PC(s) involved, certain Via
10 IP addresses will be invalid and not work. If you’ve set the
PC with IP address 192.168.0.0 and Subnet Mask

255.255.0.0, a good start for Via 10 IP Addresses might be

192.168.100.100. Add 1 to the final number for subsequent
Via 10 IP addresses.

1. Install the Via 10 Config Utility by inserting the disk in the

computer’s floppy drive (or download it from our web site
www.rane.com), then select Run from Windows’ Start
menu and Browse to the floppy drive (or file) and double­click SETUP to run the VIACONFIG install routine.

2. If you power up a new Via 10, it comes up in config mode

which is indicated by a flashing POWER LED. If it’s not
already, place the Via 10 in config mode by unplugging the
power, then, hold in the Via 10’s front panel CONFIG
button with a pen or small implement and plug in the
power to the Via 10. The POWER LED flashes indicating
config mode.

3. Run VIACONFIG, then type in the proper IP address for
the connected Via 10 in the IP address field and click the
Send Addr button. When you run VIACONFIG and have a
powered Via 10 in config mode connected to the network,
the indicator at the bottom right of the VIACONFIG screen
turns green indicating communication with the Via 10. If
this indicator is yellow, it means that the Via 10 is success­fully receiving network packets, but the Via 10 IP address
you’ve input is in conflict with the valid IP addresses set
on the PC. If this indicator is grayed out, verify that the Via
10 is in CONFIG mode. To debug a non-communicating
Via 10, check that the computer and any hubs in use are set
and operating properly and be sure you have the proper
cables. Most non-communicating Via 10’s are caused by
improper network settings on the various components.

Note: Be sure you use a valid IP address obtained either
from a network administrator (many won’t have one of these
nerds) or from using one of the IP numbers discussed above
under Computer IP Setup, step #4. A good reason to always
obey these “Standard Committee-driven” IP address rules
includes future network upgrades and their disposition which
(although unforeseen and maybe inconceivable now) might
do rather strange things when installed a year or three from
now.

Once the Via 10 IP address is set properly, the other fields
in the VIACONFIG screen are viewable and show the current
Via 10 settings such as MAC address and RS-232 and RS-485
Baud and Parity values.

4. Unplug the Via 10 and plug it back in again to complete

the Via 10 IP Address setup. The Power LED should not
flash once power is restored. If it does, see steps 2 and 3
again.

RS-232 & RS-485 Baud and Parity settings for the Via
10 ports are shown on the VIACONFIG screen. The default
RS-232 baud rate is 19200, default parity, Even. If your
application requires different settings, select the new settings
from the pull-down menus provided. To send these settings to
the Via 10, you must hit the Test 232 and Test 485 buttons.

VIACONFIG screen

Manual-5

Test the Via 10’s RS-232 port (optional) by running

Windows’ HyperTerminal program found under Start >
Programs > Accessories > HyperTerminal. With
HyperTerminal running and the Via 10’s RS-232 port hooked
up to the computer’s RS-232 port using (unfortunately) a null
modem cable, click the Test 232 button on the Via 10
Configuration screen. If working properly, the message: “232
Test” shows in the HyperTerminal screen. This verifies that
the baud and parity settings are correct.

Note: A null modem cable is required for this test because
the Via 10’s RS-232 port must “look like” a terminal to the
computer.

Testing the Via 10’s RS-485
port (optional) takes one extra

piece of hardware. The Rane DSC 1
accessory is an RS-485 to RS-232
converter that is useful for this test.
Run Windows’ HyperTerminal
program found under ‘Start >

Programs > Accessories >
HyperTerminal.’ With

HyperTerminal running and the Via
10’s RS-485 port hooked up
through an RS-485 (or RS-422) to
RS-232 converter using a null
modem cable hooked to the computer’s RS-232 port, hit the
Test 485 button on the Via 10 Configuration screen. If
working properly, the message: ‘485 Test’ shows in the
HyperTerminal screen.

Note: A null modem cable is required for this test because
the Via 10’s RS-485 port must “look like” a terminal to the
computer.

Test the VIP & VOP ports (optional) by looping them

together so data sent out of the VOP appears on the VIP.
Connect VOP 1 to VIP 1, VOP 2 to VIP 2, etc. Then run the

VIPVOP utility. The default location after installation is:
C:\Program Files\Rane Corporation\VIPVOP. In the box in

the upper right corner of the VIPVOP screen, type in the
proper IP address of the Via 10 you are testing. Then click the
Connect button; the green LED on the VIPVOP screen lights
when connection is successful.

VIPVOP displays 8 VOP check boxes down the left side;

when checked, the corresponding Via 10 VOP pin is pulled
low (0 volts/ground). When unchecked, the corresponding
VOP pin is pulled high (+5 VDC). Since the VOP pins were
previously connected directly to the corresponding VIP pins,
any changes to the VOP check boxes should immediately
show up on the VIP meters in the center of the VIPVOP
screen. VIP pin 1 is the left-most meter, then pin 2, 3, et
cetera, with VIP pin 8 on the far right. Connect a potentiom­eter to the VIP to vary the voltage and display the correspond­ing meter reading on the vipvop screen.

Hardware

This section discusses each of the Via 10 hardware ports.
As the title suggests, here you’ll find the hardware details for
each. Software details as well as applications are found in –
you guessed it – the Software and Applications section on
page Manual-8.

Hardware 1: RS-232 & the RW 232

RS-232 with Rane RW 232. The RS-232 port on the Via
10 can be hooked directly to the RW 232 Input port on any
Rane RW 232 device allowing extended communication
distances up to 305 feet (100 meters) over a standard 10Base­T Ethernet LAN. ActiveX controls for commonly controlled
parameters on the following Rane products are accessible
using any ActiveX capable software development tool: RPE
228d, RPM 26v, ECB 62, ECM 64, RPD 1. (See Applications
Using ActiveX on page Manual-10 for software and control
details for these products.) In English what this means is that
through a little bit of software know-how, one can, for
example, draw a slider on a web page, then link the slider’s
operation to the Master Output Level control on the Rane
RPM 26v. But, since this is the Hardware section of the
Manual, we’re a bit premature in even mentioning software
here.

The default settings of the Via 10’s RS-232 port support
RW 232 communications. If RW 232 devices are being used
with the Via 10 RS-232 port, the shipped baud and parity
settings of the RS-232 port need not be changed. Just in case,
the default settings are listed below. Only 8-bit wide words
are supported—no 7-bit words.

Manual-6

Via 10 Default RS-232 Communications Settings

(required for RW 232 use)

Baud Parity Start bit Stop bit RS-232 cable length

19200 Even 1 (always) 1 (always) 50 feet max

VIPVOP screen