SoundCraft Vi Option Cards Owner's manual

Brand: SoundCraft

Model: Vi Option Cards

Type: Owner's manual

ViDanteCardUser&SetupGuideV1.2 



ViDANTE

CardUser&SetupGuide



TheSoundcraft®ViDANTE™cardisa64x64interfacebetweenaVi

series console and any Dante compatible device from Harman or

other 3

 party manufacturer. The card is available in two versions:

LocalRack/CSB(D21m3Uformat)andViStagebox(6Uformat).Note

thattheStageboxversionisanIOcardonlyanddoesnotallowyouto

connectaStageboxtotheconsoleusingDanteinsteadofMADI.

Dante provides a digital

audio network that uses standard Internet

Protocols over both 100Mbps and 1 Gigabit Ethernet. Dante uses

audioindependent,highaccuracynetworksynchronizationstandards

toensureallDantedevicesaresynchronizedatalltimes.Danteruns

on standard computer networking hardware, and does not require

dedicatednetworkinfrastructure.

TheAudinateDanteVirtual

Soundcardsoftwareallowsconnectionof

aPC/MactoaDanteaudionetwork.Thissystemallowsthecomputer

to record from and playback to the Dante network using most

common DAW packages. DanteVirtual Soundcard uses the Ethernet

port on the computer to communicate with the Dante network; no

special hardware

is required other than installing Dante Virtual

Soundcardsoftware.OneDVSlicensetokenisprovidedFOCwiththe

card,thislicensecanonlybeinstalledononespecificcomputer.

Additional information about the DANTEsystem including the latest

software set‐up and tools may be found on the Audinate® web site



http://www.audinate.com/





ViDanteCardUser&SetupGuideV1.2 

ConfiguringTheDanteCard

InamannersimilartoCobraNet™,patchingontheconsolemakesaconnectionbetweenconsoleI/O

slotchannelsandupto64channelsontheDantecard.ConnectionsbetweentheDantecardsareset

usingatool,inthiscasetheDanteControllersoftwarefromAudinate®.Ascommunicationacrossthe

Dante

networkis essentiallybetweennamed cardsand channels theconfiguration mustbe correct

toensurecardstalkandlistentothecorrect/desiredchannelsontheDantenetwork.

Thisuserguidesummarisestheprocess andprovidesasimpleworkedexample;fullsetupdetailsand

configurationtoolsaredownloadablefromtheAudinate

websitewww.audinate.com.

InadditionitisnecessarytosettheclockstatusoftheDantecardbothwithinthenetworkandin

relationtotheconsolehardware.Thisisdescribedbe low. 



ChannelCountSetup

TheDantecarduses64inand64outchannelsbydefault,butcanberestrictedtouselessinputor

output channels if required. This may be necessary on Vi consoles in order to avoid exceeding the

192in/192out channel limit of the local rack (or the 64in/64out channel limit if

 fitted in a Vi or

CompactStagebox).Forexample,ifonly outputchannels arerequired on theDantecard,the input

channelscanbesetto0,tomaximisethenumberofinputchannelsavailableforothercards.

TheDIPswitchS1ontheDantecardmainPCBisused

tosettheinputandoutputchannelcount,in

stepsof8chsfrom0‐64channels.Refertothediagramonthenextpagewhichshowsthelocationof

the channel count DIP switch S1 and the factory default setup of 64 in/64 out. To create other

channelcountsettingsthat

arenotmarkedontheswitch,addanytwoor3switchsettingstogether,

ietoselect48chs,the32and16switchesshouldbe moveddowntotheselectedposition.Notethe

maximumchannelcount(inputoroutput)is64andminimumiszero.

SyncSetup

TheDantecardcanactaseitheraMasterclocksourcefortheDantenetwork,orasaclockslave.If

there is only one console on the network, this will generally be set as the clock master for the

network,butincaseswithmorethanoneconsole,orwhere

anotherdeviceactsastheclockmaster,

itwillbenecessarytosettheconsole'sDantecardtobeaclockslave.TheDanteclockmaster/slave

statusissetupusingDanteControllersoftware(seelaterinthisguide),butinadditiontotheDante

clocksetup,thecard'sclock

statuswithintheconsolehastobeset.Thisis doneusingaDIPswitchS2

onthe Dantecard mainPCB.Refer to the diagram on the nextpage forthe location and settingof

thisswitch.

MIX: SelectthispositiontomaketheDantemodulelocktotheconsole's

internalWordclock,only

to be used when the Dante card is set as the Preferred Master for the Dante network.

Thissettingisthefactorydefault.

CARD: Select this  position to make theconsole lock to the Dantenetworkclock, to be used when

theDante cardis setup

asa slaveonthe network. Note: Inthiscase, aBNC wordclock cable must

also be connected from the Wordclock Out BNC connector on the Dante card, to the console's

WordclockIN.

NotethatitisalsonecessarytosetuptheclockingschemeoftheDantenetworkcorrectly,to

avoid

audioclicksanddropouts,pleaserefertothesectiontitledDeviceStatusandClockStatusinthe

followingpages.



ViDanteCardUser&SetupGuideV1.2 



DIPswitchesS1&S2LocationDiagram



Refertothepreviouspageforinformationonthefunctionoftheseswitches.



Note!Switchespointdowntoselectchannelcount

–

ignorethe‘ON’legendonswitchbody!

Diagramshowsthedefaultsettingof64in/64out

ViDanteCardUser&SetupGuideV1.2 



SettinguptheDantecardforoperationonthenetwork

Asmentionedearlier,itisnecessarytouseasoftwaretoolconnectedexternallytothecard,inorder

torouteaudiofromthecardto/fromanotherDante‐enableddevice.

1. Download & install the latest software for the Vi consoles from www.soundcraft.com

.

(SoftwareVersionmustbe4.7.5.205orlater).Withearlierversionsoftheconsolesoftware,

theDantecardwillnotberecognisedbytheconsoleandwillnotappearinthepatch.

2. DownloadandinstalllatestDanteControllersoftwarefromwww.audinate.com

.

3. ConnectaMac/PCtotheDantecard,thismaybeviaaswitch/routerordirecttoeither the

PRIMARY or SECONDARY ports.The LINK indicatoron the card will begin toflash indicating

anactiveconnection.

NOTE: A crossover cable is not required as the network ports on the

 Dante card will

automatically sort out the transmit and receive connections to the other device.

NOTE: Ensure any firewall operating on the network port of the computer is switched off.



4. Start the Dante Controller application, after a few moments a screen similar to the one

belowwillappear:



UsingDante

The following sections cover basic setup and use of the Vi Dante cards. For detailed information

regardingDantepleaserefertoinformationonAudinate’swebsitewww.audinate.com

.

NetworkView

Routing–Matrixviewofrouting (click  ona

‘+’symboltoexpandthematrixview).





ViDanteCardUser&SetupGuideV1.2 

DeviceStatus–DisplaysinformationaboutdiscoveredDantedevices;doubleclickadevice nameto

enableitsconfiguration.



ClockStatus–ViewandeditDanteNetworkclockconfiguration.



ClockRolecolumn:

Setting a single‘Preferred Master’ will ensurethat device is selectedas the clock master, if two or

moredevicesaresetfor‘PreferredMaster’themasterwillbeelectedbytheDantesystem.

NOTE: Clock Status settings (master/slave) apply to the clocking of the Dante network,

 therefore

attached devices such as consoles must be clocked to/from the Dante network as appropriate or

requiredinanygivensystem.

Itissuggestedthatinmostsimplecaseswithoneconsoleconnectingtoperi pheralequipment(ega

computerrecordingdevice)viaDantethattheconsoleissetaspreferred

master,whichmeansthat

the item ‘Slave to External Word Clock’ must also  be checked’. If there are two or more consoles

connectedtogetherthenobviouslyonlyoneshouldbesetaspreferredmaster.



‘SlavetoExternalWordClock’:

When checked the Dante card will clock from the console internal

word clock, if not checked the

console must be clockedto the Dante card orsystem word clockas appropriate orrequir ed  in the

givensystem.NormallythisisachievedbyconnectingashortBNCjumpercablefromthewordclock

OUToftheDantecard,tothewordclockINofthe

console.



NoteonClockstatuswhenconnectingtheDantecardtoaVi3000console’sDanteinterface



TheVi3000consoleincludesabuilt‐inDanteinterface,andassuch hasthecapabilityfortheconsole

toautomaticallyslavetotheinternalDantecard’sclock,whentheVi3000’sDanteinterfaceisset

to

‘slave’ clock status  (ie another device is setas Preferred Master), and the setting‘Slave to External

wordclock’ is NOT checked (ie console acting as slave to Dante network clock). Therefore with the

Vi3000, an external BNC jumper cable is not required and the console will automatically switch

 to

indicate‘Dante’astheclocksource(viewableintheMenu‐SyncpageoftheVi3000).



Failuretosetuptheclockingschemeofthenetworkcorrectlyislikelytoresultinaudioclicks

duringoperation.

ViDanteCardUser&SetupGuideV1.2 

DeviceView

TheDevice Viewallows viewingandediting ofa

selectedDantedevice.

Receive–Thistabpresentsinformationaboutall

channels being received, and channels available

to the current device. The tab is arranged into

twoareas:

Receive Channels: Lists the Rx channels in the left

paneofthewindow.

Itshowswhetherornottheyare

connected and, if connected, the channel they are

connectedtoandthestatusofthatconnection.

Available Channels: On the right pane ofthe window, lists theTx channels from other  devices that

are available for subscription by the current device. You may

drag and drop Available Ch annels to

ReceiveChannels.



Transmit:Thistabisusedtoviewandeditthe

transmitconfigurationofadevice.

TransmitChannels :Theareaontheleftpaneofthe

tab shows the Tx channels for the device, and any

user‐defined channel label. It allows

the user to

create labels for transmit channels. Input to the

table is filtered to preve nt illegal characters from

being used in channel labels. To change a Tx

channellabeldoubleclickonthelabelandtypeina

new one. Tx channel labels must be unique on a

singledevice.





ViDanteCardUser&SetupGuideV1.2 

Status: The Status tab is used to view information

about a Dante device, this information may be

required fortrouble shooting andchecking software/

firmwareisup‐to‐date.



Device Config

: This tab on the device view allows

viewing and editing of the following device specific

parameters.

RenameDevice:AllowsrenamingoftheDantedevice.

SampleRate:48K–thisisfixedandcannotbeedited.

Latency:Allowsselectionofanappropriatelatency.

NOTE: The 0.15 msec setting is

 unavailable on Vi

Dantecardsastheseincludeaninternalswitch.



FactoryReset:AllowsremoterebootoftheDanteinterfaceandtoreapplyfactorysettings.Following

a reboot it is  recommended to power‐cycle the console including discon nection of the AC power

cord.FactoryResetwipesthefollowing

deviceconfigurationsettings:

 User‐defineddevicename

 User‐definedchannellabels

 Clockconfiguration(clockmaster/externalclockmastersetting)

 StaticIPaddresses

 Redundancyconfiguration

 Sampleratesetting(includingpull‐up/down)

 Latencysetting

 Anyexistingaudioroutes



ViDanteCardUser&SetupGuideV1.2 

NetworkConfig:Thistabenablesviewingand

editingofDanteRedundancymode.

Switched Mode‐When set to Switched, the

secondary Ethernet port will behave as a

standard switch port,  allowing daisy‐chaining

throughthedevice.

Redundant Mode‐When set to Redundant,

the device will duplicate Dante audio  traffic

to both Ethernet

 ports, allowing the

implementation of a redundant network via

thesecondaryport.Inthiscasecaremustbe

taken to avoid accidently making any

connection between the two parallel

networks.

Note: All devices on a Dante network MUST

be set to the same Mode (Switched or

Redundant), otherwise the network

will not

functionreliably.



DantePresets

AlthoughpatchingtoandfromtheDantecardintheconsoleisstoredaspartofashoworpartofa

cuetheconfigurationandroutingoftheDantecardsandDanteaudiostreamsis not.



In the event a Dante card is replaced or

similar, the ‘new’ card will

 require

configuring,thismaybedonemanuallyorby

loading a previously stored preset from the

‘File’menuoftheDanteControllersoftware



ViDanteCardUser&SetupGuideV1.2 



ConnectingDanteDevices

ThefollowingexampleillustratestwoVi1consoles‘House’and‘Monitor’.



Audioinputsaresenttothemonitorconsole,thesecanbeconnecteddirectlytotheconsoleorviaa

stageboxattachedviaaMADIcardtothemonitorconsole.

Adirectoutputfromeachinput ofthe monitorconsolefeeds theFOH consolewhich ispatchedto

receiveaudiofromthe

Danteoptioncard.

The FOH console mix is returned to two spare channels of the monitor  console and the direct

outputsofthoseinputsareinturnpatchedtothesystemoutputs;onceagainthesecanbedirectly

ontheconsoleorattachedviaaMADIcardtothemonitor

console.

ThelinkbetweentheDantecardsmaybeviaaswitchasshownwithasolidgreenlineordirectfrom

cardtocardasshownbythedottedgreenline.

NOTE:OnceconfiguredthePCisnotrequired.

NOTE:Dantemayoperateinredundantmode,thisisnot

shownforsimplicity.

ViDanteCardUser&SetupGuideV1.2 

AlternativeOptions

OnceaudioisintheDantedomainthepossibilitiesbecomenearendless,inthisalternativesystem:

 AllsystemoutputsleaveviaaDanteenabledprocessorsuchastheBSSBLU806

 Anadditionalconsoledoesalivestereomix‐downforwebstreamingorsimilar

 Alaptoprunning

theAudinateVirtualSoundcardmakesamulti‐trackrecording



SoundCraft Vi Option Cards Owner's manual

SoundCraft Vi Option Cards Owner's manual

SoundCraft Vi Option Cards Owner's manual

Related papers

Other documents