DANTE

CERTIFICATION
PROGRAM
LEVEL 1

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THE DANTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

Training program from Audinate

●
Official certification lets your
customers know that you have the
knowledge and skills to implement
Dante networks
●
Ensures a consistent set of methods
and knowledge

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THE DANTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

With Dante Certification,

you receive:
• Use of the Level 1 and Level 2 “Dante
Certified” logos
• A certificate of completion for each level
passed.
• Optional listing in directory of Dante
Certified professionals

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THE DANTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

Level 1: Introduction to Dante

• In-person and online delivery
• Background
• Basic signal routing with Dante Controller
• Setting up Dante in simple systems
(approximately 6 devices, 1 switch)
• Recording with Dante Virtual Soundcard

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THE DANTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

Level 2: Intermediate
Dante Concepts
• Delivered in-person
• Larger systems (approx. 12 devices)
• Clocking options
• Understanding unicast & multicast
• Latency
• Redundancy
• Dante Virtual Soundcard and
Dante Via in depth

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THE DANTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

Required steps:
• Level 1: Pass Level 1 online exam
• Level 2: Pass Level 2 online exam
PLUS “hands on” exam at event

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INTRODUCTION
TO DANTE
DANTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
LEVEL 1

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ABOUT AUDINATE

Headquartered in Network Develop Dante as

Sydney, Australia engineers first 100%
interoperable
solution
for all audio
manufacturers

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WHAT WE MAKE

Dante technology
(all of it)
Hardware modules
Development tools
Software products:
• Dante Controller
• Dante Virtual Soundcard
• Dante Via

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LEVEL 1 TOPICS

IP What is Using
Digital audio
networking
basics
basics

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DIGITAL
AUDIO BASICS
LEVEL 1
DANTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

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ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERSION

Analog signal is sampled at

constant intervals
●
Yields a stream of values
in time
●
Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)

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SAMPLE RATE

Interval at which samples are

taken
●
Nyquist Theorem:
Samples must be taken at
least 2x maximum audio
frequency

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BIT DEPTH
Number of
Number of Bits
Values
How many bits are used to 1 2
represent amplitude 2 4
● 4 16
More bits -> more accuracy
8 256
CDs: 16 bits
Pro: 24 bits 16 65536
24 16777216
32 4294967296

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COMBINING SAMPLE RATE & BIT DEPTH
More of each -> greater fidelity
●
Increased bandwidth usage
●
Greater sample rates -> fewer I/O channels

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BANDWIDTH USAGE

PCM Audio Bandwidth = (Sample rate) x (Bit depth) x (No. of

channels)
●
Example: 64 channels of PCM audio at 48kHz/24-bit =
48,000 x 24 x 64 = 74 mbits/sec
●
With network overhead, 64 channels ≈ 96mbps
●
Less than 10% of a gigabit link

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WORD CLOCK

The clock that determines where in the

data an audio sample begins
●
Must be consistent for all devices in a
digital system so that data is read the
same way
●
Single Clock Master for multi-device
systems

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JITTER

Distortion caused by inconsistent word

clock in playout
●
Exists in all Digital Audio Systems
●
AES3, MADI, ADAT, S/PDIF
●
Expensive to solve in older systems

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LATENCY

Audio signal delay in a system

●
Transport and processing
●
Mainly a problem when we hear delayed and
un-delayed signal simultaneously
●
Problem for legacy networking systems (VoIP)

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SUMMARY

Digital audio works by playing out or recording samples

Bit depth describes amplitude resolution
Sample rate determines maximum analog frequency
●
Word clock must be consistent and correctly sync'd
●
Digital audio produces data that can be transported like any
other – time is the key that Dante provides

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IP NETWORKING
BASICS
DANTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
LEVEL 1

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HOW MUCH
NETWORKING DO I
NEED TO KNOW?
NOT VERY MUCH
(USUALLY)

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PHYSICAL SIDE OF NETWORKING
Modern small networks are made of 3 things:
Things that get connected
Switches: provide a central bridge for connections
Cables: connect them together

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WHAT KIND OF CABLE FOR DANTE?

Same as for any regular

computer network
●
Gigabit rated:
CAT5E
CAT6
●
100 meters max per run

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WHAT ABOUT WI-FI?

Wi-Fi is another way to connect to

IP networks
●
Less reliable that wired Ethernet
●
Not compatible with Dante audio
●
OK for Dante Controller only

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WHAT ABOUT FIBER?

Much
Just another Requires
greater
way to do switches with
distances if
Ethernet SFP
needed

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SWITCHES
Switches connect devices on a common network
●
Available small (5 ports) up to large (48 ports)
●
Switches support all ports going full speed all the time
●
Use gigabit (or faster) switches!

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SWITCHES – UNMANAGED & MANAGED

Unmanaged switches – plug ‘n play, limited

●
Managed switches – many, many options, tests and adjustments
●
Dante works with either type
●
Managed switches useful in “mixed” (e.g., audio + other data) or
heavily loaded networks
●
Unmanaged switches good in small dedicated audio networks

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THEN YOU DON’T
NEED A MANAGED
SWITCH
If you use only one switch to connect your Dante devices…
And you are only using the network for Dante audio…

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EEE SWITCHES
One special note:
●
EEE or “Green” switches are often not good
choices for real time media
●
The energy saving feature will shut down ports
and prevent parts of Dante from working
properly
●
Disable this feature, or use switches that do
not support it

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TOPOLOGY

Device
1
Daisy chain

Device 1 Device 2 Device 3 Device 4 Device Device

3
Switch 2

Device
4 Star

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SINGLE SWITCH EXAMPLE

SWITCH

PC or Mac

Dante Virtual
Soundcard

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MULTIPLE STARS

Device Device
1 5

Device Device Device Device

3
Switch 2 8
Switch 6

Device Device
4 Switch 7

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MULTIPLE STARS EXAMPLE

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SUMMARY

• Always use gigabit switches

• Use CAT5E or CAT6 cable
• Use fiber for long runs (over 100 meters)
• Use either managed or unmanaged switches for smaller networks
• Dante-only networks with one switch do not require management
features, and may safely use unmanaged switches.
• Use a ”Star” topology to minimize switch hops
• Avoid or disable “green” or EEE features

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LOGICAL SIDE OF NETWORKING

In analog, physical wiring showed signal paths

●
In networks, connections “logical” – name-to-name
●
Each cable carries many signals for many devices
●
Data delivered in packets
●
Network technology is neutral; no special gear needed
for audio

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A WORD ABOUT NETWORK LAYERS

Each layer passes data to the next

Layer 1: physical connections (e.g., cables) Physical (hardware & cables)

●
Layer 2: devices represented by fixed
hardware addresses (MAC) Hardware addresses
●
Layer 3: devices represented by variable IP IP addresses
addresses

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WHAT IS AN IP ADDRESS?

Numeric addresses associated with devices

●
On a LAN, direct communication only possible
between devices in the same IP address range
●
LAN: all addresses in same range
●
Dynamic (preferred) or user-assigned
●
Avoid manual (static) addressing to avoid
duplicates or unreachable addresses

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WHAT IS A LAN?

Local-area Network
●
Small number of devices (<200)
●
Very reliable, fast
●
Shares a common IP address range
●
Majority of audio networks are LANs

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WHAT IS A “STAND ALONE” NETWORK?
A single LAN
●
Usually dedicated to one purpose
●
Not dependent upon external resources
(e.g., internet, servers)
●
Not connected to other LANs through a router
●
Commonly used to separate responsibilities of AV installer

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AUTOMATIC ADDRESSING

LAN requires IP addresses in

a common range
●
Automatic addressing
enabled by default on Dante
devices
●
Self-assigned addresses
create a working LAN

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SUMMARY

Automatic
“Stand alone”
Layer 3 addressing
networks are
networking allows enables simple
commonly used to
use of IP “plug and play”
separate and
addresses for use of Dante in
simplify
connections stand alone
responsibilities
networks – use it!

43
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WHAT IS
DANTE?
DANTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
LEVEL 1

44
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DANTE IS A HARDWARE AND
SOFTWARE SOLUTION THAT
TRANSPORTS PRECISELY
TIMED DIGITAL AUDIO
BETWEEN DEVICES USING
STANDARD IP NETWORKING

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DANTE FEATURES AND BENEFITS

All devices use human-

readable names
Low, deterministic latency
●
●
Precise time alignment of
Virtually jitter-free
all audio
●
●
Automatic re-connection
Automatic device discovery
after power cycles
●
One-click routing

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HOW IS DANTE BUILT INTO PRODUCTS?

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DANTE BANDWIDTH

Max Channels per link

Legacy digital systems constrained to lower 512
channel count
●
Gigabit means Dante is capable of
512x512 at each link, many more
for entire network 64
● 32
Even a large 64 channel console consumes Dante over MADI Cobranet over
only 1/8 capacity of a single port Gigabit 100bT
Ethernet Ethernet

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SAMPLE RATE AND CONNECTION

Only Dante channels using

48kHz the same sample rate
may connect
●
Multiple sample rates on the same
network OK
●
Higher sample rates = fewer
48kHz channels for same bandwidth
●
All common sample rates supported

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LATENCY

• 100% deterministic – always

well-defined
• Default Dante latency 1ms –
suitable for large networks
(10 hops!)
• Adjustable to suit needs
– Minimum 150μs
– Maximum 5ms
• Set per Device

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CLOCKING

Dante handles clocking

automatically
●
Clock Master is determined by
election
●
All devices sync'd to Master
●
Each device has a clock
●
New Clock Master elected as
needed

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WHAT DOES DANTE NOT DO?

Sample rate conversion

●
Level control
●
MIDI
●
SMPTE time code
These are handled by products
Control and other data runs alongside Dante
on network

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USING
DANTE
DANTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
LEVEL 1

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DANTE CONTROLLER
Primary Dante tool
●
Routing: Setup, view, change
●
Clocking adjustments
●
Sample Rate settings
●
Latency settings
●
Clock and Latency monitoring

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DISCOVERY AND ROUTING

If no devices are connected, Dante

Controller is empty
●
Dante Controller always shows the
current state of the network
●
Key concept: Dante configuration lives
in devices, not on your computer

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DISCOVERY AND ROUTING
DIRECTLY CONNECT ONE DEVICE

When they are connected to network,

Dante devices automatically appear in
Dante Controller
●
No pre-configuration
●
Human readable names
●
A Dante device can be connected
directly to a computer

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DISCOVERY AND ROUTING
MULTIPLE DEVICES AND CHANNELS

Use switch to connect

multiple devices
●
Click “+” sign to view device channels
Click “-” sign to hide channels
●
Transmitter channels on horizontal
●
Receiver channels on vertical

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DISCOVERY AND ROUTING
SUBSCRIPTIONS

Dante connections are “subscriptions”

●
With device channels showing, click at
intersection of desired transmit and
receive channels
●
Green checkmark means subscription
is OK
Sample rates and types match

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DISCOVERY AND ROUTING
DELETING

To delete a subscription, click on

green checkmark
●
Checkmark disappears,
subscription deleted

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DISCOVERY AND ROUTING
SPLITS

Splits are easy with Dante

●
Simply click at intersections of
multiple receiver’s channels for a
desired transmitter
●
Audio is sent to all subscribed devices
and channels

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DEVICE NAMES

Recommended: Name first, then route

●
You can use device names of
your choice
●
Double click device in Routing view,
go to Device Config tab
●
Edit name

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CHANNEL LABELS

Labels can be applied to any channels

●
Use Device View
●
Makes it easy for volunteers or
newbies to use system
●
Software version of masking tape 😉😉

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ADJUST SAMPLE RATE

In Device View -> Device Config tab

●
Adjust sample rate and bit depth
(Encoding)
●
Choices determined by product
●
Most common 48kHz / PCM 24

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POWER CYCLE RECOVERY

Configurations are stored in Dante

devices – not in Dante Controller
●
At power up and/or reconnection, all
subscriptions are re-established
●
Dante Controller not required!

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NO
DOES DANTE CONTROLLER NEED TO BE
ON THE NETWORK ALL THE TIME?

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SUMMARY: KEY TAKEAWAYS 1
Dante Controller automatically displays connected devices
●
Dante devices and channels have user-definable names
●
Dante Controller displays both transmitter (source) and receiver
(sink) channels
●
Channel to channel connections are called subscriptions
●
Subscriptions are made and deleted by clicking at the intersection
of transmit and receive channels

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SUMMARY: KEY TAKEAWAYS 2

Subscriptions may only be made between devices running the same

sample rate, adjusted in Device View
●
Dante devices “remember” settings and subscriptions
●
Dante automatically selects a Master Clock
●
Dante Controller does not need to remain on network
●
Dante does not alter audio data in any way

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RECORDING WITH
DANTE VIRTUAL
SOUNDCARD
DANTE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
LEVEL 1

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WHAT IS DANTE VIRTUAL SOUNDCARD?
(DVS)

Soft Soundcard for Mac or PC

●
Connects to Dante network
●
Record and playout from 2x2 up
to 64x64 channels using any
DAW software

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CONNECT TO A DAW

Launch Dante Virtual Soundcard

●
Set number of channels and Start
DVS
●
DVS will appear as audio device on
computer
Mac – Core Audio
Windows – ASIO or WDM
●
Select as I/O device in DAW
preferences

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SUBSCRIBE CHANNELS

Open Dante Controller

●
Computer with DVS appears as Dante
device
●
Subscribe channels to Dante devices on
network
●
Record and Playout with DAW

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NOW
WHAT?

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NEXT STEPS

• Want to know more?

• Take Level 2!
• Go in depth on:
– Dante Controller
– Dante Virtual Soundcard
– Using Multicast
– Redundant Dante networks
– More!

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TAKE THE TEST

http://www.audinate.com/certify

• Create Audinate account if you don’t

have one
• Login at URL
• Take Level 1 test
• Certificate automatically generated

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THANK
YOU

Copyright 2016 Audinate Pty Ltd. All rights reserved http://www.audinate.com/resources