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[Mark McFarlane]

Absolutely.

Never should the network have to be clocked from a specific hardware device.

Other manufacturers have made this mistake before. Then they realized that they can't use two of their own devices on a network together. That sort of defeats the purpose of having a network. Fortunately they fixed this problem.

Josh, I'm not sure what you meant exactly by: "Never should the network have to be clocked from a specific hardware device."

My understanding of what Jeff and Alan proposed (and what works) is the GLD acts as the master clock for the Dante option card, then the Dante option card acts as the master for the Dante network audio.


In essence two master clocks for two different uses, one within the console, one presented outside through the Dante network.  In this scenario the Dante card is a slave to the GLD clock, but master to the outside Dante world.  The GLD clock is the master to the Dante card and the AR2412 (a different network from the Dante network).

[Mac Kerr]

Josh, I'm not sure what you meant exactly by: "Never should the network have to be clocked from a specific hardware device."

My understanding of what Jeff and Alan proposed (and what works) is the GLD acts as the master clock for the Dante option card, then the Dante option card acts as the master for the Dante network audio.


In essence two master clocks for two different uses, one within the console, one presented outside through the Dante network.  In this scenario the Dante card is a slave to the GLD clock, but master to the outside Dante world.  The GLD clock is the master to the Dante card and the AR2412 (a different network from the Dante network).

What Josh and I both suggested is that 1 Dante device act as the master clock. In your case it would be the card, and all other devices clock off the network, or in you case the console would clock off the card.

It is probably fine that the card clocks off the console, and then everything else clocks off the network, just don't forget, if you add devices to the network, that the network is the clock master.

Mac

[Mark McFarlane]

What Josh and I both suggested is that 1 Dante device act as the master clock. In your case it would be the card, and all other devices clock off the network, or in you case the console would clock off the card.

It is probably fine that the card clocks off the console, and then everything else clocks off the network, just don't forget, if you add devices to the network, that the network is the clock master.

Mac

Thanks Mac, that makes sense. 

[Josh Millward]

It is probably fine that the card clocks off the console, and then everything else clocks off the network, just don't forget, if you add devices to the network, that the network is the clock master.

Mark,

The problem is, what if you wanted to add another console?

If you tried to set it up the same way, things will not work.

In the second console the card clocks off the console, but how does that console know what the clock is from the other console who already is the clock master for the network?

You are ahead of the game to always make your console clock to the Dante card and allow any of the Dante devices to be the clock master for the network.

This way you are always clocking all your devices from the network so you don't have to remember any special caveats about "this console must be on the network first, then that console can be turned on..." or something equally silly.

Allow the network to generate the clock, then clock all your devices from the network.

[gordonmcgregor]

Mark use Reaper to track the show it is very good for this and is about as stable as a DAW gets in this situation, if you're more familiar with Cubase then mix using it, as some people can't seem to get used to Reaper's sometimes odd ways of working.
 My Asus I3 laptop routinely records shows up to 24 tracks no problem with Reaper, though I would use a desktop with a big screen to mix that many tracks. G

[Mark McFarlane]

Mark use Reaper to track the show it is very good for this and is about as stable as a DAW gets in this situation, if you're more familiar with Cubase then mix using it, as some people can't seem to get used to Reaper's sometimes odd ways of working.
 My Asus I3 laptop routinely records shows up to 24 tracks no problem with Reaper, though I would use a desktop with a big screen to mix that many tracks. G

Thanks Gordon.  I'm not giving up on Cubase just yet. I have many thousands of hours in Cubase, since v 1.0, and I just paid for a second copy for my laptop (albeit the LE edition) specifically for recording live shows.  I can operate/configure it in my sleep (or in the heat of a show), so it seemed worth the $100 to avoid polluting my brain with something new. 

After I waste a few evenings on Cubase I'll try Reaper again . It worked in my tests, but operation was little strange for me.

[Justice C. Bigler]

Mark, I assume that it goes without saying that you are using a high end external hard drive to record to? USB 3, 7200RPMs, and not a smart or "green" hard drive with power saving features?

I just recorded 25 channels for a 2 1/2 hour long opera using Protools 11 on my three year old Sony VAIO laptop through via Dante Virtual Sound Card (from our CL5) with no issues (well, except for the iLok meltdown that I had one day that required me to reinstall the iLok drivers).

[Alan R Roberts]

Thanks Jeff, upon re-reading Alan and David gave different setups, I followed David's. I assumed Alan meant "is the GLD set to internal sync" as if that was a bad thing


Anyway, I set the GLD to use its internal clock, and set Dante to use 'external sync' (as shown below) and I have 7 minutes of clean recording. I'll let it run a few hours. Thanks again.

Your setup is now identical to mine (except I use the iLive). Works great for recording.

[Mark McFarlane]

Mark,

The problem is, what if you wanted to add another console?

If you tried to set it up the same way, things will not work.

In the second console the card clocks off the console, but how does that console know what the clock is from the other console who already is the clock master for the network?

You are ahead of the game to always make your console clock to the Dante card and allow any of the Dante devices to be the clock master for the network.

This way you are always clocking all your devices from the network so you don't have to remember any special caveats about "this console must be on the network first, then that console can be turned on..." or something equally silly.

Allow the network to generate the clock, then clock all your devices from the network.

Well, that makes sense also, thanks Josh. I hope Jeff from A&H will chime in since he recommended otherwise,, but perhaps because I am only running a single console.

[Mark McFarlane]

Mark, I assume that it goes without saying that you are using a high end external hard drive to record to? USB 3, 7200RPMs, and not a smart or "green" hard drive with power saving features?
....

Actually not, I mentioned earlier I was using my MacBook Pro system drive.  I understand that's not considered best practice, but it is what I had readily available to test Dante setup.  The next step is getting reliable multi-hour recordings, which may involve a new hard disk.

FWIW, 7200RPM has been lauded as a best practice for several decades.  Rotational speed by itself is meaningless.  Due to the increase linear bit density of modern high capacity drives, the data rates sustainable on a modern 5200 RPM drive are an order of magnitude faster than the 7200RPM drives of a few years ago when the bit rate demanded 7200RPM on drives measured in MBs, yet everyone keeps repeating 7200RPM on TB drives.  Data throughput is a factor of rotational speed and the number of bits on the platter moving under the head on each rotation. 

I'm publicly calling the need for a 7200RPM drive for 24 track audio recording a legacy myth.

Automatic health checks, power downs, etc are more serious problems, and one may find these features disabled or compensated for on higher RPM drives, but the bit rates of modern TB 5400 RPM drives are fine for handling a LOT of audio channels. Automatic indexing of hard disks by Spotlight is another potential issue, or Time Machine interruptions...

Anyway, I may end up buying a faster drive to fix the problem.

[ProSoundWeb Community]