Dante Virtual Soundcard FAQs
We have recently been made aware of an issue on Mac OS X where DVS v4.1.0.8 on some machines will present a latency increase issue, which may result in distorted audio.
Should you experience this issue, please install the previous version of the DVS v4.0.4.3 software from the following URL – https://my.audinate.com/content/dante-virtual-soundcard-v4043-macos.
Audinate are actively investigating the issue and will release an update with a fix in the following weeks. If the issue persists with DVS v4.0.4.3 please contact Audinate Support.
Upon booting the machine, DVS may present the error ‘512: Audio Driver Failed’. This is an issue that is currently being investigated internally, and we’re aiming for a fix within the next major DVS release.
Selecting OK in the DVS interface will allow full functionality of DVS, and has not been seen to result in any other issues.
Due to a change in the OS X networking stack since OS X 10.13, we have found that our multicast clock traffic can be interfered with on some Mac OS systems, resulting in DVS periodically losing sync with the master clock. We are working on a resolution for this in the next DVS release. We have not observed any impact on the audio.
A workaround for this issue is to use an adapter such as USB or Thunderbolt to Ethernet instead of the built-in network port. Running DVS at a lower sample rate such as 48KHz with fewer channels has also been found to resolve the issue.
In some Mac OS X and switch configurations (notably in OS X 10.13) IGMP snooping can interfere with PTP traffic to the computer’s network interface. This can prevent DVS achieving PTP sync with the network, which in turn prevents reliable audio transmission.
The easiest solution is to ‘Forward All’ multicast to the Mac. In effect, that disables IGMP snooping for that port. However, assuming the Mac has a Gigabit port, you should be fine.
Dante Virtual Soundcard licenses are non-portable. When the license is activated, it becomes permanently locked to the physical computer on which it was activated, and it cannot be moved to another computer after activation.
Dante Virtual Soundcard can however be uninstalled, reinstalled and reactivated on the same physical computer any number of times, except in some situations where significant changes have been made to the fundamental hardware configuration of the computer (for example, if an internal hard drive or network interface has been added or removed).
If you are unable to reactivate Dante Virtual Soundcard on a computer which was previously running the software successfully, please complete the support form here.
If you are using a computer that has multiple network interfaces, you may encounter an issue where DVS does not allow the selection of a network interface, or does not acquire an IP address.
The current workaround is to open Dante Controller on the machine running DVS, and in the ‘Configure Dante Interfaces’ dialog, ensure that the checkbox for ‘Use shared Dante interfaces’ is selected. This instructs other Dante software applications (DVS, Via, and Firmware Update Manager) to use the same interface that is currently selected in Dante Controller.
If this is your first installation of DVS on OS X High Sierra (10.13), you may be presented with the following message when running the program:
‘The DVS Manager service is not available, please try again in a few minutes’.
If this is the case, you will need to approve the kernel extension in your Mac’s Security and Privacy settings. Please see https://developer.apple.com/library/content/technotes/tn2459/_index.html for more information.
Some Windows 10 users may have encountered an issue that prevents the changing of the sample rate for Dante Virtual Soundcard in WDM mode.
This issue is under investigation and hopefully will be resolved in a future Dante Virtual Soundcard update.
Symptoms
On Windows 10, to change the sample rate for Dante Virtual Soundcard, you must first change it in Dante Controller, and then change it for each DVS device in the Windows Playback and Recording device settings.
This is typically done by right-clicking the speaker icon in the system tray and selecting ‘Playback devices’ (or ‘Recording devices’), double-clicking the DVS devices, and changing the sample rate in the ‘Advanced’ tab for each device.
However, depending on the version of Windows 10 you have, one of the following conditions may be observed:
- The Advanced tab of the device properties panel is not visible, which prevents the changing of the sample rate for Dante Virtual Soundcard in Windows.
- The Advanced tab is visible, but Dante Virtual Soundcard cannot play or receive audio when the sample rate has been changed.
Workaround
The workaround involves uninstalling Dante Virtual Soundcard and reinstalling it, then setting the required sample rate in ASIO mode BEFORE it is started.
- Uninstall Dante Virtual Soundcard.
- Reinstall Dante Virtual Soundcard.
- Open the Dante Virtual Soundcard control panel.
- Dante Virtual Soundcard will be currently unlicensed, and therefore not running. Do NOT license Dante Virtual Soundcard yet.
- Click the ‘Settings’ tab in the Dante Virtual Soundcard control panel and change the Audio Interface to ASIO.
- Go back to the ‘Licensing’ tab, and license Dante Virtual Soundcard using your existing license ID. It will start automatically in ASIO mode.
- In Dante Controller, open the Dante Virtual Soundcard device (double-click the device or hit CTRL+D) and select the ‘Device Config’ tab.
- Change the sample rate to the desired rate.
- Wait a second or two.
- Go back to the Dante Virtual Soundcard control panel and stop Dante Virtual Soundcard.
- Select WDM mode.
- Start Dante Virtual Soundcard.
Dante Virtual Soundcard should now be operating at the new sample rate.
Unfortunately you cannot run multiple instances of Dante Virtual Soundcard on the same computer.
For high channel count applications, Audinate recommends a Dante PCIe hardware soundcard, which natively supports up to 128 channels, with ultra-low latency.
They are currently available from two leading manufacturers.
A Dante Virtual Soundcard License can only be activated a limited number of times, and this activation limit has been exceeded.
Please be aware that the license for this software is for use on a single machine only (like a physical sound card license). The license agreement you acknowledged when you activated Dante Virtual Soundcard does not allow you to use the same license ID on multiple machines. In order to use Dante Virtual Soundcard on a second machine, you will need to purchase an additional license.
Reinstalling Dante Virtual Soundcard on a machine that it was previously installed on should not require an additional activation, and should be possible without limit.
If you believe this message is in error, please fill out this form, select ‘Move or Reinstall DVS’ and include your license ID.
The License ID that has been entered is not a known Dante Virtual Soundcard License ID.
Check to make sure a valid Dante Virtual Soundcard License ID has been entered, and not a serial number for a different product.
If you are seeing this after entering a DVS Token from the product packaging of Dante enabled equipment:
DVS tokens are bundled with some Dante products. A DVS (Dante Virtual Soundcard) token is a unique code that can be redeemed for a fully-functional Dante Virtual Soundcard license ID, which can then be used to activate Dante Virtual Soundcard. A DVS token can not be entered directly into the license field on the Dante Virtual Soundcard application, it must be redeemed first to produce a license ID. You can redeem the DVS token for a Dante Virtual Soundcard license ID here: Redeem DVS Token
If you are seeing this after entering the serial number of a Dante-MY16-AUD card:
As of July 2013, the Dante-MY16-AUD product box includes updated documentation. The Dante-MY16-AUD card itself is unchanged. As part of this update, we have changed the way you redeem the Dante Virtual Soundcard License bundled with your Dante-MY16-AUD purchase.
If your product box contains a ‘Download Your Software’ card (like the one shown below) with a DVS token label on it, you can redeem the DVS token for a Dante Virtual Soundcard license ID here: Redeem DVS Token
As of this date, we no longer record or track the serial numbers of the Dante-MY16-AUD cards. If the card above was missing from your product box, or if you have misplaced the card, we do not track which DVS Tokens were included in each Dante-MY16-AUD product box. Yamaha provides exclusive distribution and support for the Dante-MY16-AUD card. Support information can be accessed by contacting your authorized Yamaha Pro Audio Dealer.
No. The latency settings for Dante Virtual Soundcard can be set at different parameters than the rest of your network and will not affect the playout to other devices. For example, the rest of the network could be set at 1ms latency for live audio while Dante Virtual Soundcard remains set for a higher value for recording.
Dante Virtual Soundcard is software that allows computers to act as Dante-enabled devices on a network. With Dante Virtual Soundcard, audio applications on your computers to send and receive up to 64 channels of uncompressed audio to and from other Dante-enabled devices, including other computers running Dante Virtual Soundcard. Dante Virtual Soundcard eliminates the need for expensive hardware soundcards.
The Dante Virtual Soundcard can be set for latency values of 4, 6 or 10ms. Lower settings require greater resources from the host computer, and so should be used only with machines that exceed the minimum requirements.
One of the most effective methods of improving overall I/O for media applications is to direct your recorded data to a fast hard drive that is not handling operating system chores – in other words, don’t record on the same physical drive that is used to boot the computer. A separate data drive, either internal or external, is recommended.
That depends on the audio format that your are using. Please see the user guide for more information.
Using the “Channels” settings on Dante Virtual Soundcard, it can provide the following channel representations:
- 2×2
- 4×4
- 8×8
- 16×16
- 32×32
- 64×64
Yes, you need Dante Controller.
Dante Controller is a free application that may be downloaded from our website. Dante Controller allows you to see and make connections between Dante-enabled devices on your network. You need it in order to establish connections to and from your Dante Virtual Soundcard. Once the connections and routes are initially set up, Dante Controller does not need to be running.
While we try to test as many programs as possible, we cannot test every digital audio workstation application. We recommend that you download a free trial copy of Dante Virtual Soundcard and test it on your system with your software.
Yes. Multiple instances of Dante Virtual Soundcard can be used as both Transmitters and Receivers.
Note: Dante Virtual Soundcard is authorized for only one computer per license, and so this will require multiple licenses which may be purchased directly from the Audinate website.
Yes! Since version 9, ProTools supports standard Core Audio and ASIO interfaces, including Dante Virtual Soundcard.
Note: earlier versions of ProTools use a proprietary interface that is not compatible with Dante Virtual Soundcard.
This could be because multiple applications with differing sample rates are sharing Dante Virtual Soundcard as their audio interface.
In Windows, if applications with differing sample rates share an audio interface, their sample rates are automatically brought into line by Windows, so it can mix the audio streams. This will result in sample rate conversion on one of the audio streams, which can adversely affect audio quality.
To prevent Windows performing sample rate conversion on Dante Virtual Soundcard audio, the shared mode default format for all Dante Virtual Soundcard channels should be set to match the sample rate currently selected on the Dante Virtual Soundcard control panel.
See the Dante Virtual Soundcard User Guide for more information.
Windows: any audio application that supports WDM or the ASIO interface. This includes nearly all currently available professional level audio workstations such as Nuendo, Cubase, Reaper, and Pro Tools, and many consumer-level audio applications such as iTunes and Skype.
OS X: any audio application that supports the Core Audio interface. This includes all professional level audio workstations such as Logic and Cubase, as well as all consumer level applications such as iTunes and Garage Band.
It depends.
There are two types of virtual machines. A Type 1 virtual machine runs directly on hardware, using hypervisor software to manage multiple simultaneous instances. These are commonly employed when building out server clusters. A Type 2 virtual machine is one that runs within an instance of a host operating system, such as a Windows virtual machine that runs alongside regular applications on a Mac computer using products such as Parallels® Desktop or VMWare® Fusion.
Dante Virtual Soundcard for Windows supports installation in Type 1 virtual machines only when activated using a special license key. Dante Virtual Soundcard does not work on Type 2 virtual machines due to performance constraints.
Note: Standard Dante Virtual Soundcard licenses purchased online via this website do not allow DVS activation on virtual machines – a special DVS license is required. For more information about running DVS on virtual machines, please contact sales@audinate.com.
Dante Virtual Soundcard may be purchased directly from this website.
Note: A single license of Dante Virtual Soundcard is included with Dante-enabled products from several of our partners.
When using Dante Virtual Soundcard observe the following guidelines:
- Make certain that Dante Virtual Soundcard is turned ON before starting your audio application (e.g. Nuendo, Logic, etc). Remember, Dante Virtual Soundcard is virtual hardware and the audio application needs to know that it is there as it starts
- Close your projects and your audio applications before stopping Dante Virtual Soundcard
- Dante Virtual Soundcard settings cannot be changed while Dante Virtual Soundcard is running. Be sure to close your audio applications and disable Dante Virtual Soundcard before making changes
- Configure your computer to provide good performance for audio applications as per recommendations above
- Processor: Dual core CPU
- Memory: 1 Gigabyte of RAM
- Network interface: Standard wired Ethernet, 100Mbps or higher. A Gigabit (1000Mbps) interface is necessary for use with channel counts above 32×32 @48kHz.
- Storage/Disk: Disk speeds of at least 7200rpm are strongly recommended when recording 16 or more channels of audio.
- Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) interfaces are not supported.
No. It is not necessary to turn Dante Virtual Soundcard off when you power off your computer. The Dante Virtual Soundcard application acts like a control panel, allowing the user to configure and enable the software. Dante Virtual Soundcard will show up as a soundcard in your audio settings. Once the application window is closed, Dante Virtual Soundcard continues to function and be available, even if the computer is restarted.
Please refer to the Dante Virtual Soundcard user guide.
- Make certain that your network is using good quality components and is running Gigabit throughout
- Use the highest latency value that you can for your situation
- Direct recording data to a non-system hard drive if possible
- Disable all non-essential options for your Network Interface from device Properties in Windows Device Manager (Windows only)
- Fully disable any unused network interfaces
- Quit any unnecessary applications or services you may have running
Dante Virtual Soundcard allows you to:
- Use a computer as an audio source or a destination on the network
- Record multitrack audio directly to your computer
- Record audio from multiple Dante equipped devices at one time
- Send audio to multiple Dante equipped devices at one time
- Record online conference audio (e.g. Skype)
Dante Virtual Soundcard is bundled with several popular Dante-enabled interfaces, thus providing a simple, complete and cost-effective recording solution. Since you are on a network you are no longer restricted by limited cable lengths. A Cat5E cable can be 100 Meters (110 Yards) between switch hops.