Dante Virtual Soundcard FAQs
If you see following error message on your Mac after upgrading OSX, make sure that Dante Virtual Soundcard is allowed to run in the background.
How to check if its allowed to run in the background?
Go to System preferences -> General -> Login Items, and enable Dante Virtual Soundcard, and Audinate Pty applications.
What Is a Transferable DVS License?
From DVS 4.3 it is now possible to purchase or upgrade to a Transferable DVS license. With this license you can deactivate a license from one machine in order to move it to another.
Customers can now purchase either the Transferable License ($US79.99) or the Single Machine License ($US49.99); and also upgrade a Single Machine License to a Transferable License through an online transaction for $US29.99.
A bundle of DVS Transferable License and Dante Via is also available for US$99.99
Who is it for?
This is for customers who have purchased a new machine and wish to continue to use their existing DVS license. Customers who have the need to change the machine that DVS is used on will benefit from purchasing a Transferable DVS license instead of a Single Machine license.
It is also useful for customers who have multiple machines they swap between periodically and customers who create temporary deployments then wipe their machines after an event, for example.
How does the Transferable license work?
DVS Transferable License is purchased and activated in the same way as a Single Machine License.
DVS Transferable License can be moved between machines indefinitely, although each license is designed to work on a single machine at once (it must be deactivated before being used to activate a different machine).
Unlike the Single Machine License, which can operate offline indefinitely after it is activated, DVS Transferable must ‘phone home’ via the Internet at least every 30 days to keep working.
When used with a Transferable License, DVS 4.3+ will show additional information and controls in the ‘Licensing’ tab including:
- ‘De-activate’ button which releases the license activation so it can be used on a different machine
- Number of days until it needs to ‘Phone home’ with an active internet connection in order to keep operating
- ‘Refresh Now’ button which phones home straight away and resets the counter to a full 30 days, to prepare for a period of offline operation
When used with a Single Machine License, DVS 4.3+ will show an ‘Upgrade’ button which will direct customers to a check-out page where the upgrade for that license can be purchased.
What happens if DVS is deactivated; or is not able to phone home in time?
DVS will effectively ‘stop’; that is, it will not show up in Dante Controller or as a sound card.
If DVS has stopped because it was unable to phone home in time, allowing the machine to connect to the Internet and clicking ‘Refresh’ in the Licensing Tab’ will allow it to start again (assuming the license is still valid / not activated on another machine).
What if I need to run DVS on an offline machine for extended periods of time?
In this case we recommend the Single Machine License.
Can the Transferable License be used with earlier versions of DVS?
No, this is not recommended.
If activated with a Transferable License, DVS versions prior to 4.3 will generally start and run; however it:
- Will not show correct details in the Licensing tab
- Will still need to phone home, but will not show any timing information or warnings
- Will not offer the ability to ‘refresh’ the activation manually (thereby allowing a full 30 days operation offline)
- Will not show the option to de-activate the machine in order to transfer the license (although this can be still done in my.audinate)
Customers are encouraged to upgrade to DVS 4.3+ before purchasing or upgrading to DVS Transferable License.
Can the Transferable License be downgraded to a Single Machine License?
No. Once the license has been upgraded, it is not possible to go back to a Single Machine option.
How do I recover a Transferable License that’s on a lost or stolen computer?
If a computer is lost, stolen or erased, you can recover a Transferable License so you can use it on another machine. Please find your License in your account on Audinate.com and click “Recover”, then follow the prompts.
The release of DVS 4.2.4.1 should resolve this issue, which can be downloaded from DVS 4.2.4.1
If the issue persists, try a full DVS reinstall through Library/Application Support/Audinate/DVS/Uninstall DVS, then restart the machine, install DVS again, then restart the machine and try running DVS.
Note, DVS requires an active physical network connection to start. Please make sure you are connected to a network before contacting support about this issue.
Affected Products / Versions: None known at this time.
Publication Date: 21 December 2021
Summary: Audinate products and services have no known exposure to the Apache Log4j security vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) at this time. This FAQ will be updated if this situation changes.
Details: There have been recent concerns regarding the widespread exploitation of a critical remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) affecting Apache Log4j, a Java logging framework. Audinate has looked for and not identified the use of the Log4j library in any of our public products and services. Our investigation continues, but Audinate products and services have no known direct exposure to this vulnerability at this point in time.
Beyond Audinate’s core products and services, Audinate utilises software products & cloud services from a range of third parties across our business. We will continue to systematically evaluate these for exposure and take remediation action as appropriate.
Remediation: None necessary at this time. This FAQ will be updated if this situation changes.
Switch Configuration
In some macOS and switch configurations, 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.
This example is for a Cisco SG300 network switch. Your switch configuration may be different, please contact the switch manufacturer or your network admin for assistance with this configuration.
Network Interface
This issue may also be due to the Mac’s built-in Ethernet port blocking communication from the leader clock. To confirm this as the issue, connect a Dante enabled hardware device directly to the computer so the switch is bypassed. If the issue is still present with a direct connection, try a USB to Ethernet adapter in place of the built-in Ethernet port, which should resolve the problem.
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, with the following:
- Affected Product: Dante Virtual Soundcard
- License ID: enter the license ID you are trying to use
- Case Reason: Licensing & Registration
- Subject: Can’t reinstall Dante Virtual Soundcard
- Description: Describe your situation
If required, you can activate the Dante Virtual Soundcard through Command Line or a Terminal window (along with other scripted tasks) by using the following commands. Please ensure to run these tools with Administrator level access:
Windows Command Line
cd \Program Files (x86)\Audinate\Dante Virtual Soundcard\Tools
dvs_licenser.exe -a [License ID]
Mac Terminal
cd “/Library/Application Support/Audinate/DanteVirtualSoundcard/Tools”
sudo ./dvs_licenser -a [License ID}
To benefit from the features of DVS Transferable licensing, DVS 4.3 or above is required. The latest DVS software version can be downloaded here Software Downloads
For MacOS users, DVS 4.3 is supported on both ARM and Intel based machines.
Dante Virtual Soundcard Transferable License requires regular internet access for activation and ongoing use. DVS will try to reach the licensing server every 30-Days.
If upgrading your Single machine license to Transferable, please ensure that the machine where you plan to install Dante Virtual Soundcard has a reliable internet connection. If the machine is connected to the internet during the 30-Day period, the software will continue to stay active
Hardware devices work hard to ensure that the high-priority, high-rate traffic is spread out time-wise.
DVS and Via are software-based, and thus subject to scheduling jitter. If/when scheduling is delayed, they could end up sending a burst of large packets through the network.
We decided not to QoS tag these packets to avoid having high-priority traffic “bursting” through the network.
Any additional delays in the network caused by not using QoS are assimilated into the overall latency budget.
The error 0x80070643 suggests a damaged/corrupt install on Windows, which can usually be resolved by removing the following Audinate files under Windows and then reinstalling DVS:
C:/Program Files
C:/Program Files (x86)
C:/ProgramData
If the issue persists, please contact Support
If you’re unable to start the DVS software and the Start button appears greyed out, this is most likely because an Ethernet Interface hasn’t been selected from the dropdown menu in the main Settings tab.
Head to the Settings tab, and select an Ethernet connection from the dropdown menu, then you should be able to start the software.
On Dante Controller, a red light in the Packet Errors column on the Network Status indicates that one or more media packets have been corrupted between the Dante-enabled device and the node on the other side of the Ethernet cable.
You can find the error counters by double-clicking on the device name and selecting the Status tab in the Device View window, the error count indicates the number of transmit/received Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) or packet errors detected since the device was last started. The situation is slightly different with DVS (Dante Virtual Soundcard), the error counters of DVS are dependent on the operating system’s network interface error counter.
Since DVS runs on a general-purpose computer without a dedicated network adapter for transporting Dante-only packages, the operating system’s error count value will summarize all network error traffic that has passed through the network adapter since the system or network adapter startup, with or without the running of DVS.
Depending on the operating system you are using, errors may include one or multiple of the following: packet corruption, checksum error, link connection failures, buffer overflows, etc.
An increase in the DVS error count is usually due to a faulty Ethernet cable or a problem with the network adapter.
Note: The Clear Counters button on Dante Controller is not available for DVS.
When observing discovery issues within the Dante Controller on Mac, this may be due to the Service Order of the Network Interface on the Mac. This issue can be resolved by setting the Ethernet interface that Dante is using to the highest priority. Follow the steps at https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchlp2711/mac
This issue is currently being looked into by our Development team.
If the issue persists, please contact the Support team at Support
Generally, built-in Ethernet adaptors are recommended for use with Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS). However, as some computers (such as Apple Macbooks) don’t provide built-in adaptors, an external USB Ethernet adaptor is required – the most popular type being USB-C.
USB Ethernet Standards
There are two main USB driver standards for Ethernet support: USB CDC-ECM (Ethernet Control Model), and USB CDC-NCM (Network Control Model), which is a newer and more advanced standard.
In the first model, USB CDC-ECM, audio packets arriving via the Ethernet adapter have to take a fairly complex route through the computer’s logical architecture (‘kernel space’ twice, and also ‘user space’) before arriving at DVS – and the same (but reversed) route when travelling from DVS to the adaptor.
In USB CDC-NCM, packets take a much more direct route (through kernel space once only), which is hardware-optimised – meaning the route is faster (enabling lower latency settings), and inherently more stable. Therefore, USB CDC-NCM adaptors are the recommended choice for use with DVS.
Adaptor Choice
Most 1Gbps USB Ethernet adaptors on the market today are based on the Realtek (RTL) 8153 chip, which only supports USB CDC-ECM.
Faster adaptors (supporting up to 2.5Gbps) are typically based on the Realtek (RTL) 8156 chip, which uses USB CDC-NCM – so we advise that you choose an adaptor that is based on the Realtek (RTL) 8156 chip. StarTech offer an adapter that has been shown to improve performance via feedback from our customers – 2.5GbE USB C to Ethernet Adapter NBASE-T NIC.
Checking the Driver Used by Your Adaptor
To see which driver model your adaptor uses, open System Information for your computer with the adaptor connected. In the Ethernet section, you will see an entry for ‘Driver’. In the screenshot below, we can see that the adaptor uses the preferred USB CDC-NCM driver model (com.apple.driver.usb.cdc.ncm
).
Packet Errors
We have seen network errors reported from adapters using the Apple USB CDC-NCM driver however, as long as you are not seeing high latencies or experiencing audio issues we believe these are errors are being falsely reported.
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is a Microsoft protocol that allows users to connect and control their PC from a remote device using Remote Desktop Connection software.
When connecting to Windows using Remote Desktop Connection, the reason why you only see one Remote Audio device under Windows Sound settings instead of the DVS running on WDM mode is that on the Remote Desktop Connection software, the “Remote audio playback” is configured as “Play on this computer”.
To see the DVS audio devices on the remote PC, go to the Local Resources tab of Remote Desktop Connection, click the Settings button of the Remote audio, select “Play on the remote computer”, click OK, and try to connect again.
If you’re seeing high latency that’s present on a Windows machine, there’s a third-party tool which can help to determine if there’s something on the machine itself that’s causing the issue. This can be downloaded from www.resplendence.com/latencymon
The tool will indicate specifically what on the system is causing the issue. Commonly seen causes are ‘ndis.sys’ for example.
A search for the issue online will bring up a list of possible solutions, such as ’ndis.sys latency’ brings up the Microsoft solution at ndis.sys latency
The tool can be used as a starting point to troubleshooting latency issues present in a network where there are Windows machines.
A computer firewall is a common component of the most popular operating systems that helps secure the computer by controlling incoming and outgoing network traffic.
In Windows Firewall, there is a default block action to deny all inbound connections, so it is necessary to create inbound allow rules. During the installation progress of Audinate software, firewall configuration for Windows Firewall and macOS built-in firewall is automatically handled. However, for some reason, you may want to manually create rules.
Configuring Windows Firewall
The built-in firewall in Windows 10/ 11 is Windows Defender Firewall. To open the firewall, press Winkey + R, type WF.msc, and select OK.
Understanding inbound and outbound
When we take a Windows PC as a reference, inbound traffic means network traffic that comes into your PC’s network adapter, goes through the firewall (if allowed), and ends up being captured by programs running on your system. Outbound traffic means the traffic going out to the network from your computer.
For example, a simple Dante system contains two Dante-enabled devices, an AVIO adapter subscribed to a DVS running on a Windows 10 PC. When we take the Windows PC as referencing, the periodically time synchronization PTP packets sent from AVIO adapters are inbound traffic, while the audio flows from DVS to the AVIO adapter are outbound traffic.
Example: Add an inbound rule to allow PTP traffic
Dante devices are synchronized with one another over the network using the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP), with traffic on 224.0.1.129 – 224.0.1.132 ports 319/ 320. This example creates an inbound rule to allow PC to receive PTP traffic.
- Right-click Inbound Rules on the Console Tree and select New Rule.
- In the Inbound Rule Wizard that pops up, select Custom as the Rule Type, and then click Next.
- Select All Programs as the Program and click Next.
- PTP uses UDP as its transport protocol, so we select UDP as the Protocol type, reserve All Ports as Remote ports, select Specific Ports as the Local port, enter “319, 320” in the text field, and click Next.
- Reserve Any IP address as the remote IP address, select These IP addresses as local IP addresses, and click Add.
- Select This IP address range in the pop-up IP Address window.
- Enter 224.0.1.129 in the From text field,
- And 224.0.1.132 in the To text field, click OK and then click Next in the previous window.
- Select Allow the connection as Action, and click Next.
- If you want this rule to apply to each location, select the checkbox for Domain, Private and Public, and click Next.
- Specify the name for the rule, in this example, I use Allow_inbound_PTP_packets as the rule name and click Finish.
Picture: Step 4
Picture: Step 5
The Allow_inbound_PTP_packets rule is added to the Inbound Rules, and the PTP traffic on 224.0.1.129 – 224.0.1.132 ports 319/ 320 is allowed to come into the PC.
Please keep in mind that with Windows Defender Firewall, allow rules take precedence over the default block actions, and an explicit block rule takes precedence over conflicting allow rules. This means that the allow rule you just created takes over the default block action, but if you have another rule denying inbound traffic on 224.0.1.129 – 224.0.1.132 ports 319/ 320, the PTP traffic will be blocked even though the allow inbound rule is activated.
Example: add an outbound rule to block audio flows
Dante packages audio into flows to save on network overhead. Unicast audio flow uses UDP as its transport protocol on ports 14336-14591 and 34336-34600. If you want to receive Dante audio, but for some reason prevent Dante audio flows from going out of your computer, this example creates an outbound rule to block the outgoing Dante audio traffic.
- Right-click Outbound Rules on the Console Tree and select New Rule.
- In the new Outbound Rule Wizard that pops up, select Custom as Rule Type, and click Next.
- Select All Programs as the Program and click Next.
- Select UDP as Protocol type, reserve All Ports as Local port, select Specific Ports as the Remote ports, enter “14336-14591, 34336-34600” in the text field, and click Next.
- Reserve Any IP address as both local and remote IP addresses and click Next.
- Select Block the connection as Action and click Next.
- If you want this rule to apply to each location, select the checkbox for Domain, Private and Public, and click Next.
- Specify the name of the rule, in this example, I use Deny_outbound_audio_packets as the rule name and click Finish.
Picture: Step 4
Now the Deny_outbound_audio_packets rule is added to the Outbound Rules, audio traffic on ports 14336-14591 and 34336-34600 are denied going out of your computer, while the incoming audio traffic is unaffected.
Yes. Windows 11 is supported with Dante Virtual Soundcard v4.2 and higher. Windows 11 support for Dante Controller was introduced in DC v4.5.1. The DC user guide can be downloaded from here
Not hearing audio when the subscription status within the Dante Controller is successful can be caused by several factors. The Dante Controller offers a way of checking that audio is being sent and received from the transmitter to the receiver.
Transmit Tab
Within the Dante Controller, double click on the Transmitting device so that it brings up Device View and navigate to the Transmit tab. Within this tab, when the transmitter is playing audio there should be a green speaker symbol which indicates the presence of audio. This means that the transmitting device is correctly configured and sending audio to the receiver:
If the speaker symbol is grey whilst audio is playing, this suggests that the transmitting device may not be configured correctly to send audio, is muted, or sending audio at a level less than -61dbFS.
Receive Tab
If there is a green speaker on the Transmit tab but there is still no audio, navigate to the Receive tab for the receiving device. Here you should see a green speaker symbol whilst audio is playing which indicates the presence of audio:
A green speaker means that audio is being successfully received at the receiving device and audio should be present.
If the speaker symbol is grey, this suggests the receiving device is not correctly configured. In this case, please refer to the user manual of that product.
Further troubleshooting:
Dante software (DVS or Dante Via):
- Check the audio software is unmuted.
- Check the audio software you’re using is configured to use the Dante software as the audio device within the applications audio settings.
- Check the machine running the Dante software is set to use the software as the default audio device for both Input and Output within the operating systems sound settings, (not applicable to ASIO mode).
Dante enabled device:
- Check the Dante enabled device is unmuted.
- Check the internal routing of the Dante enabled device and ensure it’s configured to use Dante, (if applicable).
- Check the settings on the device.
- Refer to the product manual to check the configuration of the hardware.
This is expected behaviour when DVS is running in ASIO mode. This is because ASIO purposely bypasses the Windows operating system to achieve lower latency.
If you’re using a professional audio application, such as Pro Tools, Logic or Reaper, you will be able to select DVS as the audio device within the applications audio settings.
If you’re using a Windows application, such as Windows Media Player, VLC or Microsoft Teams, ensure that DVS is running in WDM mode. DVS will present as a 16 x 16 channel (8 stereo pairs) soundcard under the Windows Sound settings.
You can change between ASIO and WDM whilst DVS is not running by selecting the Audio Interface dropdown box within the DVS Settings tab.
This means that the DVS software needs approval under the Mac’s Security settings. Go to the Security & Privacy pane in System Preferences and allow system software from Audinate to load. See https://developer.apple.com/library/content/technotes/tn2459/_index.html for more information.
If the error persists, in many cases this can be addressed by doing a full DVS reinstall via Library/Application Support/Audinate/DVS/Uninstall DVS, then install DVS again.
On some installs, the kernel extension can be blocked by the Mac’s System Integrity Protection resulting in the application not being shown within the Security and Privacy settings. At this time, the only option to address the issue is to disable SIP https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/disabling_and_enabling_system_integrity_protection.
Background
macOS High Sierra 10.13 introduces a new feature that requires user approval before loading new third-party kernel extension. Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS) is required to load its kernel extension. The user must allow DVS to load the kernel extension if it has not been approved yet after getting DVS installed.
DVS Error message due to user approval on loading Audinate kernel extension
The above message tells us that DVS is waiting for you to go to the Security & Privacy pane in System Preferences and allow system software from Audinate to load as described.
The above message tells us that DVS doesn’t work for some reason. One of the reasons is a failure on loading its kernel extension when it starts up. Please read the suggestions section.
System Extensions Blocked message with an error message
The above message tells us that macOS is unable to load the DVS kernel extension for some reason. One of the reasons is a failure in installing or updating the DVS image. Reinstalling DVS would be one option to make sure that the installation is completed successfully.
It is unlikely to see the above error messages as long as your Mac stays healthy and DVS installation is intact. However, if you have some trouble loading the Audinate kernel extension, the following option is suggested to help you to get around the problem.
Check whether the restricted flag is set
It is found that there is a noticeable difference in the Macs that have trouble loading the kernel extension. The difference is that the restricted flag is NOT set to the /private/var/db/KernelExtensionManagement directory. The directory should have the restricted flag when SIP is enabled.
Please check whether the /private/var/db/KernelExtensionManagement directory has the restricted flag.
-
Open Terminal app.
-
Run the following command in the Terminal.
ls -ldO /private/var/db/KernelExtensionManagement
-
Check whether you can see the restricted flag available in the output of the command result like below.
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 root wheel restricted 96 22 Feb 17:35 /private/var/db/KernelExtensionManagement
If you cannot see the restricted flag in the result, that could be the main reason why you are unable to run your DVS properly.
Set Restricted Flag
If you want to get around the problem by setting the restricted flag, the following steps help you to set the restricted flag.
Disclaimer: This problem seems to related to macOS updates instead of DVS updates. We cannot guarantee what impact has on your macOS and other applications due to the change. You should carefully read the following instructions and understand what each instruction is trying to achieve.
-
Enter recovery mode.
In order to enter the recovery mode, hold Command and R keys down together as soon as restarting your Mac until you see an Apple logo or spinning globe. -
Click on Utilities > Terminal in the menu bar.
-
Run a command to set the restricted flag to the directory in the Terminal. You need to know which drive is used for your macOS and replace <macOS drive> with your macOS drive in the following command.
chflags restricted /Volumes/<macOS drive>/private/var/db/KernelExtensionManagement
Suppose your macOS drive is “Macintosh HD”, the command should be like below.
chflags restricted /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/private/var/db/KernelExtensionManagement
-
Restart your Mac to get back to the normal mode and check your DVS are running properly.
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 leader 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.
Dante Virtual Soundcard Single Machine licenses are non-portable. These license types are intended for use on only the original machine to which the license was activated on.
Should you require the need to move a Dante Virtual Soundcard license from one computer to another, Audinate offer a Transferrable license type, which can be deactivated from one machine and moved to another. You can purchase a Transferrable license from the following URL Dante Software Products
If you currently have a Single Machine license that you would like to move to another machine, you can upgrade your current license to a Transferrable license by going to the My Products page on the Audinate website under the account that the license is registered to.
For further information on DVS Transferrable licenses, see DVS Transferrable FAQ
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.
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.
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.
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! 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.
Dante Via is not supported on any virtual machine type.
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.
- 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.
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.