Dante Audio

Exaplay 3 plays audio onto a Dante network through ASIO. On the playback PC that is either Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS) from Audinate, or a Dante audio interface (PCIe card or USB/Thunderbolt device) that comes with an ASIO driver. To Exaplay both are an ordinary ASIO device: everything on Audio — First Ch routing, the Audio Mixer, the EQ, the volume levels — works the same way on Dante channels.

What you need

• Dante Virtual Soundcard with a licence for this PC, or a Dante interface with its ASIO driver installed.
• Dante Controller (free from Audinate) to route Exaplay's channels to the amplifiers, the desk or the DSP.
• A wired network adapter on the Dante network. Audinate does not support Dante over Wi-Fi. A dedicated adapter for Dante (separate from the multi-client or control network) is the safest setup.

Exaplay has no Dante driver of its own and does not talk to Dante Controller. Channel subscriptions, the clock master and the network latency are set in Audinate's software.

Setup

Step 1 — Prepare Dante Virtual Soundcard

1. Open Dante Virtual Soundcard and set the Audio Interface to ASIO (not WDM).
2. Choose the channel count (for example 16×16 or 64×64) and the latency.
3. Press Start. The PC now appears as a Dante device in Dante Controller.

With a Dante interface card, install the vendor's ASIO driver instead; the channel count comes from the card.

Step 2 — Select the driver in Exaplay

1. Open ☰ → Settings → Audio.
2. Set Audio interface to ASIO.
3. Pick the Dante driver in ASIO Device (Dante Virtual Soundcard or your card's driver).
4. Press Save settings. The driver opens straight away, no restart needed.

Step 3 — Route the channels in Dante Controller

Subscribe the receivers (amplifiers, desk, DSP) to this PC's transmit channels. Dante Controller shows them under the PC's device name.

Step 4 — Route clips to Dante channels

Every clip, track and composition has a First Ch selector in the Inspector: a stereo clip on CH05 plays on Dante channels 5 and 6. ☰ → Audio Mixer shows one strip per channel the driver offers, with a level meter and a gain fader. See Audio → Output channel routing.

Sample rate and latency

The sample rate is the Dante network's: set it in Dante Controller (or Dante Virtual Soundcard) — every device on the network must run at the same rate. Exaplay follows the rate the driver runs at; it is not chosen in Exaplay. When the rate changes, Exaplay re-opens the driver and every playing clip adapts to the new rate on its own.

Use media at the network's rate (normally 48 kHz). A clip at another rate is resampled and plays correctly, and the bottom of the Audio Settings tab names it, so mixed rates can be cleaned up before the show. Check Project reports them too.

The latency is set in Dante Virtual Soundcard (or the card's driver) and in Dante Controller. A larger value adds delay between pressing Play and hearing audio, a smaller one risks dropouts on a busy network or a busy PC. Start with the default and lower it only once the show runs clean.

When the Dante network changes

When the clock master changes, a device joins or leaves, or the clock re-locks, Dante Virtual Soundcard asks the program using it to restart the audio. Exaplay does this automatically: it closes and re-opens the driver and carries on with the playing clips. On a shared network these requests can arrive in bursts; Exaplay merges them and restarts at most once every two seconds.

During the restart the audio drops out for a moment. The log names it as ASIO reset requested (network/clock change), and the audio row Resets in Performance Diagnostics counts how often it happened. Restarts that keep coming back point at the network — see below.

Channels

Dante Virtual Soundcard offers up to 64 transmit channels, and Exaplay routes and mixes all of them: the Audio Mixer has a strip for each one, and its gains are saved with the project. Channel names come from the driver.

Exaplay uses one audio device at a time — while Dante is selected, a local sound card on the same PC is not played at the same time.

Timecode over Dante

LTC travels over Dante like any other audio channel.

• Receive: with ☰ → Settings → Timecode → Timecode Mode set to Receive LTC, Linear Timecode and ASIO as the audio interface, the LTC input is an ASIO input channel. Subscribe one of this PC's Dante receive channels to the LTC source in Dante Controller and pick that channel as the Input Channel. See Timecode Sync → Receive: LTC.
• Send: LTC Output Channel offers the Dante transmit channels; subscribe the receiving device to that channel. Keep it off the channels your clips play on. See Timecode Sync → LTC Output.

Several Exaplay machines

Every Exaplay PC plays to its own audio device. A PC that should put audio on the Dante network runs its own Dante Virtual Soundcard (one licence each) and appears as its own device in Dante Controller.

Troubleshooting

The Dante driver is not in the ASIO Device list

• Dante Virtual Soundcard is not started, or it is set to WDM instead of ASIO. Switch it to ASIO and start it, then open the Audio settings again.

Exaplay plays, but nothing arrives on the receivers

• Check the subscriptions in Dante Controller: the receiver must be subscribed to this PC's transmit channels.
• Check that the clip's First Ch is within the channel count set in Dante Virtual Soundcard — a clip on CH17 plays nothing on a 16-channel setup.
• Watch the meters in ☰ → Audio Mixer: a moving meter means Exaplay plays; the problem is then the routing on the Dante side.

Clicks, dropouts or short gaps

• Raise the latency in Dante Virtual Soundcard / Dante Controller.
• Put Dante on its own network adapter, and its own network or VLAN if possible.
• On the switches, turn off Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) and set up QoS as Audinate recommends.
• Check in Dante Controller that there is one stable clock master. A changing clock master makes Dante Virtual Soundcard ask for restarts (see When the Dante network changes).

Audio plays at the wrong speed or pitch

• The Dante network runs at a different rate than expected. Check the rate in Dante Controller; Exaplay follows the driver.

For general audio problems see Audio Troubleshooting.