Dante In

The Q-SYS Dante input / output card provides a means of receiving and transmitting to and from other Dante enabled devices on a Dante network.

As a general rule, the Q-SYS Dante Card channel and flow allocation is as follows:

  • Each unicast flow can have a maximum of 4 channels.

  • Each multicast flow automatically uses 8 channels.

However, the actual number of consumed channels and flows is based on the individual site circumstances – i.e., how many devices are subscribed to each flow.

Property

Function

Choices

Input/Output Count

Determines the number of input and output channels.

2x2

4x4

8x8

16x16

32x32

64x64

Dante Sample Rate

(kHz)

Sets the Sample rate. Available choices are dependent on the selected Input/Output Count.

44.1

48

88.2

96

Dante Receive Latency

(milliseconds)

This setting defines the latency between the timestamps on the incoming audio samples and when those samples are played out.

0.15

0.25

0.5

1

5

External Configuration

Determines whether Dante card configuration is allowed by an external program, such as Dante Controller:

  • When set to Yes, you configure the Dante card with an external program. In this mode, some controls within the Dante component in Q-SYS Designer become read-only.
  • When set to No, you configure the Dante card with the Dante component in Q-SYS Designer. In this mode, any changes you make in an external program are ignored.

Yes / No

Control

Function

Default / Range

Peak Input Level

(dBFS)

Meters for each channel indicating the peak Dante input level. The measurement is taken directly from the Dante input signal before the Digital Controls (Invert/Gain/Mute).

Default = N / A

Range = -100 to 20

Control

Function

Default / Range

Invert

Toggle button to invert the digital output of the signal.

Off / On

Mute

Mutes the output signal.

Off / On

Gain

(dB)

Controls the Gain of the digital output signal.

Default = 0

Range = -100 to 20

Control

Function

Default / Range

Status

Component status is conveyed with the Status LED and Status box, which uses both color and text to indicate the current condition:

  • OK: The device is functioning normally.
  • Initializing: The device is in the process of a firmware or configuration update, or the design is starting.
  • Compromised: The device is functioning, but a non-fatal problem exists. Refer to the Status box for details.
  • Missing: The device cannot be discovered.
  • Fault: The device is malfunctioning or is not properly configured. Refer to the Status box for details.
  • Unknown: This status appears during a Core reboot (for example, during a firmware update), or when a design is being uploaded to the Core and before it has started running.
  • Not Present: If applicable to the device, this status appears when the device is not connected to the network and its Is Required component property is set to 'No'. This status also appears if the device component's Dynamically Paired property is set to 'Yes', pairing has not been assigned in Core Manager, and the device component's Is Required property is set to 'Yes'. See Dynamic Pairing.

Note: Dante card (CDN64) "Initializing" status can appear for 10-20 seconds during design startup.

N / A

A Q-SYS input channel can subscribe to a specific channel on a specific device. The transmitting device is given a name and each channel on that device is given a label.

Each channel has the following controls.

Control

Function

Default / Range

Device

The Device is selected for a Q-SYS input channel from a list of Dante output devices advertising on the network. The Device name is a unique name on the Dante network.

N / A

Channel

The Channel is selected from a list of channel labels on the selected Device. Each channel has a unique name on the device.

Each Dante Channel has a name that is set by the device manufacturer and is not changeable by the user. The Q-SYS CDN64 Dante card, for example, uses channel names "01", "02", etc. Each Dante Channel also uses an optional Label, which can be set by the end user with the Label control in the Dante Out component in Q-SYS (when the External Configuration property is set to 'No') or with Audinate's Dante Controller software (when External Configuration is 'Yes').

The format for the Channel control in Q-SYS is Name . Label, with the delimiter (space-period-space) and Label being optional.

N / A

Subscription Status

The LED and status bar indicate the current status of the channel subscription. Normally, this should indicate 'OK'. A 'Fault' status indicates a problem with the channel subscription. If the message following the 'Fault' status is in all caps, it is a message returned directly from the Dante code.

These are some common Dante subscription status messages:

  • Initializing - UNRESOLVED: Dante is looking for the device to whose channel it is subscribed.
  • Compromised - Unresolved: Timed out looking for the device.
  • Fault - NO_TX: The Dante transmitting device to which Q-SYS is trying to subscribe has run out of Transmit Flows.
  • Fault - NO_RX: This Dante receiver has run out of available Receive Flows.

N / A

The available Control Pins depend on settings in Properties. Each channel on the Dante Input card has the following Control Pins with the exception of Status.

Pin Name

Value

String

Position

Pins Available

Clip

0

1

false

true

0

1

Output

Clip Hold

0

1

false

true

0

1

Input / Output

Gain

-100 to 20

-100 dB to 20 dB

0.000 to 1.00

Input / Output

Invert

0

1

normal

invert

0

1

Input / Output

Level

27.0 to -55

27.0 to -55

0 to .988

Input / Output

Mute

0

1

unmute

mute

0

1

Output

Subscription Channel

(text)

Input / Output

Subscription Device

(text)

Input / Output

Subscription Status

0

1

2

3

4

OK (green)

Compromised (orange)

Fault (red)

Unknown (red)

Updating (blue)

0

0.250

0.500

0.750

1.00

Output

Input Status

0

1

2

3

4

OK (green)

Compromised (orange)

Fault (red)

Unknown (red)

Updating (blue)

0

0.250

0.500

0.750

1.00

Output