If you've been doing church audio for a while, you've run into this problem – maybe several times.
Because of some special event, or because somebody came up with some (sigh) crazy idea, you need to connect audio from one place to another place – or places – where audio usually doesn't have to go. If it's just mono or stereo, sometime you can manage it. My desperate solutions included running spare mike cables down hallways and plugging ALS receivers into powered speakers. But if it's high resolution multi-channel audio they want, sometimes you just have to cringe and say, “It can't be done.” And hope the person you have to tell it to isn't the lead pastor.
Fortunately, there may be hope on the horizon in the form of Dante Via, a new software program from Audinate that was introduced this week at Infocomm. I expect you've heard of Dante, since this audio networking platform has grown rapidly in recent years to become practically the de facto standard for production applications. Dante-enabled devices span the full audio chain, from wireless mic receivers to power amplifiers and everything in between. These devices house dedicated, built-in Dante network modules that handle all the critical network housekeeping chores required for rock-solid connectivity.
Dante Via packs much of the same networking power, but in this case you don't need to buy any Dante-enabled devices. All you need is a Mac or PC computer, though preferably a fairly new and fast one. Load the Dante Via software and, presto, your computer becomes a digital audio bridge. Plug it into your church's LAN and you can send and receive up to 64 channels of audio either to any Dante-enabled device or – and here's the kicker – to any other computer running Dante Via.
The credentials are pretty impressive. Under optimum conditions, you’ll get 64 channels of bi-directional audio with 24-bit/48 KHz resolution.
If this seems vaguely familiar, it is an extension of the Dante Virtual Sound Card, a software product that Audinate released some time ago. There are many similarities, but the big difference here is that you are not limited to connecting with Dante-enabled devices. Computers running Dante Via can connect to each other, so anywhere you have a LAN connection in your church can be an endpoint for a digital audio snake.
The credentials are pretty impressive. Under optimum conditions, you'll get 64 channels of bi-directional audio with 24-bit/48 KHz resolution. If you're willing to sacrifice channel count for ultimate resolution, you can opt for up to 192 KHz sampling rate if your I/O interface also supports it. For simple mono and stereo applications, you can use the built-in sound card as your audio I/O, and for more sophisticated requirements you can use just about any Firewire, USB or Thunderbolt interface from any maker. And you can mix and match, with say Nuendo at one end and Pro Tools at the other. Other applications that can function as I/O endpoints include Cubase, Logic, Reaper and even Skype.
Certainly Dante Via affords exceptional flexibility. You can set up ad hoc audio networks across any rooms with LAN connections. You can record audio in one place and monitor in another. You can loop back off a Dante network for remote sound checks. As far as configuring networks, about the only limit is your imagination – and wired LAN connections. Audinate does not recommend trying to use it over WiFi.
Regarding audio resolution and latency, there are some limits and they are largely hardware dependent. With their fixed Dante network solution, Audinate can guarantee maximum latency in any given scenario because they control all the variables. But with Dante Via, “results may vary” depending on network speed (Gigabit preferred) and your PC's processing power. According to Audinate, latency will be typically in the four-millisecond range, which is fine except for latency-intolerant applications like IEM's (in-ear monitors) – but that's an unlikely scenario anyway.But for nearly all other applications, latency should not be an issue.
So, what can you do with it? Well, you can plug a USB mic into a computer in one room and feed the signal it to other rooms. You can pipe music and sound effects freely to any room on campus that has a network jack. You can set up an impromptu recording studio in one room and record a performance in another.
In fact, we could have used Dante Via to do just that a couple months ago. A community choir booked our historic sanctuary to leverage the acoustics for a multi-channel recording, but with no isolation we had to monitor the session using headphones. With Dante Via and another computer, we could have set up studio monitors in a nearby office as our church was fully wired with Ethernet in a 2008 renovation. Also, a few years back at another church, I busted my butt setting up synchronized room-to-room sound effects for a kids' Halloween extravaganza. I could have done more, and done it better, with a few Dante Via-equipped computers.
Audinate expects Dante Via to be ready for download from their web site in Q4 of this year. Cost is not yet fixed, but an Audinate spokesperson forecast that it would be “about $20 more” than the $29 current cost of the Virtual Sound Card. For that modest amount, there's no reason not to have a Dante Via-loaded computer on standby for that next special event or crazy creative idea.