Focusrite RedNet

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cdruzeta
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2014/01/27 16:58:44 (permalink)

Focusrite RedNet

I recently acquired Focusrite RedNet 2 AD/DA converters and Focusrite RedNet 3 digital interfaces.
I was hoping to run them with SONAR X2 through a RedNet PCIe card. Using this set up Focusrite promisses less than 3ms round trip latency recording even 64 (or more) channels at once.
 
I was very dissilusioned to find that SONAR is not supported for the PCIe card. ProTools and Cubase are.
Focusrite advised SONAR has trouble reading the ASIO drivers for the PCIe card.
 
Has anyone found a work around (other than using the Dante virtual soundcard)? Any news on Cakewalk working on this?
 
Thoughts appreciated.
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    cdruzeta
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    Re: Focusrite RedNet 2014/02/10 20:19:19 (permalink)
    Ok - so not a lot of responses. Guess I am way out in the wilderness by myself.
    Good news is that the RedNet PCIe works with SONAR. ASIO drivers recognized and working well. Some minor trouble with Windows resolution but otherwise unscathed.
    My current round trip latency is under 2ms (32 analog channels and 8 digital @ 96kHz). The I/O working flawlessly.
     
    I'm happy. Very happy to stay with SONAR.
    #2
    AT
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    Re: Focusrite RedNet 2014/02/12 11:09:19 (permalink)
     If SONAr wasn't recognizing the ASIO drivers that is probably Focusrite's problem.  ASIO is a driver standard that should work across programs.  Glad that has worked out for you.

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    #3
    Jay Tee 4303
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    Re: Focusrite RedNet 2014/02/12 12:04:38 (permalink)
    Rednet's bleeding edge, and its early for predictions, but I suspect the Layer 3 protocols are the future mainstream.
     
    What kind of LAN are you using? Dedicated or audio and data? How fiddley did switch management turn out to be?

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    #4
    cdruzeta
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    Re: Focusrite RedNet 2014/02/13 15:39:05 (permalink)
    I am a relative novice when it comes to networking.
    I obtained a Cisco SG300-10 managed switch off eBay for $100. It is one of the switches recomended (see FR website). The switch is exclusively to interface the Focusrites. I have wireless on the DAW (disabled) which I can use if I need Internet.
     
    At first I had some trouble getting the switch to work. Then I figured out I had to set my computer's IP address within the range of the switch. After that it was literally idiot proof. I plugged everything in and it was recongnized and the drivers appeard in SONAR.
     
    My latency is only 2ms (round trip @ 96kHz) and I could probably get it lower if I tried. I'm happy.
    #5
    Jay Tee 4303
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    Re: Focusrite RedNet 2014/02/14 11:28:15 (permalink)
    That's a nice switch at a good price, Cisco does things right.
     
    I don't recommend you change anything, since your system is working now, but there is a protocol named DHCP where the switch hands out IP addresses automatically, which makes it unnecessary for users to mess with address ranges, gateways and subnets. Basically you turn the service on in the switch, and again in each PC, and it does all the rest for you. If your network grows and management becomes troublesome, this service can manage IPs and prevent conflicts without requiring you to be Cisco Certified.
     
    Rednet, as well as any other device using the Dante protocol, notes that it is possible to run audio thru the same network you use for data traffic, such as file transfers, internet access, etc, but they also note that performance can suffer if ordinary computer networking traffic hits even moderate levels.
     
    Obviously, audio that has to wait for other network traffic is going to cause big problems during recording or playback. Even more critical is Sync traffic when running Master and Slave AD/DA equipment configurations.
     
    The reason Rednet suggests specific managed switches is that you can prioritize traffic with these switches so that Sync traffic always goes first, and audio gets a high priority too, while the net surfers in the house have to wait a few extra fractions of a second.
     
    Even this may not allow digital audio traffic enough bandwidth to avoid problems, which is why Rednet and others also suggest two networks in parallel, one for data, one for audio. You can add a second (or more) Ethernet port to your DAW and do this easily, which effectively is what you are doing using wireless for net access, but typically wireless is about half the bandwidth of wired fast Ethernet, and roughly a twentieth of wired Gigabit Ethernet. Note that IP addresses are technically assigned to network interfaces, not to computers, which is why you can run multiple parallel networks. Here is where DHCP "set it and forget it" is a big help.
     
    The biggest downside of parallel networks is usually retro-installing the connecting cables for the additional nets after the building is sheetrocked and painted.
     
    I see a day coming where USB/Firewire/Thunderbolt decisions are as outdated and entertaining as Ms. Pearl down at the telephone switchboard, whom you chatted with everytime you asked her to connect your phone call. At some point, everybody is going to have Ethernet interfaces. This is what's coming.
     
    Earlier this morning, I was looking at an SSL device, a 2 Rackspace AD/DA converter with 512 channels of MADI I/O ports, 12 ADAT I/O ports, and 24 analog I/O, for $2500. Effectively an audio interface (using a PCI card) allowing 680 connected devices with a programmable patchbay, and if that's not enough I/O, you can chain up to four of these together to process 2720 audio streams without ever touching a cable.
     
    I don't think this, or even Rednet (as it stands now) will become mainstream in the project studio environment, but some variant of this technology WILL, in the not too distant future. I see a transition period coming, where 1U devices handle AD/DA and a combination of perhaps 24 analog, MIDI, 64 MADI and 16 ADAT I/O, until such time as we get the dinosaurs off their old ADAT decks, and then the home studio will center around analog and a couple MADI ports. (Newbs be advised that MADI encapsulates MID on 1 of its 64 channels, so its not going away, not this week anyway.)
     
    Cdruzeta, its nice for you to be this early in the curve and it should pay off handsomely for a long time to come. Being older, I will probably settle for an early (and therefore subject to obsolescence) solution of a mix of MADI, ADAT, MIDI and analog over Toslink, but I WILL think twice before buying gear OR software that doesn't support both MADI and L3 networking.
     
    If my bread and butter came from planning business models for companies involved in audio hard and software, these are the directions I'd be looking. Its a Brave New World!

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    #6
    jimoliver
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    Re: Focusrite RedNet 2017/05/09 16:58:42 (permalink)
    Hello, i am running sonar on a hefty Studio Cat PC (win 7 pro) fully updated. i bought a rednet pcieR card after trying Audinate's "Dante Virual Sound Card". Things ran fairly smooth with DVS ( a bit of buffer juggling between sonar and the DVS control panel). A guy at Audinate told me that the Asio driver is the same for the PcieR card as is for DVS and i figured that the PcieR card would work in Sonar but i am having loads of trouble with the combination of the Rednet pcieR card and sonar platinum 2017.4. sonar sees the card and basically works (except for badly crashing now and again) but my cpu usage goes up to 85% and the temp of my computer goes up to like 165 degrees F!!! with protools 12 it works fine and cubase too. my cpu is down at 3% and temperature is like 115 degrees F.
    here is the real kicker....i have to remove the card fully in order to run sonar. even if i use a different audio interface and driver, just having the card in the computer makes sonar behave terribly. which is a real shame cause i cant even track in protools with the low latency of the Rednet PcieR card and then use sonar (my native DAW for 17 years) to edit audio using DVS. real expensive bummer!
     
    hope sonar gets to work on it since Dante is the way of the future. i have setup dante systems in multi million dollar studios and it is amazing!! to have a dedicated data line for audio is fantastic and more secure and configurable than AES and other interfacing protocols. GET TO IT SONAR! and keep it up Focusrite! :)
    #7
    Jim Roseberry
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    Re: Focusrite RedNet 2017/05/09 18:34:39 (permalink)
    Hi Jim,
     
    I gave Jacy a couple of ideas to try. 
    Since the issue isn't happening with Cubase and ProTools (using the same ASIO driver), I have to think it's a bug.

    Best Regards,

    Jim Roseberry
    jim@studiocat.com
    www.studiocat.com
    #8
    jimoliver
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    Re: Focusrite RedNet 2017/05/12 04:08:19 (permalink)
    thank you jim, i believe the jumbo packet, RSS ques and full duplex link speed adjustments are helping with DVS! Those tweaks are not even mentioned in the setup for the rednet card or audinate dvs. at least not the jumbo packet and RSS. Your the best!
    #9
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