Focusrite RedNet hardware

[Nick Sevilla]

Hi guys,

Sorry to post this so late. Focusrite is doing a trade in program for the old Avid / Digidesign hardware converters, and is doing so
towards most, if not all, of their RedNet products, including that nice 4Pre.

These all use DANTE audio technology to route audio, and some also have proprietary connections to things like the older TDM cards.

I did an exchange for two digidesign 192s for one Rednet2 and one RedNet HD32R, which is very cool, since I thought we were never going to
be able to exchange these old converters for anything any more. This will enable us to also implement a more modern 16 or 32 track monitoring system for our clients once the studio is built. And keep me from having to do tedious monitor mixes for hours before recording.

The guys over at Westlake Pro did it for us, and now we are just waiting for the mail...

I'll comment on the quality of the converters once they arrive.

Cheers

[Nick Sevilla]

So we got the interfaces today.

Very excited!!!

A Rednet 2, which provides 16 analog channels of input and 16 of output, and only has a Dante network digital connection. It sure is strange looking at the back of the unit and see lots of empty space. I was used to the Digidesign 192s, which were absolutely loaded with different formats of audio, like AES, ADAT, SPIF, analog, etc.

The other unit is a HD32, which interfaces Avid / Digidesign HD and HDX sound cards to the Rednet World. This one needs an adapter, costing 50 USD, to interface with my HD cards. Ordered and will get it in the mail next week.

A good bonus is that we got a total of two Dante virtual soundcard licenses, for using any computer without their Dante PCIe card. Granted, it has limitations, but hey, I can now connect my laptop to the network (all of it has to be 1GBit through and through) and I can use the laptop with the RedNet 2 from anywhere there is network in my house. That is really wonderful.

Gone are the days of HUGE audio cables running all over the place. YAY!!!

I look forward to listening to material through the new converters. Sadly, I do not have the old ones to make a direct comparison, but I am sure these will be better than tech which is now almost 15 years old.

Is anyone using RedNet? How is it for you?

Cheers

[roscoenyc]

Did you get them up and running Nick?

[Nick Sevilla]

Did you get them up and running Nick?

Yes, at least on playback. They seem quite good. I should be test recording on them soon.

The good thing is, I can connect the 16 channel RedNet 2 direct to my mac laptop, and use their Dante audio driver to use it.

I will be reporting the throughput, input , and output latency both with the laptop (which is regular 1G ethernet connector) and the HD bridge, HDR32 which is Dante input and out put to a Avid minidigilink connector IO to the Pro Tools Accel cards soon.

Cheers

[Nick Sevilla]

Did you get them up and running Nick?

Hi,

I have been running these two boxes for a couple of weeks now. With the Pro Tools HD rig, they work flawlessly. Had not had any issues. Basically, they present themselves thus:

HD32R as one 32 channel IO system (this is, TWO old Digidesign / Avid 192 boxes!). Up to 4 can be used in one system, giving 96 IO total. I am only needing 1 with a total of 32 inputs and outputs for now.

This box is seen in the TDM setup as two 192 boxes, 16 channels IO on each box.

Then, behind the HR32R, sits the RedNet 2, which is a 16 channel analog IO converter box, which only has, as digital IO, the DANTE ethernet system. This means, with one RedNet 2 you get 16 IO into a DANTE network. In my case, the ethernet cable goes to the HD32R box input 1, out of 2 total.

Today, I am setting up a "mobile" foley recording rig with my 2011 MacBook laptop, using 8GB RAM, Pro Tools 12.8.1, Mac OS 10.12.6 Sierra, the Rednet 2 by itself, going directly into the 1GB ethernet port on the laptop, and using the DANTE Virtual Sound Card driver, which was included with the purchase. I have two licenses, one per hardware unit. Which is nice to have an extra license in case I need it. the Core Audio driver only gives you 8 channels of IO, which sucks in a major way. I believe it is an Apple limitation though as I see this issue with other cards. I hope they change this.

In the laptop, I am seeing issues using the smallest buffer IO setting in Pro Tools, running a 24 bit 96kHz session, with 32 samples of buffer, it is not happy. I am testing now with 128 samples of buffer, and it seems ok after about 1/2 hr of playing around.

The converters do sound BETTER than the old Digidesign 192 converters I had. Much much cleaner, which also gives me an impression of better soundstage, more clarity. Eventually we plan on buying the RedNet mic preamp boxes, and I will report on those when we do so.

On my next post, I'll go over how to set up the Dante sound network, as it is not plug and play, but also not complicated either.

Cheers!!!

[roscoenyc]

Sounds good!
If I hadn't been able to go all the way with the Burl Rig the Focusrite was my next choice.

[Nick Sevilla]

Just an update on the RedNet system we have now.

It rocks, never any issues so far, super stable.

The only headache is that you indeed have to change the system's sample rate from within the Dante Controller software, and make sure your DAW matches when you first open it. It took me a few days to get that workflow going.

Also, when you first boot up the system in the morning, you have to open the Dante Controller software one time, to "wake up" everyone and have them be configured or reconfigured as necessary. They do keep the settings once turned off, but they do need to "see" each other on the network when first powered up. And no, I will not keep it on 24/7, LOL.

I am mixing an album ITB now, but will be recording through a few guitar amplifiers and stuff, so will get to use the RedNet 2 converters, so I will report back on this. The album is 24 bit / 44,100 sample rate so no comments yet on higher sample rates.

Cheers!!!

[Nick Sevilla]

New update : Connecting two computers to the Dante network.

This is awesome:

I have my main Pro Tools HD system, connected to one RedNet HD32R thru one Avid digilink cable, which allows 32 tracks IO in total.

My first 16 channels is now the Rednet 2 audio interface, giving 16 channels of analog IO.

The second 16 channels is now my other Mac laptop, running the Dante Virtual Driver, giving 16 digital channels to my Pro Tools 12.

This is super, as now I can use some newer plug ins inside the laptop running Pro Tools 12, and see them come up inside the Pro Tools HD as just more tracks.

The latency right now is stated as 4 mSeconds from the laptop. I will see if I can reduce that any. Running 24 bit / 44,100 sample rate for the moment.

I am playing back an Arturia synth from the Pro Tools HD rig into the laptop, and back into the Pro Tools HD rig, and it really is amazing. No pops / clicks / clocking bullshit. Clean, crisp sound. And really only 4 mS latency.

And no need for real patch cables, this thing routes the signal digitally to the right place.

Super cool.

[brew]

Thanks for sharing, Dante is indeed great, especially Virtual Soundcard.

You won't see much latency improvement unless you go to 96k and buy a faster computer; DVS's latency is throttled because it must crunch everything natively off your machine, ie it's not proprietary hardware like HDX. You might see an improvement with the Dante PCie card, as that moves packetizing off of the CPU.

[Nick Sevilla]

Hi,

An update. Have now been mixing OTB for a week now, and am liking the transparency of the RedNet 2 hardware.

I am currently mixing an album via summing into my console. The album, I was originally going to mix all ITB. But it seemed to not sound wide / deep enough.

Using 14 outputs out of the 16 of the RedNet 2 as stems, and the last two channels to monitor the mix print.

So far, I have had zero technical issues using the system. and it sounds better on this album anyways.