64ch Virtual Sound Check at 96k

[RyanParticipant]

Is there a way to do a virtual sound check with the Avantis and a M1 Mac Mini? My plan was to use a Dante card on the Avantis, and Dante Virtual Sound Card on the Mac, but DVS only can do 32×32 at 96k. All external PCIe Dante cards that I can find don’t support the M1 Macs.

[RSParticipant]

No PCIe card, but have you looked into RME Digiface Dante? Although supply might be very limited at the moment. Like with all Dante products….

[KeithJ A&HModerator]

Hi both,

Like DVS, the Digiface Dante is also 32×32 @ 96k or 64×64 @ 48k.
If you can sync two computers running DVS you could do it this way, but there’s a lot which could go wrong!

Is there a reason you don’t want to use 48kHz to get the extra channels though?
Whilst not as high quality as 96k, for VSC it would still allow you to set levels/EQ/dynamics and there will almost certainly be more of a difference between the soundcheck performance and the live performance than between the 48k and 96k of the recording.
(note that the Avantis will always be running at 96kHz, the SRC is on the Dante card)

Thanks,
Keith.

[Mike StormParticipant]

You should consider a Waves card instead, but not many around at the moment. Their driver for recording is free and can do 128ch at 96kHz – if your computer and drive can cope with that!

[RSParticipant]

Good to know, thanks for clarification Keith!

[BrianParticipant]

I think you have gotten your answer, but I’ll just chime in that you are not going to hear a difference between 48k and 96k during a virtual sound check. You might argue that 96k is needed for recording multitrack if the tracks are going to be mastered and released as a record, but I certainly wouldn’t loose any sleep over running 48k for virtual sound check.

The Dante card will handle the conversion from 96k to 48k and back, so you don’t need to worry about the desk running at 96k and Dante running at 48k. It works just fine.

[RyanParticipant]

Thanks for all the responses. I’m locked down to Dante, I use it to connect with lots of other Dante audio sources around our venue. All those devices will also be running at 96k, so unless the Dante card can send/receive flows in both 48k and 96k at the same time, doing 48k for the virtual sound check isn’t an option. Is there a potential AES67 solution that isn’t Dante, but can still fit the needs?

[ChrisParticipant]

Sounds like the core of your issue is the mac. You could just use a cheap PC to do VSC. Either change the clock on the Dante card or purchase another card if you must do 96k.

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