A Wing walks into a bar with a 4816-U and the Ultranet

[GaryH]

I have SOLVED the following issue thanks to MT techs sending me a NEW unit after clarifying the problem. Long story short, apparently the earliest DL4816-U units had a defect with regard to the issue I reported, That issue was the early 4816-U’s would not recognize a P16I and some other P16 devices as valid p16 signals. It was fixed in later hardware versions. It would have cost more to fix the older one than to just replace it. So I got the new updated version. Problem solved!!

The goal was to use ADA8200's as adjustable mic pre's in a SC system and a Wing mixer. Connecting the 8200's via adat/toslink to a p16I and then using an ultranet out port of the P16i (1 of the many ultranet out ports it possesses) into a DL4816-U (which is a slave to the Wing itself) allows this to happen. It DOES WORK!! The Wing see's the ADA8220 mic pre's via SC. The ADA822's can adjust their gain from their front panel as needed.The stock 4816-I and 4888 are line level inputs. So far there is no SC device with adjustable Mic Pre's. This bridges that gap.

SO here was the original issue if interested:


Odd problem with a P16I, ADA8200, DN4816U, Stage Connect and a Wing. The 4816U does not recognize the P16I ultranet output as a valid Ultranet signal and therefore no communication takes place via SC to a Wing or to anywhere else. It also does not recognize an SD stagebox P16 out as a valid Ultranet signal!


EDIT #1 After investigating the issue, it was determined by MT techs to be a problem with very early shipped 4816U's. It would cost more to fix than its value. The solution: to refund my purchase (ended up just being replaced with a new updated unit). Pretty decent solution IMO.

The devices: An ADA8200 connected by ADAT lightpipe to the P16I. The P16I ultranet out port to the 4816U ultranet in port. 4816U SC slave port to the Wing SC port. The Ultranet LED does NOT come on at the 4616U indicating no ultranet signal present. I tried all 6 ultranet out ports of the P16I. None would be recognized by the 4816U as a P16/ultranet signal.

The kicker A: I connected a P16M to all ports of the same P16I and the P16M sees the ultranet just fine and works as it should AND powers up as it should and the P16I has POE, from every P16I output port, all 6. So the P16I seems to be working as it should.

The kicker B: Just for the hell of it (because it was sitting there) I connected another ethernet cable from the ultranet thru port of the P16M to the 4816U P16 ultranet in and it WORKED! Communication via SC to my Wing as I had hoped.

It appears to be some sort of handshake issue from a P16I and the 4816U. I am going to test the ultranet outputs from my M32 and stageboxes to see if the 4816U recognizes them. I would bet it's a firmware issue with the 4816-U. There appears to be NO firmware anywhere for the P16I. To do what I am trying to do with these items, to have inputs (with adjustable preamps) from the ADA8200 via SC to Wing, requires the 4816-U to see the ultranet input correctly. Having to add a second ultranet device to do so is not ideal and should not be required and I suspect was not intended.

EDIT #2 I hooked up an SD8 and used the powered ports on it out to the 4816-U and it did not work . Trying a P16-M was no problem and the SD8 passed signal as you would expect. I then tried an M32R from its ultranet port and it WAS seen without issue by the 4816-U. It worked as expected. So I'm still not sure what the issue is. Not working with a P16I or an SD8. Works from the thru port from a P16M (but not directly!) and it works with an M32 desk. I will be asking (I did) the MT tech people. Wondering if the firmware update to the 4816 introduced this issue, I'm thinking of dropping it back to check, if that's possible.

That all said, it does work when a viable P16 input is received. Adjustable Midas designed preamp inputs via Stage Connect to a Wing. At the moment if a P16-M is first in a chain with a 4816-U connected it will work from a P16I or any SD8/16. I don't have an S16 to test