Allen+Heath with a Behringer Dante card, interesting turn

[GaryH]

I had obtained a piece of equipment (xDR 16) pretty cheaply that I thought would work as a standalone Dante stagebox 16x8 i/o (from A+H). I put in the M-Dante expansion with the Wing-Dante card loaded…I just wanted to see if the card/device was recognized in my system before I got serious about flashing the card with the A+H firmware. If it would not show up, I figured no sense in flashing a perfectly good Wing card and perhaps damaging it in process. So I fired it up and made some connections per A+H manual. Lo and behold it did show up and not only that it thinks (says) it’s a Wing! Say what?…64x64 ch!s worth. Now I am convinced the correct device will work. That’s as far as the good news goes. Upon closer reading of the manual, I bought the wrong device! It has no onboard dsp and requires an iLive system to control the preamps. It was too good to be true, I should’ve known better Sooner or later i will find something that won’t break the bank and will work.

[GaryH]

UPDATE: I returned the xDR16 and replaced it with the iDR16 from the same vendor. More money outlay but what else is new. The iDR models have all the DSP and headamp settings on board and can be controlled with the free iLive Edit software or by several A=H iPad apps (also free) without an iLive or other series mixer. My xDR16 did not have DSP onboard. The iDR can be used standalone in a Dante system. The iDR48 would be imo perfect for a Dante enabled Wing mixer having 48 (excellent) preamps and 24 xlr outs....or use 3 of the smaller idr16's or 2 iDR32’s. You get the idea. I can (do) now interface 3 different mixer manufacturers equipment and MANY different Dante enabled i/o modules at the same time. All using off the shelf network switches and common cat5e cable (I use Cat8) and also in my case, fiber optic modules and cable as well-eg, an iLive mixer at FOH, Wing at stage Yamaha TF rack for live streaming using Dante enabled Yamaha TIO 1608 and A+H iDR model stageboxes on stage. I don't own an iLive mixer-yet This just an example of what could be. These devices all work at 48K. None of this is particularly cheap given the need for the M-Dante card. The A+H iDR stageboxes are quite reasonable IMO IF you can find them now. Older A+H tech. There used to be many of them for sale on ebay and Reverb but they are becoming scarcer than hen’s teeth to locate. I watched many come and go from my watched items lists. There once was an iDR48 for $800 on Reverb. 48 mic pres and 24 outs! The M-Dante card required for them is still pretty plentiful but expensive, although I don't exactly know why as it also is older A+H tech. These can be used in an iLive system or the GLD mixer series besides the iDR stage box models so maybe that’s it. Price varies a LOT so look around. Good deals can still be had. The total investment involved is similar to the blue box Midas series models BUT all Dante enabled. No Dante stage boxes exist for any MT product line at this time that I am aware of. I keep hoping. They should given the much larger market they could attract besides just Behringer and Midas owners. If they added 48/96K capability on top they might just sell a ton of them to their competition’s owners too. I am happy to say my iDR16 works just fine in my system AND it works with my Dante enabled Wing and Midas M32R. If I had another X-Dante card for my X32 Rack I could use all of these together. Well I still can using aes50 between it and the other mixers. I have a Yamaha TIO 1608 that works perfectly in this system too. All thanks to Dante. I will detail the adventure with flashing the iDR firmware elsewhere. I did do so and it all works just as it should now. Fingers crossed moving forward.

[GaryH]

I also wanted to say that I successfully flashed the Wing-Dante Brooklyn 2 with the latest A+H M-Dante firmware version and placing that card into the A+H M-Dante frame, it worked without a hitch-when the frame was put in the A+H iDR16 stagebox. It defaulted to "dual redundant though, so I changed it to "switched", all good. I then put my SD card back in the Wing external slot, leaving the internal Dante card in place. I may, at some point get another Dante card, I honestly don't need 2 Dante cards in the Wing...but I may in the future. I was experimenting more than anything with 2 in and missed the SD recorder. It's the second time I have done this. The upside is now I have another 16x8 Dante stagebox with a 64 ch Dante card in it. If I want it back I can reflash the card back to the Wing-Dante external version. I was honestly a bit nervous in process, worried I would brick the Wing Dante card but it went quite well! MANY many thanks to Daniel for his great generosity. I can't thank him enough!!

[MJKlein]

This is way cool man. Thanks @GaryH!

[pmaillot]

great stuff

[MJKlein]

I know it's a lot of work, but a consolidation of this thread would make a very nice Wiki addition.

[GaryH]

@MJKlein I can edit the 3 posts to make it just one and leave out the blow by blow anecdotal events. Make it short and sweet...but I can't do the wiki bit...that's probably Paul and/or Patrick...I am willing if you think it's worthwhile....or whatever

[pvannatto]

I can edit the 3 posts to make it just one and leave out the blow by blow anecdotal events. Make it short and sweet...but I can't do the wiki bit

That would be a good start, Gary. Could you also break it into sections with headers? Instead of editing the posts, you could send it to me via PM and I'll add it to the WIKI next week. If you are interested in being a WIKI editor, we could arrange for that.

[GaryH]

@pvannatto I’ll work on it a bit and see what I can do. I will pm it when I’m done, not exactly sure how to arrange it just yet but I will figure something out, thx.

[pmaillot]

I'll be happy to help/support