I thought I'd post details of a problem that has come up recently with my X32 system.
Background
X32 purchased in August 2012. I was an early adopter.
2 x S16 purchased later that year.
So far I've had two and a half years of faultless performance.
For iPad control, I have a wireless router in the X32 dogbox.
Recently, I've started to do multitrack recording from the USB card, but I've found that there are glitches in the recordings, so much so that some tracks can be up to 10 seconds out of sync with others by the end of a 1 hour recording.
To mitigate this, I've put an SSD in the laptop and increased its RAM.
The problem still persisted, so I spashed on a Dante card.
I've wired this according to the online info. Primary goes into the router, which is where the laptop connects.
Secondary goes into the Ethernet control port on the X32 and the X32 has the master clock; all IP addresses are static.
This allows me to record the output from the Dante card into Reaper and also to have iPad control wirelessly.
I can also run XEdit on the laptop if I really want to.
This appears to have fixed the recordings issue, but it has had a catastrophic effect on the rest of the system.
The last 3 gigs I have done (the first since the Dante card was installed) have had me at my wits end trying to get the S16s on the stage to stay in sync with the X32 at FOH.
The connection would drop every 45 seconds or so.
I know what you're thinking here.... it's the CAT5 cable.
Each venue had it's own installed run, so I thought the same thing. It must be unscreened. I am aware of other users who have had the same symptom with unscreened cable.
I ran my own screened CAT5 cable from stage to FOH. No dice. The dropouts continued.
I used my spare CAT5 reel. More dropouts.
At this point, I opened the stage rack and replaced the link cable between the two S16s. The dropouts continued.
I rebooted both stage and FOH devices. The problem continued.
What would then happed is that a few minutes before 'doors open' I would hit on a combination of rebooting and restarting that would keep sync without dropping.
That was more luck than anything.
This happened at three different venues on three separate nights.
Each night we would use the venues CAT5 run only to revert to our own when the dropouts started.
On the third night, I was seriously considering moving the desk onto the stage to take the long CAT5 run out of the picture.
By this time, all the CAT5 cable in the system had been replaced more than once (yes, it's all screened).
What appears to have fixed the situation is removing the laptop from the setup and powering it all up like that.
Only once the system is powered up should the laptop be connected to the network and powered up.
This is a very weird situation.
The Dante connection is nothing to do with the AES50 side of things.
The AES50 cable goes straight out of the desk to the stage and to the S16s (no router involved, as the data is not compatible).
All I can think of is that some sort of data choking was occuring inside the X32 between the AES50 feed and the Dante card, when the laptop was connected before power up.
My next gig with this system is on 31st May.
Hopefully now I know how to avoid this, it won't be a problem, but either way, it was weird that the Dante connection could affect the AES50 link in such a big way.
I've posted this more for information to others than a request for help.
I think I've fixed the problem, and thought I would share my findings.
If anyone has anything useful to add to this, please do.
Karl.
Background
X32 purchased in August 2012. I was an early adopter.
2 x S16 purchased later that year.
So far I've had two and a half years of faultless performance.
For iPad control, I have a wireless router in the X32 dogbox.
Recently, I've started to do multitrack recording from the USB card, but I've found that there are glitches in the recordings, so much so that some tracks can be up to 10 seconds out of sync with others by the end of a 1 hour recording.
To mitigate this, I've put an SSD in the laptop and increased its RAM.
The problem still persisted, so I spashed on a Dante card.
I've wired this according to the online info. Primary goes into the router, which is where the laptop connects.
Secondary goes into the Ethernet control port on the X32 and the X32 has the master clock; all IP addresses are static.
This allows me to record the output from the Dante card into Reaper and also to have iPad control wirelessly.
I can also run XEdit on the laptop if I really want to.
This appears to have fixed the recordings issue, but it has had a catastrophic effect on the rest of the system.
The last 3 gigs I have done (the first since the Dante card was installed) have had me at my wits end trying to get the S16s on the stage to stay in sync with the X32 at FOH.
The connection would drop every 45 seconds or so.
I know what you're thinking here.... it's the CAT5 cable.
Each venue had it's own installed run, so I thought the same thing. It must be unscreened. I am aware of other users who have had the same symptom with unscreened cable.
I ran my own screened CAT5 cable from stage to FOH. No dice. The dropouts continued.
I used my spare CAT5 reel. More dropouts.
At this point, I opened the stage rack and replaced the link cable between the two S16s. The dropouts continued.
I rebooted both stage and FOH devices. The problem continued.
What would then happed is that a few minutes before 'doors open' I would hit on a combination of rebooting and restarting that would keep sync without dropping.
That was more luck than anything.
This happened at three different venues on three separate nights.
Each night we would use the venues CAT5 run only to revert to our own when the dropouts started.
On the third night, I was seriously considering moving the desk onto the stage to take the long CAT5 run out of the picture.
By this time, all the CAT5 cable in the system had been replaced more than once (yes, it's all screened).
What appears to have fixed the situation is removing the laptop from the setup and powering it all up like that.
Only once the system is powered up should the laptop be connected to the network and powered up.
This is a very weird situation.
The Dante connection is nothing to do with the AES50 side of things.
The AES50 cable goes straight out of the desk to the stage and to the S16s (no router involved, as the data is not compatible).
All I can think of is that some sort of data choking was occuring inside the X32 between the AES50 feed and the Dante card, when the laptop was connected before power up.
My next gig with this system is on 31st May.
Hopefully now I know how to avoid this, it won't be a problem, but either way, it was weird that the Dante connection could affect the AES50 link in such a big way.
I've posted this more for information to others than a request for help.
I think I've fixed the problem, and thought I would share my findings.
If anyone has anything useful to add to this, please do.
Karl.
