Dante Certification Level 1 – Chapter 2: Who is Audinate & What is Dante

Level 1 – Chapter 02 – Who is Audinate and What is Dante

Now that you know about the Dante certification program, let’s dive in. You’ve probably heard of Dante, but maybe you haven’t heard of Audinate Well. Audinate is the company behind the Dante platform. Audinate is a networking company that serves the AV industry and is based in Sydney, Australia.

Our goal is to make the transport of audio, video, and control streams on an IP network easy with hundreds of manufacturers making thousands of Dante products and millions of devices in the field. Dante is both cost-effective and easy to acquire. But what exactly is Dante? Well, Dante is not only an audio and video over IP protocol.

It’s much more than that. Dante is a complete AV over IP solution. Let’s take a closer look. Audinate provides all the hardware, software, and firmware required to make a Dante system work.

Manufacturers add our chipsets or software to their product, confident they are using a mature, tested, proven solution. This means manufacturers are able to focus on their area of expertise while leveraging Audinate’s expertise in IP networking. Some of you may be familiar with the audio chipsets Audinate has had over the years. For instance, Ultimo X and ProS1 are our entry level solutions designed for low channel count endpoints, such as microphones and loudspeakers.

Meanwhile, our IP core product allows for up to 512 by 512 channels ideal for high-end applications. Needing powerful flexibility for video. Audinate offers the Dante AV ultra chipset that enables video functionality with the legendary ease of use that Dante is known for. All Dante audio and video products are natively compatible, ensuring seamless integration.

Dante products don’t always require a physical chipset from Audinate. We also offer software implementations for use on chips from other vendors. For AV equipment manufacturers, this offers more flexibility and helps control costs. The Dante embedded platform is a mid-level solution that allows manufacturers to add Dante functionality on Linux x86 or ARM processors that already exist in their products.

Going even further in the software direction. Computers with a wired gigabit ethernet port have long been able to use virtual sound cards. A virtual sound card simulates a physical sound card on a Windows or Mac OS computer. Instead of sending audio or video via dedicated connection, we send Dante streams to and from the computer’s.

Ethernet Port. Dante virtual sound card provides a simple link for maximum performance. It is ideal for das that need a direct link for recording backing tracks, broadcast audio playout or theatrical sound effects. Dante Via has patching and routing capabilities within the computer, turning any sound object into a Dante device, or even allowing audio routing between applications.

Dante Studio allows you to integrate high quality video over standard ethernet networks without additional hardware. It’s compatible with common applications like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and OBS, making it a flexible tool for live streaming, virtual meetings and classroom use. Audinate also provides the tools to manage and monitor both small and large scale networks. For instance, Dante controller is the gold standard for managing Dante networks.

It makes easy work of discovering devices, viewing their status, and changing settings like clocking latency, device names and subscriptions between transmitters and receivers. Dante Director is a SaaS application that enables you to organize Dante devices into logical groups, manage user access, secure your devices, and remotely manage Dante networks. Dante Domain Manager is a server based software that organizes large networks into work groups, provides authenticated access, enables layer three network routing, and continuously monitors the network for improved uptime. Dante Connect enables reliable low latency, cloud-based audio transport and worldwide distribution for broadcast productions.

And finally, the Dante managed API extends your Dante network by allowing for integration with third party devices and applications to control and monitor Dante networks. Beyond that, Audinate has a staff of engineers that strive to improve the Dante platform and expand its reach. We hold industry leading training events that teach Dante as well as the underlying AV and networking skills needed to make the most of it. We also have engineers to help with questions on your design and a global support staff who can help.

If there is a problem, put this all together and you’ll see that Dante is a complete solution. The protocol, the products, the management tools, and most importantly, the people all trusted by hundreds of manufacturers who make thousands of products for you to choose from with millions of devices in the field. Dante is undoubtedly the most trusted AV over IP platform in the world.