<h2>Yamaha Nuage Dante Accelerator Card</h2>

<span style="font-size:16px; font-style:italic;">Ultra-low latency, high channel counts of high-resolution audio, and rock-solid stability </span><br><br>

The Dante Accelerator Card is hardware/software network protocol that delivers uncompressed, multi-channel, ultra low-latency digital audio over standard Ethernet networks. A significant improvement over previous audio-via-Ethernet technologies, such as CobraNet and EtherSound, Dante has the ability to pass through network routers and provide native gigabit support, as well as higher channel count, lower latency, and automatic configuration. Developed by Audinate, a Sydney Australia-based company, whose innovations were being carefully tracked by Yamaha, The Dante network protocol provides several advantages that go beyond latency and channel count, such as the ability to use existing IT infrastructure without having to add new audio lines. <br><br>


<h3>Dante Accelerator Card benefits </h3>
<ul>
<li>High-performance hardware implementation                </li>
<li>256 channels of uncompressed digital audio              </li>
<li>Ultra-Low latency                                       </li>
<li>24-bit/44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96 / 192kHz audio             </li>
<li>Gigabit Ethernet interface                              </li>
<li>High-quality, built-in word clock                       </li>
<li>Standard PCI Express card format                        </li>
<li>Mac OSX and Windows driver support                      </li>
<li>Standard sound card interface to software applications  </li>
<li>Interconnect with other Dante-enabled audio equipment   </li>
<li>Supports network Quality of Service                     </li>
<li>AVB (audio-video bridging) ready                        </li>
</ul>
<br>
The Nuage development team was adamant about designing near-zero latency into the system to allow artists to deliver their utmost in creativity and performance—hence their decision to make Dante the nerve center of Nuage. <br><br>

When implemented in a Nuage system, the Dante Accelerator Card itself has a latency of 150 microseconds and can transmit 256 channels of 24-bit/96kHz audio (128 in/128 out simultaneously). At higher resolutions up to 192kHz, it provides 64 bi-directional channels, which is four times the resolution available via MADI optical for the same simultaneous I/O channel count. Small wonder why Yamaha chose to base Nuage audio transmission on Dante, especially when you take into account the number of tracks typically found in feature film production. <br><br>


Installed in the computer running your Nuendo DAW, Dante provides a distinct performance advantage when communicating with Nuage I/O units. The Dante Accelerator card also features a secondary port that can be used to provide redundant connections for failsafe reliability. Thanks to Dante, monitoring latency is near zero for performance-friendly monitoring while recording, even when multiple I/O units are used with cascaded monitor buses. At 48kHz (using lowest buffer setting), latency from input through Dante to Nuendo 6, back through Dante to output is less than 3ms. <br><br>

<h3>Audio transmission via network</h3>
Creating a flexible, scalable system doesn’t end with knobs and faders. You must take into account the physical idiosyncrasies of the facility you’re setting up in or moving into. That’s where Nuage’s use of the Dante networking protocol really shines. These days, it’s not uncommon to have to share rooms in a multipurpose facility. With Dante, a different Nuage I/O unit could be in rooms 1 and 5, for example, and without patching, you can access either interface via network. Dante can also use the standard IT infrastructure built into a studio. Or, in the case of an office or home turned into a studio, you can actually use existing connections (no need to add new audio lines), while maintaining undiminished audio transmission quality throughout. Dante’s network-centric, audio-independent approach allows perfectly synchronized playback across different audio channels, devices, and networks, even over multiple network switches. Only Yamaha’s Nuage offers this kind of outstanding flexibility.<br><br>

<h3>Dammit Jim, I’m a mixer, not a code monkey!</h3>
To minimize time spent on system configuration, Dante makes networking a true plug-and-play process, allowing automatic device discovery and system configuration. (Dante-enabled devices will automatically setup their network configuration and present themselves and their channels on the network, reducing complicated, error-prone set-up procedures. Instead of manufacturer-designated ID numbers, networked devices and their input and output signals can be named to make sense to the user. Beyond that, Dante is not restricted to allowing configuration and transmission of audio channels alone. Dante also provides mechanisms to send or receive control signals and monitoring information across the Dante IP network, including device-specific messages and control signals specified and developed by a particular manufacturer. <br><br>

<h3>Network Quality of Service support</h3>
Quality of Service (QoS) is a name for a set of technologies that provide cost-effective management of network traffic, designed to enhance user experience in both home and enterprise environments. QoS technologies allow you to measure bandwidth, detect changing network conditions (such as congestion or availability of bandwidth), and prioritize or throttle traffic. For example, QoS can be applied to prioritize traffic for latency-sensitive applications (such as audio or video), and to control the impact of latency-insensitive traffic (such as bulk data transfers).<br><br>

<h3>Audio Video Bridging (AVB)</h3>
Historically, audio and video (AV) equipment connections were one-way, analog, and point-to-point. The same held true for digital standards, such as S/PDIF for audio, and the serial digital interface (SDI) for video. The result of all this single-purpose connection in professional applications was large, complex, and confusing masses of cables, a.k.a. spaghetti.  (That tangle of cables is how multi-platinum producer, Michael Wagener, came to name his studio, “Wireworld.”)  <br><br>

Audio Video Bridging is a technical standard developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The goal was to "provide the specifications that will allow time-synchronized, low-latency streaming services through IEEE 802 networks". These consist of: Timing and Synchronization for Time-Sensitive Applications (gPTP), Stream Reservation Protocol (SRP), Forwarding and Queuing for Time-Sensitive Streams (FQTSS), and Audio Video Bridging Systems. The ultimate goal of course, was to reduce the tangle of wires necessary to connect the worlds of audio and video. Another reason Yamaha chose Dante to be the nerve center of a Nuage audio postproduction system. <br><br>

<h3>Network Audio plus flexible modular design</h3>
Nuage offers outstanding system flexibility and scalability via modular architecture that lets you combine the ideal components to support your specific needs, plus network audio that allows you to match available infrastructure and installation requirements—while maintaining undiminished audio transmission quality throughout. <br><br>

<h3>For more information on the remarkable Yamaha Nuage postproduction console and its components, call or chat online with an RSPE representative.</h3>