• tdc
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Topic: Controlling Multiple 12Mic Units

I have 2 x 12Mic units and am considering more if these initial sessions go well - the potential of an AVB based audio network is exciting and one that I am keen to explore.

However, as the number of channels grows the question of control comes up - how do you control multiple devices. At present, I have two browser windows up at all times, and this works fine ( The web app for the 12Mic units is one of the best browser based implementations I have used), but if I was to add a few more devices this would soon become challenging to control in the middle of a busy session.

Is there a way to aggregate multiple 12Mic devices into one Browser, or even better, somehow bind a given 12mic to a set of TotalMix inputs in a Digiface AVB?

Building a custom OSC/JSON implementation isn't out of the question, but I was wondering what the official RME plans were for this issue?

Many thanks, Tony.

  • Max
  • Max
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Re: Controlling Multiple 12Mic Units

Hi Tony,

official plans do not exist for a consolidated network control, but we always appreciate input on what features you would expect from such a controller, apart from the ones mentioned. And thanks for the feedback on the web app!

Best regards,
Max

  • tdc
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Re: Controlling Multiple 12Mic Units

Max wrote:

official plans do not exist for a consolidated network control, but we always appreciate input on what features you would expect from such a controller, apart from the ones mentioned. And thanks for the feedback on the web app!

I would see a bank of 10 x 12Mic controllers covering most recordings, and in those sort of large live sessions once you are setup you really only need a bank of Meters and access to the gain in the event of an enthusiastic musician or audience. 48v and TRS/XLR control would have happened during a setup.

Perhaps I should look at making a simple OSC controller for this, but I am unable to see the AVB Network from the Mac in any of the traditional places like system prefs, so am wondering how I can address the devices. I can successfully ping the 12mics at their IP or .localhost address though - so there is something I am missing.

Cheers, Tony.

  • Max
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Re: Controlling Multiple 12Mic Units

If you have to discover devices with any name, you would use Bonjour to discover the devices - in a terminal for example 

dns-sd -B _http._tcp .

(web remote and JSON+OSC is on layer 3 and uses IP addresses, it does not require AVB).

But if you have previously configured each device with a specific name (12mic01, 12mic02, etc.) and know the names, your controller app might as well POST messages to the corresponding devices directly (12mic01.local, 12mic02.local, etc.), without using discovery at all.

And then the rest as described in the manual(you have probably discovered that already).

  • tdc
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Re: Controlling Multiple 12Mic Units

Thanks Max, they have come up in the terminal as instructed. I had forgotten about ZeroConf.

Just so it is clear in my mind - how is the AVB Network being bridged to the MacOS so it can be seen? I cant find any network ports that reveal this - Is that the Digiface AVB.

  • tdc
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Re: Controlling Multiple 12Mic Units

As a follow up on remote control.

I spent some time with this and managed to query the 12Mic units from MaxMSP with a NodeJS Server using a tcp package called GOT. But, I was finding that I was able to crash the AVB network whilst trying to send POST messages, or at least take the remote web controls offline and make the whoile system unresponsive. I needed to power cycle the DF AVB to recover from this. I shall leave this for another day I think.

One question though Max, I couldnt see how to get Level Meter data from the units - is that a WebSocket connection? I tried to view that in the Chrome DevTools but it wasnt obvious.

  • Max
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Re: Controlling Multiple 12Mic Units

Hi Tony,

could you confirm that you are losing stream connections to or from the RME DigiFace AVB: fw v219, d v3.19 || RME AVB Controller: 0.9541 (15) || 2 x 12Mic Units v1.3.0.(69) when you send a POST message with curl via terminal? Just to rule out that there is some incompatibility of GOT with macOS Big Sur.

Best regards,
Max

  • Max
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Re: Controlling Multiple 12Mic Units

Just so it is clear in my mind - how is the AVB Network being bridged to the MacOS so it can be seen? I cant find any network ports that reveal this - Is that the Digiface AVB.

Big Sur requires network adapters to run without root rights/kernel extensions. Currently, those type of network adapters are not shown in the System Settings/Network dialog. You can find it and its assigned IP address using the terminal command ifconfig. The user space network adapters start with "f", so forexample "feth1".

Digiface AVB on Big Sur 11.2.1 with netifc driver:

feth1: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1536
    ether [b]48:0b:b2:d[/b]c:26:53 
    inet 192.168.1.192 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
    peer: feth5001
    media: autoselect
    status: active

PS: 48:0b:b2:d is RME's MAC address prefix.

  • Registered: 2017-02-20
  • Posts: 2

Re: Controlling Multiple 12Mic Units

Controlling the 12mic s through the Digiface AVB totalmix would be great.  I'm considering an AVB based setup, but having to have a different browser window for every device seems a bit klunky and it's one of the reasons i might go to a MADI based setup instead (UFX+ and octamic XTC) although AVB seems more flexible for future developments.

Tony, have you had any success building a Max based remote for the 12mics? 

ben

10 Reply by tdc

  • tdc
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Re: Controlling Multiple 12Mic Units

Hi Miller,

Its been 6 months since I migrated all my recording systems to AVB, and whilst it has certainly been a journey in terms of learning new technologies and their quirks, I am very pleased that I made the leap. Its such a flexible way of working, and I will be expanding my AVB I/O in the next few months.

I have been busy with another all-consuming project for the past 12 weeks, and will be resurrecting the project to build the scripts to make PreAmp control via OSC possible. I will be sure to post here when I get there.

Best, Tony.

  • Registered: 2015-02-18
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Re: Controlling Multiple 12Mic Units

I discovered this thread while searching for answers to the same question:

How do I remotely control two 12Mic units at the same time in a single window?  Has RME made any progress with this?  Midi Remote would solve my need, but I don't see that it's compatible with the 12Mic-D.  (I'm running Dante, not AVB.)