Dante Virtual Sound Card

windows
#1

On windows 10 (maybe other versions of windows)
The ASIO Driver of Dante Virtual Sound Card (audinate.com)
Does not work in juce-based asio hosts.
To reproduce:
Download DVS, activate trial, click start.
Try to set DVS as ASIO device in a juce based host (like plugin host example)
Starting the driver will fail with the message “Device didn’t start correctly”
Expected behavior: It should work

DVS is a very much used devices in the pro audio industry. It used to work with older version of DVS, but something has changed in recent times.
it should be top priority to make this work again, as for many end users this is a deal-breaker

#2

How recent? Do you know a working JUCE version?

#3

Hi
I have not investigated fully yet. But I suspect that it is rather a change on Audinates end, that now, creates a compatibility issue with Juce.
Maybe if someone from the Juce team contacts Audinate, and then I’ll do the same as an “end user”
If they could tell us what is wrong i’m sure it is not a big deal to fix it.

#4

Hi
I have figured it out.
It actually works, but there is a catch that leads to the confusion.
If the computer is not connected to the Dante network, (like when a new user tests if the driver works) DVS has no master clock, and as a result it does not make asio callbacks.
In Juce asio code there is a section that waits for callbacks for 300 X 10 ms.
If no callbacks are made, juce closes the asio device.

I would say that this is not the optimal solution of both DVS (audinate) orJuce.
I have suggested to Audinate that DVS should go to internal sync when not on the network.
That said, I don’t see when Juce should shut down the ASIO driver just because no callbacks have been made. A warning seems more fitting, like “The devices does not seem to respond”
What do you think?

#5

If the device isn’t closed does this help with the user experience? For example, if you later connect to the network does the device become operational again?

#6

Hi
Sorry for the delay. Well Juce closes the device and throughs an error, so the device can’t be selected in the Audio Device combo.
This is ofcourse all caused by the user not connecting the equipment, and not really a Juce /DVS bug. I can outline a better user experience,
Expected behaviour would be:

  • User selects DVS
  • Juce waits for callback
  • Juce does not get callback after several tries (like it is now)
  • Juce warns the user that this device is not responding (Alert window, can tap into the existing error system)
  • Leave the Asio device open, and pretend everything is ok

Later:

  • DVS gets its clock back (for some reason)
  • DVS starts calling the Juce callback
  • Everyone is happy, and fantastic music flows through the speakers.

Nikolai