Configuring Audio-Technica Dante microphones

Initialization dialog

When inserting a new Dante Mic input block, the following options are available:

• Microphone Channel Count - choose how many channels this block will represent
• Microphone Model - choose the model of microphones being used
• Microphone Operational Mode - choose how the mute switch on the microphone will behave:
  • Initially set to Mute, button press sets to Talk - each button push toggles the mute state, initially muted on power up
  • Initially set to Talk, button press sets to Mute - each button push toggles the mute state, initially unmuted on power up
  • Mute unless button is being pressed - mute button is momentary, also known as push-to-talk
  • Talk unless button is being pressed - mute button is momentary, also known as push-to-mute
  • External - logic inputs control Mute - mute button does not automatically mute/unmute microphone, muting must be manually triggered with logic signals
• Define LED Logic Inputs - choose how the microphone LEDs are controlled:
  • None, LEDs always follow device Mute status - LEDs always represent the mute state of the microphone, red for muted, green for unmuted, no logic inputs available for controlling LEDs
  • Logic input toggles red and green LEDs - a single logic input allows control of the LED, logic high makes it green, logic low makes it red. Logic inputs for LED control are labeled RG1, RG2, etc.
  • Separate Logic inputs for red and green LEDs - two logic inputs per microphone, allowing independent control of red and green LEDs. Logic high turns the LED on, logic low turns it off.  This is the only mode where it is possible to turn both LEDs off, or to turn both LEDs on (which results in a yellowish LED).
• Enable Logic Outputs - choose whether logic outputs are provided on the bottom of the block. If enabled, one logic output per channel will be available. If the Microphone Operational Mode is set to "External", the logic output will correspond to the physical push button on the mic base (logic high when the button is pressed, logic low when it is released). In all other Microphone Operational Modes, the logic output will follow the mute state of the microphone (logic high when muted, logic low when unmuted).

Control dialog

The control dialog of the Dante Mic block allows for typical microphone input functions as well as some special functions that are exclusive to the Dante mics:

• Peak - indicates when input signal is within 3dB of clipping
• MicMute - indicates when the microphone is locally muted
• Gain - allows selection of input gain level for the microphone
• Low Cut - adds a highpass filter at 80Hz on the microphone signal
• Phantom Power - only available on the ATND8677, turns on 12VDC phantom power to the attached microphone
• Mute - mutes the microphone signal. This mute is independent of the microphone's local mute function.
• Level - digital level control of the microphone signal
• Invert - inverts the phase of the microphone signal
• Device Name - shows the hostname of the Dante transmitter device
• Channel Name - shows the name assigned to this channel, can be changed via the Property Sheet of the input block, or from Dante Controller software
• Locate - when activated, the LEDs on the microphone will flash to allow for easy identification of the microphone

Maximum connected mics

• Each DAN-1 card will accept up to 32 channels of AT mics (a maximum of 32 input flows are allowed per DAN-1). Each Server-IO supports up to (2) DAN-1 cards, allowing for a maximum of 64 AT mics per chassis.
• Each ForteDAN will accept up to 32 channels of AT mics (a maximum of 32 input flows are allowed per ForteDAN).

The AT mic input blocks will compile to Dante input channels 33-64 in the Tesira DAN-1 and input channels 1-32 in the ForteDAN. 

Generic Dante input blocks can be utilized alongside the AT mic blocks for a total of 64 channels of Dante input per card, noting that the 32 flow limitation must still be respected. No more than 32 discrete devices can talk to a DAN-1 card, as each device will have at least 1 flow containing at least 1 channel, and the DAN-1 (Brooklyn II) supports 32 x 32 flows.

More information on Dante flows can be found at https://support.biamp.com/General/Networking/Dante#Flows:_unicast_and_multicast

Mic muting with AEC

When microphones are used in teleconferencing and videoconferencing scenarios, they must be put through Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) processing. When mics are put through AEC processing and are also being dynamically muted and unmuted, it is preferable to mute the mic signal after it has gone through the AEC processing, so that the AEC processing can continue to listen to the microphone while it is muted.  This allows the AEC processing to stay converged on the echoes and ensures that no echoes will be heard when the mic is unmuted.

To set up this configuration, create a Dante Mic block with the Microphone Operational Mode set to "External - logic inputs control Mute".  Set the LED Logic Inputs to "Logic input toggles red and green LEDs", and ensure that Logic Outputs are enabled.  Connect the mic signals through your AEC processing (which requires SEC-4 cards), and then to a Mute block with Control Inputs enabled.  The logic outputs on the Dante Mic block need to go to a Flip Flop gate to convert them from momentary signals to toggle signals.  The output of the Flip Flop drives the logic inputs on the Mute block, and also drives the Red/Green LED logic inputs (RG1, RG2, etc.) on the Dante Mic block.  See the screenshot above for an example of what the configuration for this system would look like (click to enlarge).  The green blocks are Split Pass-Through blocks, which are optional.

Any microphone mutes all microphones

Sometimes it is preferable to not allow independent muting.  That is, if any mute button is pressed on any mic, then it toggles the mute state of all mics.  This is easy to achieve with logic.

To set up this configuration, create a Dante Mic block with the Microphone Operational Mode set to "External - logic inputs control Mute".  Set the LED Logic Inputs to "None, LEDs always follow device Mute status", and ensure that Logic Outputs are enabled.

The logic outputs on the bottom of the Dante Mic block must pass through an OR Gate, then a Flip Flop gate, and then back up to the Muting logic inputs on the top of the Dante Mic block.  See the screenshot to the right for an example of what the configuration for this system would look like (click to enlarge).

Integrate with control system

When the audio system includes a control system that is able to mute and unmute the microphones, it is important to ensure that the control system remains properly synchronized with the system.  There are a number of different ways to integrate a control system:

Long press mutes all mics

Another popular trick is to perform a different function when the mic mute button is held down for a few seconds.  In this example, the mics will be configured to toggle their mute state normally when the mute button is pressed briefly, but when the mute button is held down for 2 seconds, all mics will mute.

To set up this configuration, create a Dante block with the Microphone Operational Mode set to "External - logic inputs control Mute". Set the LED Logic Inputs to "None, LEDs always follow device Mute status". Ensure that Logic Outputs are enabled. Connect the Logic Outputs of the Dante Mic block to a Flip Flop gate (to convert them from momentary to toggle signals), and then connect the Flip Flop gate to the Logic Inputs on the top of the Dante Mic block. Then, also connect the Logic Outputs of the Dante Mic block to a Logic Delay block, through an OR gate, and then to a Preset Button block.  See the screenshot above.

Open the Logic Delay block, and set the "On Delay" of each channel to 2000ms. Leave the "Off Delay" at 0ms. Create a preset that turns all of the Flip Flop channels on.  Open the Preset Button block, and load that preset into it. That way, whenever any of the mics holds down its button for more than 2 seconds, the preset will get recalled and all mics will mute.