Here is my calculator - enter any “desired” track count in the green box…
gigsforrecording.xlsx (8.84 KB)
Thanks all! Very helpful 
Dante Expensive??? Nah Find me another 64 channel recording option that can also distribute audio to multiple destinations and is not brand specific? Not so long ago the same amount of money would have got you an external soundcard that could perhaps record EIGHT CHANNELS!!! Heck - my first analogue 1/2" 8 Track reel to reel had a list price of $12,500 and we have had 30 years of inflation since then! Just because there are some cheap mixers that offer some degree of built in recording doesn’t mean Dante is bad value. It is a high quality networking solution that offers value recording as a bonus. I’m sure there will be cheaper option’s to come but I certainly don’t consider a Dante solution to be unreasonably priced. Rant over!
Hey Kenelm - You should be fine with your MBP Ethernet adaptor and you should be able to easily get 32 tracks. I have a 17" MBP with a Standard drive and can record over 40 tracks with a gigabit Dante connection. You won’t need a second licence on your desktop if you are mixing internally and outputting audio using another audio device (ie not using Dante to output) Dante recorded files can be used/ mixed on whatever hardware you like.
Cheers
I am using GLD80 with DanteCard, MBP with Audinates Virtual Soundcard to feed Studio one. The Thunderbold - Etherport - Adaptor works fine! If you compare that solution to to be forced to by an external soundcard with the needed amount of Channels - Dante is not expensive at all.
Greetings from Berlin
I personally chose the MADI card option + RME MADIface USB: i cost a little bit more than the Dante’s solution (about 1800 vesur 1400), but i think is more versatile, because i can use the MADIface with other MADI systems.
I made a couple of shows, 44 track each, 3h of recording via Reaper + fujitsu laptop with WIN7 without any issues.
Bye
Luca
We record 48 channels for 2 hours routinely over direct conected Dante onto a LaCie d2 3TB Thunderbolt drive via an i7 MacMini with Lion Server and Reaper. We have recorded 58 channels as well without issue. Have done 48 channels through an unmanaged NetGear GbE switch with no problems recording or playing back; however, the Win7 VST host connected to another port on the same switch did NOT behave well with 6 Dante IOs routed - was unusable. We have in the past, recorded 32 channels with a PC DAW to an eSATA 7200 rpm drive. PC DAW was old and underpowered and had trouble playing back 32 channels to Dante. Have not tested Apple TB to GbE, sorry.
Just a reminder that there are not 1000mb in a gigabyte. Computers count in base 2 so 1gb is really 1024mb. Drive manufacturers use all kind of voodoo marketing to describe how big their drives are. File systems take up space too so on a 1tb drive, there isn’t always 1000gb of space. There is more like 1024gb minus partitioning and file system information. There is so much mathematics involved, more than can be warranted a description here. All I recommend is that you double check your math if something goes wrong.
Kenelm
The thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter works fine.
you don’t need two licences. mixing on your desktop doesn’t require dante.
Cheers
Has anybody had any luck using an ethernet to thunderbolt adapter with the M-Waves card? I have a retina display macbook and i haven’t any luck yet.
The specs given by the drive manufacturers are actually correct. The problem is that windows gives the value in GiB but labels it as GB.
You buy a HDD with 100 GB. It has 100 GB, this is equivalent to 93.1323 GiB. Windows then says “this drive has 93.1323 GB”, hence the confusion.
Chris
I wouldn’t consider the Dante card to be pricey at all. Pretty cheap actually when you consider the capability. I think I paid ~$1300 and it was worth every penny. That plus a cheap license to Reaper gets you 64 channels of multitrack for less than $1600 (if you have the computer). And on top of that you have a DAW that you can use to mix it down.
We use a 3TB USB LaCie drive and regularly track 41 channels 44.1/24 without issue.
John
Rob Spence is indeed Correct - when compared against the alternatives - the integration of the somewhat costly Dante Card is significantly less expensive, more available and more capable than the alternative yamaha option - which still only allows 32 channels at 44.1kz.
A&H offer a higher channel count, less financial output on the desk, admittedly a higher card price (but you only have to buy 1), and a seamless integration into the system - offer a higher sampling rate without compromise to the number of channels that can be run, and above all… no faffing about routing this that and the other all over the place to just get signal to your DAW.
I have a dante cards for each of my two GLD80, and even as a smalltime audiovisual operator - they have paid themselves back ten times.
I do some recording work for some of the local Amateur dramatic societies, offering a live PA and mic’ing solution aswell as a seamless recording of each production.
I have run all 48 tracks with no problems whatsoever straight into mac mini i7 16gb running Propellerheads reason 7.5 with a USB 3.0 drive, on many productions now and have never even had anything that might represent the slightest glitch.
Plus as well as all this I have the benefit of being able to interface with other manufacturers desks running Dante outputs, and nearly ever bigger gig I am at these days is showing more and more respect for the Dante Protocol - I was at a closed door meeting with Roland in October whilst at Plasa14 - they are even supporting Dante on the new 5000 series desk.
I honestly cannot see A&H developing a seperate budget line recorder for the purposes of recording up to 48 tracks - if you even think about the costings of the ICE16 - retail on it is about £850 for 16 tracks - in theory you’d be looking for 3 times 16 tracks that so over £2500 - so in retrospectful thought even adding one single A&H Dante card at a cost of anything from £800 to £1100 pounds does not seem that unrealistic a pricing, a basic GLD system costing around £6500 at the minute.
A&H Dante card (48 tracks per card) - £800-£1100
Yamaha MY16 AUD (16 tracks per card) - £550 each (£1650 for 48 tracks… but you are limited to 32)
Its all down to circumstance and your budget, but when actually weighing up the options, pricing and realms of possibility… my own opinion is that A&H are well ahead of the curve on their relative pricing, functionality, and ease of use.
Thats just my thoughts
JW
I’m still learning too, just got our GLD 112 with a Dante card.
You only need a license on the computers connected to the card for recording, it doesn’t matter where you do the mixdown.
As for the other posts, compared to multi track recorders the card is reasonable and does so much more. Up to 64 tracks bi-directional.
I know this post is a little old but I’ll reply anyway.
We have a GLD 112 with the Dante card, I think for the price it is the best option for this many channels in digital straight to computer.
Virtual Sound Card Licenses are only needed for computers you are recording on but $30 isn’t much for a lifetime license.
You do not need licenses on other computers used for mix down, editing etc. I have recorder 44 tracks with no problem.
I understand that the Thunderbolt to Gb network adapter is sufficient.
My M-Dante card came with a token for a single DVS license. I use it for recording from my GLD-112 to a MacBook Pro. I am going to be buying another card for my GLD-80, also for recording, but giving me the option to run it as a monitor mixer too.