The necessity to choose the best switch configuration mode for your current setup lies mainly in the use of multicast network messages, e.g. used for Dante and AES67 Flows. These Flows are configured via Dante Controller and very useful if a particular set of audio channels shall be routed from one device to several other receiving Dante-enabled devices. When doing this, the network load can be significantly reduced by using flows instead of routing individually. Additionally, flows might even become mandatory when the amount of channels increases, since there is a certain limit to the network capacity as well as to the number of channels to be routed individually.

KLANG:fabrik has three network ports labelled Dante/1, Dante/2 and Control/net.

KLANG:vier has two network ports labelled Dante/1 and Control/2.

There are four different modes (three different for KLANG:vier) to be chosen from:

1. Switched, with Control
2. Switched, with Multicast filtered Control
3. Switched, separate Control
4. Redundant, separate Control (KLANG:fabrik only)

“Switched, with Control”

This mode configures the network ports to be connected to the same network. You can use the network ports for example to daisy-chain units; or you can connect a WiFi router to any of the network ports (not only control). The same goes for Dante (Dante devices on control will work as well). Consider the ports to be labelled A,B, or C instead of Dante and Control.

“Switched, with Multicast filtered Control”

In this mode all ports share the same network as well. But the difference to the aforementioned mode is that there is a certain filter enabled on the control port. This filter stops multicast messages to be transmitted from Dante ports to Control and the other way around as well.

We highly recommend to activate a multicast filter for the network connection between the Dante network and a WiFi router. For example, if you want to connect a WiFi router directly to KLANG:fabrik or KLANG:vier, use the control port and set the mode to either Switched, separate Control or to Switched, with Multicast filtered Control

When in this mode, please do not connect a KLANG:fabrik or KLANG:vier with two network cables to the same network, as this will result in a network loop causing serious problems such as network fail, breakdown or reduced performance.

“Switched, separate Control”

Choose this mode to separate the Dante network from the control network. No network messages will be transferred between Dante ports and the Control port on the back of KLANG:fabrik/KLANG:vier. The remote control messages of KLANG:fabrik/KLANG:vier are only available on the Control port. Dante connections can only be made with other Dante-enabled products connected to the Dante ports.

– Internally, two independent networks are configured using VLANs –

“Redundant, separate Control” (KLANG:fabrik only)

This mode uses separate networks for remote control messages and Dante traffic and is similar to Switch detached Control. However, the two Dante ports on KLANG:fabrik use two separate networks – one as the primary network and one as the secondary (backup) network. Use this configuration when you want to install a secondary backup network for Dante. Dante handles the redundancy automatically if the devices offer Dante redundancy modes. In case the primary network fails, the secondary network is used instead to continue streaming audio. If no redundancy is required, we recommend to use one of the other modes.

– Internally, three independent networks are configured using VLANs –